How to Make Bread | Basics

17 videos 4 recipes 25,591 students

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Lesson Overview

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. In this lesson, you will also learn how to make an épi.

Artisanal 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.

Lesson Objectives

At the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

identify suitable flours for bread making
understand the role flour plays in bread making
identify types of yeast for bread making
understand the role yeast plays in bread making
understand the roles of water and salt in bread making
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
identify the necessary tools required for making basic bread
define épi
shape an épi

Lesson Syllabus

Practice Recipes

Cinnamon-Raisin Bagels

Basic Pizza Dough

Cinnamon Raisin Nut Bread

Basic Bread | Lean Dough

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