Follow these steps when baking bread

How to Bake Perfect Bread Every Time



Even if you have followed a bread-baking recipe to the letter, sometimes the results are not all they should be. Many people want to know how to bake bread with great results every time but the learning; process is usually through trial and error. Experimentation and practice are usually all you need to bake successful bread recipes but here are a few bread baking troubleshooting tips in case you are encountering problems!

How Long Does Dough Take to Rise?

A lot of new bread bakers might find their bread goes crumbly or only stays fresh for a day or so. The usual reason behind this is that the bread has been left to rise for too long. You might think leaving it for as long as possible to become enormous will result in a bigger, better loaf, but this is not the case. Letting the dough rise for too long does not result in lighter bread. The dough becomes over-stretched and falls to pieces. A good guideline to follow is that when the dough has more or less doubled in size, it is ready for baking. Another cause behind crumbly or stale bread is adding too much yeast or allowing the dough to rise somewhere too hot.

Why is My Bread Cracked?

When your dough is rising, you need to cover it with oiled polythene or a tea towel. Your bread will probably crack if you allow it to become dry when it is rising. A tea towel is less messy than oiled polythene but remember to wash it afterwards.
Uneven Bread or Bread with Holes

This problem can be the result of leaving the dough uncovered when it is rising. Another reason behind holey bread or uneven bread is that the dough was not sufficiently kneaded. A minimum of 10 minutes of kneading is required to make sure all your bread ingredients are well combined.

Doughy or Heavy Bread

Bread should be light and springy in texture. If it comes out heavy, there are a few possible causes for this. When making bread, you always need to use bread flour. Bread flour is also labeled "strong" or "extra strong" flour. Normal flour lacks the necessary amount of gluten to make bread and is best for making cookies or cakes. Another possible cause of doughy bread is that the rising temperature was too high and killed the yeast, or perhaps the dough was not left to rise for long enough. Heavy bread might just be undercooked. If that is the reason, you can pop it back in the oven for some more baking. When the bread feels firm rather than spongy, it is done.

Heavy Whole meal Bread

This is usually caused by not using enough water in the dough mixture. Whole grains need extra water to become soft. If you do not use enough water, this will draw from the dough, making the finished bread heavy. You can use half whole meal flour and half white flour for a lighter loaf.
If you follow the above bread baking tips and guidelines as well as the recipe you are using, there is no reason why your bread should not come out delicious every time!

Some Baking Tips

Making Baking Powder Biscuits?

Try the needing the dough for about a 1/2 minute after mixing the ingredients. The texture of the biscuits will be a bit lighter.

Never frost a cake until the cake is cool! No matter what! Waiting the extra 1/2 hour will make a nice cake...Not waiting will have your cake looking quite nasty. Always listen to Mom!

The eggs should not be beaten till after all the other ingredients are ready, as they will fall very soon. If the whites and yolk are to be beaten separately, do the whites first, as they will stand longer.

Six Easy Steps to a Perfect Pie

1. The ingredients for the perfect pie crust:

1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup shortening or lard, and a few tablespoons very cold water. (Very Cold Water is a must)

2. Cut lard into the flour and salt mixture with a fork or pastry blender until crumbs are coarse and granular.

3. Add 3 to 6 tablespoons cold water, a little at a time. Mix quickly and evenly through the flour until the dough just holds in a ball.

4. Roll half the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Lift edge of pastry cloth and roll crust onto rolling pin. Line pie pan, allowing 1/2 inch crust to extend over edge

5. Add filling. Roll out top crust, making several gashes to allow escape of steam. Place over filling. Allow top crust to overlap lower crust. Fold top crust under the lower and crimp edges.

6. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes. For the best pies, use fresh fruits if possible. for about 10 minutes, then turn the temp down. This will help prevent a soggy crust.
When making a custard type pie, put the pie in a hot oven

Waalah!!!!! Enjoy your pie

Beth

My newest wedding cake

Hi ,

I made this cake for Mr & Mrs Doug who resides in the US.

Would love to read your comments on this cake.