Hi all, Diane from Bake it, Let's make it!
Before we start baking some things you need to know. Today we will discuss yeast bread. Yeah I know scares the heck out of you. I wasn't real interested in it either at first. Then one day I bit the bullet but in this case french bread I made and was hooked. Of course the first loave wasn't sell worthy but still it was good. The funny thing was I thought it was bland, but then I discovered that what I really was tasting was "bread". Not preservatives , not extra sugar or salt (just the right amount), plain simple really good bread. My oven was not working , (I will talk about that another time when we discuss making bread on the grill) so I recently bought some at the store, read the huge list of ingredients and was amazed.. My bread, 5 or 6 ingredients, theirs IDK 80 or so. Yikes.
So before we bake some bread a couple of things to discuss. Yeast, that big scary yeast!! lol. The yeast we buy is dried yeast, in the air all around us is living yeast. Many people use "wild yeast" when baking sourdoughs. The yeast I buy for regular bread is Fleischman's bread machine yeast in a jar. I just prefer that product. When making bread and it calls for yeast, I don't care what the recipe says, yeast should always be "proofed first". What does that mean? You take your yeast and put it in a bowl with the water (lukewarm) asked for in the recipe and let stand for approx 10 mins. I use sugar in my breads, yeast loves sugar. Like they are dating, that much,lol. So I always add a couple of tablespoons of sugar in proofing bowl. And lastly never put the salt in the recipe in direct contact with the yeast. That is like a divorced couple, not happy , :(
Why is proofing so important? Yeast from the store has an expiration date, it is a general rule as to when the yeast will best perform. The closer you get to that date , the older the yeast and we all know the older the less performance. When you proof that yeast and you see it bubbling around 10 minutes into it you know that is a happy yeast. :)
Now you all know about the first rise but before you knead you need to know about the dating habit of yeast and glutens in the dough. They cling together like a wedding night. Not good?, nope. Separate those two, stretch the dough from one side of the bread board to the other. Why you ask? Well, they will be so tight that the air can't get in there and that makes for a dense dry bread. So stretch, stretch, stretch. The french known obviously for their great bread stretch the dough and then they do something kind of fun. They beat that dough onto the bread board. They call it waking up the dough, lol, after the wedding night! I do it about 20 times, the french about 600. Yes, 500 to 600 times. Us Americans to impatient for that!
Kneading, no perfect way, pratice , pratice, pratice. Two things to remember, don't knead to long , over 14 mins, to long. Don't add to much flour, add a little at a time so not to have dry dough. When the bread has a elastic feel to it, it is ready.
After all the kneading and rising, time to bake. Lots of ideas on that but one I use a lot is to bake the first 10 minutes at a very high heat, around 475 or 500 degrees. Why, yeast is a living organism and sadly dies when it hits approx 140 degrees so if you bake at a high heat at first the yeast will think it is dying and super rise. Also placing a small amount of water at the bottom of the oven to steam the bread at first will increase the exterior browning for a crisper crust.
Enough for today but more tips and baking to come. Have a great day and bake it, let's make it!!! di
A couple of things I have gotten online are proofing baskets for the rising of the dough. They shape the dough before baking. Or french bread baking pans. Hard to find in the stores but they work great.
