Bread
Baking Made Easy
by Beth Scott
Don't you just
hate it when you follow a recipe to the letter
and when the bread baking is finished the bread not only
looks nothing like the recipe book's picture, but tastes
terrible as well?
There is no
denying that bread baking as with baking
anything is a delicate process.
Bread baking
involves so many things that first time bakers are often discouraged
after a few failed attempts to turn out professional looking and
tasting loaves.
Little do they
realize that if they only possessed the professional Baker's secrets
bread baking would be so easy that the bread would practically make
itself!
For instance:
How many amateur bakers know the secret to keeping bread from sticking
to the pan every time?
None! So
when they try their hand at bread baking for the first time their bread
sticks to the bread pan, and ends up a crumbled mess if they try to
force it out.
Then they cry and
give up thinking that the problem lies with them.
The shocking truth
is that it doesn't!
The problem lies
with their lack of knowledge of THE bread baking secret.
The secret
professional chefs and bakers won't tell you, the secret they guard so
jealously.
My father happened
to learn this bread baking secret in his younger baking days and has
passed it on to his children ever since.
Okay, okay, I know
you're probably screaming at me by now "Beth, get on with it! Tell us
the bread baking secret already!"
The Baker's Secret
So here it is; You
will need only one tool besides for the oil and bread pan you already
have, and that is quite simply cornmeal (you shouldn't need
more than 1/4 to 1/2 cup for two loaves of bread).
"Cornmeal?" you
ask doubtfully. "YES, cornmeal!"
No, you do not add
the cornmeal to the bread ingredients! That is not the bread baking
secret.
What you do is you
oil your pan as usual, and you lightly sprinkle cornmeal on all of the
sides and bottom of the bread pan.
Now you can safely
place your bread dough into the pans without fear of it sticking to
them.
While your bread
is baking instead of sticking to the pan, your bread will stick to the
cornmeal and slide easily out of the pan when done baking.
You may need to
use a butter knife and slide it in between the panand the bread before
turning the pan over and allowing your bread to pop out.
A lot of the time
this will be unnecessary however and your bread will pop out just by
your turning the bread pan upside down.
You will probably
also want to use the butter knife to scrape the excess cornmeal off the
bottom and sides of the bread as you may not care for the taste of
cornmeal.
This bread baking
secret will work whether you're baking a batter bread or a rising bread
(also called yeast bread). I personally use it for both.
Don't
Burn That Bread
Here is another
treasured bread baking secret, this one only for batter breads:
On the last ten
minutes of its baking time cover the bread pan containing the batter
bread with another bread pan (a steel bread pan works best), and leave
it on until the bread is finished baking.
This will keep the
batter bread from burning or becoming
too hard on top. You may vary the time you leave the steel bread pan on
according to how your batter bread usually looks when it is finished.
If it is a very
dark brown on top and difficult to slice because the top is so hard,
then 20 minutes will work best. But if it is just a little too hard on
top and a little too brown the 10 minutes should suffice.
Do not cover the
bread at all if it usually comes out golden and soft on top after the
baking is completed.
You may also glaze
a batter bread on top with a tablespoon of melted butter mixed with a
tablespoon of honey, and sprinkle some flaked coconut or sliced nuts on
top of that.
To glaze you start
by taking the bread out of the oven five minutes before the required
baking time is finished, then spread the butter/honey mixture on top of
the bread, sprinkle on your coconut or chopped nuts and bake for the
remaining 5 minutes.
Here is another
useful bread baking tip for rising breads...
Over
Rising Bread?
If your bread
loaves over rise (say because you were busy and forgot about them),
then you can use a pair of scissors to cut off the excess sides, being
careful not to cut any dough from off of the top.
You may then use
this excess dough to make rolls. You simply oil a pizza or cookie sheet
and form the dough into several small balls.
Rise them for
another half hour and then bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20
minutes or until golden brown.
Do yourself a
favor and put these tried and tested bread baking secrets immediately
to use in your kitchen, and your family will rave over the results.
Beth teaches bread
baking how-to's so simply that with her new eBook ANYONE can bake their
own bread. Visit her website now!
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