I’ve been baking bread for a number of years now, and through that experience, I’ve come to understand why bread-making has become an almost religion the world over. In many parts of the globe, if you have only one thing for dinner, it better be bread.
So with all this in mind, I thought it was time to break out my own bread recipe, but I can’t really do this without talking a little bit about the process. First off, if you really want to make good bread, you need to have patience. Foster this skill, because it has many cross-applications. To me, I see bread-making as being similar to raising a baby. You need to be patient, understanding, and nurturing. You are cultivating yeast bacteria within the flour, so in this sense, you are raising a life-form, a basic one to be sure, but a life-form nevertheless. The more nurturing and patient you are, the larger it will rise, and the more flavour it will develop.
Every step of the way, you need to give it time to develop and adjust. When you first add the water, give it time for the yeast to resurrect themselves. Mix it and give it time to hydrate. At every stage, you are taking care of it’s needs and ensuring the conditions are right for it grow into the biggest, cutest, bouncing baby bread it can be.
Only you don’t put babies in the oven once it’s done, unless you are a witch from a fairy tale!
It’s a given that we all lead busy lives, so speeding up the process is needed, and thankfully we have science to help with that. Yeast thrives in sugar rich, hot and wet environments, so when I start, I always add some kind of sugar when I first mix the yeast with water. I prefer molasses, but if none is available, honey works just as well (as long as it’s watery enough to pour).
Heat also comes into play to speed up the rising process, by making sure you use hot water to kick-start the yeast. And DO NOT use tap water! Tap water has chlorine in it, and that will kill your yeast! Those precious buggers need filtered water or bottled water to thrive in.
I’ve found that working enough water into the dough to make it a bit sticky is a good thing. It makes the dough lighter, more malleable, and easier to rise.
For the first rise, leaving your dough out in the kitchen will work just fine, but if you want to speed things up, turn your oven into a sauna by placing a baking dish filled with boiled water under the middle oven rack. This will nearly halve the first rising time. So when it’s risen, you’ve shaped the dough, and you are letting it have it’s second rise, it should still be warm to the touch, and the second rise will go faster.
Also get your hands on a digital meat thermometer so you can find out the internal temperature of your bread. The shape of the dough will determine how long it takes to cook, and you can’t tell if it’s done by looking at it.
The last bit of advice is, the second rise is the last chance you get to make your bread the best it can be. Skimp on this stage and you do yourself and your bread a disservice. If it takes two hours, let it take two hours to rise. You will be rewarded by the lightest, fluffiest bread you’ve ever eaten.
So that’s my Tao of bread, and I hope if inspires you to go out and start your own bread revolution, because I’ve never tasted bread better than this. I’m not tooting my own horn, just stating a fact. There is no bakery in Ottawa or anywhere else I’ve tried that tastes better than home made.
They’re trying to make a buck, but you, you can nurture.
