Bread dough and fermentation basics

Bread starts with four ingredients

The most basic bread is made from just flour, water, yeast and salt. Flour proteins meet water and, as the dough is worked, form a gluten network. Yeast feeds on sugars in the flour and gives off carbon dioxide, alcohol and other compounds. The gluten network traps the gas so the dough rises, and the oven's heat sets that structure into bread. Salt adds flavor while also tightening gluten and keeping yeast from working too fast. Sugar, butter, milk and eggs add softness and richness on top of that.

Reading recipes as ratios

Bread recipes often set the flour weight at 100 and give every other ingredient as a percentage of it. For example, 500 g of flour with 65 percent water means 325 g of water. Written this way, you can scale up or down simply by keeping the ratios, and it is easy to compare the character of different doughs. A higher water ratio makes dough wetter and harder to handle but tends to give a moister crumb with larger holes. In basic bread, salt is commonly around 2 percent of the flour.

• Set the flour weight at 100
• More water means a wetter dough
• To change the batch size, multiply by the same ratios

Handling yeast

At home, granulated instant dry yeast is the usual choice, and it can generally be mixed straight into the flour. Fresh yeast and other dry yeasts are used differently and in different amounts, so follow the package directions. Yeast is a living microorganism and sensitive to temperature: it works slowly when cold, faster when warm, and dies when too hot. Water that feels lukewarm on your hand is a safe choice for the dough. Rather than dumping salt and sugar right on top of the yeast, mix them into the flour first and then add the water so the yeast spreads evenly.

Kneading and checking gluten

Right after mixing, dough is sticky and tears easily. As you keep kneading, gluten develops and the dough becomes smoother and less sticky. To check whether it is kneaded enough, stretch a small piece slowly between your hands. If it forms a membrane thin enough to let light through without tearing, the gluten is well developed. Adding flour as soon as the dough feels sticky changes the ratio and makes the bread dense, so it is better to gather it with a scraper and knead a bit longer. Resting the dough for a few minutes partway through relaxes the gluten and makes it easier to work.

First rise: condition over time

Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl, cover it so it does not dry out and leave it somewhere warm. The rising time in a recipe assumes a certain temperature, so it takes much longer in a cool room and finishes sooner in a hot one. That is why you judge by condition rather than time. A common benchmark is when the dough has roughly doubled in volume. Poke it with a floured finger: if the dent springs back slowly and only partway, it is about right. If it fills in at once, it needs longer; if the dough collapses, it has gone too far.

• Has it roughly doubled in volume?
• Does the finger dent spring back slowly and partway?
• Is the surface covered so it does not dry?

Dividing, shaping and second rise

After the first rise, press the dough gently to release large bubbles and divide it into equal weights on a scale. Round each piece and let it rest for a few minutes up to ten or more so the gluten relaxes and shaping becomes easier. Shape it as you like, place it in a pan or on a tray, and let it rise a second time. The second rise is usually shorter than the first; bake once the volume has grown noticeably and a light press leaves a dent that returns slowly. Overproofed dough can sink or lose its shape in the oven, so start preheating in time for this stage.

Baking and checking doneness

In the first few minutes in the oven, the gas expands and the bread rises once more. The oven needs to be fully hot then for good volume. To tell whether it is done, look at several signs together: whether the crust is evenly browned, whether tapping the bottom of the loaf out of the pan gives a hollow sound, and, if you have a probe thermometer, whether the inside is hot enough. For breads like sandwich loaves, an internal temperature somewhere in the 90s °C is often taken as done. Let bread cool fully on a rack before slicing so the crumb does not squash.

Common failures and safety

If bread did not rise, the yeast was often old, the water was too hot, or a cold room left the dough under-risen. A gummy, dense crumb can mean too little kneading or rising, or underbaking. A strong sour smell and slack dough point to overproofing. Raw dough contains uncooked flour, so do not taste it. If you use the oven or another warm appliance for rising, take the dough out before preheating, and handle trays and pans with dry gloves. Wheat and dairy are allergens, so tell people what is in bread you share.