Bread Baking 101 - Step by Step

Now that you have your Bread Baking Cookbook lets go through the steps to make a regular loaf of bread.

1. Measure 1 cup of warm water in a liquid measuring cup.  See Bread Baking 101-The Facts for more information about what "temp" warm is.
2. Into the water add your packet of yeast.  If you took my advice and bought bulk yeast, measure out 2 1/4 tsp.  If you are making a sweet bread or using a sugar to help color the crust, you would add it to the water as well.
3. Allow the yeast to "proof" for 10 to 15 minutes.  The yeast should look bubbly and you should be able to smell the yeast.
4. Measure about a cup and a half of flour into a bowl.  I use my stand mixer but you can use a regular bowl and a wooden spoon.  Make a well (a hole) in the middle of the flour and add the yeast mixture.
5. Using your spoon gradually pull the flour into the yeast mixture until you have a soft paste.  Depending on the conditions that day you might need to add more flour.  
6. Cover the mixture with a damp towel, put in a warm place and let it rise.  This should take about 30 minutes.  Again the mixture will be bubbly and have a yeasty smell. 
7.  After this first rise, gradually add the rest of the flour the recipe calls for.  Remember the measurements are approximations.  The amount of flour you will use will depend on many variables.  You'll know when you have added enough flour when the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  It can be a little sticky because you will add a little more flour during the kneading process.
8. Once you have added the flour and the dough has formed a ball it's time to knead.  A great video on the kneading process is here on You Tube.  Kneading is an important process and the video gives a good explanation on when to know you've kneaded enough.
9. After you have kneaded the dough, form it into the shape of the final loaf and put it into the well greased pan.  Cover with the damp towel and put in a warm place until it doubles in size.  You can cheat the rise time or if you're like me and your house is not warm enough, you can turn your oven to its lowest setting and when it comes to temperature turn it off and put the dough in the oven.  I always butter or oil the top of my loaf so that it doesn't stick to the towel during this step.
10. After it doubles in size it's time to bake it.  The bake time in your cookbook again will be an approximation.  You'll know when the bread is down when you tap it and it makes a hollow sound.   

Those are the steps to making a great loaf of bread.  In my real life my oven's thermostat broke so I couldn't bake a long with you but I will share some pictures another time...Happy Baking!