Breadmaking Basics

I’ve discovered that many people are intimidated by yeast breads; lucky for me, I grew up knowing moms who made bread and so I didn’t know it was supposed to be difficult. My early attempts were quite successful, but I do have a dud now and then. I’ve assembled some breadmaking resources to give some confidence if you’ve never tried it, as well as some ideas for experimentation.

Don ‘t be afraid to just try it. Alice Waters says that everyone loves freshly baked bread, even if it doesn’t quite rise or if it gets a bit overdone, and I have to agree. While breadmaking might seem like a laborious task, it isn’t all that difficult–it just requires being home for a few hours, although the different stages can be tweaked here and there.

I used to have a bread machine, but for some reason it stopped working (it was a rather old hand me down). No matter; I use my large stand mixer and it works just fine. DH likes to tease me saying that I should knead by hand if I want to be authentic. Then he ducks so as to avoid flying dough.

Some of the important things I’ve learned:

• pay attention to the flours and yeast called for in recipes. They are NOT always interchangeable.
• go by feel, not specific measurements. Start with the measurements called for, but recognize that flour is tricky to measure even with a scale. So if the dough feels to wet, add a bit more flour. If the dough is hard and crumbly add more water.
• don’t refrigerate bread (unless it’s store-bought Ezekiel or other sprouted bread that is supposed to stay in there). It’s best to leave it on the counter for a few days OR freeze it.
• it’s not necessary to take the temperature of the water; just make sure it’s not too hot. It should be about body temperature.

Some of my favorite bread websites:

The Fresh Loaf: A plethora of featured recipes, lessons, book reviews, a community forum and recipe exchange, and baker blogs.

Wild Yeast: Home of the weekly meme Yeastspotting, where lots of people link up their favorite bread recipes.

Bread in Five: From the authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, a blog where they post even more recipes using the no-knead technique.

GNOWFGLINS: A great all around blog, plus she offers an excellent Sourdough A to Z eBook.

The links above should get you started on your bread making journey. For the rest of bread week, we’ll be exploring more bread topics. Stay tuned!

Do you bake bread? If so, what are some of your favorite tips? If not, what are your questions?

Related posts:

1. Back to Basics Cooking Series Coming in January!
2. Salad: Beyond the Iceberg {Back to Basics Cooking Series}
3. Pasta Week {Back to Basics}

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