Bread baking, some tips

Originally I was going to write a long post about bread baking, sharing the knowledge I have acquired the past 6 or so years. This post was to include all sorts of information including the relationship that flour, gluten, water, and yeast have. Then I found a webpage that did a much better job of explaining and with more knowledge than I had, so instead of rehashing it here and doing a poor job of it, I will simply provide the link, Tips for Baking With Gluten-Free Flour, it is actually an About page for Celiac disease, which now that I think about makes perfect sense.

As I said, I did want to share some of my knowledge and while that one website took care of quite a bit, I still do have some tips. If you wish to skip over my history with bread baking and go right to the tip click here

I started baking bread in the bread machine my grandmother had given me. First, let me explain, I grew up on white store bought, the soft bread, the soft crust, and the taste. In fact, I don't think I had ever had home made bread until that bread machine. So the first loaf I made out of the bread machine, while not bad, was not impressive to me. The crust was hard, the bread crumbly and dry. Workable yes, but not desirable in my opinion. Cook and others disagreed but I simply liked the store bought more.

I can't exactly remember when or why I switched from the bread machine to the oven. It was probably when my parents gave Cook and me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, one that had a dough hook and an engine powerful enough to work bread dough. The why was probably just to give it a try. Whenever it was, whatever the reason, it was a good enough change. Doing it in the oven just worked better. I had more control over all the steps and stages, plus I became more familiar and intimate with what the dough looks and tastes (yes, tastes) like at each stage. This control and knowledge improved the bread a bit more.

It wasn't until 2010, a year after we had moved into our house, though that I actually began to make bread that I felt could outright replace store bought. Cook convinced me that it would be far cheaper to make it than buy it. He was, and still is, correct on that. Between buying base goods and buying in bulk I can make a loaf of bread, white or 100% whole wheat, at half to two-thirds the cost of buying the cheapest bread in the store. Further my loaves are baked in 9 by 5 loaf pans and turn out quite large.

Through all this though, one thing plagued me. How to actually modify and adjust all these recipes. Now I'm not talking about modifying the amount called for to adjust for size and amount, I'm talking about modifying to make the loaf bigger or smaller, more crumbly or not, the crust softer or crisper, so on. I could follow the directions but I really didn't know what each ingredient actually did, further I did know that it was all a careful balance. Too much or too little of something could ruin the whole loaf. In short I knew enough to know I didn't know anything. That is what the internet is for. So I dug, looked into, and research. No, I don't have a science degree on baking bread, not even close, but I do have some knowledge I would like to pass on all in one post. Hopefully this will save some other bread baker some time in research or at least explain why your crust is so hard and your bread so dry.

Tips

• Garlic and kills yeast. Do not put garlic in your dough. If you wish to have garlic bread, add it to your butter to spread on.
• Heat can kill yeast. When mixing a hot liquid with yeast, even already activated, let the liquid sit on the counter for 15 to 30 minutes to let it cool down.
• Cold can inhibit yeast. Let anything that comes from the fridge or some other cold location warm up to room temperature, roughly 30 minutes on the counter.
• Milk and oil are unnecessary for the most part. They change the bread but if you lack the ingredient you can do without. Milk adds a tender crumb and oil moistens the dough.
• Why recipes call for scalding milk: There is an amino acid in milk that inhibits yeast, the heat destroys it. You can skip the heating up, and the additional dish to wash, by using dry milk, which has already gone through that process. I am uncertain if pasteurization does this as well.
• Oil is oil. Butter can be replaced with any oil that I know of on a 1 for 1 basis. Mostly this is a personal preference for taste. I have noticed that when I use vegetable oil my bread rises more, I am uncertain of why but there you go.
• You've hear of replacing oils and/or sugar with applesauce in other recipes? You can in bread as well. In fact in my whole wheat recipe I don't use any oil or sugar, nor honey or molasses. I use applesauce, sounds strange I know but it does work quite fine.
• 1 pound of flour is roughly equal to 1 loaf of bread. This will change somewhat depending on the recipe, that's why I say roughly.
• Ideal environment for rising bread is between 75 and 90 degrees fahrenheit and moist. Since I live in a cold house the counter simply wasn't good enough. A could of trick are:
• Use a large heavy duty bag that you can close, preferably clear. Place loaves and a steaming cup of hot water, then seal. You will need to make sure that the plastic doesn't touch the dough.
• Make, find, or buy a nice sturdy box large enough to fit your loaf pans and/or a tray of rolls. Cover the inside with reflectex (it's like foil but thicker and not prone to tearing), it's a good insulation material. Pick up a simple light bulb base with a cord, easily found at Home Depot or Lowes, insert or attach in such a way as to minimize heat loss. Finally pick up one of those old, I mean vintage, light bulbs that are energy inefficient but produce plenty of heat. And there you go. I should post an image at some later point.