Baking bread the easy way

Bread.....

This is my lunch dish for today/
A nice whole wheat bread, some cream cheese and cured salmon.

Today,
we can start with the bread.
The quantities are for 2 - 4 people. Personally I split it into two parts have one part the same day
the other part goes in the fridge and I either make it the next day or use it for pizza.

So.
1.5 teaspoons of dry yeast
1 cup of warm water - simply slightly hot water on your hand it should not burn you just
feel nice and warm, then reach the 1 cup.
1 table spoon of honey.

That is it.
Take all three and mix them in a bowl.

After 10 minutes they will bubble



If they don't bubble, that means they are faulty or your water is too cold.
Test to see the water is warmish and add a little sugar.
If you wait another 10 minutes and nothing happens throw it out and get another manufacturer.
My "red" yeast failed, so I just bought Fleischman which works fine.
I also made my own, but that is another blog.

So the yeast is bubbling.
Add
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of wheat germ - if you don't have this, you can skip it.
1 cup of whole wheat flour - if you don't have any just use regular wheat.
1/4 of a cup of milk - if you don't have it just use water

So

the above are what you add.

mixy mix 200 times.
See how it has a nice consistency.
Now just add flour 1/2 cup at a time.

As you can see slowly
it becomes more solid

add another 1/2 cup

It will slowly get to be harder to move
your wood spatula or spoon around and the dough will slowly stop clinging to the bowl.
however it can be draining on the arm.
So simply leave it for a few minutes and then get back to it.
So, the more you mix at this stage the less you have to knead.
Anyway a little more flour and it should come off.

simply flour a board.
Put some flour on the bread and start kneading.
I can't photograph and knead at the same time.
This is a nice video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7jBrDWJOds
I use the third one mainly, the first is too noisy.
the dough should be sticky but not stick if it sticks add a little flour.
Keep going, if you get tired take a break, when you come back it will have blown up slightly because
of the yeast working.
Okay, after 10-15 minutes stop.
Stick your finger in the dough and when you take it out the dough should puff slowly back up to fill the hole.
If it is pretty quick you should be set or just count the 15 minutes.

Now.

















This is how the dough started, 5 inches across.
I just threw some flour on the top and covered it with a rag.

If you don't flour the top, the rag will stick. So flour it nicely.

The dough will expand slowly.
1 hour - 2 hours it all depends on how warm it is.
If your house is freezing cold and you live in novosibirsk, then simply place it closer to a source of heat.
If your house is as hot as hades because you live in Israel and can't afford the AC, then put it in your coolest
spot.
Anyway,.
After X time  1-2 hours, you can peek.






Notice the lovely expansion.
from 2-10 inches  see 8 inches now.


Okay, punch it down.
Yes all the air will go out.



after that leave it again for 1 hour.




After the second rise you can punch it down again and shape it into the shape you want




In my case I wanted a loaf.
You can use a pyrex like I did.
If you use a Pyrex you can look at the dough on the bottom and see it expanding.
Anyway,

So first rise was 1-2 hours
second rise was 1 hour
third rise is 30 minutes.
The reason is that by now the yeast have improved their game and are more efficient.
Once the 30 minutes elapse you can throw it in the oven.

You can also check manually,

Stick your clean finger in the dough, it should make a hole
when you remove your finger the hole won't fill in. {this is the opposite of the kneading where we wanted it to fill in}
The reason is that by now the structure of the dough is such that there are a lot of air pockets.
So the structure is brittle.
If you leave it now for 10 minutes it will start filling up. As opposed to 1-2 minutes when we were kneading.

That is it, heat up the oven to 375F and chuck it in.

I forgot to take a foto
Anyway after 25 minutes flip the bread from the pan so you can color the other side.
In my case my heat is from the bottom, so this gives the top a deeper color.

Now, how do you know if it needs 20 minutes or 25 minutes or 30 minutes.
Well, once you flipped it you can tap the bread like a drum.
If it make a heavy sound, it is moist and not ready.
The more it dries up in the middle, the better the percussion sound will be and it will sound
more hollow.
You can make the recipe 4 times, one time stop after 20 , drum it for the sound and then open it.
See how the sound tells you if it is ready.
The second time do 25 minutes
the third 30 minutes etc.
This way you learn.

After you think the bread is ready, either take it out and wolf it down
or give it 10 minutes to rest nicely.

Anyway, that's it.
I also made myself some nice cured wild salmon and bought some cowgirl cream cheese.
Notice the bread is slightly dark, that is because I used the whole wheat
which like I said is optional.
Try to use 50% whole wheat and 50% regular flour. Don't try making the whole thing whole
wheat as whole wheat is slow to rise and not as "user" friendly.


Anyway,
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.