A Few Bread Making Tips

I have become a bit obsessed with bread making as of late. I don't know what it is, but I am on a quest to make the "perfect" loaf of bread as well as master many different types of bread, not just whole wheat. I spend hours reading and researching bread making techniques and I can't wait to try them all out!

Here are a few tips I thought might be helpful.

~Cover your dough with plastic wrap when it is rising. If your recipe calls for a "double rise", put plastic wrap over the bowl holding the dough, then cover it with a towel. Let rise until double in size (usually about an hour). When the dough is rising in the bread pans, cover them with plastic wrap again to keep the dough warm and moist. Dough that dries out too quickly can crack. Remove wrap when dough has doubled and is ready for baking.

~If you are one of those who has called me, frustrated that your bread didn't turn out and you have a KitchenAid, try this. Use your mixing attachment to mix all of the wet ingredients, yeast, salt and 3 cups of flour. Mix until nice and smooth. Then switch to the dough hook and slowly add the remaining flour. Let the machine knead your dough for 8-10 min. Make sure your dough is not too sticky, it needs to be workable. If your machine seems to be having a hard time mixing the dough (i.e. there is too much dough), try cutting the recipe in half and see if that makes any difference.

~ If you don't have a mixer or just want to know how to make bread by hand... Start by mixing all of your wet ingredients, yeast, salt and 3 cups of flour. Stir with a large spoon until nice and smooth. Make sure you get all lumps out as it is VERY hard to do once you start adding the additional flour. Once your dough is nice and smooth, start to add the remaining flour. When the dough becomes too thick to mix with a spoon, put it on a floured surface and begin to knead the dough (slowly incorporating the flour you previously sprinkled down). If your dough is too sticky, add a small amount of flour to the dough until it gets to a nice, workable dough. When you get to this point, knead the dough with the palm of your hand for about 10 minutes. It will give you a nice workout! After the kneading is done, either put the dough in bread pans to rise (for single rise recipes) or in a greased bowl (for double rise recipes).

I am currently trying to master "Cinnamon Burst" bread, like they sell at Great Harvest. I hope I can figure it out! When I do, I will post step by step instructions on the blog and provide a sample to anyone that wants one!

Happy Baking!!