Has anyone made bread at home? Any tips?

When I can have carbs I try to make bread at home...depending on the type of bread you want the preparation can be very different especially the proofing time. If you don't have much time in just a few hours you can make simple bread rolls make with milk instead of water (and make them sweet adding for example chocolate chips and a bit of sugar) but I usually prepare and prefer bread that needs less yeast (or even better sourdough ) and long proofing time even 1 or 2 days), recently I made this loaf that basically didn't require kneading, it need to rest for a day before baking in and I just had to "fold" the dough a few times and imo it tasted great. Focaccia is amazing too (even though it's not exactly bread) we have a few different kind here in Italy (sorry for the long answer )

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Firstly, thank you for sharing your tips and no I don't mind the long answer. If you don't mind, can I ask you a few things? Does having a longer proofing period rather than a short one have a significant difference in the outcome of the bread? I mean I'd rather take the shortcut but if does make the bread noticeably better then I'll go for longer proofing period.

Also, is the no-knead bread similar to the kneaded one? I always thought it'd be like a really dense bread. I didn't really believe those no-knead bread recipes so I just skimmed over them, guess I'll go through them again:-D Again thank you so much for your help!

No problem

Usually bread with very little yeast that proofs for a long time is more digestible and imo has a better aroma (same for pizza dough for example) but bread that proofs in just one or two hours it's pretty good too, especially bread rolls

no knead bread can be very light if you "fold" the dough correctly so that it can form a lot of air bubbles

(My English isn't the best I'm sorry, hopefully my answer is clear)

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Your instructions are very clear! Thank you, I've got the general idea now. Hopefully it'll turn out okay.

I'm sure that the bread will be delicious :)

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Well if the bread doesn't turn out good, i'm gonna grill you with further questions until I get it right so be prepared! :-D

No problem :) I love talking about food and cooking

1. Use flour that have enough proteins >11g/100g. The gluten in the flour is what makes the bread puff up and is essential to have a good crust.
2. There are different type of flour refinement, but since I don't know in which country you leave I can't be precise with the terms. But use something like bread flour that have only flour in the ingredient list.
3. Lean bread like baguette, ciabata, pita have only 4 ingredients (flour, water, yeast(or/and sourdough), salt, and sometimes a little bit of fat), while enriched dough have milk, oils/butter, eggs, that makes the dough softer.
4. Once you knead the dough 10 min, you should test if the gluten is developed with this technique

You have to see the light through the streched dough. If it breaks, knead another minute.

1. You have to let the dough rest until doubled in size, then degas the dough, you can divize it if you want small bread then let it proof either until doubled, or in the fridge overnight.
2. If it's french bread you should bake it at least 250°C or 482°F in the oven.

If you use active dry yeast test if it's alive by mixing it with a little bit of water and sugar, if it foams under 15min, then it's alive you can use it in your bread...

I hope my english was good...

no

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Alright here's a quick follow up. Firstly I'll start by saying that it was a mess (mostly my fault because i suddenly decided not to follow the recipe exactly)

So since it was my first try i just tried making a simple loaf of bread. I didn't really want to proof the bread for a long time in case i mess up, so i think i added a bit too much yeast as a compensation. Also i couldn't find the right bread flour so i had to make it with plain flour. Well the start wasn't good but it got real messy when i started kneading the dough because it was too wet (again because i decided that the dough was dry by myself without following the recipe) I hand knead it for about 20 mins before i decided this wasn't right and added a bit more flour. Well after some more kneading I did the stretch test for gluten development and it failed but at this point i was too tired so i just baked with the same dough. Suprisingly though, it turned out quiet good. The yeast flavour felt kinda overpowering sometimes but the bread itself was quiet good. My family actually loved it more than me lol ! Well I think i'll do even better next time!

Anyways thanks for your advise nessunaidea haesoovoiceship

Also I'll probably try making naan one day too, superyeah!

