Tips for Making Homemade Bread: Baking Bread

Baking good bread is an art!

The tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread immediately says, "Home!" when a person walks through your doorway. Making really good bread is an art that needs to be cultivated worldwide.

Here are some basic bread making tips.

Pick a day when the sky is clear, rather than a cloudy day to make your bread. When the humidity is relatively low, your bread will tend to rise better. If your bread dough rises properly, you will have much lighter bread.

Find a time of day when you are in the mood to make bread, because it is a lot of work and not much fun, when you are too tired to enjoy making it. You will love baking bread, when you see that you can actually succeed in making good bread.

Make certain you have all of your necessary ingredients on hand before you start. Measure these out ahead of time. You do not want to have to make a trip to the store, right in the middle of your baking project. It can be frustrating to start making bread and find out that there are basic ingredients missing. You only need flour, yeast, salt, water and cooking oil to make bread.

Choose a time of day when your kitchen is already warm because it will rise better. Make certain that at that time you want your kitchen to become warm, because it certainly will be when you are baking bread. You may not have time to cool your kitchen down later on, if you are planning on company.

Before you start any baking, make a practice of washing your hands well. When you are making bread, you will be using your hands, unless you have a bread maker that kneads the dough for you. Even then, it is still a good idea. It is wise to wear an apron, as making bread can be messy. If you have long hair, tie that back, so that it does not get in your face or into your bread.

Plan to start your yeast early in the day, because the dough may take a while to rise. The amount of time required will depend upon the kind of yeast that you use. There are a number of different kinds of yeast that you can purchase, so make certain that the one you choose is the kind recommended in the recipe of your choice.

The cost of different kinds of yeast may vary. Be aware that while you can substitute one kind of yeast for another, doing so may render different results. Fast acting yeast will rise much faster than slow acting yeast, but it will also create more air bubbles in the dough. You may have to knead it more, in order to eliminate any possible air holes in your loaves of bread.

Allow yourself sufficient time to make bread, as the rising time needed for making your bread may make a big difference in your meal planning. Read your recipe carefully before you start, so that there are no surprises. Decide how many loaves you are going to make and purchase enough yeast and flour for that number of loaves.

Sifting all of your flour first, will help to lighten your bread. It will also eliminate any unsuspected lumps of flour. Note the kind of flour that your recipe requires, as this can make a big difference in the quality of your bread. Not adding a lot of extra flour when kneading the dough, will help you to keep your bread lighter. 

When you are measuring out your flour, you can add salt, at the same time. That way, you are less likely to forget to include it. It will keep the salt from settling in only one part of your dough.

When you are ready to start your yeast, make certain that you are using the correct amount of water. Using warm water instead of cold water and adding sugar or honey to it, will speed up the activation of the yeast. It takes about ten minutes for yeast to begin its activation process. You will know that it is active, when you see bubbles of yeast floating on top of the water. Place the yeast mixture in a warm place. If you find that your yeast is not rising well, it may be because the room is too cold or you may have purchased old yeast. Sometimes you may need to add another package of yeast to the water. If the yeast does not rise well, the bread may turn out heavier than you want it to be.

Use a second bowl for mixing other ingredients. If you are making plain bread, you may only need to measure out the correct amount of warm water. For sweet bread, this may be any combination of warm water, warm milk, oil, eggs, honey or sugar. Whisking these ingredients together will help to lighten your bread. When this mixture is ready, add your activated yeast to it. (You can use cold water if necessary, but be aware that it may slow the yeast activation or kill the yeast entirely.)

Start to add your flour and salt to this mixture, a bit at a time, using a large whisk. Stirring it in only a clockwise direction, will help to develop a consistent texture in your bread. When it becomes too thick to use the whisk, you can use your hands to mix the dough further. If you want relatively light bread dough, only add small amounts of flour at a time, when you are kneading it, until you get it at the consistency that you desire. Sticky dough means lighter bread.

If you pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl, you can put a bit of oil on the inside of the bowl. It makes it easier to form the dough into a ball. Place it on a floured sheet and knead it further. Kneading the dough in only one direction, will help the bread texture to become more uniform in consistency. When the dough has been kneaded, put it back into the bowl. Use a clean bowl that has been well greased or oiled. If you put cooking oil or shortening on the dough, it will not dry out. Cover the dough with a clean cotton cloth, put it in a warm place and let it rise for an hour or so.

When your dough has doubled in size, punch it down, knead it again and let it rise a second time. You may want to do this one more time, depending upon how well your bread dough is rising. Kneading the dough well helps to take out any bubbles of air that may have formed.

After it has been kneaded several times, you can separate the dough into three or four similar sized pieces, which you will shape into loaves. Once you have formed your loaves, place them on a greased baking sheet or in a greased loaf pan. Let them rise to double the size of the loaves you have just made. In the meantime, turn the oven on and let it get hot. Remember that bread needs to be baked at a relatively high temperature.

Place the loaf pans in the hot oven. You will know that the loaves are baked, when you can tap on them and hear a knocking sound. Your bread should turn out a golden brown color. Check one loaf and make certain that the center is not doughy. If it is still doughy, then it is not properly baked. Put it back into the oven and bake it a while longer.

When your bread is almost baked, you may apply a glaze to give it a shiny appearance. Not all kinds of bread need to be glazed. There are a number of different recipes available for glazes. Use a glazing brush and dip it into the glaze mixture of your choice and brush the top of the loaf. You can do this several times if you choose.

When you take your bread out of the oven, you will see that the bottom of the loaves will be light brown in color. Be careful that you do not over bake your bread, as it will be dry, if you do over bake it. Place the hot loaves of bread on cookie racks. If you leave them in the loaf pans, the bottom of the loaves will be moist. 

Allow the bread to cool. Don't be afraid to cut a crust off and put a little pat of butter on it. You will more than likely find out that you have made a wonderful loaf of bread!

If you are making specialty breads, they may take longer to rise because of the contents. If you are adding raisins, it is a good idea to coat them with flour, first. Using crushed cardamom seeds is a great addition to sweet bread, as they will keep the bread fresh. Cinnamon, raisins, apples and brown sugar in cinnamon buns, tastes wonderful.

You may be able to add some of your ideas to this list of tips. Either way, happy baking.