Ciabatta Italian Bread

•The Secrets Of Great Breads
Often we field questions about making great bread. Great bread is a matter of using the right ingredients and the right techniques—there’s no single secret that will make perfect bread. But really great bread is readily attainable. We’ve compiled our list of what goes into great bread. 1. The right flour. 2. An understanding of yeast. 3. A good dough conditioner. 4. A baker’s thermometer Now this isn’t everything that goes into great bread but the baker that is armed with these four tools...

•Why Do We Need To Knead
Bread dough is transformed as it is kneaded. It becomes smoother, more elastic. It feels and looks different. Understanding what take place during the kneading process will make you a better baker. Bread dough needs to be elastic in order to capture the gases created by the yeast, stretch as bubbles form in the dough, expand, and rise. Without that elasticity, bread would not have the open texture we enjoy nor would bread be chewy. But what creates that elasticity? The endosperm of the...

•How To Bake Easy Focaccia With Your Bread Machine
This is just about as easy as it gets for some really good homemade focaccia. Make the dough in your bread machine (or with a stand-type mixer). It doesn't take a lot of time and it's a great project to tackle with the kids. Here's how: Start with a lean, white bread machine mix, or use the recipe below. By lean, we mean one that is low fat and doesn’t call for fresh eggs. A buttermilk bread mix is perfect. Easy Bread Machine Focaccia Bread Ingredients 1 1/4 cups water 2 tablespoons...

•Getting Your Bread To Rise For Light Airy Loaves
Homemade bread shouldn’t be dense. You can make light airy loaves that are every bit as good as the bread from the local bakery. The secret is in using quality ingredients and getting your bread to rise properly. In this article, we’ll examine the factors that make your bread rise. There are five important factors that make the difference between light, airy bread and a dense flop. None is difficult to manage—in fact, yeast is quite forgiving—but you’ll be a better bread baker if you...

•How Long Should I Let My Bread Rise
It depends. The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is not by time—though it helps to set the timer so you don’t forget about your dough—but by look and feel. It will look soft and bloated. When you touch the dough, it will be soft and your finger will leave an indentation when lightly pressed against the dough. If it is not ripe, the dough will tend to slowly spring back. If you want light, fluffy bread, the dough should rise until it is puffy. The more gas incorporated in...

•Don t Know What Flour To Buy
Confused at the array of flour available online or in the grocery store? Don’t know what to buy? We can help. Buy bread flour for breads. If you want tender muffins or cookies, buy pastry flour. It’s the gluten content that makes breads chewy and the reduced amount of gluten that makes muffins crumbly. All-purpose flour is a compromise. (Many recipes call for all-purpose, not because it will make the best muffins but because the formulators know that all-purpose flour is what most people...

•How To Bake Multi grain Bread
A quick perusal of your baker’s shelves will tell you how popular multi-grain bread is. But it’s not hard to bake—you can make your own. You can use any recipe and add the cracked grain mixture though traditionally, a whole wheat recipe is used. The following instructions and recipe will tell you how. With most cereal mixes, 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons of cereal per loaf is about the right ratio. If you want soft cereal bits in your bread, soak the cereal for an hour in hot water before...

•How Yeast Works
If you are going to be a bread baker, you should know yeast. Yeast is the magic ingredient of the baking world. It's alive and master bakers have learned to cultivate yeast as a living thing in their bread and pastry doughs. In this section we will explore the different types of yeast and learn how to cultivate yeast in our products to make the best breads. Our grandparents used—and many commercial bakers still use—fresh yeast rather than the dry yeast that we buy in the store. Fresh yeast...

•High Altitude Breads
Can you make bread and buns in the mountains? We got a call from California this week, “I can make great bread in L.A. but at my cabin in Montana, it doesn’t turn out so well.” We would like to help. This summer, you might find yourself at a cabin or in an RV high in the mountains. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy great bread. Yeast products are not as sensitive to altitude as chemically leavened products. We have worked with yeasted breads at almost 11,000 feet in the Rockies. The trick...

•How To Make Easy Sourdough Bread
Sourdough simply uses wild yeast in place of commercial yeast to leaven the bread. It relies on the wild yeasts that are in the air all around us and cultures those yeasts in a warm, wet environment created with water, flour, and sometimes other components. When creating a sourdough starter, we always felt like we were on an expedition trying to trap invisible yeastie beasties with our flour and water concoctions. Because we couldn’t see the beasties, we were never sure what we had...