How To Make Homemade Bread

Introduction

Bread is a staple food almost all around the world and fresh bread has its own value. The easiest way to enjoy fresh bread is to bake it at home. Now the question is how to make homemade bread. The basic ingredients used for bread are flour, water, salt and yeast. Other ingredients could be milk, eggs, raisins, nuts, spices, etc. Bread left uncovered for a long hour loses its freshness and goes stale, thus losing its aroma, form and taste. Thus, it should be kept wrapped in cling film or a kept in a special breadbox. Following are the steps on how to make homemade bread.

Step 1

The first thing that you need to know on how to make homemade bread, is to make sweet syrup by mixing a pinch of sugar, a table spoon of honey and sugar corn syrup. This will act as a catalyst for the yeast to work. Mix this sweet syrup with warm water and add ¾ ounces of yeast and mix well.

Step 2

The next step is to mix one table spoon of salt with two pounds of flour. Separate 6 ounces of flour aside before mixing it all in. Knead one pound of flour with water. Mix well and allow the air to be trapped in the dough. After mixing the first half, you can add the rest of the floor (the 6 ounces still safe aside) and mix well. This two-step mixing allows for well aeration of the dough and allows the bread to rise while baking. Make sure that the dough has a nice texture, not too sticky and not too dry either.

Step 3

Once the dough has been kneaded, it is time to shape the dough into a desired bread shape. If you want a round shape, put your dough on the table and firmly hold the dough with your pinkies on its sides. Keeping the dough on the table, push it around. If you want a longer shape, make a rough rectangle and roll it. Then press it down a bit. Stretch it to fit the size of the pan.

Step 4

Next, it is time to learn how to make double the size of your homemade bread. All you have to do is put the dough on a tray or baking stone. Cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and make sure there are no air bubbles. Let the dough sit until it is double in size. This will take a few hours for the bread to swell as the yeast works its magic.

Step 5

Finally, how to bake your homemade bread?

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. You can slit the top of the dough for effect and a better rise. The baking time for bread can range from fifteen minutes to thirty minutes, depending on the size of the bread. You must also start checking if the bread has been baked after the first 15 minutes have passed. A sign of it being ready is the echoing sound it will produce when you tap the surface of the bread and the color should be a heavenly light brown.

Tips

These were a few simple steps on how to make homemade bread! After the bread has been baked, remove it from the baking pan and let it cool down. Bread, when no preservatives have been added to it, can’t survive the freshness after a day. You can store the bread in a brown paper bag temporarily, but if you plan to keep it for longer, you can store it in the freezer after slicing it. It does not take much time to defrost. You don’t need a "how to enjoy your homemade bread," do you? Enjoy!

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