Browning and fan forced ovens

I learnt something yesterday.  I've always baked my breads in a fan forced oven.  They cook very quickly, 20 - 25mins at 220C.  They go a nice golden brown, cook through completely, and really go pop in the oven.  Sometimes, however, I can't get the tops of the loaves to brown evenly - some bits are still quite white while the others are very brown.  Also, I couldn't get slashing to work properly - I kept getting loaves (particularly round ones) that would blow their tops.  I've been jealous of all the lovely photos here of decoratively slashed loaves !

Yesterday, I think I made some progress in solving these problems.  I let my shaped loaves rise longer (hence reducing the huge oven spring, and allowing for a more controlled rise), and I changed from the fan forced setting to the bake setting on my oven.  The downside, of course, is that I can really only bake one rack at a time that way, since the bake function uses the top and bottom elements, whereas the fan forced uses the back elements.  The other thing I did was I extended the baking time.  The loaves were obviously cooked after 20 mins at 220C, but I turned the heat down a little and gave them an extra 10 minutes (something I think Dan Lepard suggests).  They were very brown and very crusty - quite a "traditional sourdough" result - and the crust is still hard today.

Do you like your loaves very brown and crusty or golden and tender ?  I've noticed a lot of the professional bakers produce loaves that I'd consider almost overcooked, and that many aren't averse to a bit of black on the outside of their loaves !

Cheers, Celia