Yeast bread does not have to be complicated or take all day. If you’ve ever wondered what parts of a bread recipe are necessary or not, read on to see what I do when I make bread. I have successfully made hundreds of loaves now, so I know these tips really work.
Ingredients
It’s not usually necessary to sift the flour. I never do.
Try molasses or honey as sweeteners in the place of sugar. I particularly love molasses.
With wheat bread, there are actually 2 kinds of hard wheat: red and white. They taste a little different from each other. White is more mild and makes better soft breads (rolls, pretzels, bagels).
Freshly ground whole wheat flour tastes a lot better and is a finer grind than what you buy at the store. Keep that in mind for making wheat bread. Fresh flour makes lighter loaves that rise faster, too.
Rising
Let the bread rise in a warm oven. You can do this by turning the oven on 350 for 2-3 minutes and then turning it off. It makes the dough rise really fast, about an hour for the first rise and 30 minutes for the second. Set a timer so you don’t accidentally bake anything!
Shaping Loaves
Shape the dough on an oiled, not floured, counter. Not only is cleanup much easier, your dough will stay moist as it rises. You only need a few seconds of the spray oil.
Baking
It’s not necessary to remove the loaves to preheat the oven. Just add some time on to the baking to make up for the preheat time of your oven. My oven tends to heat slowly, so I add at least 10 minutes onto a 30-minute baking time. Once you’ve figured out what works, just change that part of your recipe so you don’t forget!
Cleanup
Get yourself a bench knife/scraper. (Like these.) Cleanup is 1,000 times easier and you will wonder how you lived without one. It’s also handy for cutting the dough into loaves and scraping dough off the counter if it sticks while you’re kneading it.
The next time you look at a recipe for any yeast bread, keep these tips in mind. Most recipes can be tweaked to be much faster and easier.
See my recipes for yeast breads here.
