Home made foods

[Lithgae]

Originally Posted by jinmich

Easy to make


Buy a frozen clump of dough and stick it in the oven!

Lol!

Janet

Never seen frozen bread dough here... i know they have it in the US.
I guess it's not really necessary with breadmakers so prevalent.

[Babz]

I agree...I now have a breadmaker and love it !!

[HollyElise]

Way to go, Babz!

I've taught a few people how to bake, and i usually find if they are disappointed with their results, there are a few key points to check out:

1. Old yeast. If it's been sitting in your cupboard a while, it may not work properly. "Proofing" the yeast helps the yeast start to activate. It also lets you see if the yeast is going to work or if it's too old! Put the yeast into the warm water with a little sugar or honey and wait 5 minutes. If you don't see bubbles or even movement in the mixture, then don't waste your ingredients by adding it to the yeast! It won't rise properly.

2. The moisture of the bread is important to a successful rise. A dense loaf may be because the dough was not soft enough. I tell people, "sticky, but not tacky." You want it moist enough that it almost clings to the fingers, but not quite.... your fingers should stay clean. You don't want it so dry that you get creases in your bread that don't want to connect.

3. Adequate kneading. Particularly when doing it by hand, people tend not to knead enough! Kneading is not about MIXING! Just because it looks homogenous doesn't mean it's been kneaded enough! Kneading is exciting the little yeasty-beasties into action! It also lines up the glutten fibers which act like the framework for the bread to rise... sort of like scaffolding. When you break open a well made french loaf have you ever noticed the texture? That's because of the glutten and the kneading and forming. If you aren't getting good bread, try the same recipe again, but knead much longer and see if you don't get much better results!

4. A good warm place to let it rise. Sometimes people leave their dough in relative cold to rise. I came up with a method that gives me a fantastic rise, in less time. I mix the dough in a very heavy stoneware bowl, form into a ball and leave in the bowl, cover the bowl, and then place the entire bowl into the sink filled with very warm water! Perfect conditions for a rise!

5. Allow your dough to double on the first rise, but don't let it rise more than double, or the second rise may not have enough juice, particularly if it's a sourdough.

6. Forming into a loaf can also help the rise. This is a bit complicated to describe, so i recommend referring to any good bread book with illustrations. Folding bread in a certain way (or rolling in the case of baggettes) helps the glutten to line up and help the bread rise better. Not as important as needing enough, but still helpful.

Babz, now that you have a breadmaker, you may want to occassionally use it just for the mixing and first rise, and then form it into a loaf yourself.