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Bread Making Basics

Baking, like any other culinary endeavor, requires the proper ingredients. There are several basic ingredients required when making bread. Yeast is required. You will also need flour, sugar, salt and milk or water. Recipes call for varying amounts of each ingredient.

There is a technique that needs to be followed when making bread by hand. The process of proofing the yeast and mixing the ingredients requires a degree of care to keep the ingredients at a proper temperature. This will insure that your dough will rise after kneading and resting.

Kneading is a technique of folding over the dough and pushing it down repeatedly to develop the gluten in the flour. The process of kneading the dough will make the flour elastic and help it to rise. The bread dough needs to be kneaded on a floured surface until the dough is soft and sticky. If it becomes too sticky, you will need to add enough flour so you product no longer sticks to the kneading surface. One must be careful to not over-knead the dough, as this will make the bread tough.

After kneading, shape the dough in to a ball and place in an oiled or buttered bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a dishtowel and allow the dough to rest in a warm draft-free place.

The dough will rise to double its bulk in about an hour. The dough should be punched down and kneaded back in to a ball. Repeat the process of letting the bread rise in the bowl, or form the bread in to loaves and place in greased loaf pans to rise.

Preheat the oven to the proper temperature while the dough rises. When the dough has risen, place in the oven and bake until the desired color is achieved. The loaves should feel hollow when you tap them. That means they are done.

Enjoy the bread hot, or put on a rack to cool. Do not wrap or bag the bread while it is hot, as this will cause the loaf to become soggy. Your homemade bread should last for about four days at room temperature.

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