Wendy Jo Peterson - Bread Making For Dummies

Throughout the book, you’ll icons in the margin. Here’s what each icon means:

The Tip icon marks information that can save you time and money as you’re planning recipes to make, shopping for ingredients, and making bread.

You don’t have to commit this book to memory, but sometimes a piece of information is so important that I want you to remember it. When that happens, I flag it with the Remember icon.

Think of the Warning icon as a big orange traffic cone in the middle of the sidewalk, warning you about a hole you don’t want to fall into.

Bread making is a science, and sometimes I wade into the weeds with technical information. When I do, I use the Technical Stuff icon. You can safely skip anything marked with this icon without missing anything essential about the topic at hand.

In addition to what you’re reading right now, this product comes with a free access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that includes tips on how to form a round roll, the benefits of sourdough bread, and a bread baker’s schedule you can follow if you like. To get this Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type Bread Making For Dummies Cheat Sheetin the Search box.

If you’re brand-new to making breads, take your time and explore Part 1. If you’ve made bread before and you feel confident with the process, check out all the recipes in Part 2— from savory to sweet to stuffed, you have more than 85 recipes to explore! If you’re short on time, Part 3offers ways to use up stale bread, my favorite sandwich ideas, and more.

I hope this book becomes your go-to bread-making guide, one that you flip through often when you crave freshly made bread. After all, everything is better with bread!

Part 1

IN THIS PART …

Discover the science behind great bread.

Get acquainted with bread-making ingredients.

Understanding bread-making techniques.

Discover the old-world techniques of sourdough baking.

Plan a well-equipped kitchen and pantry.

Chapter 1

IN THIS CHAPTER

Looking at how gluten, yeast, and salt combine to make bread

Measuring your ingredients precisely

Bread is king, and bread making is equal parts art and science. In this chapter, you explore the science behind bread making and find out why a scale is so important for success.

If science wasn’t your favorite subject in school, you may be tempted to flip ahead to the next chapter or just dive into a recipe, but especially if you’re new to bread making, I urge you to give this chapter a read. It’s only a few pages, and the information about how and why bread making works will not only help you understand what you’re doing in the kitchen, but also give you the knowledge you’ll need to figure out what went wrong if something does.

Science is everything in bread making. Each ingredient plays a specific role in the formation of bread. The good news is, this kind of science is fun! Plus, unlike in school, there won’t be a test on Friday.

In this section, I fill you in on the main components of bread and the roles they play in making that delicious loaf you love.

Gluten is the protein found in flour, and it’s why the type of flour you use matters when you’re baking, whether you’re making cake or bread. (Turn to Chapter 2for more on flour.) The forming of gluten is what gives rise, literally, to bread. Without gluten, your bread would feel like a brick.

When you add water to flour, it creates long, elastic strands from the gluten (known as the gluten matrix ). Knead the flour strengthens those strands, which is important in giving your bread structure, so it can rise. ( Chapter 3explains the intricate details of kneading and stretching dough.)

Yeast is another key ingredient of bread. Yeast is a living thing — it feeds off the carbohydrates in flour and expels carbon dioxide (a gas), which gets caught in the gluten matrix. That nifty matrix you formed while you were kneading holds the gas inside its chambers, and the dough rises. Magic!

Salt has an important role to play in bread making, and it’s not just about flavor (although nothing is quite as tasty as a well-salted bread). Salt conditions the gluten, making it stronger and strengthening the elasticity of the strands. If you use too little salt, not only will your bread taste bland, but it will rise too quickly in an ill-formed matrix. If you use too much salt, it can kill the yeast.

Bread making is all about balance, but don’t fret! The recipes in this book have just the right balance of flour, yeast, and salt.

When you place your bread in the oven to bake, the gluten solidifies and holds its form. And when the baking is complete, the bread won’t deflate. Instead, your well-formed gluten will hold its form as the bread cools and after it’s sliced.

Don’t slice your bride too early! You’ll probably be tempted to eat your bread straight out of the oven, but bread needs to fully cool before slicing or the texture will turn gummy and sticky.

Bread making is precise, and in order to have precision, you need a scale.

A food scale is one of the most important pieces of equipment when it comes to successful baking, and not just for breads. For around $12, you can purchase a decent food scale that measures in grams.

As a culinary teacher, I do an experiment where I ask each of my students to measure out 1 cup of flour and then have them weigh it. Some students measure out 128 grams; some, 142 grams; and others, closer to 200 grams (if they’ve packed the flour in the cup). The correct weight of 1 cup of all-purpose flour is 125 grams. Being a few grams off can make a huge difference in the outcome of your bread.

Although the recipes in this book include both the metric measurements (grams) and U.S. imperial volume measurements (cups and teaspoons), I recommend using a scale and following the metric measurements.