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Your First Loaf - A Primer for the New Baker
To view a basic explanation and a recipe and walkthrough for the simplest possible loaf of bread, click the "Read More" link below. Flour That's it. There are even methods to cut out at least two more of those (yeast and salt), but the end product is unlikely to come out tasting like a typical loaf of bread. Each ingredient and step in the process of making bread serves a distinct purpose. Once you understand what role each ingredient performs and what is occurring in each step of the process you will feel liberated to experiment and create your own recipes. Understanding the Ingredients
These are the fundamental ingredients for making a decent loaf of bread. Additional ingredients add flavor or complexity to your bread. These will be discussed in a later article. Once you understand the way these four principle ingredients function, you can look at any recipe and realize that the basic rules of how bread works don't change. Understanding The Process For a basic loaf, all you need to do is put the ingredients together in a large bowl, mix them together with a wooden spoon, and then knead the dough on a hard surface for approximately 10 minutes. Kneading
Kneading is more than just stirring: kneading actually releases and aligns a protein in the flour called gluten. Gluten strands are what allow bread to form irregular pockets of carbon dioxide. Without this step your bread will have uniformly small holes, more like a muffin or loaf of banana bread. As long as you aren't tearing or cutting the dough it is hard to go wrong with kneading. Squish and roll, squish and fold, applying a fair amount of pressure on the dough, is a basic kneading technique. At some point, typically around seven or eight minutes into the process, the consistency of the dough will change. It'll become silky and smooth. You should feel it change. This is a good sign that you've kneaded enough. I typically give it another 2 or 3 minutes before calling it quits. At this point, drop the dough into a bowl (it's helpful if the bowl is greased to keep your dough from sticking to the bottom - regular spray oil will usually do the trick) and throw a towel over the bowl, and leave it alone to let it rise. Rising
Status check: by the time you are ready to let your loaf rise the yeast should be activated and the gluten should be aligned. The yeast does what any organism does after a long nap: it eats. The yeast feeds on the simple sugars that occur naturally in the flour. The yeast then releases carbon dioxide, which causes the bread to swell and form pockets. If you have kneaded properly the dough will form long strands of gluten which allow large air pockets to form in your loaf. If not you will end up with numerous smaller holes. No holes in your dough means your yeast failed to activate. The loaf must rise until it is approximately double in size. This typically takes from 45 minutes to a couple of hours, all depending on how much yeast the recipe called for. Temperature too is a factor: the warmer the room is the quicker the yeast will rise. Punching Down and Shaping
Some recipes call for one rise before shaping the loaf. Other recipes call for punching down the loaf to allow two or more rises. Punching down means simply to squish the risen dough down and re-knead it so that it is smaller again. The purpose of punching down is to free up more food for the yeast. The longer the yeast feeds, the more complex the flavor of the loaf. Too many rises, however, can result in off flavors, such as bitterness and a beery flavor, to occur in your bread. As well as carbon dioxide yeast releases alcohol and acids. Too much acid in your loaf can actually cause the yeast to die off. You do not shape the loaf until you are ready for the final rise. Either you place the loaf in a loaf pan or you shape it into a baguette, batard, round, or whatever shape you want. Then you give it another hour or so to double in size again.
Scoring the bread is just slicing it. You'll want to use something really sharp so that the dough doesn't fall and collapse again. A razor blade does the trick if you don't have fancy knives. The purpose of this is to release some of the trapped gases in your loaf so that it doesn't tear open while baking. It also makes your loaf look nice. Baking In the first five minutes in the oven your loaf will have one last growth spurt. This is called oven spring. Think of it as the yeast feeding itself quicker and quicker as it heats up until the rising temperature finally kills it off.
Many bakers use baking stones, which retain heat, to try to maximize the oven spring. This is helpful but not necessary when starting out. Let's Make a Loaf! OK, now that you have the basic idea, let's try it out with a really simple basic recipe. I tried this one today while stuck inside during an ice storm. This worked out well, since the freezing rain hit before we had realized that our refrigerator was lacking eggs and milk, along with a variety of other grocery items! A Generic Recipe
Mix everything together. If it is too wet and won't come free from the sides of the bowl or keeps sticking to your hands, add a little more flour. If it is too dry and won't form into a ball, add a bit of water. Knead it for 10 minutes. Cover and set it aside to rise until it doubles in size, approximately 90 minutes. Punch it down and let it rise again. Shape it, either by putting it in a greased loaf pan or by rolling it out into a long loaf and putting it on the back of a cookie sheet.
