Bread Baking Tricks
- Everyone loves to eat their bread fresh out of the oven. But for those who haven’t attempted to bake their own bread, this task might sound daunting.
- If you are ready to bake then here are a few tip and tricks that will help you turn our delicious loaves in no time.
Read
- One thing you should always do is read recipes on baking bread. Start by reading recipes on beginner loaves and then gradually move on to the more advanced ones.
- One piece of advice- Do not overdo the reading and confuse yourself.
- Do try the recipe you read that you think would come out alright and see if the recipe has potential.
Ingredients
- Bread is mainly made of the basic four ingredients flour, yeast, salt and water. So quality definitely is a criterion in the bread coming out right.
- Make sure that the yeast is active before you use it.
- Try to avoid using highly processed and chemically bleached flour.
Use a sourdough starter or a sponge or a lump of old dough
- Use of any kind of starter in your dough will greatly improve the crust, crumb and flavor of your loaves.
- There are different kinds of starter’s. There are some that you can make instantly, or in a few days or even those that literally live in your fridge for years together.
Baker’s Bowl
- Find a wooden bowl to use to knead your dough. Never wash it, but instead scrape off the remains using a scraper and a wet cloth. The more you use the bowl, the more seasoned your bread becomes.
- Yeast ferments in the bowl thereby enhancing flavor and fermentation.
- Ideal material for such a bowl is wood.
Mixing of the dough
- When you are mixing the dough, gently sprinkles only single handfuls of flour at a time and mix like crazy. This process actually helps in allowing the gluten to develop.
Resting the dough
- Add salt to the dough only after you have let the dough to let for at least 20 minutes. Salt if added initially will tighten the gluten and not make the bread voluminous.
- This technique reduces your kneading time.
Rise of the dough
- Keep the temperature of the dough low to ensure that the yeast develops properly. The longer you leave the dough to develop, the better loaf of bread you can expect. Ideal rising temperature is between 70 and 75 degrees.
Top Secret
- I can swear by this secret. Reduce the yeast mentioned in the recipe and double the rising time of the dough and see the miracle result in your loaves of bread.
Baking with a stone hearth
- Turn your oven into a stone hearth, by baking your loaf on a stone hearth placed in the oven. These stone hearths allow uniform baking and make your loaves crusty and rich coloured.
Steam
- Not many people think this works, but if done the right way, can give you shiny crusty loaves. All you have to do it create steam by placing a water tray or ice cubes in a hot skillet in the oven in the first stage of baking.
Storage
- Bread is at its best when stored at room temperature. You can even store it in a bread box. If you are planning to store your bread for more than a couple of days, then freezing is your solution. Simply defrost or oven heat when required.
Now don’t give up if your loaf of bread doesn’t come out right the first time. Bread baking is a process that sometimes takes a few attempts to get it right.
Written by:Rasha Ashraf