If you own a bakery, then various types of bread are likely on your menu. Talk to your customers about the kinds that they want to see in the display cases and what they expect regarding freshness. There are some baking tips that you can keep in mind when you make bread that will give it a nice consistency and a delicious flavor.
Although you don’t have to, try to use organic ingredients when making any fresh bread. You’ll still have all of the vital components that you need in flour for baking bread along with the proteins and enzymes that are essential for making your bread rise like it should when it’s baking. However, organic ingredients won’t have a lot of the other components that you might notice in a standard bag of flour that can sometimes impact the way that your bread will taste or how it will rise, such as added preservatives.
Try to use wheat that has higher amounts of protein. This will make your bread lighter and will give you the springy touch that many people desire from bread. When you let your dough rise, keep it in a cooler area with less humidity. This will give the best flavor to your bread instead of letting it sit in a warm environment. As with other ingredients, the yeast that you use does have a shelf life. Consider keeping it in the refrigerator to make it last longer if you don’t plan on using it right away or if you know that you’re going to need more yeast at a later time. You need to proof the yeast that is used before you combine it with your bread dough. Active yeast works well if you don’t plan on putting your dough in a bread machine. However, if you’re making large batches, then consider instant yeast so that the bread rises faster. Cider vinegar and malt can be added to your dough to make it lighter.
If you don’t want your bread to taste like yeast, then cut back on this ingredient while doubling the time that is allowed for rising. Look at the amount of flour that you need for the recipe. Use less than what you need so that your loaves don’t taste like they have come straight from a flour mill. Your dough needs to be sticky instead of having the powdery texture that you might have with pie dough or other types of dough that are used for baking. If you add too much flour, then your dough will become stretchy, resulting in a heavy loaf of bread.
When you’re kneading your dough, wet your hands with warm water. This will keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Make sure you add salt to the dough as this will deliver the fresh taste that you want in a loaf of bread and decrease the crumbling that is sometimes seen on the top of the loaf. Before putting your dough in the oven, make small slashes on the top to allow air to circulate, making your bread light and springy.