After it has risen to twice it size again, another hour or so, put the loaf into a preheated oven at 375 degrees. Let it bake for 45 minutes and then pull it out. If you made it into a long skinny loaf, it may cook 5 or 10 minutes quicker, so adjust the time based on what shape you chose. I baked the loaf in these photos for 40 minutes). 50-375 for 45 minutes is typical for a loaf in a loaf pan. Eat! Wrap Up Well, how was it? It may not be the best loaf of bread you've ever had, but it ain't bad. There are many additional ingredients and techniques that are used in creating world class breads (some of which I will talk about in future articles), and each step of the process that we discussed (kneading, rising, shaping, scoring, baking) can be further elaborated on, but the approach used in this recipe is at the core of almost every other recipe you will encounter. Continue to Lesson Two: Adding Something More to Your Loaf.
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ALSO ON |
When I tell people I am into bread baking, people often respond by telling me that they wish they could bake bread but it just seems too complicated. I find this discouraging, because baking a basic loaf of bread is about the easiest thing you can do in the kitchen. Once you understand what is going on in a simple loaf of bread you should be able to look at 90% of more difficult bread recipes and have a sense of what that loaf will taste and feel like. 
Re: Your First Loaf - A Primer for the New Baker
My 7 yr old daughter saw me looking through the site and asked about it. She asked if she could make some bread so I showed her the recipe and supervised her through the process. She loved "punching it down". We have a kitchenaide so she didn't have to worry about kneading it (being only 60 lbs she would have had trouble). The bread came out very satisfactory and she can't wait to make more. Thanks for posting this information.
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my first look at this site
hey! just had a little peak at this site, it is cool!! i want to start making my own bread as my dad used to when i was a kid and i miss that smell in the kitchin and the taste of nice bread not stodgy bought stuff. i will recomend it to people i know!! and i will be on regularly!! take care Emma! (birmingham uk)
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Basic Bread
I have old yeast left over from 1999 and use one packet of that with one packet of new yeast and the results have been fine in each of the 4 bakes I have done this winter.
My basic "French" bread recipe is the same as the one here in this Lesson, except it calls for sugar. I wonder how that changes the end product?
My dough is probably "dry" too because I find it to be a big headache when it is real sticky and gets all over your hands and kneading board like glue so I add considerable dry flour while kneading. But my results have been good, so it's okay!
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Re: Basic Bread
I wrote about what sugar does in the next lesson: sugar adds a little more food for the yeast, a touch of sweetness, and something that will caramelize in the oven and give the crust a nice brown color. It isn't necessary but it is nice to add.
I'm finding I like to start with a fairly wet dough. I pour it onto a heavily floured cutting board and then sprinkle flour on top of it. As I work it in, if my hands start to stick or if it sticks to the cutting board I sprinkle more flour on and under it. I keep doing this until it stops being sticky.
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Location: Pune, India Flour
Location: Pune, India
Flour used : Wheat Flour [we dont get all purpose flour in India in local stores. There might be specialty stores selling it]
Yeast used : Active Dry Yeast [2 months old]
Quantity:
2 Cups of Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon of Active Dry Yeast, dissolved in warm water 1/4 of a coffee mug. Water warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds. Additional tap water, used to knead dough
Dough consistency is right after kneading
Set the dough out in the sun [its not very warm] for 2 hours. Did not see any sizeable "rise". Went ahead and baked it anyways. 200 deg C == 400 deg F for 30 minutes, in a convection mode of the microwave. I get a nice thick crust [tastes good too], but the insides of the bread does has not cooked well.
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Re: India flour
mmm.. a 1/4th of a coffe mug of water..20 seconds in the microwave.. did you take the temp of the water before you proofed your yeast? It might have been too warm and killed your yeast. I know all microwaves are different, but in mine the water would've gotten way to hot. The water should be at about 100 deg F.
Best of Luck and keep at it!
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Its the yeast
I am pretty sure the problem is the yeast. I made 2 batches of dough over the weekend.
Batch 1.) 2 cups of whole wheat flour
Batch 2.) 2 cups of whole wheat flour + 1 cup of maida flour
I set the water out in the sun to warm and then added the yeast.
After 2 hours, neither batch had risen.
