Breadmaking Techniques – The Basics
Breadmaking is not just a simple recipe to bake bread. It is also a true work of art and science that take a lot of time, patience, effort and talent to master. If you are really serious in learning how to bread, take this as a challenge and learn all you can from the very start. You will find that after working on it for a while, you will not only be a specialist in your field but also have more than earned the respect of your family and friends.
Bread making is a craft, not a race. Making bread requires a lot of artistic thinking and sometimes even intuition. Breadmaking requires a great deal of dedication, patience and hard work. So always remember that making bread does not come out of thin air like some people think it would. You need to learn a lot about breadmaking processes and you should be proud of every single result that you create.
The first and foremost thing that you have to do is decide on the ingredients for your recipe and then you have to make sure that you have the right tools and supplies. Breadmaking has got many processes that go into making bread, from kneading the dough to baking the bread and that’s before you even start with the real processes. If you don’t have all the proper materials, you won’t get the desired result and you will most likely end up with a bad loaf of bread. So be sure to make all the necessary preparations and tools before starting your breadmaking adventure.
After you’ve got all the materials needed, the next thing that you have to ask yourself when asking how to make bread is if you are a beginner or an expert? Beginners have a good start, since they just need to master the basic skills of bread development. Breads made by beginners are usually very simple in structure, since the ingredients are all that you need. If you want to know how to make bread more difficult, you can go ahead and add some gluten flour to the mix, since it helps improve the texture and elasticity of the finished product. Gluten is also important because it makes the bread more moist, which is important for its flavor and to keep it from sticking to the teeth of the loaf.
When you are done with your basic breadmaking, you will need to learn the skills of bread development. These are the steps involved in developing great bread, and one of them is working in the refrigerator to develop the dough. Without proper dough development, you won’t have a properly structured loaf of bread.
Bread development starts after you have formed the dough in your bowl, and then you will add the yeast and baking powder to it. Mix them well and then put it into the preheated oven at 350F for about an hour. When the loaf is done baking, you can check with a toothpick if it is done by inserting it into the middle of the bread. This test is not accurate though, as slight cracking and expansion may still occur even when the bread is fully baked. Once the internal temperature of the bread reaches around 170 degrees, you can stop checking.
After you have successfully completed the first two steps, you can move on to the third step which is proofing the loaf. For this step, you will need the same amount of flour that you used for the first two batches. Add the yeast and let it proof for one hour. Then, remove it from the oven, cover it tightly and leave for another hour.
Proofing allows you to see whether your bread is done after the third and final step, which is baking. In the last step of proofing, you will add the extra gluten mix and place the loaf in the oven. You can also turn the oven on ‘auto bake’ and let the breadproof cycle complete without turning the hands. After about ten minutes, the bread will be ready and you can now cut into it to enjoy its fresh and delicious flavor.
