As a follow up to prior blog, the rock tumbling was successful. A few of the rocks I gathered here at the ranch proved worthy, and many of my granddaughter's rocks, mostly quartz, from the ranch her Daddy works on were very pretty. Unfortunately the pictures don't do them justice and a few of them could have stood to be tumbled longer to get all the scratches off of them, but it was a great learning experience and I hope to do better. Meanwhile, I learned how to drill holes in the smaller ones to use them up.
As everyone has been home bound lately, I assume many are getting to the point they might decide this is the time to be a tad more self sufficient. Having lived 4 hours from town for the past 13 years, I’ve got that nailed down pretty well.
So today, we will talk about making bread.
There are so many choices and recipes to choose from, all equally delicious.
Let’s start with a basic white bread.
There are different kinds of flour. All purpose flour is fine, but bread flour is nice for loaves as it has a bit more gluten and rises better, making for a lighter loaf. If you have a grain mill, you can also make your own flour out of various things, wheat, almond, rice, etc. I prefer wheat. I usually buy #25-#50 of wheat berries at a time. I have soft white, (for cakes, pastry, etc) hard white (for white bread) and hard red (for stronger flavored wheat breads, great in waffles) on hand. However, if you are milling your own flour you are probably already an expert and don't need to read this blog. So lets stick with all purpose, bread flour, or commercial wheat flour which is nothing like the flour that is ground at home as both the hull and the wheat germ have been removed, along with much of their nutrition.
Yeast comes in different forms as well. You can buy it in packets, jars or bricks. It can be kept indefinitely in a freezer and for a good long time in the fridge. You will find Active Dry, Instant Dry and Rapid Rise Yeast. I use the Active dry as I buy it in big bricks so I always proof it. The only difference is that Active Dry requires activation by proofing in warm water while Instant Dry does not. The Rapid Rise is usually used in bread machines, which I don't really care for myself.
Keep your yeast tightly sealed. Mine is kept in a little crock with a rubber seal.
Yeast is a living organism. Baker's yeast began to be made and used in 1857 or so, making leavening bread faster and more reliable, but at some cost to both the. nutrition and flavor of the bread itself. But, I digress. We are talking first about bread made with commercial yeast, so...
let’s assume your yeast is good.
Most bread recipes have sugar or honey in them. Primarily, sugar is food for the yeast and speeds up the yeast breaking down the starch in the flour. Honey does the same but also adds a nice flavor to wheat bread.
Salt regulates the yeast activity, helping the yeast to ferment more evenly. It also assists in shelf life and gives the dough body as well as enhancing flavor.
Oil/Lard/Crisco also helps keep the bread from drying out and going stale as quickly as it would without.
You will need something to cook your bread in. Bread pans are the most popular, but different recipes can be cooked in a dutch oven, in baguette pan or even free form. Some require a brotform which is a type of basket the bread rises in then is quickly dumped onto parchment paper on a hot stone.
You will need a serrated bread knife or slicer. I use both.
The first thing I do, is to “proof my yeast” in a bit of warm water. You don't want the water too hot or it will kill the yeast. If the recipe uses milk and egg, like most white bread and other recipes, you will use less water to proof the yeast and usually scald the milk on the stove before adding the fat, sugar and salt to it. Let those cool before adding to the proofed yeast.
It will look sort of poofy-ish on the top of the water if it is still good.
If it doesn’t, you need fresher yeast.
Yeast is a living organism. Baker's yeast began to be made and used in 1857 or so, making leavening bread faster and more reliable, but at some cost to both the. nutrition and flavor of the bread itself. We are talking first about bread made with commercial yeast, so...
let’s assume your yeast is good.
Add your salt and about 2-3 cups of your flour to start making your dough. I use a stand mixer, but used to do it all by hand.
I have both a KitchenAid and a Bosch Mixer. The KA can make 2 loaves nicely, but my Bosch makes 4 and is easier both to use and to clean up. Trust me, if you are looking to purchase a mixer, go for the Bosch. It can do SO much more! It also has an 850 watt motor as opposed to KA's 250watt. I made bread for decades without a mixer, so it's not a deal breaker. But with RA and PsA, my hands can no longer do the work without great cost. I can make 4 loaves at a time in the Bosch, then I slice, wrap and freeze it and have a month's worth of homemade bread done in an afternoon, for pennies.
