Bread Making Tips
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Bread Making Tips - lets make some real dough!
Looking for answers to your breadmaking problems? Is your bread too slow to rise, or maybe it's too fast? Is your bread too crumbly? Does it taste too "yeasty"? Find all the bread making tips you need and the answers to all of your bread questions right here. If you can't find the answer you need, just ask and I will find it for you or point you in the right direction.
Take a Shortcut!
- Tips for baking perfect bread at home
- Yeast- What is it?
- Questions About Mixing, Molding and Kneading
- Enjoy Fresh Bread Every Day!
- More on Mixes and Molding
- Kneading and Gluten Development
- Easy French Bread Made at Home
- What is Bread Flour?
- Questions about Prooving and Baking
- A Book of Bakers Tips For Your Kitchen
- Watch out for Over-Prooving
- Retard Doughs or Par-bake to Finish Baking Later
- Why Use Salt in Bread?
- Still wanting more?
- Other Ways To Improve Your Bread
- Do you have any questions?
Tips for baking perfect bread at home
If you aren't happy with the results of your home made bread or your family turn their noses up as soon as the bread has cooled, you need to read on. This page is filled with bread making tips and simple solutions to common bread making problems.
You'll find what to do if you are interrupted in your bread making and have to go out. Do you want to know how to prepare your doughs so that you can bake them off at a later time? Do you know what "par-baked" bread is? All of these questions and many more are answered below, just keep reading.
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Yeast- What is it?
Yeasts are micro-organisms related to fungi that have been used by humans for baking and brewing for thousands of years. Yeast consumes simple sugars and produces carbon dioxide and alcohol as waste products. Bakers yeast prefers to live in a temperature range of around 30°C - 37°C but will survive at lower temperatures. It will die at temperatures above 50°C.
Questions About Mixing, Molding and Kneading
As a general rule, once you reach the kneading stage if the dough no longer sticks to your work surface or your hands then you have the right flour to water ratio. Of course if the dough is very tough and hard to work, you may need to add a little water.
Why do most bread varieties allow for a variation in the amount of flour used or the amount of water added?
Flour or water is always considered to be variable for a number of reasons. Humidity plays the biggest role in determining how much water will actually be absorbed by your flour. If you are in an area with high humidity, you will need to use slightly less water (or slightly more flour) to avoid your doughs being overly wet and sticky. Another factor can be the flour itself. Flour quality can vary and as a general rule a higher quality flour has a higher protein content, which will take on more water to form gluten.
Is it possible to knead too much?
Yes it is possible but it is unlikely when hand mixing. Pay close attention when using an electric mixer to mix and knead your dough. Stop mixing when the dough has reached an even consistancy and stretches easily but still has some elasticity. You can test the gluten development by plucking a small piece of dough and see if it can be stretched out thinly without tearing. Overmixing breaks down the gluten which results in a tacky dough that is difficult to work with and can have reduced volume due to poor gas retention.
Enjoy Fresh Bread Every Day!
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More on Mixes and Molding
No, most bread recipes are also suitable for producing bread rolls. Just cut the dough into small pieces and form into the shapes required.
Why is my wholemeal dough slow to rise?
It's normal for wholemeal, rye or grain breads to rise slower than white breads. If you have this problem, add a little more yeast to your recipe.
What to do if your bread tastes great, but it's uneven and lumpy?
This is probably due to your final molding. Take a little more time to produce the final shapes you want. Any flaws made when you are molding, such as tearing the dough or not rolling it out evenly will be magnified after the final proof.
Kneading and Gluten Development
Both problems can be caused by not enough kneading/mixing. During the mixing process gluten is produced from the proteins in the flour. Gluten forms the cells in the bread which retain the CO2 gas produced by fermentation. This gluten needs to be worked or developed enough so that it becomes flexible and can expand while still retaining gas. Under or overmixing results in poor cell/crumb structure. Some varieties of flour, such as cake flour or wholemeal and grain flours, are lower in protein and will produce bread that is more crumbly.
Why are my loaves too small?
This could be caused by a number of things but most of them can be overcome by allowing longer prooving times. If your bread is bigger when it goes to the oven, your results will be better. Some other causes could be due to too much salt or not enough yeast in the dough. Under or over mixing could result in poor gluten development so the dough does not retain as much gas. If your oven is too hot, you will get less oven-spring (rising in the oven) because the excess heat kills the yeast faster.
Easy French Bread Made at Home
Bake perfect French Bread in ten minutes
And you thought bread baking was hard? It only takes ten minutes to make this scrumptious french bread!
What is Bread Flour?
Bread flour is high protein flour produced from hard wheat. Soft wheat produces lower protein flour with lower protein levels such as all purpose flour and cake flour. The protein in bread flour forms gluten during the breadmaking process. Gluten forms the cell structure and retains carbon dioxide in the bread, giving it volume. Low protein flours, including whole grain flours can be strengthened by the addition of gluten.
