The Process of Baking Bread at Home

Preface:

Baking bread in your own home yields many benefits. For one, you have the satisfaction of saying that you baked the bread you are consuming, but there are also various quality differences between factory-made bread and home baked bread. Home baked bread tends to be better in quality, the taste is stronger and crispier, and the presence of home-made love and care contributes as well.

Step 1 - Gathering Ingredients

For this bread recipe, the following ingredients are required.

• 1/2 Cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2-5 Cups Flour (all-purpose)
• 2 teaspoons of Instant yeast

All of these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. Once you have obtained all the ingredients, make sure you set up a nice clean countertop to work on.

Step Two - Preparing butter solution

Take a small sauce pan and warm half a cup of milk on low heat on your stove. Then add in 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of butter. Keep warming on low heat until the butter and sugar dissolves. Then remove and let it cool down.

Step Three - Preparing the yeast

Locate your bowl that you will be using for your dough, then pour in 1 cup of warm water, then slowly sprinkle 2 teaspoons of yeast. Allow this to sit for a couple of minutes.

Step Four - Mixing

Take the solution you made in Step 2 and add the mixture into the bowl with the yeast and water. Then add in 2 full cups of flour and either mix by hand or use a mixer. As you mix, keep adding flour until you visually see the dough becoming stronger and there is no more flour along the sides of the bowl. During this stage, we are preparing the dough for fermentation (proofing).

Step Five - Kneading and Fermenting

Now that the dough is formed, it is time to knead it. It is important to knead bread because the creation of gluten takes place during the kneading cycle. Gluten allows the bread to take on a cohesive structure which will allow it to stay strong during the baking process. Kneading also helps to create air pockets which are crucial for carbon dioxide formation during fermentation. So, to knead your bread, take out the dough and place it out on a lightly floured flat surface. Then punch down on one side and then roll over the top and repeat. Do this for about 10 minutes to properly knead your dough. Once you are finished kneading, take your dough and place it inside a bowl and allow it 45-60 minutes to rise. (Make sure you place the bowl in a warm area) In this stage, we allow the yeast to feed on the various sugars in the dough and release CO₂ as a bi-product, this also allows the dough to "rise".

Step Six - Second Proofing

After you have waited 45-60 minutes, the dough should have risen double its mass. Take your fist and punch directly down in the center of the risen dough, then pull the sides in towards the center and take the dough out. Now we will shape and prepare the dough for its second rising and baking. Place the dough on a floured, flat surface. Then take a rolling pin and create a flat square shape with the dough. Once you have done that, roll up the bread from the bottom and pinch the ends. Take the dough and place it in your baking tray and repeat the proofing stage from Step 5. Once you have waited for the second proof to complete, preheat your oven to 400F, then bake your bread at 350F for 30 minutes.

Step Seven - The Final Product

So after all this hard work, you have finally finished baking your bread. Below is an example of a finished product.

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