How I Learned To Make Bread Properly
This article holds a significant value to me as a young boy. I don’t know if you feel it too but when you discover something yourself, it just becomes so much more memorable or significant—you have this tingling feeling underneath your skin whenever you get reminded of this discovery and man, it feels good. That’s what bread does to me, because I spent so much time and effort back in the days before it finally revealed its secrets to me.
Where do I start? I have a trove of “memorable” moments—banging the table and walking out of the workstation? Bread that didn’t rise properly and turned out hard like a brick? Tasteless specimen that wasn’t even edible? Over fermented bread that tastes like over fermented bread? Hahahaha. I can probably just skip sharing years of frustration & despair and tell you the “Aha!” moment that changed my baking journey. But that would be dull, right? You want the drama, the “Chef’s Table” conflict that led to a chef’s resolution? Done.
Back in San Francisco, the weather was ideal to make laminated dough
Look at these beauties!
I've always been fascinated with bread.
Mom would buy croissants with ham (or plain), danish bread and milk buns all the time from a local commercial bakery. In addition, twenty steps away from where we live, there’s a village bakery where people fall in line at 5:00 in the morning for freshly baked Pan De Sal. Pan De Sal, which translates to salt bread, in the Philippines, is a breakfast staple. It’s basically an enriched bun that varies in size, it can be as small as a baby’s fist or as big as an NBA player’s. Flavor-wise, when baked fresh, is really soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. Although, it doesn’t have the same thick crust that western bread possesses. It tastes milky and toasty, thanks to the toasted breadcrumbs that bakers coat the dough with. In asia, we like our breads not overly toasty or crusty, this results in bread products that have very thin crunchy exteriors or most of the time, none at all. What we do look out for is the richness and softness of the bread, that’s what I call the bread & butter of asian baking. Pan De Sal has a hint of sweetness, mostly salty, dusted with fine breadcrumbs on the outside, which adds to its rusticness. You slice it open, pair it with cheese, ham, corned beef, hotdog or even bacon. You can even dunk it in a mug of hot chocolate drink or coffee.
When I used to live in Hong Kong, breakfast would always include hotdog buns, pork floss bun, pineapple custard bun and the list goes on. Chinese baking has a different technique. They use the Tang Zhong method in building their dough. This lends to a chewy and soft bun.
Meaning to say, there is no shortage of bread consumption from my childhood days. I think I’m the only asian person who can turn my back on rice and just run away with my precious bread. Sacrilege! But on a serious note, there’s so much fascination when it comes to bread making. What’s even more impressive is how bread differs from country to country, but the underlying ingredients are the same. It has evolved from being just a mere commodity or a necessity to now a worldwide trend. Bakers have built empires out of bread and pastry that was once seen as a fantasy. Bread use to be just a means to nourish the body during wars and now, it is perceived as a form or art, trend and status.
Bulking dough for Focaccia in Bordeaux, France
It’s very satisfying to observe the process of making bread. From combining the ingredients together, kneading it, watching the dough rise, portioning and baking, it is still magic to me. How did God come about allowing natural yeast to be present in the air? I mean, just how? The best part of breadmaking is punching down the dough after the first bulk fermentation or the first rise. It’s when you let the dough double in size for the first time ( normal recipes require two stages of allowing the dough to rise) as it will fill the entire bowl and you punch it down to release all the air that has been accumulated within the dough. Then, once you leave it in the oven to bake, you let science, time and magic take over. The most difficult part about the baking process is how to keep your hands away from it after it comes out the oven. Opening the door and being surrounded by the glorious smell of the crust or butter will question your dignity and patience, “Should I dig in or should I wait until it cools down?” Only the angels in heaven know how many times you misbehaved.
All the mistakes that I’ve made…
Not Weighing Ingredients
In the beginning, I used to not measure my ingredients properly. In order to make good bread, you need to start with the right footing. Nothing in this world will become good when you don’t start with the right mindset, intention or quantity. You may get lucky a couple of times without measuring anything, but you will not have consistent results. Thanks to the advent of affordable weighing scales, there is no more excuse why you can’t weigh your ingredients properly. Even back in the days, measuring cups helped cooks and bakers to be consistent with the results of their baked goods. Although, I do love having everything in grams, hence the need for a scale for more accuracy.
What’s interesting dough (pun intended), is that after some time and once you accumulate the experience needed to master breadmaking, you can start baking bread even without weighing anything. You solely rely on your muscle memory and visuals to gauge the amount of flour, water and yeast. I’ve done it before and it came out pretty well.
Poolish preferment for Ciabatta
Kneading Too Much
Funny enough, when I was starting, sometimes I would catch myself kneading for thirty minutes and not get the results that I am looking for. I have over kneaded doughs and instead of developing gluten, it just completely became stiff. I cannot stress the countless times I did this. I always ended up with very dense products even if it rose properly during baking.
