Lesson Description & Goals

There is something magical about combining the simplest ingredients and kneading them together with your very own hands to create a beautiful, rustic loaf of crusty bread.

No matter what type of bread you choose to make, all yeast breads go through the same main bread making stages. In this lesson, we will walk you through the main bread making stages, using the most basic dough – a lean dough – as our example. Artisinal breads are much more difficult to make and require precise understanding and methodology, which we will get into down the road. The goal with this lesson is to get people baking bread. We are trying to get those people who have never made bread before – which is actually the majority of people out there – to learn how to make bread by hand…from scratch, using the most basic ingredients and equipment (their hands). So, for now, let's start with the basics.

• Identify the stages of bread making
• Make and bake a lean dough
• Know how to prepare and mix lean dough using the straight dough method
• Knead dough and perform a window pane test
• Understand the concept of fermentation
• Shape dough into a basic baguette
• Understand the concept of proofing
• Perform a spring back test
• Slash dough and describe why it often is done
• Bake bread and test it for doneness
• Identify the reasons for cooling bread
• Know how to properly store and refresh bread

Lesson Topic Videos

• Intro to the Stages of Bread Making (1:18)
• Preparing & Mixing the Dough Stage (3:03)
• Kneading & Developing Dough Stage (5:52)
• Fermenting Dough Stage (3:38)
• Shaping Dough Stage (3:55)
• Proofing Dough Stage (3:16)
• Slashing & Baking Dough Stage (4:34)
• Cooling & Storing Bread Stage (2:26)

Lesson Prerequisites

IMPORTANT NOTE:
We wanted you to be aware that there are one or more identified prerequisites to this lesson. Whether you choose to purchase a prerequisite lesson or lessons is up to you, but this lesson will likely include references to prerequisite lessons.

• Wheat & Gluten
• How to Make Bread | Basics

All Lessons in the Breads, Doughs & Batters Section

• Wheat & Gluten
• How to Make Bread | Basics
• Stages of Bread Making
• How to Shape an Epi
• How to Make Crêpes