Are there any secrets when it comes to learning how to to make bread? Homemade bread isn't difficult to make, but you do need to understand how the ingredients you're using work affect taste, but also texture and loaf size. The rest comes down to patience and technique.
What You Need to Begin Baking Bread
Equipment:
Ingredients for Bread
Breads need basic components: flour, a leavening agent, liquid, salt, oil and a sugar.
Proofing the Yeast
Test or proof your yeast by sprinkling the prescribed amount on warm water (100º to 115º F). Add a teaspoon of sugar or flour and allow the yeast water to sit undisturbed for a few minutes. If bubbles don't start to form as the yeast dissolves, the yeast might be too old and should be replaced. Another problem could be that your water is too hot. Make sure it is warm to your hand and not over 115 degrees.
Tips for storing yeast: You should store yeast in a glass container in your refrigerator. It can be kept for over a year in your freezer without harm. Yeast can be purchased in two-pound packages and frozen in a large container. Keep a jelly jar (½-pint jar) for yeast handy in your refrigerator and refill it from your freezer supply.
Preparing the Sponge
To prepare the sponge, add the yeast and water solution to your mixing bowl. At this point, your liquid and your yeast should have been dissolved, and you can add several cups of the flour gradually. Then add the sugar, oil and egg. Cover the bowl and allow the yeast to multiply and ferment, causing the dough to bubble. Stir and add more flour a cup at a time until the batter begins to pull away from the sides and form dough.
Turn the dough out on a kneading board and knead by hand for about 10 minutes or until the dough is elastic to the touch. With a dough hook on a mixer or in a bread machine, you will let the dough knead for about 4 minutes, depending, of course, on the machine and the amount of bread dough you are preparing.
Setting to Rise
Place the dough in a ceramic or wooden bowl that has been lightly oiled and warmed. Turn the dough in the bowl to coat with oil. Cover with a clean dishcloth to keep out drafts and to keep the top of the dough from drying out. Set the bowl in a warm spot.
Testing the Dough
Check the dough in about 45 to 60 minutes. It should have doubled in volume. Test by poking the top of the dough with your finger. Watch how the dough responds to your soft touch. If the dough springs back to its rounded shape, it should rise longer. If the hole you poke stays, it has risen enough. If your dough sinks, it has risen too long.
Punching Down
When the dough has finished rising, you a will punch it down. Make a fist and push the dough down quickly. This pushes air out of the dough so you can knead it more and shape it. Be certain the air is out by picking up the dough and throwing it down several times.
Gather the dough and turn it out onto the kneading surface. Work it by lifting, turning and pressing the heels of your hands down into the dough, pushing it both down and away from yourself.
Cover the dough and let it rest about 10 minutes. Now knead and shape the dough again. Cut with a knife or with a strand of dental floss, dividing the dough into the number of pieces or loaves you want.
The Second Rise
Now shape the cut dough into loaves and lay them in the baking pans. Cover and return to the warm rising spot for a second rise.
Baking the Bread
At the end of the second rising, the bread is ready to set in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Carefully set the loaf pans into the oven and set timer for 20 minutes. Bake until tops and sides are browned.
Cooling Correctly
Remove loves from the oven and set to cool on a rack so that air can circulate under the pans. After five minutes of cooling, turn the loaves out of the pans onto the rack to cool further.
Slicing Bread
Breads should not be sliced while they are still hot. The bread will be mashed down and ruined by cutting too soon. Use a serrated bread knife to saw back and forth without pressing down on the bread. Cutting on a wooden cutting board will give you the best results.
Try this simple and basic recipe.
Penny's Special Wheat Blend Bread
(Makes 2 loaves)
Directions:
Measure warm water into a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and add sugar, honey, egg, oil and a cup of the flour. Mix thoroughly and allow the batter to rest.
Add the salt and the wheat flour and all except one cup of the white flour, once the batter has begun to bubble.
Mix in the last cup as needed while kneading. Reserve some flour for the kneading surface.
Knead for 10 minutes by hand (or 4 minutes by machine). To knead by hand, press the heels of your hands into the dough. As you turn the dough a half counterclockwise turn, fold the upper right hand edge of the dough down.
Warm a large glass or ceramic bowl by filling with hot water. Empty and dry the bowl then oil it lightly. Place the kneaded dough into the warm bowl and turn it over to oil both sides. Cover with a dishtowel and place in a warm spot until the dough has doubled (about 1 hour).
Punch down with your fist after the dough has risen. Take dough out of the bowl and knead on a floured surface. Divide the dough into two parts. Knead each and shape into loaves. Place in two loaf pans and cover with cloth.
Allow to rise again and double again.
Preheat oven to 400º F. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until browned. Take out and cool on a rack.
 | Cornbread stuffing, or dressing as it is called in the South, is wonderful made at home. If you have only eaten boxed dressing, you will be delighted with the simplicity and wonderful flavor and texture difference inherent in home-baked dressing. |
 | All of the best banana nut bread recipes you find in cookbooks will suggest ripe bananas. Nothing is wrong with a firm banana, but as a banana ripens, it begins to change. These changes break down the fiber and pulp, which make ripe bananas the better choice for baking. |
 | Quick breads are so named because these sweet, and less commonly savory, breads rely on leavening other than yeast to rise and form. |
Scone recipes can be an indulgent treat if you don't mind the extra calories. But, if you're a scone lover who is watching her weight, you can have your scone and eat it, too. |
Want the best banana nut bread recipe for a bread machine? Let your bread machine do most of the work, and fill your home with the comforting smells of banana nut bread. |