Not giving the bread enough time to do its thing
Depending on where you live, bulking times may vary. A huge mistake that I did when I was younger was being impatient. I didn’t let my bread double in size nor wait for it to actually bulk up. No, I would process and portion immediately. What a foolish boy. Without proper timing, bread will be tasteless; it will not develop the deep flavors that we all love. Throughout the years, I started to appreciate the concept of time. A good bread needs time to work its magic. I’ve gotten so good at it that I always follow a rule when it comes to the science of giving bread the time that it needs.
Autolyse, the process of leaving the dough for thirty minutes after combining all the ingredients
The “Aha!” Moment
The hype of making high hydration breads (or breads with a lot of water content) started to spring out. I wasn’t aware of it, I was doing my own thing and was having ok results. During this phase in my life, I was in college, probably in my sophomore or junior year. I would be able to bake decent bread, but it will not have the same freshness that you will normally get from bakeries or commercial products. The breads that I baked in the past went stale after a day or two. Well, I started to gain knowledge that commercial bread making companies add a ton of preservatives to keep their bread fresh like it just came out of the oven and to prolong the shelf life. You cannot compete with that. What I’ve learned throughout the years is that a good bread, if it’s really good, doesn’t last more than three days. People around you will consume it as fast as possible. You have the option to freeze them and pop them in the oven to reheat, but it will never be the same.
So one day, I thought about creating a pre-ferment that I will leave overnight (google what pre-ferment is) and added more water to a recipe than what was called for. I told myself that I will not knead it too much, but do folds instead, let it ferment properly, giving it enough time to do its thing. I was making a focaccia style bread. After taking it out of the oven, I was so surprised when I sliced a piece off of it and took a bite. It was so soft, had large air pockets and was so pleasant to the mouthfeel. MAN… that was a revelation. I tried it again and again and it gave me the same results. My family started to question how I did it. Ever since then, even if I make regular bread that contains 70% hydration or below, I don’t knead more than 8 minutes, but give a ton of time to rest instead. In school and in conventional teachings, we were told that the only way to develop gluten in the flour is to work the dough. The onset of bakers experimenting on high hydration dough with minimal contact with the process has changed my life forever.
90% Hydration Bread Flour & Rye Flour Bread. Pumpkin seeds on the right.
Some Tips
For enriched breads, meaning, the types that contain sugar, butter, milk and eggs, I give it almost the same treatment. Adding sugar to bread expedites the process of fermentation. Sugar acts as food for the yeast, the more sugar content you have, the more they get excited and active. Egg acts as a tenderizer, it makes bread soft, same goes with butter. Although, butter also adds flavor, but the moment you add a type of fat to the dough, you lessen its ability to become stretchy, that’s why brioche breads are a bit crumbly or brittle compared to regular breads.
Making a mother dough or a starter is something that I have failed on time and time again. You can just probably buy it somewhere instead. Too much work for me. Although I can’t deny how it gives off a deeper flavor and overall a better product when you use it. I lived in San Francisco for two years. I know what sourdough starters can do to breads.
Further studies will always reward you tenfold. Nowadays, you can basically learn how to make phenomenal bread from Youtube. There is no shortage of bread making video clips on the internet and each baker will have his or her own touch to the process. As for me, I learned it the hard way, I wasted bags and bags of flour, yeast, sugar, salt and whatever. Those experimental days are over and I am reaping the rewards of my relentless persistence.
My advice, if you’re in a pinch or if you don’t want to worry about having to be committed too much, is to think ahead, about a 12-hour period. Thinking 12 hours ahead can help you maximize and make your bread making time efficient. But then, this will depend if you’re going to make a pre-ferment or just completely finish a bread in one day. For example, if today is friday and I’m off from work tomorrow, then I will start my day at 7:00am to make my pre-ferment—takes about 5 minute of my time. Pre-ferments normally take 8-12 hours to bloom. By the time I come back from my 9-5 (theoretically), the pre-ferment has completely bloomed and now I can make the actual dough. depending on what you’re making, it can take up to 2 to 2.5 hours to complete the dough. I should probably be done by 8:00 pm-9:00 pm and I’m ready to bulk ferment the dough overnight to develop flavor. Next day, I will take out the dough to acclimate it to room temperature, can take about 1-2 hours. Portioning and letting it proof before baking will take another 1-1.5 hours. Baking will be between 30 minutes to an hour. It may seem like you’re committed to doing it but not really. In actuality, you’re only physically engaged for 2-3 hours. During those wait times, you can multitask and finish other pressing matters.
As I type this article, I thought about making baguettes to pair up with Jamon Iberico from Barcelona. Here are some photos for you to get inspiration from. I did a Biga pre-ferment that I proofed over a 8-10 hour period. I proofed, portioned and baked the next day. Breads can be a whole day affair, but you wouldn’t feel like it is if you love what you are doing.
If you’re wondering whether this article will help you become a good baker, then I think I am disappointing you. It is a journey that you have to take individually. But always remember that good ingredients, time and proper technique will give you what you are looking for. It takes time to get the feel of it, but once you’ve mastered the art of making bread, it becomes a powerful means of showing love to the people around you.