Bread, Bread and Bread!First lets start with basic white bread. I won't go into to much detail, but ask if something isn't clear!
White Bread
4 cups flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs fat (butter/margarine)
1 generous tsp of yeast
1 1/2 cups of warm water
Mix the flour, sugar, salt and fat, making sure whatever fat you use is really worked in well.
Add the yeast and water. Mix it all until it comes together, than knead for a while, 5-10 minutes.
Let it rise a few hours (till it's about doubled), punch it down and knead again.
Split your dough in two.
Put into loaf pans or onto your baking tray and let rise again until you're happy with the size.
Heat an oven to 350 C and when ready bake for 25 minutes.
Cool before slicing.
and that's the basics! easy peasy. Now let me add a bunch of notes about this basic recipe.
You can change almost every part with substitutions. Sub ingredients you might not have or mix and match for fun variations. It is almost impossible to make 'bad' bread, though some results might vary... these are just happy experiments, and make life fun (-8
flour - sub in some whole wheat flour. 2 cups of whole wheat and 2 cups of white will give you a close approximation of store bought brown bread.
- stretch your flour with other flours or powdered ingredients. only use a half cup or so of these if they do not contain gluten though or your bread will not hold together. I've had good results with rice flour and, interestingly enough, bread crumbs. (interesting side note, many European bread makers are experimenting with adding breadcrumb from unsold bread to make new bread as a zero waste option, which I love! It can add a deeper flavour to!)
Sugar - almost any sugar here will do. I've used Honey, powdered sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup... Do not try to sub artificial sweeteners though, the sugars main purpose is not flavour, but rather to feed the yeast, so without a sugar your bread will not rise.
Fat - Butter or margarine are traditional, but we prefer duck fat or bacon drippings. Any fat will do, animal or vegetable. Olive oil, chicken fat, it doesn't matter, but you will probably taste the difference. Try drippings from a leftover roast or sheet pan dinner for a hint of something savoury. You'll find yourself never tossing any fat again if you start making bread often, (-8 (I've got jars of duck, goose, bacon and 'misc' fats in my fridge right now)
and a big ALSO! You CAN leave the fat out if you like! It adds flavour and texture and effects the crispiness of the crust, but if you leave it out because you don't have any or just don't want it in there you will still get a nicer bread, closer to french bread though it might dry out faster which can be a benefit depending on what your going for, (-8
Water - I'll have more notes about this later, but you can use any other liquid you want. Milk is common and makes for a softer loaf. I sometimes use brewed Tea (our fav is orange cinnamon or earl grey for this) for a subtlety different flavour that's perfect for toast. You don't have to go all in on subbing liquids, just switching a half cup of water with milk will make your loaf and crust a bit softer.
One more note about liquids. There are a lot of very particular recipes that recommend smaller amounts of liquid with instruction to add more as needed. This is fine but not usually nessicary for your own homemade loaves. There are a lot of moisture factors, like how damp the weather is, the moisture of your other ingredients etc... and these can all change the outcome but rarely dramatically. If there is a bit of extra liquid your bread might not rise as high but rather spread out a bit more. If its a bit dryer it can sometimes not rise as well either but be a bit more dense. If you are very particular about your final product you can play around with these factors to get more consistent results... but normally you'd never have to vary from the base recipe above to get great bread.
A note about yeast. Ignore any best before notes you see on yeast pkgs. Keep it in the fridge or freezer and it will last for years and years. If you make a lot of bread don't buy the little packages or expensive tiny bottles, but rather look for the bricks like these..
www.amazon.ca/SAF-Saf-Instant-Yeast-Pouch/dp/B0001CXUHW... You can usually find them much much cheaper at some grocery stores or bulk stores. They are way more economical and are the same thing you're already buying just packaged smaller. Heck buy one and give half away to family/friends if your not going to use it and you'll still be saving a lot of money. There is also almost not difference between the yeasts labelled for diff uses like 'breadmaker' yeast and such and most will work just fine interchangeably.
Occasionally your bread may stick to your baking pan depending on a bunch of factors. Usually just letting it sit for a few minutes will let it's own steam release the bottom. You can skip this problem by baking on parchment paper, or sprinkle with a bit of flour or my personal favorite, corn meal. One bag of ground cornmeal can last for years and is great to make all your bread/pizza/buns and whatever not stick, as well as add a nice flavour and texture, (-8
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With the basic loaf above you can do lots of things besides just make a pair of nice loaves of bread!
