The thought of baking your own bread from scratch can be intimidating. But the reality is, with a little knowledge and a little practice, you too can fill your home with the sweet smell of freshly baked bread in no time.
Read on for some best tips for baking bread in the comfort of your own home.
1. Use Your Scales, and Your Eyes
Finding the perfect flour to water ratio is the key to superbly baked bread. It is extremely important that you do the proper conversion and weigh all the ingredients according to the recipe.
Then, pay attention to the consistency of your dough. You are aiming for a uniform dough that’s barely sticky when kneading, but not sticky. If you use one the best stand mixer for bread doughwhen the dough stops sticking to the bottom of the bowl, you know you have added enough flour.
2. Watch Yeast
While there isn’t any problem with using dry yeast, most experienced bakers know that live (wet) yeast results in a better texture, more interaction with the dough, and a better taste.
3. Let Rise
The room temperature, the ingredients you use, and the humidity level will all affect how your bread rises before it is ready to go in the oven.
To check if the dough is prepared to bake, simply push two fingers into the dough about an inch. If finger marks remain, you are ready to start baking. If it disappears, let it rise a little longer.
For those with dough in the pan, you may not want to stick your finger in it to check that it is ready to bake. In this case, let the dough rise just above the top of the pan. Then start baking.
4. Pay attention to the Oven
Baking bread is not about whipping up the perfect dough and throwing it into the oven to bake. One of the biggest mistakes new bakers make is not monitoring the doneness of the bread while the timer stops. Most of the bread won’t toast evenly and need rotation when baking.
5. Know How to Store Your Bread
OK, so this tip really has nothing to do with baking bread, but it is essential if you want to enjoy your delicious treat.
If you do not plan on eating all the bread you have baked in a day or two, let it cool totally and slice it ahead of time if you want to use it for sandwiches or toast later. Then put it in the freezer for later use.
And, as an added bonus, if you are interested in making your breakfast a little healthier, complete with a slice of freshly baked bread, try adding a slice of Canadian bacon, lean prosciutto, or turkey bacon to your first meal of the day.
Baking your own bread can be quite a lot of fun so long as you have a little patience and a few helpful tips. Before you put on your apron and head all the way down to the kitchen, prepare yourself mentally with these helpful tips for baking bread and provide it your all!
This guest post was written by Lindsay Liedke – a freelance writer who loves writing about WordPress amongst many other lifestyle topics. When he is not writing, he can be found spending family time with his son over a nice cup of hot coffee.
Image Source By 3268zauber – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
