Bread Making

I have received several comments and emails lately about bread baking. I decided it would be a good time to post a few tips on bread baking.

Growing up my mom made homemade bread and pizza crusts. My best friend’s mom and several others moms I knew growing up also made bread. My sisters all know how to make bread. It is something that I have seen done so many times that I forget that many of you do not know much about bread making.

I am no expert on bread making. However, I have made a lot of bread and other yeast products over the years. So, here are a few of my tips for beginner bread makers.

1. Start easy. If you are new to bread making, start with a simple recipe. The first bread I ever made was a recipe from my grandmother that I posted about last year. The original recipe used all white flour, so give it a try that way. You can read it here. It is a pretty basic and simple recipe. My 40 minute roll recipe is also an easy one to start with. You can make it with all white flour and leave out the dough enhancer.

2. Make pizza crust. Pizza crust is a great way to practice working with yeast doughs.

3. Do not start with a recipe that calls for whole wheat. I love whole wheat. I think it is very healthy to use in bread. I use it in most of my homemade bread products. But I think whole wheat is harder to work with. It is harder to get good results. So work with regular flour first and then slowly start using whole wheat.

4. Yeast does go bad. It will not last forever. The best place to keep yeast is in the refrigerator. It will help it last longer.

5. The water temperature that you use to dissolve the yeast in does matter. If you are new to bread baking I highly recommend using an instant read thermometer. You want the liquid at 110 degrees. If it is much hotter than this you will kill the yeast and your bread or roll will not rise. After years of baking bread I can pretty much tell the temperature of the water without using a thermometer. But in the beginning it is very useful.

6. Don’t give up. It may take a few tries to get a good result.
Those are a few of my bread making tips. Does anyone have any other tips to add? I am sure I missed some that beginner bread makers would love to hear about.

For more kitchen tips see Tammy’s Recipes.