Basic Yeast Breads
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See Basic Yeast Recipes Below
When flour, liquids, yeast, and other ingredients mix, their transformation to bread begins. Before this amazing change can happen, yeast must activate and release gases that stretch the dough and increase its volume. The traditional method is to combine active dry yeast with lukewarm water (105 to 115 degrees) then with dry ingredients. Softening yeast in liquid also proves its viability. If a foamy cap forms after 5 to 10 minutes, it is alive and ready. But today’s commercial baker’s yeast is very reliable. If used before the expiration date stamped on the package or jar, such "proofing" is no longer necessary.
Another method is to blend yeast - either active dry or quick rising - with dry ingredients and then mix with liquids. Since flour insulates the yeast, the liquid must be warmer than otherwise, 120 to 130 degrees. Careful temperature control is vital; yeast expires at just under 140 degrees and becomes sluggish below 100 degrees. This simple method is the one used for yeast doughs partly mixed with an electric mixer. Completely hand-stirred doughs use a hybrid technique: the yeast is first softened in lukewarm water then mixed into a soft dough.
All yeast bread recipes indicate a range of flour, rather than a specific amount, and the flour is incorporated gradually. The goal is not to use every cupful, but just enough to develop dough of the proper consistency. Too much flour makes a stiff dough; too little, a sticky one that is hard to handle. From one bag to the next, from one brand to another, flour can vary in the amount of liquid it will absorb. Changes in humidity can also affect the dough. With experience, you will learn to judge by sight and by touch how much flour to add at each stage of mixing. This visual and tactile interaction is part of the pleasure of baking bread.
Anadama Bread
Anadama Bread 2
Bread with Rolled Oats
Burger Buns
Crumpets
Dutch Brown Bread
Fried Flat Bread
Hertfordshire Barley Bread
Huffkins
Italian Milk Bread
Middle Eastern Pocket Bread (Pita)
Monsieur Montfort's French Bread
Oat Flour Bread
Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Bread
Pinwheel Bread
Salted Pretzels
Soft Pretzels
Split Rolls
Sprouted Wheat Bread
Swedish Tin Loaves
The Grant Loaf
The Hermit's Rice Bread