Questions about Prooving and Baking
This can vary due to a lot of factors but a general rule would be 1 to 2 hours, or as long as it takes for the dough to at least double in size. Yeast prefers to live in tropical conditions so the closer you can appoximate this the better. Ideally you would place your dough in a warm place around 30-40 degrees celcius. In cooler places it will just take a little longer. Don't worry if you can't manage to keep your dough this warm, slower doughs will still produce good (and sometimes better) bread. One other tip, if you have a suitable thermometer, check the temperature of your dough straight after you finish kneading. Ideally it should be around 27 C. You can control this finished dough temperature by using warmer or cooler water in your mix.
How long does it take to rise for the second proof?
Usually the final proof will take about half the time of the first prooving. Again it's usually enough when the dough has doubled in size.
What causes loaves to "sink" during baking?
If the dough is allowed to over-proove, that is, become too large, the gluten which forms the cells in the bread may be stretched to it's limits. When the dough is placed in the oven, the gas in the bread expands, tearing the gluten and escapes. Simply put, the bubbles burst and your bread deflates. This could also be a result of overmixing which weakens the gluten in the early stages.
A Book of Bakers Tips For Your Kitchen
Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
Amazon Price: $25.20 (as of 07/06/2009)
Bread contains 118 detailed, step-by-step recipes for an array of breads: versatile sourdough ryes; breads made with pre-ferments; and simple, straight dough loaves. Recipes for brioche, focaccia, pizza dough, flat breads, and other traditional baking staples augment the diverse collection of flavors, tastes, and textures represented within these pages. From the delicate flavor and aroma of classic French baguettes to the mellow smoothness of Roasted Garlic Levain, a bread for every season and every palate is here.
Watch out for Over-Prooving
You can knock the dough back down and remold it into shape, it will rise again. Try to avoid doing this more than once as eventually the yeast runs out of food or the gluten becomes too weak and the quality of the bread will suffer.
What can I do if I have to go out after making the dough?
Once mixing/kneading is finished you can store the dough in a sealed container or even a plastic bag and place it in your refrigerator. Putting the dough in a cold place slows down the fermentation. This is known as "retarding" the dough. You can take it out later, form it into the shapes you need and then allow it to rise as usual. Note that it will take a little longer to rise due to having such a
Retard Doughs or Par-bake to Finish Baking Later
Yes, you can form your dough into the shapes needed, then cover them and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to take them out, proove and bake them. If doing this it is best to leave the dough no longer than a few days before baking. It's a handy method for producing two or three days bread at a time, just bake it off as needed.
What is "par-baked" bread and can I make it at home?
Par-baked bread is essentially any bread variety that has ben made in the usual manner but is not fully baked. It is removed from the oven as soon as it has baked enough to hold it's form. It can then be stored refrigerated or even frozen. When the bread is required it is removed from refrigeration and placed in the oven to finish baking, usally taking 10 to 15 minutes to finish off. It's a handy way to put fresh bread on the table in a matter of minutes. You can produce your own par-baked bread simply by taking your bread from the oven about 10 minutes earlier than usual, allowing it to cool then store in a container or plastic bag and refrigerate.
Why Use Salt in Bread?
Salt is added to most bread recipes for three main reasons. It strengthens gluten, controls the yeast and adds flavour. Salt is actually poisonous to yeast. Small amounts of salt, around 2% of the flour weight, are used to control the rate of fermentation by retarding the growth of yeast.
Decorate Your Bread
Or Make Bread the decoration
More Fancy Bread
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Still wanting more?
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Other Ways To Improve Your Bread
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Do you have any questions?
StevenCousley wrote...
in reply to Roy Cooper HI Roy!
I'll call your 10 years and raise by my 27! lol
I might have some more tips for you, what sort of thing would you like to know?
Posted April 19, 2009
Roy Cooper wrote
Hey Steven im a baker of 10 years ive just movied to USA and have been making bread at home for everyone just wondering if you had any tips for me or know of anything to help make it better.
Posted April 10, 2009
AslanBooks wrote...
Nice lens...I love baking bread. I make all the bread we eat...we don't buy bread at the market. It's therapy to make bread. I love the way it feels as I knead the dough. I love finding new things that make my bread better. The latest thing I learned was the 'French Fold'.
Posted February 23, 2009
Susan52 wrote...
I can almost smell that wonderful fragrance of bread baking. Mmmm, heavenly! (Nice lens!)
Posted November 08, 2008
ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...
Welcome to the Totally Awesome Lenses Group.
Lizzy
Posted November 07, 2008
A_RovingReporter wrote...
An inspiring five-star lens. Maybe I should start learning bread making.
Posted November 06, 2008
Rajays wrote...
What a wonderful lens on bread making. Great information here and I enjoyed reading it a lot. I don't bake but enjoy all sorts of different types. *****
Posted November 05, 2008
StevenCousley wrote...
Thanks Alison, now I feel like a fully fledged squid. There is something therapeutic about hand mixing and kneading. Home bread machines are handy time savers but I find doing it all myself much more satisfying.
Posted November 05, 2008
EverythingMouse wrote...
I make bread every day - often in a bread maker but not always.
You have been Blessed by a Squid Angel
Posted November 05, 2008