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| The Bosch isn't pretty but its worth its weight in gold |
By hand, use a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the rest of the flour until the dough is rather stiff and not too sticky.
If using a mixer, do the same on low power using the dough hook and after adding all but the last cup of the remainder of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, start adding the last cup of flour a couple of TBL at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Too much flour will make the bread heavy. Too little and it will be too sticky to work with. The weather can affect your bread making, so that's why I recommend adding the flour in this way. It may take a little more or a little less than the recipe calls for. I made many brick loaves in the beginning before I figured this out.
Once the dough is not too sticky (a little bit sticky is good) flour your hands and dump it on a lightly floured surface and begin kneading. The more you knead the bread, the less sticky it will be. Flour your hands rather than adding flour to the dough as the latter will make for a dry, heavy bread.
Using the heels of your hands push down on the dough, fold it over on itself, turn it 1/4 turn and repeat over, and over until it “pushes back”. Kneading not only mixes the ingredients well, but develops the gluten which allows the dough to become elastic and rise without the strands breaking. Without the gluten strands developed, your bread will be hard and flat. You cannot over develop it kneading by hand, but you can by machine, so be careful not to overmix once the dough pulls away from the sides of your mixer bowl. I like to dump it out like when I hand knead and see if the dough is, indeed springing back to my hand. The kneading is a crucial step of breadmaking. If the gluten strands are not developed enough, your bread won't be very good.
Once the dough is elastic and springy, silky (it will feel both smooth an HAPPY) grease a bowl, dump it in, turning it once, and cover, setting it in a warm place to rise. I like to use a cotton cloth, like an old fashioned diaper, that has been soaked in warm water and well squeezed out, to cover my bread. You can also put a bowl of hot water in your oven and set the dough inside to rise. When yeast acts on flour, it converts natural grain sugars and starches into carbon dioxide, which creates air pockets that make the dough rise.
Let it rise til double. You can push a finger into the dough and if it leaves an indent it's ready to dump it out again on your pastry cloth or floured counter top. Punch down, cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.
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| finger print after second rise |
I then fold it all up and cut it down the middle with a dough scraper.
Using my hands, I flatten out the dough into a rectangle, making sure there are no big gas pockets. I then roll it up, pinching the bottom together and folding the ends and pinching under before setting in well greased pan to be covered and rise again until double. Using the finger print method again, I check to see if it’s ready.
Then into the oven it goes.
so let's condense this...
WHITE BREAD
Ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp or 1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups milk, scalded
2 Tbl sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbl fat (butter, crisco or lard)
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups flour
Directions:
Proof yeast in water in large bowl or mixer bowl
Combine hot milk, sugar, fat, and salt, cool to lukewarm
Stir in 2 cups of flour, beat well, then add to yeast mixture
Add flour to make moderately stiff dough.
On lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and springy, 8-10 minutes
Set in greased bowl, turning once, cover and let rise (about 1 hr)
Punch dough down, dump out on counter and cover. Let rest 10 minutes.
Divide dough in half, press down into rectangle with hands, popping any
gas bubbles.
Roll into loaf, pinching bottom together and tucking ends underneath.
Put in greased loaf pans, cover and let rise second time (about 40 min)
Bake @400 for 35 min. Loaf should sound hollow when tapped.
Take loaf out of pan on rack or wooden cutting board. Immediately
rub a cube of butter over tops of loaves and let cool before cutting.
RANDY'S FAVORITE HONEY WHEAT BREAD
Ingredients:
3 cups WW flour
3 cups Bread flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup buttermilk
next day:
4 1/2 tsp yeast
1/4-1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter (or oil, lard)
1 TBL salt
Directions:
Mix flours and liquids and let soak overnight or up to 24 hours
Next day proof yeast in water, add remaining ingredients, then mix with flour mix
As with White Bread recipe above, knead, rise, shape into loaves rise, bake 45 min @ 375
Let me know how it goes. The Honey Wheat bread recipe uses what is known as a "levain" which is a bit like a sourdough starter as it captures wild yeast out of the air, adding to both the rising and flavor of the bread.
Let me know what you think, and how it goes!! And any of you experts, if you have something to add or a super special commercial yeast recipe, please chirp in, to help out my readers who are here trying to learn a new skill!
Next blog will be no-knead bread and sourdough.
Happy baking, from our range to yours!
Me & Heath
