Olive Bread
Zucchini Bread
Zucchini & Carrot Bread
3 Veggies Bread
Bacon & Jalapeño Bread
Spinach Cornbread
Swiss Cheese Cornbread
Bacon Cornbread
Shopping List
Conclusion
Introduction
Bread Baking
It is said that the art of bread baking can be mastered with practice. Of course! Practice does make you perfect, but basic learning is always important. When it comes to baking bread, there are so many techniques, recipes, and the science behind the use of ingredients, which must be learned well by all beginners. The hit-or-miss method might give you good results once in a while, but to get a perfectly textured, soft, moist, and delicious bread, you need to learn everything about bread and how it is baked. Luckily, this cookbook carries all the information about bread baking that a beginner should know. What ingredients to use, how to prepare a perfect dough, how long the dough should be kept, and suitable baking times for a variety of bread. Ever Gingerbread ything is extensively covered in the text of this cookbook.
Introduction to the Bread Baking Process
Bread is perhaps the only baked food that is used and served daily. From breakfast to evening sandwiches, bread is used in a variety of meals. It is, therefore, more convenient and budget-friendly to bake healthy bread at home. It is wise and smart to use fresh and healthy ingredients of your choice and bake according to the required serving size.
Making bread has been around ever since people were able to grind wheat into flour. It evolved over the years, and today we can find hundreds of varieties of bread all around the world. The bread that is baked is soft, spongy, and fluffy in texture. Made out of flour and other side ingredients, a dough is prepared, which is then baked at optimal temperature in an oven to get a soft and brownish bread loaf. The size and shape of the loaf vary from bread to bread. The dough can also be flavored or baked plain. By learning the art of bread baking, a baker can add flavors proportionately and can bake bread, which is soft and fluffy.
So, what makes a good bread? It's not just about the ingredients when it comes to quality bread. How you put those ingredients together is the real secret behind a nicely baked bread loaf. Most baking experts greatly emphasize the pre-baking preparations of bread to get good results. From flour mixing to kneading and leavening of the bread, all of these steps are equally important. And a good baker always keeps them under his consideration. In this section, where you will learn the basic steps of bread baking, there are other important tips about the leavening of bread and what makes a good leavening agent. The various technique of mixing and kneading the dough is also thoroughly discussed here.
Chapter 1: The Process of Making Bread
Plain bread is a combination of a few ingredients that can be used in different proportions to get different sizes of loaves. If you are new to the bakers’ world, then learning a bit about the basic bread ingredients is probably the first and right step for you. Identify the ingredients you will need to make bread, then list their varieties available in the market and bring the most appropriate quality product home. Remember, quality ingredients give quality results!
1. Yeast
What makes the bread fluffy and spongy is yeast. Though used in a small amount, this ingredient is essential for bread baking. It has a distinct aroma and flavor you can taste in every plain bread. How yeast makes the bread fluffy is pure science. Yeast is a biological organism that breaks down carbohydrates present in the dough and produces CO2 gas and alcohol inside. The CO2 inside the dough is later released in the air after baking but leaves the baked bread fluffy and spongy.
Yeast is available in the market under different labels. For baking bread, you may need active dry yeast. It comes in small packets, and it must be mixed with some water and a pinch of sugar for rehydration, and then it is mixed with flour. The other variety that we can use is instant yeast, which does not need rehydration; rather, you can add it directly to the dry ingredients and mix to form a dough. There is yet another variety of yeast, but it has a relatively short shelf life, and that is the fresh yeast. But it has quite a strong flavor and aroma.
2. Flour
Next comes an ingredient that is pivotal to bread baking, and that is flour. The type and texture of the flour greatly define the quality and nutritional value of the bread. It is mostly wheat-based flour that is used to make bread. And within this variety, there are several options available, which can get confusing at times. The amount of gluten protein in the flour tells much about the type and quality of the flour.
Hard Flour
When the gluten is up to 15% of the total weight of flour, then it is termed as hard flour because the bread baked from this flour turns out to be crunchy and chewy in texture.
Soft Flour
Flour having gluten up to 9% of the total weight is termed as soft flour, as the bread baked from it is quite soft and delicate. This flour is suitable for those who can’t have a high-gluten diet.
All-Purpose Flour
All-purpose flour contains gluten up to 11% of the total weight, so its texture lies in the middle of hard and soft flour, and thus it is used in a variety of bread recipes.
Bread Flour
High-gluten flour is available on the market, which is labeled as bread flour. The texture of its dough is perfect for making pizza and bread. The percent of gluten in the bread flour, however, varies with the brand and the type of wheat used.
Whole Wheat Flour
When the wheat is ground into a coarse mixture carrying germ and bran, then it gives you whole wheat flour. This flour contains more protein and fiber than the other variety of flour, but it has a relatively short shelf life so it cannot be stored for long at home.
