Razor Blade Or Paring Knife
Right before you load your loaf into the oven, you need to score the top so it can puff to its full potential. The slash will make for a beautifully finished loaf, while also providing a variety of textures that wouldnt otherwise come to be without your handiwork. A double-edged razors works well but be careful with the edges and make sure it’s out of reach for young ones. If you’re clumsy, attach it to a wooden coffee stirrer. Otherwise, any knife you have like a paring knife works just as well.
Basic Steps To Make Your Homemade Bread A Success Every Time:
1- Prepare your dough either by hand, in a mixer, food processor or bread maker, following the recipes in this booklet or using your own recipes or a bread mix.
2- Let your dough rise at room temperature, away from drafts, for the times indicated. Before the last rise, place the dough in the baker, shaped the way you want it.
3- To bake, place the baker in the oven with its lid on, at the temperature indicated in the recipe. Bake for the time indicated in the recipe. You can remove the lid a few minutes before the end of the baking process to finish browning your bread.
When it comes to baking bread, nothing beats ceramic. The unique material used in our bread bakers has the same refractory properties as that used in traditional bread ovens. The ceramic allows humidity levels to be adjusted during baking, which is a requirement if the bread is to come out crispy, yet light and airy on the inside. The glazed exterior makes our bakers easy to keep clean. For more products and use and care instructions, please visit www.emilehenryusa.com
The Workhorse Loaf: An Introduction
The Workhorse loaf is white bread done plain and simple, with no frills. The following, four-ingredient formula yields two crusty hearth loaves with a nice, open crumb. It uses all white flour, and only calls for commercial yeast…for now. We’ll get into the weird stuff in later posts.
- All Purpose Flour: 1000 g
- Water: 700 g
- Salt: 22 g
- Yeast: 10g if using fresh 5g if using active dry yeast 4g if using instant
- Total Dough Weight: 1732g
But before we start baking, what is a formula? Is it the same as a recipe? Almost. It’s like a recipe, but it’s based on ratios , not finite amounts. Why is this helpful? It’s important for two main reasons. First, it makes scaling a recipe up or down really easy. Some days at work, I need to make two loaves of this bread some days I might need a dozen. Memorizing the ratios in a formula allows me to easily make the amount of bread I want. Second, if we think of bread recipes in ratios, as formulas, it makes it easier to compare different kinds of bread with each other based on how much of each ingredient is present relative to the othersregardless of how many loaves we’re making at once. As we get more practice looking at these ratios, it will allow us to alter a bread’s formula to achieve certain qualities in the bread. It will also allow us to look at new formulas and have an idea of what it should feel and look like as we move through the process, before we even start baking. That means fewer failed experiments.
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Focus On 4 Key Ingredients
The very best breads are usually the simplest.
One of the great things about making your own bread at home is that you know exactly what is in it,” Nick Malburg, bread manager at DiAnoia’s Eatery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told TODAY. “Knowing that there are no preservatives, or any extra sugars or other additives, in your food is a big draw for many people to start baking.”
All you really need to start are four basic ingredients , but depending on the desired outcome, the type and measure of each will vary. Any good bread, be it from an artisan bakery or from your home, is built with these four ingredients, said Malburg.
Malburg advised novice bread makers to start with a high-protein bread flour.
Feel free to play with grains, just keep the total flour weight the same about four and a quarter cups and mix and match flour combinations to achieve the results you’re looking for, he said.
Popular grains include rye, whole grains, semolina or spelt.
For basic yeasted breads, equipment can be very minimal.
good mixing bowls, a smooth surface on which to knead and work the bread, a bread pan and measuring devices, said Malburg. I say devices because you can, of course, successfully make bread using basic volume measuring methods, a cup flour, a teaspoon of salt, etc., but the ideal way to achieve consistent, delicious results is to bake by weight.”
If you’re ready to up your bread-making game, a decent kitchen scale is a very useful tool when baking at home.
Add Some Power To Your Kneading
Food processors can mix perfect bread dough very quickly. They can only handle a loaf or two at a time, so buy the biggest capacity you can afford, and use the metal blade. Not all processors have motors powerful enough to mix bread dough, so check the box, which should tell you if the machine will handle bread dough. Ive had good experience with Cuisinart. Heavy-duty mixers work best with breads that have some eggs or fat in them, such as sandwich bread or cinnamon buns. Theyre also great for the whipping, creaming, and blending that cake baking needs. They dont do as good a job with doughs that contain no fat or eggs, such as European-style peasant bread.
