Introduction
Ingredients
Tips You Should Know before you start
Step by step the basic bread Recipe

Variations you can make with the basic Recipe
Troubleshooting

Introduction

I love to bake bread, to me there is nothing better than the smell of fresh baked bread just out of the oven, Bread baking is an age old art, one that is not so common today as it was in generations past. Most People now day get there bread from a store, not realizing that bread baking truly is within their abilities. In this tutorial I will introduce you to the various ingredients in a loaf of bread, give a basic recipe to get you started and walk you thru it step by step. I will also share with you some of my tips for a better loaf of bread, At the bottom you can link to a page that will walk you thru some variations on this most basic of recipes.

Ingredients

Flour the most basic of ingredients in bread.There are so many kinds on the shelf it becomes difficult to know which kind to buy. Bread Flour is a high gluten flour made from hard spring wheat. It is made specifically for bread making and consistently produces the best results, All purpose Flour is lower in gluten and well it can make a good loaf of bread, it does take a bit more extra attention and effort to produce the same results, Pastry and cake flours are low gluten and not suitable for bread baking. As you experiment more and more with yeast baking there are a variety of grains that can be used, Rye, cornmeal, oats and buckwheat just to name a few. I recommend for the novice baker to try bread flour first since it is easiest to obtain good results from, then as you become more comfortable, try other types of flours and grains. Bread flour can be quite expensive so I suggest checking your local wholesale club, or restaurant supply store, as it can be bought there in bulk for a much more reasonable price.

Yeast there are several different types of yeast, but for the purpose of this tutorial I will only concern myself with the two I use the most. My preferred yeast is Instant Yeast, again unless you can find it in a wholesale club or restaraunt supply store it can be quite expensive, but it produces consistent results, and eliminates the need to activate it, that many recipes calling for Active dry yeast require. Active dry yeast is the one you will most likely find, and it is ok to use it, Many recipes require that it be activated in warm water before it is used, but you will find that a lot recipes will allow you to simply add it to the dry ingredients. Whichever method, follow the instructions carefully. I store a small amount of yeast in the refrigerator, and store the rest in a tight container in the freezer.

Sweeteners Most often sugar, but I found that most sweeteners can be used interchangeably. Some common ones used are Granulated sugar, Honey, Molasses, and Brown Sugar. I prefer honey in most of my recipes, you may need to increase slightly the amount of flour that you use, or decrease the liquid if you decide to substitute honey for sugar.

Fats These can vary Depending on the recipe, and can even be omitted in some recipes, bagel recipes and french bread recipes for instance have no fats. Fats affect flavor, and texture, and can be interchanged for different effects or health issues, as you become more comfortable with your recipes. Different fats used in breads are, butter, margarine,shortening, and vegetable oils.

Liquid usually either water or milk, but certain vegetable breads or specialty breads may call fruit juices or vegetable juices as well. Using water in your bread will give you a crusty loaf of bread, where as milk will give you a softer crust.

Salt aids in the rising process as well as adds flavor, don't omit this ingredient.

Miscellaneous There are many other ingredients that may be added to your bread or other yeast recipe, Such as eggs, rasins,nuts, seeds, and dried fruits to name a few, they can all affect the final outcome of your bread and you may find that you will need to adjust rising times if you use any of these ingredients.

Tips you should know before you start

Water should be very warm without being hot… for beginners buy an instant read thermometer (small round head with a long stem)they are usually 3$ at at discount department stores, and check till you become comfortable with the temp of water.If you make it to cool it will make the yeast very sluggish and it will take forever for the dough to rise, I don’t have that kind of time so I make mine very warm. If however you make your water to hot you will kill your yeast. Recipes vary but usually between 100- 120 is the norm most recipes call for.I notice that in the breadmaker if you choose to use this, it is actually a little lower, between 80 and 100.

