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OP, do you have Netflix? If you do, watch Michael Pollan's series called "Cooked." He has an episode on bread that goes into wheat, gluten, and natural yeast from the air.
OP, do you have Netflix? If you do, watch Michael Pollan's series called "Cooked." He has an episode on bread that goes into wheat, gluten, and natural yeast from the air.
Flour - in the states, and I believe the southern states are possibly different from even the northern states and it is definitely different from Canada, flours are made from different wheats with different gluten contents as a result. You may need to be using a higher gluten flour - a bread flour, not just AP. AP in Canada is made from very hard wheat but AP in the south is made from a softer wheat. If you can't find the right flour, you may need to add vital wheat gluten (but I personally prefer not to do that if I can help it).
Water - % hydration .. another key element. Flour can absorb humidity - so different times of year, different air temperatures, different humidities, may mean you need to adjust the amount of water.
Practice - you will get to know the texture, the amount of (or absence of) stickiness/stretchiness that tells you you have kneaded enough or left something rise long enough. This is often why I think people should learn to make bread without any mechanical assistance at least for the first while.
Yeast .. even yeast in the air will work (sourdough starter - that is how it is made as you probably are aware). More yeast, shorter rise time, faster rise -> more yeasty flavour. Less yeast, longer rise time, slower rise -> less yeasty but more depth and nuances in flavour. You can start with the recipe which will probably call for a single pack of yeast and over time as you get used to making bread, try reducing the amount of yeast .. as little as a quarter teaspoon will still make good bread unless you are in a real hurry. As long as the yeast is active (don't inadvertently kill it by dumping the salt right on it) I don't think it much matters what kind of yeast you use.
That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck. Breadmaking is a very delicious and satisfying hobby to take up!
I use a Zojirushi bread maker but I don't bake the bread in it. I use it to knead the bread and I let it do it's first rise in the machine. I then take it out punch it down shape it and let if rise again. I usually bake the bread on baking stones in the oven with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. I also make rolls in the bread maker. I buy bulk bread flour at Winco, in the past I bought large bags of bread flour at Costco but it was a pain to store them.
And this is the recipe I use for rolls Buttery Bread Machine Rolls Recipe - Food.com The rolls are awesome when we are having guests over I usually make two batches so I can send some home with them
2/3 cup warm water
1 tbsp instant dry yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 c milk
1/4 c butter, diced
2 eggs
5 3/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c wheat gluten
Dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in warm water. Microwave milk and butter for 1 min. Add to yeast mixture. Add eggs, flour and wheat gluten. Mix with dough hook on stand mixer about 6 minutes, or until it looks smooth. Shape into ball, let rise in greased bowl 45 min or until doubled. Punch dough down, let it rise another 30 min, then shape and let rise again. Bake at 375, 30 min for two loaves in stoneware pans or until an instant read thermometer reaches 200 in the center of the loaf.
I use the same recipe for rolls and hamburger buns, but I cut the wheat gluten down to 2 tablespoons. You could probably halve the recipe to fit in the food processor but I wouldn't halve the yeast.
Instant dry yeast is a lot cheaper than active dry yeast, it's sold in a 1lb package for about $4. I store it in a glass jar in the fridge.
2/3 cup warm water
1 tbsp instant dry yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 c milk
1/4 c butter, diced
2 eggs
5 3/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c wheat gluten
Dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in warm water. Microwave milk and butter for 1 min. Add to yeast mixture. Add eggs, flour and wheat gluten. Mix with dough hook on stand mixer about 6 minutes, or until it looks smooth. Shape into ball, let rise in greased bowl 45 min or until doubled. Punch dough down, let it rise another 30 min, then shape and let rise again. Bake at 375, 30 min for two loaves in stoneware pans or until an instant read thermometer reaches 200 in the center of the loaf.
I use the same recipe for rolls and hamburger buns, but I cut the wheat gluten down to 2 tablespoons. You could probably halve the recipe to fit in the food processor but I wouldn't halve the yeast.
Instant dry yeast is a lot cheaper than active dry yeast, it's sold in a 1lb package for about $4. I store it in a glass jar in the fridge.
This recipe is what is known as an enriched dough. It has its place but the bread purists are twitching. LOL.
Thanks Aery!! That was some great info and hoping it will improve my efforts.
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The Amish Bread recipe is the closest to store bought. It's sweeter, yes, but I think the sugar also feeds the yeast beautifully. But it's not as sweet as a sweet bread.
I rarely baked yeast bread, but my most requested baked good is loaves of Irish soda bread. It's very easy, I almost always have the ingredients on hand, it's fast, and it's risen with baking soda in place of yeast.
My husband is the one who makes more yeast breads.
I use a Zojirushi bread maker but I don't bake the bread in it. I use it to knead the bread and I let it do it's first rise in the machine. I then take it out punch it down shape it and let if rise again. I usually bake the bread on baking stones in the oven with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. I also make rolls in the bread maker. I buy bulk bread flour at Winco, in the past I bought large bags of bread flour at Costco but it was a pain to store them.
And this is the recipe I use for rolls Buttery Bread Machine Rolls Recipe - Food.com The rolls are awesome when we are having guests over I usually make two batches so I can send some home with them
Love my Zojirushi machine, and their website is loaded with great bread recipes!
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