Egg white and water have little to do with the crispiness of the crust. The water you are using is there to create steam to allow the bread to rise BEFORE it forms a crust, thereby delaying the crustiness. You can and should skip the egg white altogether.

To get a nice crust on the bread you will likely need to bake it longer. Tough to say for sure without knowing exactly what you are doing though. If your loaf is coming out fine except for the crust it is likely that moisture from the crumb is moving into the crust and making it soggy. You can continue baking it at a low temperature, 350-400, to drive off moisture and dry out the crust. Similarly if you increase the baking temperature overall you will get a similar effect.

Let your bread rise with the water, then sit for a few minutes, towel the surface, then put into the over at a higher temperature. This will cook the bread leaving a lighter middle and crunshier outside. Try using a Baking stone as well.

The best way to get a good crisp and golden brown crust on French bread is when putting it in the oven use a low broil option. For some reason when using the broil option the heat from the oven works more like a toaster and cooks the bread to perfection. It will turn out nice and crisp just watch carefully because it will also burn fast.

For golden brown custed French bread bake it like you always do. When its baked cover it in butter and a dash of garlic salt and pop it in the broiler for a couple seconds. The broiler will toast the outside of the bead. Hope this helps. Good luck.

LOL you need to use a strong French style flour to make French bread. You want a high wheat content to get the French effect. Sounds like you are using a soft flour (more barley than wheat). Use wheat flour if you want that French crust ...

Using wheat flour will help you tremendously when making french bread. Also make sure you brush your dough with egg whites before putting it in the oven.

I'm really disappointed. I made a special trip just to buy my favorite 'hard crusted' Kaiser Buns.. When I got home they are soft :( What did I do wrong and how can I get them hard again? I love the inside soft and the outside hard.

Hardcrust bread is a result of using yeast for hard crust. U can get this at the confectionary /bakery shops where they sell yeast for soft and hard crust bread. There is very good german brand for these yeasts.