Then i tried another experiment. In another cup of sun warmed water, I added 1 tea spoon of sugar and 1 tea spoon of yeast and dissolved them.
After 10 minutes, there was very little foaming in the cup though the mixture in the cup did smell "alcoholic".
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FYI maida flour is all
FYI maida flour is all purpose flour
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Windowpane test
Hi
What do you mean by the window pane test? Is that similar to throwing spaghtti against the wall?
Thanks
Baking in Africa
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Window pane test:
Stretch out a handful portion of your dough very thinly. If it does not tear or break in any way, it is ready. :)
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Window Check
Here's the idea but you want a better a looking window then the one in my picture...
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anyone have metric measurements for this recipe? or any recipes?
we just got an oven 3 weeks ago, and i'm just starting to get into making yeast breads (and pizza crusts). but i'm starting to get so frustrated, doing searches for recipes online -- most do not have metric measurements, it seems most are done in US cups, which i don't have access to. but i do have a fine kitchen scale, and ml liquid measuring cups.
i've seen many different 'conversions' for flour cups to grams. anywhere from 110-156 grams for a US cup. crazy! when i go back to the US, i'm bringing my baking scale with me!
there seem to be others on this site in various threads talking about metric weights (and even the benefits of weighing ingredients as more accurate)... has anyone converted this recipe to metric... can you share the measures for this basic bread recipe?
and, if anyone has other metric equivalents for other recipes, i'd love to see them! this looks like such a cool site, and interesting community, i'd love to try some of the recipes out, and learn some basics.
thanks! - heather
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Re: anyone have metric measurements for this recipe?
If you tell me what type of flour you are using, I will convert it using the conversion factors in The Bread Bible. Rose lists therein ~35 different conversion factors for different types of flour ranging from whole wheat (wholemeal) to black bean flour. Each type has a different density which may account for the number of different factors you are finding.
.
sPh
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Basic recipe: metric measurements
Assuming what is called in the United States "bread flour" (typically ~10% protein):
.
.
I didn't convert the water measurement - I filled my conical measure to 1-1/8 cup and eyeballed it.
.
If you need more conversion factors let me know. You could also visit Rose Levy's web site and ask her what copyright she holds in her conversion table. If she says that the table is public domain I would be happy to enter it in a spreadsheet for posting here.
.
sPh
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thank you!
the type of flour is 'strong bread flour'. it is white. (i can't get wheat). i guess i want to start with a basic bread recipe, and learn how to do other things with it. i'm interested in making bread rolls with seeds on top and on the bottom, like ones i've had in Germany.
i'm just after "kneading" a batch of german weck rolls... and it's the wettest dough on the planet, i had to fold instead of knead. i'm sure that allrecipes.com means well when they convert to metric for you, but i just know there is something wrong with this recipe conversion. they converted 3-1/2 cups bread flour to 480 g bread flour... does that sound right?
anyway, i'd like to try the 'first loaf' recipe here.
thanks very much for the offer of your help.
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German Weck rolls/Semmeln folding
Your Recipe looks like a Kaiser roll or semmeln recipe to me only there is too much yeast (unless it's cake yeast). One Tablespoon plus one teaspoon should be enough. You just have to work in more flour, It should not be too wet when your're done kneading. What I like is the direction for making the 5 point rolls. Thanks a million! :) Mini Oven
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Conversion
I just tried the conversion calculator that I use "Gourmet sleuth"
and it converted 3.5 cups bread flour to 479.5 grams..the same
as you got from the Allrecipe.COM site.
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General comments
I enjoyed reading this recipe and the comments that followed.
My breadmaking experience has taught me to measure the flour and water out separately, then take about 1/6th of the flour and put it to one side.
This is what I use to adjust my recipe in the kneeding process. (not adding additional flour as this can make the bread heavy) Rub your (clean) hands with this extra flour and incorporate as you are kneeding to bring the mixture to the right consistency.
Feel and watch the mixture as you are going and you can't go wrong It should not be sticky but should feel & look moist. Add just what you need. Atmospheric conditions will make a difference, so you could make the same loaf two days in a row and need a different amount of flour.
To have good bread the rising is the single most important process. It would be rare for commercial yeast to be at fault, as long as it is not past its used by date.
The temperature is a far more likely cause of failure. Make sure your bowl and utensils are warm when mixing. A cold ceramic bowl can have a very negative effect. I rinse mine out with hot tap water before starting and dry it thoroughly.
