There are few aromas more warm and welcoming than the delightful smell of home made bread baking in the oven. Bread as been around over 10,000 years but making break is an activity that has diminished as our daily schedules have become more busy and hectic. It can still be a very satisfying and rewarding experience however, if you take advantage of all the modern techniques and tools that have been developed specifically for break making.
There are four ingredients used to make the basic load of bread - yeast, flour, water, or other liquid, and salt. You can add a huge variety of delicious and interesting ingredients to this short, simple list to make many types of flavorful and unique breads. A few examples of great choices of ingredients to add to your favorite bread recipe include raisins and other dried fruits, nuts and seeds.
Yeast is a key ingredient to some of the most delicious bread made. You don't know what you're missing if you have never baked breads at home using yeast. It takes a bit of time for the final product to be produced when baking bread with yeast, but the rewards make it worth the wait. There are two types of yeast - yeast that is prepackaged and available at your local grocer and that you cultivate and ferment at home with a starter. Either is effective when making your home-made yeast bread, but it's important to be sure that the yeast is fresh. When using the prepackaged yeast, be sure to check the "best if used by date". Cake yeast, if you can find it, is a form of fresh yeast that makes a really wonderful loaf of bread, but if must be used within 2-3 days or may mold.
The type flour you choose to use in your bread makes a difference in the quality of the final product. Bread flour is higher in protein content which gives the bread a unique texture. All purpose flour, which is usually easier to find, will also work just fine in most bread recipes. Whole grain and other types of flour add flavor, texture and color to breads, but must be combined with some measurement of all purpose flour in order to produce enough gluten to produce a successful loaf of delicious bread. Gluten is formed when water is added to flour. It forms a network of proteins that stretch through bread dough like a web, trapping air bubbles that form as the yeast ferments, thus creating the air holes that are characteristic of the perfect bread.
Kneading the bread dough is a process that is repeated until it is smooth, springy and elastic, and no longer sticky. Kneading generally takes about 5 to 10 minutes although dough made with bread flour usually requires more kneading than those made with all purpose flour. Once the dough is kneaded, place the dough in a large, greased bowl turning it over to allow all sides to be greased to insure that the dough does not dry out while it rises. Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm spot until is doubles in bulk. Divide it into loaf pans that have been primed with cooking spray and bake.
These are the basic steps for making the perfect loaf of home-made bread. Be sure to follow your recipe carefully, as bread making is like building a house - you must get the foundation right before building the rest of the house, or it risks a fall!
To learn more about how to bake bread, visit Bread by YiaYia.
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