by Candace Williams

Created on: July 19, 2008

Bread will turn out better if you take more time with it. The more you handle it the better. Spending a day letting the yeast grow, stirring in the flour, letting the yeast permeate the dough then flouring a counter and turning the dough out into the nest of flur to be kneaded will be the beginning of your project. The dough should be kneaded several times to make a really nice bread.The dough should be kept warm but not hot while it is rising.The exception to this rule is refrigerator rolls or bread. Knowing how ingredients work together can help you make better bread more easily. Then at the end of the process just before you put the product in the oven there are some things you can do to make it look a bit prettier. Timing is important as is temperature when your dough is baking too. If your master all the details you will produce something to be excited about.

Temperature is Key
When you look at bread recipes you will notice it tells you that the water or milk needs to be at a certain temperature. This is important. The yeast is not going to grow and make the bread rise if the ingredients are too cold. If the mix is too hot it can kill the yeast so the right temperature is warm not hot or cold. If it feels pleasant to you then it will feel pleasant to the yeast.

Potatoes Can Add Leavening Power
If you want to make your yeast grow well and quickly one of the simplest ways to do that is to add some potato to the dough. Another way to do it is to save your water when you drain potatoes for supper and use that as the liquid in your bread dough. It will make the yeast grow very well. It cost nothing for the potato water and very little for a small amount of potato if you choose to add it in. You can use some leftover mashed potatoes or you can microwave a couple of potatoes and add the cooked potato to your bread dough.

How to Cope With Whole Grains
There are lots of recipes for bread. Some call for whole grains. They generally tell you to add the whole grains after starting the dough with some white flour. This is because the yeast will grow better in white flour than in whole grains. So it can be important to pay attention to this little detail. It doesn't matter what the grain is that you are adding. It can be flax,whole wheat, oatmeal, corn, soy or rice but it needs to be added after the yeast has a chance to grow in the white flour or it will grow more slowly. If you are not using any wheat then you will probably need to plan on the process taking more time.

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