Summer and winter I use my oven to get the bread to rise. I preheat to 40dC (about 100F), turn the oven off and place my mixture in there to rise.
I find an hour is plenty this way. When I pull it out, I turn the oven to 200c for the final baking, while I am punching, second kneeding and shaping.
For those who want to have exact measurement convesions, there is a free download called 'calculator plus' that converts everything from weights, measures, volume, currency, length, you name it. A small programme it is worth having on your computer.
The other point is perservere. Home made bread is worth the learning process.
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I used Spelt flour.
I used Spelt flour.
2 cups wholemeal to one cup white unbleached.
I also made a starter. I think I have the yeast that needs to be woken up, so I added 1 teaspoon of Dark raw honey to the water.
I kneaded for 6 mins as I have read alot that too much kneading breaks down the delicate gluten structure.
I know it needed more water in the initial mixing but then the dough was sticky when kneeding so I just added more flour during the kneading. By the end it was a good consistency and was as elastic as I have ever had my bread dough go.
The first proofing it more than doubled in size, the second proofing did the same, the third time when I put it in the loaf pan it didnt rise much as all. In fact it didnt reach the top of the loaf pan........which is quite shallow anyway. :(
I also think I need to place a moist tea towel over the top when it is proofing as it dried out alot on top.
I baked it for 40 mins and it came out lovely in taste and texture.
My guests enjoyed it none the less :)
It actually was elastic/chewy like "real bakers bread" is. I was proud of myself for that.
I wonder if the third proof was a mistake? Was I meant to let it rise 3 times? I might have misunderstood the lesson :S
I am going to try again.
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Spelt flour and third rise not necessary
Spelt wheat has a more fragile gluten structure so a third rise may be too much - this is my everyday flour and I rarely knead it for as long as any standard wheat recipe would suggest. I also tend to skip the second rise if three are suggested and shape and proof after first rise - also never go for "double" on final rise - 40-50% and then massive oven spring is better.
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Thank you! :) I usually
Thank you! :)
I usually kneed for half as long. I keeded it for about 5 or 6 mins.
SO after the first rise I should not punch it down and let just shape it and proof it till it rises about 50%?
If so, I will try it this afternoon. :)
Thanks again :) I appreciate your information!
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sorry thegreenbaker
Hi the greenbaker so sorry I have only just logged on having been tooo busy with paperwork to cope with anything else so I only just saw your question.
I saw your blog too. Agree about shocking cost of spelt but then some wheat flour very cheap and very bad quality too .. here in UK I pay not just for the spelt but also decent and accountable organic grower/miller.
The only other thing I can say is you may want less water with spelt than ordinary wheat flour - hard to guess at exactly but for ordinary rustic I use approx 1 cup water plus 1tbs oil to 3 cups wholemeal/white spelt mix.
Am off to start a simple rustic spelt loaf with sponge.
Hope your next bake turn out better. :)
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How long to leave to cool
How long should I be leaving bread to cool after baking it, before eating it? Is leaving it until it's cool enough to eat long enough, or will I get a better loaf by leaving it for longer?
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How long to cool a loaf
A sourdough loaf or a loaf with long, slow development is probably at its best the day after it is baked. But a French Bread like this one that has a fair amount of yeast and a short development period I would plan on eating the same day it is baked; it stales very quickly. Give it half an hour after being out of the oven then eat it still warm.
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Turned out great.
I am new to baking bread. I tried this recipe and it turned out great. I should have let it rise more on the second rise though. It still turned out good. I liked it because it was a simple recipe and easy to do. Thanks. Now I move onto second lesson!
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Thank you Floydm
This was the first recipe I ever tried to bake and I have been doing slight variations of it since. I wanted to share a few of my recent photos from todays bake, using this recipe.
Thank you again Floydm, Your images and posts are very educational for a new Bread Baker.
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The First Lesson
I am so glad I found this site! Thank you for doing the Lessons.
I "studied" the first lesson and decided to make my first loaf this past Saturday. I finally made my first successful loaf of bread! Now I can't wait to bake more. My husband ate at least 1/2 of the loaf after it was done and still warm. We finished the rest at dinner time.
I used the Active Dry Yeast package. I read some previously posted comments regarding this and the water temp. On the back of the package it does tell you that if you are mixing all the ingredients in at once then have the water temp at 120-130. If mixng yeast with water before adding to flour mixture, then have the water temp at 110-120.
