There is quite literally nothing better than fresh bread. It is the taste of home and can make any day immediately better.
It is even better when you make bread in your home as you get the smell wafting around the house that will linger throughout the day.
Contrary to popular belief, bread is surprisingly easy to make. There is the misconception that it needs to be done perfectly in order to get a super tasty loaf, but even when it’s messed-up, it still tastes pretty good.
With enough practice soon you will be making incredible loaves throughout the whole year. Don’t panic if you can’t do it at first, even the best bakers in the world made mistakes at the beginning.
In this guide, we cover five tips that can help you make a perfect loaf of bread. While these tips are general to break making, different recipes call for different techniques so make sure you read them thoroughly before baking.
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1. Measure Carefully
Breadmaking is a science, unlike other recipes, you can’t experiment with the measurements too much. Yes, you are able to make substitutions and add in some seeds or nuts, but when it comes to the main ingredients they need to be measured exactly.
The best way to do this is with a digital scale, you can measure your flour, water and yeast exactly so that they can all work together.
2. Don’t Kill the Yeast
This is probably the tip that most people believe makes bread-making hard. You always hear about not killing the yeast, if you do it won’t let your bread rise and you will end up with a brick, but it is harder to kill it than you realize. All you need to do is avoid extreme temperatures.
When blooming your yeast just make sure you don’t use hot or cold water, lukewarm water is ideal. You don’t even need a thermometer, as long as it feels lukewarm you are good.
Even if you do kill your yeast and your bread doesn’t rise, then at least you get to make some very crunchy, tasty toast out of it!
You will need to feed your yeast by adding salt, you can also add sugar which will balance the salt and also feed the yeast.
3. Knead Correctly
Kneading the dough is done to get air into it and create gluten. This gives the dough that much-needed elasticity and makes it smooth.
All you need to do is stretch, pull, and push the dough for around 10 minutes. While it does require practice, it is one of the best parts about bread making.
4. Be Patient
Bread requires time. It is not a short process and ideally, you want to put aside half a day. It’s not a constant job, most of the time is used to proof the dough, but it is still a long process nonetheless.
The time needed to proof varies depending on the temperature so you will need to consistently check your dough. You want it to almost double in size and when you gently poke it for it to leave an indentation before springing back about halfway.
5. Don’t Cut into It Immediately
I know it may be tempting but try to avoid cutting into your loaf of bread immediately out of the oven. You want to wait for the bread to cool completely before getting a slice. This can take about an hour, and you want to do so on a cooling rack.
This is because cutting into hot or warm bread can completely change its taste and consistency. It will give it a gummier and chewy feel and a less airy and denser taste.
Bread that hasn’t been left to cool will also go stale faster. If you wish you can make two loaves of bread and stick one in the freezer for later. It will still taste delicious after defrosting.
Conclusion
Baking your own bread at home is a great way to save money and get an arguably better tasting loaf of bread.
Kneading the dough and having the satisfaction of making bread is very therapeutic and great for days you just want to relax.
Once you have mastered a simple loaf of bread, then you are able to start experimenting with flavours, toppings, and flours to create a variety of different loaves.
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