bread
There's something really special about making your own bread. I could try to explain how lovely it is, but I believe that just about everything has been said many times before.
When you take a loaf of bread out of your oven, cut a small piece and eat it warm with butter dripping down your chin and your fingers, you'll know what I mean.
I've learned a few tricks that I find useful when I'm making bread. I was lucky enough to work with a woman who are famous around our village for making great food, pastry and bread. At that point I could make decent bread, but I wasn't really impressed with what I could accomplish. I asked her once what she was doing to make such great loaves and the difference was that she used more salt than most of the recipe calls for, she used a combination of sifted rye and white flour and a lower temperature for the oven, 180 deg C or 350 deg F. That made a huge difference for me since I really like bread that are soft and moist. I also prefer to use milk instead of water and a combination of butter and oil when I make that kind of loaves of buns, I feel that it keeps the bread from getting dry and it's less crumbly.
For bread with a crust it's better to use water and oil, but I would probably still use a lower temperature for the oven.
I always use dried yeast that I blend with the dry ingredients and than I add liquids. When I use dried yeast I let the liquid warm up to 40 deg C or 104 deg F to activate the yeast. When using fresh yeast it only needs to warm up to 37 deg C or 99 deg F.
I also add less flour than the recipe calls for so that I can knead it and add the amount of flour I think it needs before covering it up to rise.
I use sifted spelt flour for almost all the bread I make and spelt are a bit special since it turns sticky again if you knead it to much. I try to knead the dough just enough to make the extra flour blend into the dough. White flour and other kinds of grains calls for more kneading, but I still make it just a bit sticky.
I use a thermometer to check when the bread is done, that makes it so much easier to know that you get the same results every time.
For bread made from white flour the inner temperature of the bread should be 92-94 deg C or 198-201 deg F.
For bread made from whole grain the inner temperature should be 96-98 deg C or 205-208 deg F.
Basic recipe for buns and loaves
1 pint milk milk
1/4 cups melted butter or oil
2 tbs dry yeast
1/4 cups of sugar or baking syrup
10 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
Mix yeast, salt and about 9 cups of the flour in a big bowl.
Add sugar or syrup to the milk, heat it up to 40-45 deg C or 104-113 deg F. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix it into a loose dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead it into a firm dough by adding smaller amounts of flour. Cover the dough and let it rise for 35-45 minutes. If the dough hasn't doubled is size you can let it rise for up to 60 minutes.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it quickly and shape it into loaves or buns.
Let them rise on baking sheet or in molds for about 30 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Bake at 180 deg C or 350 deg F. Loaves 25-40 minutes and buns for about 14-18 minutes. Hot dog buns need about 12 minutes.
Check the temperature in buns or loaves, they're done at 92-94 deg C or 198-201 deg F.
Let them cool off on a wire rack.
But remember to try at least one when it's warm enough to melt the butter.
