Getting Started In Bread-Making

If you are keen to get into bread-making, you are going to need to know where to begin. You might have noticed that a lot of people are getting into this at the moment, and it’s something that can be a great way to pass the time as well as a good way to provide food for yourself, your friends and your family. But if you have never really done it before, you would be excused for thinking that it is challenging. It can be, at first. Let’s take a look at some of the things to bear in mind as you start out trying to make your own bread.

Gather Your Supplies

There are a few things that you are going to need first if you are going to bake your own bread, although there isn’t much specialist stuff that is really necessary. However, a nice bread basket doesn’t go amiss, and it’s worth it if you browse bread baskets at amishbaskets.com to see if there are any that take your fancy. You might also want to think about getting a proving bowl, especially if you are going to be baking sourdough. And if you don’t want to do it all by hand, you could get a bread-maker, but that is not necessary.

Learn The Basic Mix

There are of course thousands of ways to make bread, but at first you will want to learn the most basic of all, which is like a white tin loaf or a cob loaf. All you need for that is some strong white bread flour, some yeast, salt and water – that’s it! The yeast you can get these days in active dried form, so you can just add it straight to the mixture without having to activate it first – or you can get the old style one if you prefer to activate it beforehand. Beyond that, this is all you need to make a basic loaf. You can then look into adding other flavorings and so on too, or nuts and seeds if you like.

Get Kneading

One part that most people find a little challenging is the kneading process. If you have never done any kneading before, you will find that it can take a while to learn how to do this. However, in truth, as long as you are generally moving the dough around on your surface, and getting the air out of it, that is probably going to suffice. However, it could be worth learning a specific process if you prefer, which is as simple as pushing away half the ball with your palm, then folding it back over, rotating the ball of dough and repeating. You’ll have to do it for fifteen minutes or so at first, but over time you will be able to do it in five or ten.

Once you have learned these things, it’s really just a case of experimenting to see how to make the perfect loaf. That’s where it starts to get fun!