All About Bread

Bread can come in different flavours, forms and sizes. However, they are typically all the same. You should know more about the different kinds to learn the many ways of making them. The more you understand the features and characteristics of dough, the better the quality of your products. Find out more about bread and see how much more you can add to create your own special taste and design.

What is Bread?

Bread is a basic food prepared by cooking water and dough of flour and potentially other ingredients. Doughs are generally baked in the Western world and several other countries. In other cuisines, bread is fried, steamed or baked on a hot skillet. It can be unleavened or leavened too.

Salt, leavening agents and fat like baking soda and yeast are basic ingredients. Bread may also have other ingredients like egg, sugar, milk, spice, fruit like raisins, nuts like walnuts, vegetables like onion and seeds like poppy seeds. Bread is among the oldest prepared foods in the world, dating back hundreds of years. Leavened bread can also be traced back to prehistoric periods.

More About Bread

Fresh bread is acquired for its quality, aroma, taste and texture. It is important to maintain its freshness to keep the food appetizing. Bread that has dried or stiffened past its ideal state is known to be stale. Recent bread is usually wrapped in plastic or paper film. It may also be stored in a container like a breadbox to keep it from drying. Bread kept in moist and warm environments is prone to mould growth. Bread that is kept at low temperatures like being placed inside a refrigerator can grow moulds slower compared to bread kept at room temperature. This will turn stale immediately because of retrogradation.

The crumb is described by culinary experts and bakers as the soft inside part of the bread. This should not be mistaken with small pieces of bread that usually fall off called crumbs. The outside hard part of the bread is known as the crust.

Serving Bread

Bread can be served regardless of temperature. As soon as it is baked, it can eventually be toasted. Bread is usually eaten using your hands or a knife and fork. It can be eaten independently or together with other food and sauces like gravy, olive oil and sardines. It is also best served as a sandwich with cheese, vegetables or meat contained in between.

About the Crust

The crust of the bread is created from exposed dough during the cooking procedure. It is browned and hardened from caramelization of the proteins and sugars using the intense heat at the surface of the bread. The nature of the bread crust is different, based on the kind of bread and the manner of baking. Commercial bread is baked using jets the steam towards the bread directly to make a nice crust. Some bread crusts are unpalatable, especially among children. Crusts always have a different colour compared to the rest of the bread.

Making Homemade Bread

There are virtually hundreds of different recipes in making bread. However, it will be more advantageous if you start with the basics. Homemade breads is very easy to prepare, more nutritious and has a personalized touch that cannot be copied by machines and commercial bakers. You can learn the basic steps then develop your own creative form. Here are tips.

What You Need

You will need 1 big mixing bowl. Experts recommend that you prepare a second one just in case. If you only have one, you can wash it in the middle of the bread making process. Other tools you will need include 1 spoon to stir the dough, 1 measuring cup, 1 measuring spoon (1 teaspoon recommended), 1 bread pan to bake the bread in and 1 hand towel to cover the bread as the dough rises to prevent dust and drafts from making contact.

The food ingredients you will need are 1/4 cup of milk, 5 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 pack of active dry yeast from your local grocery store, 5 teaspoons of butter, 2.5 to 3.5 cups of flour (preferably unbleached white) and non-stick cooking spray or corn starch to keep the bread from sticking to the pan and bowl.

About the Process

Mix the dough first using a stand mixer, instead of the usual stirring and kneading. Warm the bowl by filling it with hot water. Mix the yeast by following the instructions on the package. Adding a cup of warm water to the yeast then stirring will lead to tan-colored water with a few bubbles. Melt the butter in a microwave oven, then add the salt, milk and sugar to the yeast liquid, stirring everything until it appears light tan. Add 2 cups of flour. Start stirring then add 1/4 cup of flour every 1 minute or so. Continue adding flour until the dough becomes sticky. Try to aim for the dough just leaving a thin layer of flour.

Kneading the Dough

Kneading is done next. Take some flour between your hands then rub it together over the area where you plan to knead. Get the dough ball then place it on the table. Beat the dough for 10 minutes. Punch the dough flat and fold it into a ball again and again. Put the ball of dough back into the bow.

Place a cloth over the bowl and set it in a slightly warm place for 1 hour. Ideally, this should be set over the stove top. Expect the dough to rise after an hour. It should at least be twice as big as its original size. Lay it out and make a rectangular shape. Place it in a bread pan afterwards.

Final Steps

Take the towel and use it to cover the homemade loaf. Wait for another hour. Clean all the rest of the tools and ingredients. Expect the bread to raise more. Place the loaf of bread in the oven and set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Afterwards, pull the bread out and take it out of the pan to cool.

Bread Making with Bill & Sheila
_____________________________________________________________________
If you require a high quality printout of this article, just click on the printer symbol next to ’Share and enjoy’, and we will do the rest. This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)

Return from bread to Home Page

If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors – check out these sites THEY ARE FREE. Spanishchef more than doubled its ‘New Visitors’ last month simply by signing up to these sites:




Follow spanishchef.net on TWITTER