SSanf
January 3rd, 2005, 03:27 PM
Ah, bread, the staff of life. What a wonder it is!
Want to understand this bread business? Well, here is all I know.
What is bread? Well, it is yeast, something to feed the yeast, water and flour.
OK, here's the deal. Yeast is a living breathing thing. You can't make real yeast bread without something being alive in it before you bake it. Sorry about that. I know it sounds cruel but that is the way it is. The holes in the bread are made by the yeast breathing and the breath being caught in the wet flour.
So, how do you make bread? Well, first you need some of those yeasties. You can just set out a trap and catch them in the air around you since they are everywhere but the best bet is to at least start with some store bought ones. You can grow your own later.
Now, you need to activate them. That means you kind of wake them up because they are asleep when you buy them. To activate them you need to do the obvious. Give them some food and water. Take a bowl and dissolve the yeast in some water. How much makes no never mind as you will see. I would say about a cup to a teaspoon of the yeasties won't hurt. Now feed them. They love anything sweet, sugar, honey molasses...all good.
OK, they are wet and fed. Add some of your flour, enough for it to look like a very wet sticky gooey mess. if it doesn't try to stick to your fingers, it isn't as wet as it should be.
Next, like any young thing, you have to keep them warm and covered. So get a damp cloth and cover the bowl and set it in a warm place.
This should take about five minutes to accomplish and now you can go do something else.
The proportions really don't matter very much. The more yeast to flour the more breathing going on. The fewer, the less breathing going on. How long you let the mess sit will be sort of determined by how many yeasties you started with. Just don't try to hurry the process by dumping in a pound of yeast. The poor dears do need time to wake up and breath.
So, anyhow after an hour or two take a peak. If your dough has doubled in size, all well and good. If not, put it in a bit warmer place and just wait until it does even if it takes all day.
OK, then. pound it down and release all that air. Don't worry, you won't kill them.....yet. Now, put a handful of flour on a flat surface, dump the dough on top of it and start working it into the dough. push your dough back and forth until you have mixed in enough new flour for it to really feel like play dough. This is called "kneading". You should really work the dough back and forth a few minutes because it releases something called "gluten" which is what makes your bread stick together and traps the yeast breath.
OK now, shape the dough into something, usually a loaf shape but a bread man is always nice, too.
Place your creation on a cookie sheet or in a greased bread pan and oil up all the surfaces. If you don't the "skin" may dry out and the bread may not rise as well as it should. Cover, again, with a damp cloth. And once again set it aside in a warm place.
Now, if you are really fooling around, this might have taken all of ten minutes.
Of course, I am assuming that you always rinse things off and clean as you go so in a few seconds you should have everything cleaned up and put away except your fine bread creation.
Again ignore the bread for a bit and find something else worthy of your time and attention. Like maybe, posting here.
In time the bread will again have doubled in size and it is ready for the oven. Bake it at 350 degrees until it is golden brown and has a good solid thump when you flick it with your fingernail.
You can always add stuff to the bread as you go, cheese, bacon, sauted onions, herbs. You name it. It will probably be good.
See? Nothing to it. I raised 7 kids and we many times had to forgo store bought. It took all together about 15 minutes a day to have fresh baked bread in the house at all times. When I was rushed or lazy, I made two batches and we had day old. Still good but not the same as when you smell it in the oven.
Warmed the house with the baking and warmed the heart with the eating.
Enjoy!
(No slight intended to those who already know and understand bread, of course. I suspect there are those who don't know and have missed the pleasure.)
Want to understand this bread business? Well, here is all I know.
What is bread? Well, it is yeast, something to feed the yeast, water and flour.
OK, here's the deal. Yeast is a living breathing thing. You can't make real yeast bread without something being alive in it before you bake it. Sorry about that. I know it sounds cruel but that is the way it is. The holes in the bread are made by the yeast breathing and the breath being caught in the wet flour.
So, how do you make bread? Well, first you need some of those yeasties. You can just set out a trap and catch them in the air around you since they are everywhere but the best bet is to at least start with some store bought ones. You can grow your own later.
Now, you need to activate them. That means you kind of wake them up because they are asleep when you buy them. To activate them you need to do the obvious. Give them some food and water. Take a bowl and dissolve the yeast in some water. How much makes no never mind as you will see. I would say about a cup to a teaspoon of the yeasties won't hurt. Now feed them. They love anything sweet, sugar, honey molasses...all good.
OK, they are wet and fed. Add some of your flour, enough for it to look like a very wet sticky gooey mess. if it doesn't try to stick to your fingers, it isn't as wet as it should be.
Next, like any young thing, you have to keep them warm and covered. So get a damp cloth and cover the bowl and set it in a warm place.
This should take about five minutes to accomplish and now you can go do something else.
The proportions really don't matter very much. The more yeast to flour the more breathing going on. The fewer, the less breathing going on. How long you let the mess sit will be sort of determined by how many yeasties you started with. Just don't try to hurry the process by dumping in a pound of yeast. The poor dears do need time to wake up and breath.
So, anyhow after an hour or two take a peak. If your dough has doubled in size, all well and good. If not, put it in a bit warmer place and just wait until it does even if it takes all day.
OK, then. pound it down and release all that air. Don't worry, you won't kill them.....yet. Now, put a handful of flour on a flat surface, dump the dough on top of it and start working it into the dough. push your dough back and forth until you have mixed in enough new flour for it to really feel like play dough. This is called "kneading". You should really work the dough back and forth a few minutes because it releases something called "gluten" which is what makes your bread stick together and traps the yeast breath.
OK now, shape the dough into something, usually a loaf shape but a bread man is always nice, too.
Place your creation on a cookie sheet or in a greased bread pan and oil up all the surfaces. If you don't the "skin" may dry out and the bread may not rise as well as it should. Cover, again, with a damp cloth. And once again set it aside in a warm place.
Now, if you are really fooling around, this might have taken all of ten minutes.
Of course, I am assuming that you always rinse things off and clean as you go so in a few seconds you should have everything cleaned up and put away except your fine bread creation.
Again ignore the bread for a bit and find something else worthy of your time and attention. Like maybe, posting here.
In time the bread will again have doubled in size and it is ready for the oven. Bake it at 350 degrees until it is golden brown and has a good solid thump when you flick it with your fingernail.
You can always add stuff to the bread as you go, cheese, bacon, sauted onions, herbs. You name it. It will probably be good.
See? Nothing to it. I raised 7 kids and we many times had to forgo store bought. It took all together about 15 minutes a day to have fresh baked bread in the house at all times. When I was rushed or lazy, I made two batches and we had day old. Still good but not the same as when you smell it in the oven.
Warmed the house with the baking and warmed the heart with the eating.
Enjoy!
(No slight intended to those who already know and understand bread, of course. I suspect there are those who don't know and have missed the pleasure.)