How To Make Your Own Bread

Making your own bread is a great way to express your culinary abilities, while creating something that you and your entire family can enjoy. Making bread is a simple process, but it takes time.

Ingredients that are needed to make regular bread include:
16 ounces of bread flour, an extra ounce or so, for shaping
1 teaspoon of rapid-rise instant yeast
10 ounces of filtered water
2 teaspoons of salt

You can include these ingredients at your leisure:
2 teaspoons honey or sugar (for added flavor)
1 tbsp of cornstarch
An extra 1/3 cup of water (to make up for the added ingredients)

Other Ingredients Needed:
2 quarts of hot water
A non-stick agent, such as vegetable oil, (for greasing the rising container0
2 tablespoons of cornmeal

Steps

Begin by first combining 5 ounces of the flour, a 1/4 tsp of the yeast, all of the honey planned for use (if any), and add the 10 ounces of filtered water into a container that can be loosely sealed, and allow it to set in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. By adding the yeast now, we allow for slower fermentation, and increased production of gases by the yeast, providing more flavorful and textured bread. The yeast also helps to create strong gluten strands, which are very important when it comes to making bread.
(Doing this before going to bed in the evening is a good idea, because the bread will be ready to be handled in the morning.)

In a large bowl for a mixer, add the remaining 11 ounces of flower, the rest of the yeast, and the 2 teaspoons of salt into the bowl. At this time add the bread mixture from the refrigerator into the bowl as well. Using either your hands or the hook attachment to your bowl mixer, knead the dough for about 2 - 3 minutes on a slower setting, allowing it to come together. Then after the 2 - 3 minutes of kneading is complete, cover the bowl the bread was mixed in with a towel, and let it rest for 20 min. After the 20 minutes knead the dough once more for another 5 - 10 minutes, or on a medium speed in a mixer. The point is to be able to do this until the dough is able to be slowly pulled from the bowl onto a thin sheet of material that light is capable of passing through. Most likely the dough will still be sticky, but there isn't a need to be alarmed.

While kneading the dough, or when it is setting, put about a quart of the hot water into a dish that can be placed on the bottom rack of your oven, this is to ensure that the bread that you are making doesn't come out dry on its outside, and give the dough an environment that allows it to expand as quickly as possible. The dish can be glass, or metal, whatever works for you.

After the water is added, place the dough into a large greased pan, and place it on a rack in your oven, make sure it is on a rack that is above the hot water. The oven shouldn't be on at this time, we are just using the oven as a place to ensure an even distribution of moisture and heat around the bread, in an enclosed area. Give the bread approximately 1 - 2 hours, enough time to allow it to double in size.

Once the dough appears to have doubled its original size, put it onto a lightly floured surface, like a countertop. Dust your hands with flower, and press into the dough using your knuckles, folding one side of the dough into its center, and then the other side. Repeat this several times, and then cover the dough with a (clean) towel and let the dough rest for 10 - 15 minutes. At this time, add extra ingredients such as nuts or herbs that you may wish to add.

Take the dough after it has been allowed to rest, and fold it inward onto itself. Put the folded side facing the counter and roll it inward, the dough should, after doing this, look smooth on all visible sides. Then begin to gently move the dough with your hands, in a circular and harmonic motion. This is to allow the dough to tighten up as much as possible.

At this point, take the dough and move it carefully to a pizza board or a large baking sheet, first sprinkling cornmeal onto the pan or board (to allow the bread to slide off much more efficiently). Now place a towel over it and allow it to Bench proof, (the rest before baking), for 1 hour. It is ready when you can lightly push on the dough, and it quickly goes back to how it was.

Take an unglazed terra-cotta dish (material that most plant pots are made from), and place it upside down into the oven, before you preheat it! Set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit to preheat. You want the terra cotta to heat with the oven, putting it into a fully-preheated oven will most likely make it crack.

If you would like to have a more crispy crust on your bread, take 1/3 cup of water and cornstarch, the mixture should still be a liquid similar to water. Lightly brush this onto the surface of your dough.

Take your bread-knife, and gently cut the surface of the bread in several places. These cuts need to be about a 1/2 in. deep. You could cut a square shape on top of the bread, lines, an X, or just about any shape or design you could want. You want to put cuts into the surface of the bread so that it can expand as it cooks more easily. If there are no cuts, the bread cannot expand, and it causes the bread to be too dense. The water that is in the pan below the bread provides the bread with steam, which slows the formation of crust to allow cooking to be more thorough.

Make sure there is sufficient water in the pan that was added to the oven in earlier steps, if it has evaporated, then add more.

Slide the bread dough on to the terra-cotta dish that has preheated, and allow it to bake for 50 - 60 minutes. (This time varies because of different ovens), just be sure to regularly check on the bread as it backs. When the bread has completed the baking process, its internal temperature should be around 205 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is done, remove the bread and place it onto a cooling rack and allow it to rest for another 30 minutes before it is sliced.

After the 30 minutes, slice to preference, and enjoy with the utmost satisfaction!

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