Knead to know

A classic white loaf is a great way to begin your breadmaking journey. Here, we share our Test Kitchen secrets for the fundamentals of baking bread.

The principle ingredient in bread is flour, which can be derived from any number of cereal grains, including wheat, rye, barley, corn and oats. A gluten−free flour can also be made from seeds, such as buckwheat, teff or millet.

STAGES OF BREADMAKING

Kneading

While you can use a machine with a dough hook, great pleasure can be had from kneading the dough manually. You will feel the change in the dough through your hands – from tacky or sticky, to elastic and smooth. What you are actually doing is forming a network of gluten, giving the dough elasticity and texture. Dough that is enriched with eggs and butter is sticky, so is best made with a machine.

Proving

After kneading, bread is set aside to prove ‘in a warm place’, the ideal temperature being 27°C. During this proving period, yeast produces carbon dioxide, expanding the dough: warmth stimulates this process. Too much warmth will produce gas too fast for the gluten structure of the dough to support it, leading the dough to collapse in the oven. That said, in cool conditions, even in the fridge, the dough will continue to expand, though at a slower rate. The advantage of a slow rise is a better texture and taste. Proving can take up to one or more hours, so factor this into the time it will take to make the bread. Depending on the time of year and the ambient temperature of your kitchen, you will need to adjust the proving time.

Second rising

After the initial rising, the dough is ‘knocked back’ to redistribute the yeast cells. It is then shaped before being left to expand again and to relax the gluten before baking.

Fermentation

This is the process that gives bread its rise. Saccharomyces cerevisae

(bread yeast, also used in winemaking and brewing) contains enzymes that break down the sugars naturally present in flour. The by−product of this process is the creation of carbon dioxide, which forms bubbles in the dough, causing it to rise.

Leavening

A leaven (or leavening agent) is a rising agent that all breads, other than flatbreads, require to create a light texture. Natural leavens include sourdough starter, baker’s yeast

(dried or fresh), beer and kefir, as well as steam and air. For the home cook, common chemical leavens are bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.

Baker’s yeast

Baker’s yeast was developed 300 years ago, initially as cakes of fresh yeast that required refrigeration, then in a more convenient, shelf−stable, freeze−dried granular form. Dried yeast and fresh are interchangeable, but you will need to use double the amount of fresh yeast for the dried yeast required in a recipe.

Wild yeast

Many species of yeast occur naturally, with the spores present in the air around us. They’re also present as the white blooms on grapes, or as lactic acid bacteria on the grains themselves, and may be found in fermented food such as wine and yoghurt.

Baking

All ovens differ, so get to know how yours behaves. Heat rises, so the top of the oven is generally hotter than the bottom, so using the fan−forced function will circulate the heat more evenly (reduce the temperature by 20°C). The back of the oven tends to be hotter than the front, so you may need to rotate trays if it starts to brown unevenly. To mimic the brick floor of a traditional baker’s oven (or the intense heat of a commercial one) place a heavy−based oven tray or pizza stone in the oven while it preheats. Placing the dough directly onto the hot surface will induce ‘oven spring’ in the dough, forcing it to rise. Baking is a balancing act: you don’t want the crust to form too quickly or the rise won’t be sufficient. Steam helps to delay a crust forming; place ice cubes on an oven tray beneath the bread, or spray water into the oven prior to adding it.

TO COOL OR NOT TO COOL?

The smell of warm baked bread tends to set our taste buds in a state of frenzied anticipation, but should we dive in, or exercise patience? During cooling, the water that was absorbed during the baking process is expelled and evaporates, setting the crumb. This is why if you cut a loaf while it is still hot it may have a sticky, doughy texture. If you can’t resist, then tear, rather than cut, the loaf. There are exceptions: rolls, topped breads and most flatbreads are all fine straight out of the oven.

STORING & FREEZING

Cool bread on wire racks to eliminate steam, which softens the crust. While bread bins traditionally have been used to store bread, they don’t protect it from the ultimate cause of staling: moisture loss. Wrap the bread in plastic wrap or foil, or seal in a large resealable plastic bag and expel the air. Low−moisture breads such as baguettes are best eaten on the day of baking. A sure−fire way to extend the life of bread is to freeze it. Pack cooled bread in freezer bags, expel all the air and freeze immediately. It’s a good idea to slice the loaf before you freeze it, so you only take out the amount you need. Correctly wrapped, bread can be frozen for up to 3 months.