An oblique mixer may be for you if you bake in large quantities and have the oven space to do so. The revolving, twopronged fork will mix up the most gorgeous dough imaginable, but youll need a little practice to operate this mixer: you have to break or maneuver the work bowl as the dough is mixing. Oblique mixers are easy to clean and very sturdy. And they ring in at about $1,250.
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Everything You Need To Bake Bread According To Josey Baker
There’s not much that compares to fresh-baked bread. Well, except for a loaf that you baked yourself. If you’ve never baked bread before, I heartily suggest that you give it a shot. It’s easy, you dont need that much equipment, and you wind up with something delicious.
But a word of caution? You may enjoy it so much that you end up quitting your day job and bake bread all the time…which is what happened to meand I’m certainly not complaining.
A Utility Knife Or Lame
Finally, you’ll want to have some sort of razor to score the bread. You can use a proper baker’s lame, a box cutter with a fresh blade, a utility knife, or a razor blade even a sharp paring knife will do. If we haven’t already convinced you that every kitchen needs a utility knife, now’s the time to take our words to heart.
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Your Bread Is Raw Or Chewy In The Middle
In this case, you didnt bake your bread for long enough. To prevent raw or chewy bread, check your breads internal temperature before removing it from the oven to ensure its baked.
If youre still having issues, you may have to calibrate your oven, as mentioned above. You want to be sure that 350º is really 350º.
Where Does It Get Its Name
Since batard bread is from French cuisine the name also originates from the French dialect.
The bread was one of the last classic shapes that the French formed and is a cross between and baguette and a boule loaf. They consider it to be a half-bred variant.
Batard translates to bastard in English, which, apart from illegitimate child, also means untypical or irregular. It describes the batard bread version perfectly.
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Dissolve The Yeast And Activate It By Proofing
This is a simple process that takes about 5 minutes. You can see a picture below what yeast looks like when its proofed. Its possible to kill yeast if you use too hot of water, so aim for slightly warmer than luke-warm, or about 105°F. Combine warm water, yeast and 1 TBSP of the granulated sugar in your mixing bowl. Give it a quick stir and then let it sit for 5 minutes. Youll begin to see the yeast puff up until it covers the entire surface of the water.
Should Dressing Be Covered While Cooking
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Keep stuffing tightly covered with foil and bake until mostly heated through, about 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until crispy edges form, about 10 to 20 minutes longer. The stuffing must register 165 degrees on an internal thermometer to be safe to eat.
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Help My Kitchen Is Cool And I Dont Have A Warm Spot To Rise My Dough
It may be that room temperature isnt quite warm enough to get your dough to rise. But no worries, you can easily manufacture a warm spot for your dough to rise. Here are a few options:
- Use the oven. Many modern ovens have a proof setting. Turn that on and place your covered dough in there to rise. If you dont have that setting, an oven light often pumps out enough heat too. Or, just turn your oven to a low temp for a few minutes, then turn it off, and put the dough in the warm oven.
- Use the fire/wood stove/furnace. Our fireplace hearth is an excellent place to let dough rise. Wood stoves, radiators, and other warm sources of radiant heat are a good option, too. Just make sure to rotate the dough if the heat source is one-directional .
- Try the top of the fridge. The top of our refrigerator is nice and toasty! Yours might be, too. Try it.
- On top of a bowl of boiling water. This is my favorite tip, and one that consistently works for me. Boil water in a kettle. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Rest the covered pan/bowl of dough on top of the bowl of water. The heat from the steam does wonders to get dough to pop up fast!
- On top of a heating pad. This is a great trick! Pull out a heating pad, set it to medium, and place your pan on top of the heating pad.
- Try outside. This isnt applicable in November in Indiana, but in August? You better believe Im putting my dough out in the 90-degree sun on the back deck to rise.
Punch Dough And Shape It
Punching the dough down quickly releases any air pockets that have developed and helps your bread have a more consistent rise and texture. Shape your dough by rolling it gently into a ball and rolling it 2 or 3 times on the countertop so that the ball is more oblong. I usually punch down and shape the dough quickly, then place in a greased bread pan.
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Easy Homemade Sandwich Bread
There are few things in life that are more rewarding than slicing into a loaf of bread that you made at home. A loaf from the store just cant replicate the smell, texture, and heavenly taste of homemade breadand feeling a good dose of pride because of your beautiful creation doesnt hurt either.
