Homemade Bread – The Finer Points
I received a wonderful comment on our bread video – we recently posted this video in order to instruct folks on how I make bread. The inspiration for making the video came from a friend who had wanted to learn how to make bread all the way from the whole grain stage. Since we can’t have many folks over to our house right now (due to health issues of our youngest son), I figured the best way to show friends was to make a video!
Time has made me forget how many issues can come up when starting to bake your own bread. It’s been a long time since I started the process, but I know I had all the same questions at one point! I’ll break up the questions and answer each one as we go.
1. How long does it have to rise the first time?
The thing you’re looking for is for the dough to double in size. The first rise time for the bread dough can change drastically based on temperature of the house, temperature of the water used in the recipe (about 100 to 110 degrees is best, by the way), and the general mood of the bread! Honestly, I’ve had the first rise take anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours. I would say the first time or two, keep your eye on it. The way to tell if it has risen enough is to gently press two fingers into the dough about an inch. If the indentation remains, it has doubled in size and is ready to go. If you can’t see the indentation when you remove your fingers, it needs more time. If in doubt, let it rise a while longer. It can’t hurt the dough!
2. How come you don’t take it out of the mixer to let it rise?
I don’t take the dough out of the mixing bowl simply because it is convenient. The bowl is already going to need cleaning, and I don’t want to dirty another one! However, you could easily place the dough in any other container, as long as it’s big enough to allow the dough to double in size. If you do use another bowl, just put a little oil in the bottom of the new bowl, put in the dough, turn the dough over once (to get a little of the oil spread over the outside surface of the dough to prevent the surface from drying out) and cover the whole thing with a clean towel. When I have the dough in the mixing bowl, the cover keeps the dough from drying out, and my bowl is smooth plastic, so it prevents sticking anyway. I do love my Bosch!
3. How long do you have to let it cool before you can slice it for sandwiches? – is homemade bread crumbly and non-sandwich friendly?
Cooling needs to take place in two stages. The first is for 5 to 15 minutes in the pan, while the pan sits on a cooling rack – you can also use anything that allows air to get to the bottom of the pan. This allows the bread to get all the residual heat from the pan and set the bottom crust.
You want to then remove the bread from the pan and set it back on the cooling rack. Allow it to cool for about 45 minutes to an hour this way. The second cooling here allows the steam inside of the bread to finish cooling and leave the bread. If you don’t allow the second cooling, the bread can get soggy.
4. How thin can it be sliced and still be made into a sammy?
Well, this is personal preference more than anything else. For things like grilled cheese, we’ll slice it as thin as we can. We get the bread sliced a little thinner than normal slices of store-bought bread. But for a normal cold cut sandwich, our family likes thicker slices, so we cut the bread a bit thicker than store-bought slices. Then there’s cinnamon toast – I like a really thick slice here. Yum! I would say, though, that the bread can be sliced fairly thin and still hold plenty of fillings, along with PBJ or something like hummus. I personally think it holds up better (even very thinly sliced) than store-bought bread when peanut butter is being spread upon it. Isn’t that just about the true litmus test of a piece of bread?
5. Do you have recipes for incorporating other grains into the bread?
I’ve tried lots of ways of adding different grains to my bread. I’ve added oatmeal – both cooked and uncooked. I always add cooked wheat berries to the bread to add texture. I’ve added cracked 7 or 9 grain cereal (both cooked and uncooked) to the bread, all of these have been quite successful and delicious. I’ve added rye, barley, and corn to my bread! It’s fun to experiment with these, and not too hard. In the video, I do add wheat berries. You can add any grain at this point – up to about 2 cups cooked grains (as long as they’re not incredibly watery) or about 1 ½ cups of uncooked harder grains (as long as they are cracked, flaked, rolled or otherwise prepared for cooking. Just don’t add whole uncooked grains). These can add a lot in the way of texture and interest. You could also add raisins, apples, any dried fruit or fruit that’s not juicy (you’d have to find a special recipe if you wanted to use oranges or kiwi, for example).
6. I am seriously thinking about starting to make my own bread, but I think I would like to make a 7 or even 9 grain bread, just to get as much good stuff in there as possible.
This is a great idea – just follow the steps above. For the 7 or 9 grain mixes, just make sure they are cracked, rolled, flaked or cooked before you add them. You don’t want to grind this and use instead of your flour, but you can add it in when I added the wheat berries in the video. If you tried to use this mixture as the flour for the bread, there would not be enough gluten developed, however it’s a great additive. We eat the 7 grain mix most mornings as a hot cereal – delicious! By the way, if you’d like to find a way to get this grain mixture, or any other grains in bulk, we’re having a grain sale this winter for the Denver and eastern Colorado area – check the bar at the top of the page for more information. It’s a great way to get your grains without paying ANY shipping. I love trying out new grains this way. This time I’ll be getting flax seed to crack and bake into my bread – this is an easy way to get lots of the Omega-3’s into your everyday diet! They’ll also give you LOTS of iron Magnesium, Phosphorus and most of your B vitamins. I love it when my vitamins taste this good!