Thanks again!
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First Loaf Feedback
Hi Floyd,
Tried out the first loaf recipe today. I ended up with a loaf that had hardly risen. Very pale on the outside, dense-ish inside and v salty. I
followed the recipe as closely as I could - I had active dry yeast initially but then bought the instant yeast to make sure the recipe is easier to follow. I used the exact ingredient quantities, the dough rose the first time, and the second time, then i shaped it into a loaf (without knocking it down much - as the recipe didn't really mention doing that again), and then let it rise again, then I turned on the oven at the temp. mentioned, and I think it was on for about 5 mins before i put the loaf in (the oven felt quite hot when I put the loaf in). (The size of the loaf is a bit narrower than that in the pics. )Baked it for 45 mins.Since it was dense and pale i just kept it in the oven for about 7 more minutes. And then switched the oven off - took the loaf out and tried cutting another piece, it felt drier this time, but still dense and not risen).
Any feedback on what may have gone wrong would be really great.
Many thanks,
Sam
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Sam, did you find out...
why your loaf was so pale? Sounds like the oven didn't reach temperature but more than likely a problem with over proofing the final rise. Sorry you've waited so long for an answer. After shaping the loaf, one doesn't have to wait 'til it's "doubled," sometimes that can be hard to judge, try putting it into the oven sooner. Since you were so gentle with your shaping, you also won't have to wait very long for that final rise. Have you tried another loaf since June? -- Mini Oven
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Your claim that bread making
Your claim that bread making is simple is the foulest lie I have ever read. GRAGH!!!!!!!!! *shakes fist in frustration and rage*
Sorry, I just had to get that out.
My loaf was a flat, salty, crusty pancake of evil. I used the kind of yeast that you have to put in warm water first. The initial yeast/water mixture doubled in volume, just like the package said it would. I dumped that into the flour and salt mixture. Then I added 3/4 cup of water... it was dry so I added some more water. Probably too much. But it rose, it rose! I don't get it.
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Try adding just half the
Try adding just half the yeast/water mixture to the dry ingredients first. Incorporate that then add the rest and it should be fine. If not add a little water if dry and flour of wet.
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I made this bread for
I made this bread for Thanksgiving yesterday following the above recipe and I used instant yeast. I put a tad too much salt in and the crust was too hard. So today, I tried the recipe again but used 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar instead of two teaspoons of salt and I had some pretty good results. The crust was browner like the bread in the second lesson and the taste of the salt wasn't as noticable.
Thanks for providing the lessons! They were really informative for my first loaf of bread.
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Hi Floyd,
Hi Floyd,
I tried twice and completely failed to make this bread.
No idea what I'm doing wrong.
I did find the dough almost impossible to handle - sticky and too soft to shape into anything approaching a loaf or any other shape for that matter. Needless to say I couldn't slash it either (and I was using a damned sharp blade too) I guess I should put that down to my lack of skill.
My bread was uber dense (hardly any air) and the crust was...well...what crust?? Ok it got brown on the top but that's about it.
I'd post pictures but the bin seemed really the only decent place for my failure.
Not sure where to go from here.
Thanks for the lesson, sorry I couldn't do it justice!
--Toby
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If you post pictures, we can
If you post pictures, we can use it as a visual guide.
I still suspect your oven as you said it was not working properly....... That would be the problem right there in my opinion.
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My first loaf
I made this loaf today for the first time. I guess it came out ok, less then 1/4 left. I have a KitchenAid to do all the mixing and kneading but I'm not real sure how long I need to let the machine knead the dough. The booklet that came with the machine says 2 min on speed 2 but the dough only climbed half way up the hook. I baked it for 40 min, it sounded hollow and it's internal temp was about 145°F. It cooled for about 40 mins till dinner was ready. When I sliced it, the crust wasn't as crunchy as it was when it first came out of the oven and it might have been a little too moist inside.
I did however find out a few mins ago that it is excellent sliced about 1/2 inch thick and toasted under the broiler then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.
I live in FL and we had high humidity today, I know that afftect the amount of flour to use, so I am going to make another loaf tomorrow before I move on to lesson 2.
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Suggestions..
For this type of bread I would knead for about 8 minutes on speed 2. Then check the dough for window pane. Your internal temp should be about 200-210. Hope this helps..
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