Making your own sandwich bread is an easy, beginner-friendly entry point into working with yeast and making breads. Being able to make your own bread is a wonderful tool to put in your self-reliance toolkitif the stores are out of bread or you cant get to the store, no problem! You can whip up your own loaf in just a few hours. Below, youll find a complete visual step-by-step tutorial to walk you through the process, so lets get baking!
Adapting A Manual Recipe For The Bread Machine
When converting a handmade bread recipe to the bread machine, it helps to have a cheat sheet. Review some bread machine recipes that you’ve had success with. How many cups of flour are in them? How much liquid? Then, adjust the ingredient amounts from the manual bread recipe, being careful not to exceed your machine’s capacity. Consider that most handmade bread recipes make two loaves and can be divided in half to make a recipe that is roughly the right size for a bread machine. For example, a handmade bread recipe that makes two 9×5-inch loaves may be divided in half to make a 1 1/2-pound bread machine loaf.
Formulas for Sizing Your Recipe:
- 1-pound loaf takes about 7/8 cup liquid and 2 3/4 cups flour.
- 1.5-pound loaf takes about 1 cup liquid and 3 cups flour.
- 2-pound loaf takes about 1 1/3 cup liquid and 4 cups flour.
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Yes You Can Make This Recipe In A Bread Machine Scroll Down To See Full Homemade Bread Recipe And Ingredients With Printable Instructions For Your Bread Machine
I love to cook and I am a pretty confident baker, however, one thing Ive struggled with is finding a really incredible bread recipe. I know- kind of funny being as there are a zillion out there and bread is one of those basics that almost anyone can make themselves. Nevertheless, I keep trying new recipes and have finally found one I really like and have gotten good results from! Even better- its easy and from start to finish it takes just over 2 hours!
Optional Reading: More About Flours And Gluten
Gluten, a protein in wheat flour, is what provides the structure in bread, which is why you use high-protein flour to make bread. Strands of gluten are woven together by mixing and then inflate as the yeast multiplies. High-protein flours help give yeast breads a chewy texture, so look for flour ground from hard wheat with 13 or more grams of protein per cup .
If you want to add more stability to your bread, you can add a product called vital wheat gluten. This is especially important if 25% of the total flour in your recipe is a low- or no-gluten variety such as whole wheat flour, cornmeal, rye flour, soy flour or oatmeal. The rule of thumb is to add 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten for every cup of low- or no-gluten flour that is being used in your recipe. Bagels and pizza dough also benefit from the added elasticity of high-gluten flour.
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What Ingredients Do I Need To Make My Own Sandwich Bread
This recipe is incredibly flexible and simpleno fussing with thermometers, no fancy flours. Heres what youll need:
- Hot water.
- Cold milk. A lot of bread recipes call for warm water to activate the yeast, but we mix hot water with cold milk to get the temperature just right. That way, we can be sure we dont accidentally kill the yeast!
- Honey or sugar. This is food for the yeast, and will help it get all bubbly, which makes for a lighter, fluffier loaf of bread!
- Active dry yeast. I prefer to work with dry active yeast, but this recipe is so flexible, you can also use rapid rise/instant yeast or bread machine yeast if thats what you can get your hands on.
- Butter or vegetable oil. I recommend using unsalted butter, so that you can have full control over the final flavor.
- Salt.
- Flour. You have tons of options here! Use bread flour or regular all-purpose flour. Use only all-purpose flour for white sandwich bread, 100% whole wheat flour for whole wheat bread, or a mix of flours to get something in between a whole wheat and white bread!
How To Make Bread In A Bread Machine
Of all the many ways machines make our lives easier, taking the hard work out of baking bread has to rank way up there among the all-time greats. OK, you can fight us on this, arguing that there’s great benefit to be had from activating the yeast, mixing the ingredients just so, rising, kneading, and forming loaves by hand. To which we answer absolutely yes, but not everyone has time to do that these days. So we stand fast in our appreciation of the labor-saving bread machine.
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You Can Bake Good Bread With Just A Few Basics
Measuring cups and spoons will get you going. You dont even need a big bowlyou can mix and knead bread dough on any work surface.
Start out with a loaf pan or even a castiron skillet or a gratin dish to bake the bread in just be sure the container is food-grade and ovenproof. Id advise against coffee cansthe lead sealants in the cans can leach into the bread.
What Size Cast Iron Should I Get
Cast iron skillet sizing FAQs. What size skillet is best for a single person? If you are cooking breakfast for yourself, we recommend the 8 inch skillet, which fits about two eggs. If you are planning to use your skillet for dinner, we recommend a roomier skillet between 10.25 inch and 12 inch skillet.
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