Basic Bread:
- 1 cup scalded milk (heat in a suacepan until it starts to rise)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp oil (plus a teaspoon for later)
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Scald the milk (approx 190F), let it come down in temperature to 115F
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yeast, sugar, water, and milk.
Let the yeast do its thing for 10-15 minutes.
Add the flour (sift if needed, most modern mills have great quality flour and this is not necessary),
baking powder, salt, and oil, and knead for at least 10 minutes.
The dough should cleanly pull away from the bowl. If it doesn’t, keep kneading.
If the dough is too stiff, add a tablespoon of warm water, and keep kneading.
If the dough is a wet, sloppy mess, add 2 tablespoons of flour, and keep kneading.
Make sure you’ve given kneading the ingredients together a real try before you start adding water or flour.
If your bowl is spotless, congratulations, roll the dough into a ball, use a teaspoon of oil to coat the dough, put the dough into the bowl, and cover with cling wrap, or a lint-free towel. Leave the bowl in a warm place (oven with the light on is usually sufficient), anything over 80F is fine, stay under 95F.
After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size.
Punch it down, and now you get to decide how many times you’re going to let it rise.
Some people think more is better, but 2 times is sufficient for me. With multiple rises, the bubbles get more and more fine texture (like brioche). I’ve heard that 5+ rises is just silly, and I’d have to be really bored to try it.
Either way, I recommend you punch down the dough, cut it into the rough size and shapes you want, pop it into the loaf pans (buttered/greased/sprayed with oil, and optional coat the pan with cornmeal, and tap out the excess in your sink) or sheet if you’re making buns, cover again, and let it rise. My pans are still in great condition, but when they wear out, I’ll be lining them with parchment paper. You don’t want to be over 50% in the bread pan because the dough will rise again.
Lightly cover the dough, and let it rise again.
Pre-heat the oven to 350, and bake until internal temperature is 190F for “regular” bread to 210F (rustic or artisan breads typically need higher temperatures), top should be golden brown, and the time will be anywhere from 10 minutes for small buns to 30 minutes for larger loaves. Either way, a toothpick should come out clean.
When it’s done, remove from the oven, pop the loaves onto a rack, and let cool completely.
Rolls can be eaten warm, but loaves should cool completely before you cut them.
You need to make notes for your oven, size of loaves, etc. Have fun with it!