As the weather gets colder and colder, there is something so comforting about the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house. As an added bonus, kneading bread is like a trip to the gym, so you’re practically doing yourself a favor by making it, or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself. ;)Here’s a few tips to make sure your loaf isn’t better off used as a paper weight:
- Make sure your yeast isn’t old. Old yeast just doesn’t rise as well. Storing your yeast in the freezer, though, gives it an almost infinite shelf life.
- Bread can be fickle–the humidity and temperature in the room can affect how the bread turns out {which is why I am sure we have all experienced the EXACT recipe turning out differently}. You may have to learn to compensate through trial and error {i.e. place your bread to rise in a warmer part of the house if your kitchen is colder in the winter}.
- Add salt after you have mixed your dough and let it rest for 10 minutes, it will decrease your overall kneading time.
- Place a try of hot water in your oven while it is warming up. Steam is the key to a soft chewy inside and crusty outside. Allowing steam to build up in your oven before you bake the bread will exponentially increase the texture.
- Add a tablespoon of white vinegar to your recipe to help keep the bread soft.
- Rub your hands with oil before kneading, it will keep the dough from sticking.
- Let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. I know it’s super tempting to dig right into the warm loaf, but it will tear the loaf to bits.
- For the lightest fluffiest loaf, measure out flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, instead of scooping it up with the measuring cup. Don’t tap the measuring cup to settle the flour, just use the back side of a knife to level it off.
- If you bake with whole grain flours, store it in the fridge or freezer. They tend to go rancid very easily, and will affect the overall flavor of the bread.
- When adding liquid to yeast, make sure it is warm. If it is too cold, it will slow/stop the rising action of the yeast. If it is too hot, it will destroy the power of the yeast all together.
- Lightly toasting nuts and seeds before adding them to bread brings out the richness of their flavor.
- To test if you have kneaded enough, break off a piece of dough and stretch it. It should stretch easily like a piece of bubble gum.
- If you are baking multiple loaves, make sure to place the pans several inches apart and ALL on the center rack to ensure consistent baking.
- Make sure all ingredients are room temperature before mixing.
- If you cover your bread with a damp cloth while rising, make sure not to use a cloth that has been washed with a strong scented detergent or bleach–the taste and smell can transfer to your loaf.
I know some of my readers are artisan bread makers, so I would love it if you would leave your tried and true tips in the comments!
~Mavis
Need a recipe to get you started? Try my simple No-Knead Crusty Dutch Oven Bread recipe.
The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day gets rave reviews on Amazon, and pretty much every serious bread baker I know swears it is the best bread book out there!
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.
Cecily says
Use bread flour. The higher gluten content makes for a better texture.
Also for great flavor try starting with a biga.
Jenifer says
Use potato water when available in place of the water or milk in a bread recipe.
The potato water adds more gluten and creates a “fluffier” loaf.
Potato water is water used to boil peeled potatoes (as in making mashed potatoes) and it is only useable for 24 hours after boil (after that that it breaks down and is more sugar than gluten). It should be warm (for me 110 degrees F works best).
My husband and I went off of manufactured bread and bought a bread machine. We love the bread machine but missed the lightness of store bought loaf bread. Since using the potato water our bread machine bread is a lot more fluffier.
Mark says
Learn to fold the dough not just punch it down.
Kathy in Chicago says
My mom (mother of 8) would always say the the dough is finished kneading when it’s as soft as a baby’s dupa (Polish for fanny). This is what I taught my children as well, and I will call to them “do you want to feel a baby’s dupa?” so they now know what properly kneaded dough feels like!
☺ says
It’s actually bum not a fanny
Charles Sifers says
You suggested waiting 10 minutes to add salt. This is process is known as “autolyze”, and allows the gluten to absorb moisture. Salt will toughen gluten strands and limit flexibility, making a tougher texture and limiting rise. The actual ideal time for this is 30 minutes.
I’d also recommend that you explore using weight instead of volume to measure your ingredients. I have been baking for more than 40 years and this one change in my technique has dramatically effected the quality and consistency of my bread making.
Now…if you’ll just discover sourdough…
Laura Dobson says
Thanks for your interesting post. I have been having so much trouble baking bread, even the sourdough I made using explicit instructions from Michael Pollan’s book, Cooked, didn’t produce a good loaf of bread for me. I purchased a scale for that experiment. And breads my friends make that come out perfect each time whose same recipe I use comes out terrible when I make it. What is the ideal weight of a cup of flour in your experience?
Thanks for any insight you can give me on this.
Charles Sifers says
I usually figure 6.oz/cup of flour, but I seldom ever use a recipe. I typically decide on the style of bread I want to make, then adjust flour to wet based on hydration targets for that style.
For example, the most simple form of sourdough loaf follows the 1-2-3 system. One part active starter, 2 parts water, and 3 parts flour. Add a little salt, and you can hardly go wrong.
It’s my experience that bread making is more intuitive than just following a set of instructions in a book, but a simple loaf can be terribly easy to whip out as long as you follow the basics.
I’d be happy to help you diagnose where you might be going wrong with your efforts if you want to share your process.
jessica says
She says to add salt then wait. Not wait, then add salt. How do you do that? Just let it rest between mixing & kneading in the last of the flour ( I was taught to knead in the last cup or so of flour last so as not to overflour). You seem very knowledgeable so I’m just curious 🙂
Michele says
I melt coconut oil for my maple oat bread, and I have to be careful to let the oil cool a bit before adding it or else the bread won’t rise at all- such a bummer when that happens!
Cynthia Skelton says
Another way to get steam in your oven is to place a large pan on the bottom of the oven when you preheat it. Then place the dough into the oven and toss in a few cups of ice cubes and then quickly shut the door. It will steam up very nicely. This is a trick that I use in my bakery when the steam function is broken, or the water is shut off for repairs.
Carrie says
I found your blog on Pinterest today and I am super excited to read all your posts since you blog about everything that I am interested in!
Question: tip #9 you say to refrigerate/freeze whole grains – do you mean the flour or the loaf? I am new to bread making and have been using whole wheat and white whole wheat flours. Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
Flour. 🙂 Welcome! I’m glad you are here.
Rhonda says
What a great list. I’m trying to bake bread weekly so this list is quite timely 🙂
Rhonda