There are few aromas more warm and welcoming than the delightful smell of home made bread baking in the oven. Bread as been around over 10,000 years but making break is an activity that has diminished as our daily schedules have become more busy and hectic. It can still be a very satisfying and rewarding experience however, if you take advantage of all the modern techniques and tools that have been developed specifically for break making.

There are four ingredients used to make the basic load of bread – yeast, flour, water, or other liquid, and salt. You can add a huge variety of delicious and interesting ingredients to this short, simple list to make many types of flavorful and unique breads. A few examples of great choices of ingredients to add to your favorite bread recipe include raisins and other dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

Yeast is a key ingredient to some of the most delicious bread made. You don’t know what you’re missing if you have never baked breads at home using yeast. It takes a bit of time for the final product to be produced when baking bread with yeast, but the rewards make it worth the wait. There are two types of yeast – yeast that is prepackaged and available at your local grocer and that you cultivate and ferment at home with a starter. Either is effective when making your home-made yeast bread, but it’s important to be sure that the yeast is fresh. When using the prepackaged yeast, be sure to check the “best if used by date”. Cake yeast, if you can find it, is a form of fresh yeast that makes a really wonderful loaf of bread, but if must be used within 2-3 days or may mold.

The type flour you choose to use in your bread makes a difference in the quality of the final product. Bread flour is higher in protein content which gives the bread a unique texture. All purpose flour, which is usually easier to find, will also work just fine in most bread recipes. Whole grain and other types of flour add flavor, texture and color to breads, but must be combined with some measurement of all purpose flour in order to produce enough gluten to produce a successful loaf of delicious bread. Gluten is formed when water is added to flour. It forms a network of proteins that stretch through bread dough like a web, trapping air bubbles that form as the yeast ferments, thus creating the air holes that are characteristic of the perfect bread.

Kneading the bread dough is a process that is repeated until it is smooth, springy and elastic, and no longer sticky. Kneading generally takes about 5 to 10 minutes although dough made with bread flour usually requires more kneading than those made with all purpose flour. Once the dough is kneaded, place the dough in a large, greased bowl turning it over to allow all sides to be greased to insure that the dough does not dry out while it rises. Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm spot until is doubles in bulk. Divide it into loaf pans that have been primed with cooking spray and bake.

These are the basic steps for making the perfect loaf of home-made bread. Be sure to follow your recipe carefully, as bread making is like building a house – you must get the foundation right before building the rest of the house, or it risks a fall!

By: Rennie Whatley

About the Author:
To learn more about how to bake bread, visit Bread by YiaYia.

The line from the Lord’s Prayer stating “Give us this day our daily bread” shows how integral bread is to the lives of people since ancient times. For thousands of years, bread baking was an activity done in most households around the world, but now many people have no idea how to bake bread even though they still eat it.

If you are interested in expanding your bread options beyond a factory produced blob of preservatives in a plastic bag, the good news is that bread baking is simple. Yes, there are a couple basic skills to learn and principles to understand, but mostly baking bread is as easy as falling off a bar stool and more fun.

Why you will like to bake bread:

Homemade bread is much more nutritious and satisfying than most varieties of mass-produced bread. When you compare the two types, you’ll see that most of the stuff at the grocery store is just air. It is hard to buy the taste of fresh hot bread straight out of the oven with butter melting on it. The experience is something that happens at home in your kitchen. As long as you have flour, salt, and yeast at home, you have access to fresh bread. All of these ingredients are cheap to stock up on too. Think about how many times you go grocery shopping when mostly all you need is a loaf of bread. Kneading the bread dough with your hands is a meditative activity that lets the world slip away for a few minutes. Many people juggle a lot of details all day as they rush through busy lives. Making some bread is a great way to disconnect and focus on one simple and essential thing. When you hold the warm dough in your hands and know that the yeast is alive and breathing inside it, you will feel endowed with creative energy. You are working with the living world to make something good to eat. People will be so impressed with you for baking bread. Your sandwiches will taste better when you use homemade bread, and they will fill you up more too. You will gain a sense of independence knowing that you don’t have to always rely on a bread factory for every slice. Baking bread can be a fun activity to do with family members, and it costs very little to do. You can explore recipes from different cultures or become more connected to your own ethnic traditions because many cultures around the world have distinctive types of bread.

Few people have time to bake all their bread, but learning how to do it and making time for the activity every couple weeks are both possible. Baking bread is a great way to slow down and deepen your understanding of the food you eat.

By: Tracy Falbe

About the Author:
To read more about how to make bread, dip your toes into the Recipe River and visit the bread recipes section. http://recipes.falbepublishing.com/bread_recipes.html