We all had this beginner's mistake of thinking that putting more yeast decrease the proofing time

Some doughs are really wet like foccacia, so you just need to wet your hands while kneading so it doesn't stick to your hands.

Happy that it came out great

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

omg nessunaidea thank you so much for your vote. We're really hoping to get our own guild emblem so thank you so much!

Display Spoiler

btw it's been so long since i last talked to you. How have you been?

I've been a bit busier with job and studies no problem for the vote I'm a blink but I'm starting to like txt as well ;)... I'm also reading your adventure with bread

Yeah I did it's not that hard but if you don't have a powerful mixer you can spend more than 20 minutes to knead the dough to perfection.

Tips, only mine...

Milk breads are more delicious and softer than water breads, I recommend using milk.

If you like such airy, fluffy, soft loaf go with a Tangzhong style milk bread. If you want a bread to make savory dishes, go with water bread, it's still fluffy if you do it correctly. Original milk bread is the best for me because it's versatile, soft and can be eaten alone.

Be sure to put enough sugar in your bread because I feel like it makes the bread better.

An amazing secret ingredient I used : Condensed Milk. It makes the bread so fluffy, light and soft as well as adding sweetness.

I dissolve a packet (table spoon) of active yeast in a cup of warm water and add a spoon of sugar and a spoon of all purpose flour and mix it all together then leave it a few minutes to react

In the meantime I take 500g of all purpose flour, salt it to taste (1 table spoon) and spice it with some ground rosemary and basil and add 4 table spoons of olive oil and mix it well with my hand. Then I add my yeast mix little by little while kneading the dough until it no longer sticks to my fingers, it also has to be smooth and soft, I put my dough in a bole that's already sprayed with oil, cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it to rest somewhere warm for an hour (sometimes when it's cold outside I heat the oven a little bit and leave it there after I turn the oven off)

Then I shape it however I like, I dissolve a little sugar in some water and use a kitchen brush to cover my bread then leave it to rest for 30 minutes more before putting it in a preheated oven on 180°c, it takes around to 20-25 minutes but you should keep an eye on it either way.

Ps: if you want you can add a tea spoon of turmeric to the dry mix to give your bread a yellow hue, it also comes off more savoury.

Here are some of my creations, I baked lots of bread while on quarantine. You can put the extra bread in the freezer for days and then heat it in the oven again and it will be as good as new. I hope this was helpful.

20200319_191410.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200416_153042.jpg20200517_142209.jpg20200503_145446.jpg20200426_155442.jpg20200424_181405.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200411_150304.jpg20200323_183058.jpg

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

chounim first pls take a look at this and vote for txt 'one dream'. We're desperate here ....

alright, i went and voted blindly just because you asked

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Display Spoiler

I dissolve a packet (table spoon) of active yeast in a cup of warm water and add a spoon of sugar and a spoon of all purpose flour and mix it all together then leave it a few minutes to react

In the meantime I take 500g of all purpose flour, salt it to taste (1 table spoon) and spice it with some ground rosemary and basil and add 4 table spoons of olive oil and mix it well with my hand. Then I add my yeast mix little by little while kneading the dough until it no longer sticks to my fingers, it also has to be smooth and soft, I put my dough in a bole that's already sprayed with oil, cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it to rest somewhere warm for an hour (sometimes when it's cold outside I heat the oven a little bit and leave it there after I turn the oven off)

Then I shape it however I like, I dissolve a little sugar in some water and use a kitchen brush to cover my bread then leave it to rest for 30 minutes more before putting it in a preheated oven on 180°c, it takes around to 20-25 minutes but you should keep an eye on it either way.

Ps: if you want you can add a tea spoon of turmeric to the dry mix to give your bread a yellow hue, it also comes off more savoury.

Here are some of my creations, I baked lots of bread while on quarantine. You can put the extra bread in the freezer for days and then heat it in the oven again and it will be as good as new. I hope this was helpful.