Weather can greatly affect breadmaking, if it is cold it will take longer to rise, if it is dry you will need to add more liquid or less flour, Bread likes warm, humid conditions, if it is drafty in your house or you just can’t get your bread to rise, you can make a makeshift proofer by placing a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of your oven, the warmth of the boiling water and or the light bulb in your oven, will provide enough heat. Sometimes if it is a bit chilly in my house I will turn my oven on for about 15 minutes and turn it off and place the bread on the top of my stove on a cooling rack not directly on the stove.you can use the top of your dryer as well, just be sure to place it on a cooling rack so that it does not get too hot. You will have to experiment,just be sure that it doubles in bulk and that when you press it in the middle with two fingers the indents stay. I find for me that rising times vary greatly, in the summer it may take 30 minutes whereas in the winter it may take up to two hours, don’t let it worry you it will get there eventually.

Kneading is very important, if the bread is not properly kneaded then the gluten is not developed and the bread will not rise properly or have the texture you are looking for. When the bread is kneaded properly the strands of gluten will be very long and elastic, the bread will be smooth and soft as a babies bottom. If you take a piece of the dough, about the size of a plum you should be able to stretch it out so that it is as thin as a membrane and you can see light thru it, if it tears before this then that you need to knead it some more.Kneading for those who have never made bread before goes like this. Lay the dough in front of you, pull the part farthest away from you toward you, folding the dough in half,then using the heel of your hand push down and away from you.Now turn the bread a quarter of a turn and repeat. What you are basically doing is stretching those gluten fibers over and over again and the more you stretch them the more elastic they become. If the dough starts to become really stiff and tight, cover it with a towel and let it relax a few minutes, this relaxes the gluten and allows you to knead it again. At first when you begin to knead the dough will be very very sticky, coat your work surface with flour and your hands, as more and more flour gets incorporated and your dough gets less sticky, be careful to add less flour, the should remain sticky, but should come to a point where it no longer leaves itself on the worksurface and on your hands, it should in fact clean the bits of dough off the worksurface.The dough will be tacky to touch. Be sure that you work in each addition of flour thoroughly before you add more. I use a kitchen aide mixer for the mixing and the first half of the kneading, it is helpful to spray the dough hook with cookspray, it keeps the dough from riding up the hook and allows it to knead better. You will continue to add flour to the dough until the dough pulls completely away from the side of the bowl and the sides of the bowl are clean. Be careful it is very easy to add too much flour, as it gets close to being done, but if by chance you do add too much flour you can add a bit more liquid to to get it back to where you want it.I usually will take the dough out of the mixer and continue to knead it by hand, it is easy to get lazy at this point, but if you watch as the dough hook kneads the dough in the mixer you will notice that not all of the dough gets kneaded as well, I really feel like this affects the ultimate quality of the bread, and in fact if you do the test, to see if the dough is ready most times you will find that it is not.I am a bit of a perfectionist here, I really love the ultimate bread, and I love baking it, and it is all the little details that make it the kind of bread that will get you the oooo’s and ahhhh’s of amazement from family and friends.

With most breads there is usually two rising periods the first is in its raw form, in a bowl,let it double in size, Regardless of the amount of time that it takes.Two fingers lightly pressed on the dough will leave an indent that does not disappear. The second rising occurs after the dough is formed into its final form, when I bake bread I usually let it rise to just over the top of the pan, before I place it in the oven, the final rising time will vary depending on what you are making many things such as bagels are half proofed.Meaning they are only allowed to rise to half again their size. Be sure that you cover your bread with a cloth or plastic wrap, as it dries out very easily.Also always grease your bowl before you place it in there to rise. I usually use either glass or metal, I do not like using plastic, it does not seem rise as well.Cooking spray works very well for greasing the bowl, so does a bit of vegetable oil.
When you bake your bread place it on a center rack if you place more than two loaves on there you may need to rotate them part way thru the baking, as they may not bake evenly if you do not. If you like crusty bread that one way to achieve that, is to place a pan of boiling water in the bottom of your oven, when you preheat it, the added moisture will make your bread much crustier,you can also spray the bread as soon as you place it in the oven for a bit of added moisture. You will know that your bread is done, when it is a golden brown, when you take it out of the pan the bottom will also be a golden brown and if you tap the BOTTOM of the bread it will sound hollow.When your bread is finished you will want to remove it from the pan immediately, if you do not it will sweat in the pan and it will ultimately make the bread soggy. Do not cut in to your bread for the first 20 minutes, it needs a bit of time to cool and it continues to cook even after it is out of the oven. If you just can’t wait then give it about ten minutes and if you are careful you should be able to cut into it.