You can;
- cut each loaf into strips and braid it for a fancier look. (makes a great gift or something to bring to a party... and with little work is good at impressing people, (-8)
- cut into many strips and make breadsticks. (I like to twist them for more texture) You can also brush with a bit of oil or egg wash and sprinkle on some toppings like course salt or some dried herbs or sesame seeds or parmesan cheese.
- after the first rise, spread on a large sheet pan or in a deeper baking dish. Let rise again and poke deep holes with your fingers and brush on a very generous amount of olive oil and then some course salt and dried herbs (rosemary is very traditional) to make a simple focaccia. Keep adding more ingredients if you want until you hit full thick crust pizza, (-8
- Wrap things in your bread. The proportions above are perfect to individually wrap a dozen hotdogs or a package of smoked sausages. Cook for the same time as above. Its best if the things you are wrapping are precooked or good raw so you don't have to worry about getting the timing perfect. I love a smoked sausage but I wouldn't do a raw sausage without precooking it first.
- make stuffed buns! make a filling, (say cooked cabbage, pork, onions, whatever veggies, some spices- 5 spice is traditional but its your buns!) and cut your bread into whatever proportion size you want, rolling them into circles. add stuffing, being careful not to get the edges mess with your stuffing, and pinch closed. Bake for the same time as above. (traditionally you can brush with egg yolk with a bit of red dye on top of these and your super close to any baked Chinese style bun you can buy). These can also be steamed but there's a few other instructions for this one, (-8
- Rip off parts of risen bread the size of small pancakes and just cook in a hot pan with some butter to make an east coast dish called toutons. serve with butter and maple syrup.
- makes a good pizza dough for one very thick crust or two regular pizzas. (I'd add some olive oil (2 or 3 tbs) and Italian spices in addition the the above ingredients for an nicer crust)
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Mods and Enhancements to the base recipe above.
Pizza crust - Add some Italian spices and extra olive oil (in addition to whatever fat you are using) to your base recipe. This will give you a nice crispy crust that will stand up to a super hot oven needed for traditional pizza. The recipe above will make two crusts. Stretch them out over two pans. Some people have problems with the bread pulling back from the edges, but if you get it close, then let it sit and relax for a few minutes, you can get the edges pulled out nice, (-8 or totally skip it and make an odd shaped pizza but call it 'rustic' when you serve it and impress your friends and family, (-8 Top as you like and bake in a very hot preheated oven (450 - 500 C) until its done to your liking, I do about 8-10 minutes.
Hamburger/Hotdog buns - Replace the water with warm milk. Add about a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Do everything else the same, (-8 When you get to the second rise, portion out your buns and place on what you will cook them on. The milk gives you a softer inside and the oil gives you a crispier outside that holds up well and doesn't fall apart. (the crust will lose this strength after about a day, these are best made the same day. They are still taste great after the first day of course though, (-8)
I also use this recipe to make Submarine buns for subs or hot sandwiches.
For dinner buns - replace the water with milk for a softer bun for dipping in your gravy or sauce.
Add herbs/spices and/or shredded cheese to the base recipe for any variety of herby bread. I always go heavy on the spice as it takes a generous portion to taste.
Above I suggested using the recipe to wrap hotdogs or sausages. I usually add a tbs of hot pepper flakes when I start making the dough for a bit of a kick.
If you want to make your bread look fancy you have lots of options. I mentioned braiding above which is super easy for a dramatic effect.
- If you want a pattern, cut a simple stencil out of paper and sprinkle a bit of flour on top.
- If you want stuff to stick to your bread you need something sticky, and you've got a few options. Oil, egg wash, egg yolk, milk... All do it differently. Oil will make the crust crispy and is great for things like salt or dried herbs. Egg wash is good for seeds like poppy or seasame. Egg yolk makes a pretty glossy look on its own or with some food colouring. Milk is gentle and will only hold very light things like powdered herbs. These are all just suggestions though and you can totally try mixing and matching to see what works for you!
I'll add more notes as I remember them, (-8 Also, bread is super forgiving and easy to experiment with! Totally mix and match and play with anything above or try your own experiments out! Sometimes you might not get the effect you want but you'll still have something yummy and new, (-8 It's hard to really mess any part of bread making up.
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One last note, kneading bread is fun and can be therapeutic and almost meditative for some... but for anyone with bad hands for whatever reason, arthritis or injury or what not, you can easily use a bread maker to make your dough. I use mine all the time! I DO NOT like to cook my bread in the bread maker, but I use the dough setting to get me to the second rise section (most will have settings for this) and when that's done I do my shaping and last rise, then cook in the oven.