20200319_191410.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200416_153042.jpg20200517_142209.jpg20200503_145446.jpg20200426_155442.jpg20200424_181405.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200411_150304.jpg20200323_183058.jpg

omg you baked them by yourself? That looks so good!! Thank you for sharing!

Yes, I also tried baking because of the constant lockdowns here and I just wanted some good fresh bread! Everyone has been really helpful here and my first take at making bread turned out okay haha. Btw you add olive oil instead of butter in your bread? Is there any noticeable difference between adding those two? Also is it okay to add turmeric here? Won't the turmeric flavour be overpowering? Again thanks for your advise!

Display More

i have never tried it with butter so i wouldn't know the difference tbh, this is the recipe i use for all my baking (including pizza) and it is always 100% successful.

about turmeric, 1 tea spoon in 500g flour isn't really much so it won't be overpowering, it just adds a unique color and some flavour. Anyway, in case you didn't try it, adding ground rosemary and basil (or mint) to your flour before mixing the dough will elevate the flavour of your bread to incredible levels, i highly recommend it.

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

omg really? thank you for liking txt ! If I try making bread once again, I'll post it here too! Hopefully it'll turn out better next time!

I'm sure it will practice makes perfect (I'm a pastry chef and there was a couple or recipes at a fancy restaurant I worked in that I had to bake like 15/20 times only to prepare them decently,one of them was a type of sweet bread.It was a "nightmare" but I eventually learned and I felt like the most successful girl on the planet :-D )

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

omg you're a pastry chef !! Ok now i know who to tag or spam if i've got any problems while baking hehe

My advice is that you WANT your dough to be wet. For ages, I thought that if the dough was sticky, it was a Disaster, but actually most genuinely lovely, successful dough recipes, whether a basic bread or a sourdough might be much wetter than you might think they need to be. I kept trying to add in more flour and then ended up with dense loaves. Kneading with a stand mixer makes this much less of an issue, but otherwise just oil up and get in! Once they’ve rested and proved, they will be more manageable.

If you want great bread and really don’t want the faff, however, the more recent ‘no-knead’ bread doughs are wonderful. Nigella Lawson has a great basic and a rye ‘no knead’ option.

Quote from delivery-boy-bin

Hi there thankyou for your advise! Yes I was suggested the 'no knead' bread here too and it looks def interesting since i've to hand knead the dough. So i'll def try it out sometime too! Thanks!

Cannot rec the no knead breads enough, honestly! I hope it all works for you! X

Quote from chounim

I dissolve a packet (table spoon) of active yeast in a cup of warm water and add a spoon of sugar and a spoon of all purpose flour and mix it all together then leave it a few minutes to react

In the meantime I take 500g of all purpose flour, salt it to taste (1 table spoon) and spice it with some ground rosemary and basil and add 4 table spoons of olive oil and mix it well with my hand. Then I add my yeast mix little by little while kneading the dough until it no longer sticks to my fingers, it also has to be smooth and soft, I put my dough in a bole that's already sprayed with oil, cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it to rest somewhere warm for an hour (sometimes when it's cold outside I heat the oven a little bit and leave it there after I turn the oven off)

Then I shape it however I like, I dissolve a little sugar in some water and use a kitchen brush to cover my bread then leave it to rest for 30 minutes more before putting it in a preheated oven on 180°c, it takes around to 20-25 minutes but you should keep an eye on it either way.

Ps: if you want you can add a tea spoon of turmeric to the dry mix to give your bread a yellow hue, it also comes off more savoury.

Here are some of my creations, I baked lots of bread while on quarantine. You can put the extra bread in the freezer for days and then heat it in the oven again and it will be as good as new. I hope this was helpful.

20200319_191410.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200416_153042.jpg20200517_142209.jpg20200503_145446.jpg20200426_155442.jpg20200424_181405.jpg20200416_152948.jpg20200411_150304.jpg20200323_183058.jpg

Display More

Looking gorgeous!