How to Make Bread from Scratch

If you want the supermarket bread aisle sandwich fodder, then by all means hit the back button on your browser right now. If you'd like some bread that is arguably 10 times better tasting, definitely fresher, contains no preservatives, is 30% air rather than 90%, and can hold its own in a meal, even without butter, then perhaps you would like to know how to bake bread.

This page goes well in combination with How to Make Bread Now, this is based on the "very basic bread" recipe by Alton Brown. The recipe can be easily found (as the link proves) on the foodTV web page, but here it has the added insight that comes from viewing Alton explain it, the experience of actually doing it some 25 loaves now, and research into bread theory from other resources.

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces bread flour, plus extra for shaping
• 1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
• 2 teaspoons honey or sugar
• 10 ounces bottled or filtered water
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

Optional:

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp honey

Functional:

• 2 quarts hot water
• Vegetable oil, for greasing the rising container
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal

Note:

Yes, you are going to want to use bread flour if you can. Bread flour has a higher protein content and therefore forms more gluten in the bread dough, and gluten is good. Make sure to weigh it - volume is a very inaccurate way of determining how much flour you have.

The water is important, too. Most faucet water has chemicals in it that kill micro-organisms (such as yeast) and distilled water has too little minerals. Alton recommends using water that has been filtered with a charcoal based filtration system (such as a Brita Filter) or bottled mineral water.

Steps

1. Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, all of the honey, and all of the bottled water in a straight-sided container; cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours (overnight is best).
   
   • Why do we do this? Well, yeast does two things for bread: it leavens the bread and it adds flavor/texture to the bread. The problem is that to properly leaven the bread, yeast needs to reproduce quickly (to produce the gasses inside the bread), and to provide the proper flavor/texture it needs to reproduce slowly. The way around this is to make the pre-ferment or "sponge." By putting the yeasty mixture into the refrigerator, you slow down the fermentation process. This lets the dough absorb some of the gasses let off by the yeast (yielding a softer dough later on) and gives the bread an aged flavor. (You may think that "aged" doesn't sound good for bread, but it is.) And lastly, the extra time and hydration helps to form the gluten strands that are so very important for bread dough.
2. Place the remaining 11 ounces of flour, remaining yeast, and all the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the pre-ferment from the refrigerator. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the mixture on low for 2 to 3 minutes just until it comes together. Cover the dough in the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until you are able to gently pull the dough into a thin sheet that light will pass through. The dough will be sticky, but not so sticky that you can't handle it.
   
   • (Though the mixer does make things easier and quicker, hand kneading is another path to the same destination.)
3. While the dough is kneading, pour half of the hot water into a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven. A glass baking dish works well.
4. Grease the inside of a large straight-sided container with the vegetable oil. Place the dough ball into the container and set on the rack above the pan of water. Allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 2 hours. (The hot water does two things: It warms the dough to let it rise faster and it keeps the air inside the oven moist, keeping the dough from forming a dry skin on top.)
5. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour, and press the dough out with your knuckles; then fold 1 side in towards the middle of the mass and then the other, as if you were making a tri-fold wallet. Repeat the folding a second time. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
6. Flatten the dough again with your knuckles and then fold the dough in onto itself, like you are shaping something that looks like a jellyfish. Turn the dough over and squeeze the bottom together so that the top surface of the dough is smooth.
7. Place the dough back onto the counter and begin to roll gently between your hands. Do not grab the dough but allow it to move gently back and forth between your hands, moving in a circular motion. The point of this is to tighten up the skin of the doughball as much as possible.
8. Move the dough ball to a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal (so it can slide off later). Cover with the kitchen towel and allow to bench proof for 1 hour, or until you poke the dough and it quickly fills back in where you poked it.
9. Place an unglazed terra cotta dish upside down into the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Be sure to put the dish into the cold oven. Terra cotta needs to heat and cool slowly and evenly or else it will crack. To ensure a properly pre-heated oven, turn it on while you let the dough bench proof for the final hour.
   
   • (The point of the dish is that terra cotta is made of earth. While metal conducts heat, earth will absorb and radiate heat. The physics behind the amount, rate, and direction of the heat need not be fully understood to appreciate that it helps your bread come out right.)
10. Combine the 1/3 cup of water and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Uncover the dough and brush the surface with this mixture.
11. Gently slash the top surface of the dough ball in several places, approximately 1/3 to 1/2-inch deep. The standard would be the shape of a square on top of the loaf, but you can do an X on top, slash lines, whatever you would like.
12. Add more of the hot water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. Slide the bread onto the terra cotta dish in the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes (this can vary in practice depending on how hot and what size your oven is). Once the bread has reached an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F, remove to a cooling rack and allow to sit for 30 minutes before slicing.
    
    • (The idea is that while it bakes it will expand and the crust will form. If the crust forms a shell, it will make the bread too dense. The slashes let the bread rise one last time in a situation where it can't expand in all directions, and the water provides steam that will prevent the crust from forming too quickly.)

Tips

• Don't skip the salt. Salt regulates the fermentation of the dough and keeps it from growing out of control.
• If you can, knead the dough by hand. It may go slower, and it is a bit more labor intensive, but kneading dough is one of life's simple pleasures.
• When "punching down", be aware that this is not like 'wedging' clay: you are not trying to force air out of the dough while working it. Instead, its perfectly ok to trap air inside the dough while manipulating. Yeast needs to breathe.
• The rest periods in-between are important so as not to overwork your dough and let the gluten "relax." If you are impatient, I suggest you pass the time by smelling the dough while it rises, a quite enjoyable experience.
• Step 10 is optional, but gives you a crispier crust.
• When it comes time to cut the dough, a bread knife does the job quite nicely.
• Step 5 is a good time to fold in any additions you may want, such as nuts or herbs.
• The recipe uses 1 pound of bread flour, and bread flour usually comes in 5 pound bags. When you get the hang of it, go for a quintuple recipe all at once. Since you're investing so much time in the rising and kneading and gluten resting, you may as well get enough bread to last you.*

The thin sheet of dough is also known as the bakers window. This lets you know if the gluten is properly dispersed.

• It is not necessary to buy bottled water in order to make bread. Chlorine is a gas dissolved in water. To remove it, simply keep some water uncovered in the refrigerator for a couple of days. You can do this with your drinking water as well.
• Bleached flour rises higher than most.

Warnings

• Don't skip the final 30 minute cool down. Cutting too early can smoosh your bread, and it would be tragic to spend all that time on bread just to mess it up in the last moments.