We heard that you want to bake bread! At Bob's Red Mill, we love baking bread almost as much as we love sharing our delicious recipes with you. While baking bread at home isn't a complicated process, the many steps can be quite intimidating. The best way to master the art of bread-making is through experience. However, there are a few simple tips and tricks that will help make your first go at it, a success. By learning the basics and starting with simple bread recipes like this No-Knead Artisan Bread, you can gain confidence in your baking skills and begin making bread that gives your local bakery a run for their money.While making a great loaf of bread doesn't necessarily take a lot of work, it does require some time. Whereas bread made with quick-rising or instant yeast can take up to a few hours to make, slow fermenting sourdoughs can take up to 48 hours. Planning and knowing which kind of bread you'd like to make before you will help make the project a success.To help you bake the bread of your dreams, we've put together a list of seven steps outlining how to make bread and the time required. Once you master these steps, you'll be able to work on your bread with confidence and no longer ask yourself questions like how long does it take to make bread? Like always, when following these steps, we suggest that you use your best judgment and experiment with it. By making calculated tweaks here and there, you can find out what worked and didn't and improve your bread-making skills tenfold.
The Seven Steps of Bread Making
Step 1a: Pre-Fermentation
If you're making an instant yeast rising bread, then most of the time, you will begin with Step 2. However, if you're making a fermented bread like sourdough, then it's important to refresh or prepare your pre-ferment anywhere from a few days to several hours before making your homemade loaf.A pre-ferment is when you prep a portion of the bread dough ahead of time and then mix it into the final mixture. Pre-ferment helps to improve the strength, hydration, flavor and the aroma of the dough. Additionally, pre-ferments allow you to use less yeast overall, which can boost your bread's flavor. In many cases, a pre-ferment can be made just hours before baking your bread. However, more traditional ferments require more time and are often made up to 48 hours in advance.For a delicious sourdough bread recipe, make these Sourdough Biscuits.
Step 1b: Prep Ingredients and Tools
Preparing your bread ingredients and tools beforehand is so crucial that it has a name of its own; "Mise en place." While it may sound extravagant, the idea is simple. "Mise en place" means that before you begin your recipe, you first review it and collect all the wet and dry ingredients as well as tools you need so that you don't have to go looking for them while you're baking your bread.This step also helps prevent any oversights and allows you to make sure you have everything you need before you continue. If you don't have a required ingredient, this step gives you time to adjust your easy bread recipe or head to the store to pick up the missing ingredient. In this step, you'll also want to weigh all the needed wet and dry ingredients to ensure you have enough of each before proceeding.
Step 2: Mixing
Now it's time to start baking! Once you have all theingredients on hand, start by following the steps in your easy bread recipe and mix your bread ingredients. Take a large bowl and pour the flour (bread flour, all purpose flour, or any flour indicated in the recipe) and liquid in, according to the method you're using. Salt and the starter or pre-ferment yeast mixtureshould be set to the side in this step and added later on.When mixing, you'll want to make sure that all ingredients are mixed evenly so that there are no dry lumps of flour in the dough and everything is adequately hydrated. While you may begin to work the dough by hand in this step, you'll want to wait until later on in the process to knead bread dough.For a bread with minimal baking steps, try this Soy Bread Recipe.
Step 3: Autolyse
While this step is optional, it's one of our favorites because it lets the dough do some work for you. Once the flour and water are fully mixed you can use the autolyse method to help the mixture develop. First, cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for twenty minutes to an hour. This process will allow the dough in the flour to blend properly and cause a chemical reaction. This reaction will strengthen the gluten in the bread and make it easier to work with. You now have an easy-to-handle dough with an incredible texture.
Step 4: Working the Dough
Now that you've let your dough autolyse, it's time to add your sourdough starter or pre-ferment and knead your dough to perfection. When massaging your dough, you must be careful not to over-knead or under-knead bread. Both can drastically affect the final bread texture. The goal of kneading your dough is to build up the gluten molecules and create strength and shape. Doing so will ensure that the loaf of bread holds its shape and retains the gas it produces, resulting in a light and airy pastry. While there are many different techniques used to knead dough, we recommend going with one you feel more comfortable with. Whether you prefer to knead your dough by hand or use a hand mixer to get the job done a little quicker, you must check in on your dough periodically to make sure it isn't over needed. The under-kneaded mixture can be fixed with a bit more kneading. However, it is nearly impossible to fix over-kneaded dough. Baking over-kneaded dough will likely result in a dense and crumbly bread loaf. For a bread recipe that doesnt require kneading try out this No-Knead Artisan Bread.
Step 5: Allow Your Bread to Ferment
Now that you've added the pre-ferment, fully kneaded the dough and the chemicals in the yeast have started producing gas, it's essential to give your bread time to ferment fully. The fermentation process is when your quick rising yeast bread produces its flavor and character. We recommend allowing the bride to ferment for as long or longer than the recipe states. To shorten the fermentation process, place your bread dough in a warm spot, like on top of the oven, in a sunny window, or indirect sunlight. To slow down your fermentation process and encourage even more flavor to be added to the bread, place your dough somewhere cold, like in the fridge, in the shade, or in a cold spot in the house.Slowing down the fermentation process will give your dough more time to develop flavor and character. However, you should check how long it takes for bread to rise.
Step 6: Shape it
Shaping your dough is the last hands-on step of bread making. Once your dough has fully fermented, it's essential to mold the bread into the shape you've chosen. You'll want to create a shape that can keep its form and provide excellent surface tension as your bread rises. Doing so will help your bread expand and bake beautifully in the oven.When shaping your dough, be careful not to be too rough. Developing your bread too aggressively could cause the gasses in bubbles to release and create a more dense loaf than you'd like. While this step of the bread-making process may take some extra practice, it is a crucial part of the result.Once your bread has been properly shaped and placed in the loaf panit's important to give it one last final proof, before baking it. This will allow your loaf to re-fill with carbon dioxide. This is a crucial step in how to create airy bread. If you feel like you were too rough during the shaping process, then we recommend letting your bread proof for a little longer than stated in the recipe.To create tasty multi-grain bread that is easily shaped, use our 10 Grain Bread Mix.
Step 7: Bake
The last thing between you and a finished loaf of bread is baking it. The key to baking perfect bread is to have the oven at the right temperature. Cooking the bread at the right temperature will ensure that the heat is injected the correct way and keep the loaf moist during the first half of the baking process so that it doesn't crust too soon. Once your oven reaches the ideal heat, your fresh bread has baked, and it's ready to be taken out. Be sure to let your loaf cool off before removing it from the bread pan and enjoying it. And there you have it. We hope that this step-by-step guide on how long it takes to make bread loaf will be used when making your next loaf. From kneading your dough properly to baking it at the right temperature, mastering these crucial steps is an integral part of making a loaf of delicious homemade bread. If you have any other steps that you'd like to share or have questions for our Bob's Red Mill baking experts, please share them in the comments below. We love hearing from you. From our baking family to yours, let's get baking!