Despite not writing about bread baking recently, I've certainly been doing a lot of it. I made bread or rolls for three family gatherings in December and a new library book had me excitingly trying numerous new recipes. The results were a few raving successes and a number of dismal failures! Ed said I should post pictures of the tragic results - but I didn't want any proof to remember it by! I even flopped my easy pizza crust recipe and discovered that salt is a non-optional ingredient! I was beginning to wonder why I was pretending to teach anyone about bread baking! Hopefully, I've had enough disasters in the last weeks to keep me from getting prideful and maybe I learned a few more tricks to share!
If I remember correctly, we last talked of kneading the dough, so now we are ready to let the dough rise. In most recipes, you will allow the dough to rise before forming rolls or loaves, though some recipes make exceptions. After the dough is kneaded, grease a large bowl. I usually use a small amount of vegetable oil. Place your ball of dough in the bowl and turn it so that all sides are lightly greased. Cover the bowl with a towel, plastic wrap, or cocked lid. It should not be sealed air-tight so that the dough can expand.
Usually recipes then say to sit the dough in a warm place. In Grandma's drafty old house, the back of her wood stove was the perfect place. In our climate controlled houses, you can place it almost anywhere, though avoid the fridge or freezer! But if it is a cool drafty day, you are wearing a sweater and still a little chilly, your dough will be cold as well. It will still rise, the process will just take longer. In that case, find the warmest draft free place possible. That may be a sunny windowsill (if not drafty), the top of your refrigerator, or in a warm oven. I like to turn my oven to warm, heat briefly, turn oven off, and pop my dough inside (in a heat proof bowl). You don't want it to begin baking, just be warm and cozy!
The goal is to allow your dough to rise until doubled, which is usually an hour. But the time varies depending on the heat and humidity, so check in a half an hour - and don't be shocked if it takes an hour and a half. Make a mental note of how big your dough was when you put it in the bowl, so that you know when it has reached double size.
Now it is time to punch the dough down, which is just what it sounds! Plunge your clean fist into the ball dough which will cause it to quickly deflate. Form it into rolls or loaves as desired (more details on this step at a later time) place in your greased pans and allow to rise again until doubled. I have found that solid shortening (such as Crisco) work best for greasing bread pans and baking sheets.
After this second rising, preheat your oven and slide your bread inside. (Or maybe you already had your bread rising in the warm oven and just need turn up the heat.) Ovens vary but unless you are sure your oven thermostat is off, I'd start with the recipe's stated temperature. For most bread recipes that is between 325 to 375 though the European artisan type breads usually call for higher heat.
I always set my oven timer for a few minutes less then the recipe states. Size of loaves or rolls and the kind of baking pan (glass, steel, aluminum) can really make a difference on the baking time. Usually you will know that the bread has finished baking when the fragrance begins to fill the house AND the bread is golden brown AND it sounds slightly hollow when thumped. I am notorious for under-baking bread, as I just can't wait to sink my teeth into what is producing that great smell! Often my loaves are high and perfect, until a few minutes on the cooling rack when they begin to sag - a sure sign of under-baking! For rolls, check the bottom for a slight golden tone. It easy to over-bake rolls. Remove your bread immediately onto cooling racks. If your loaves seem to "stick" to the pan, give it a few minutes to "sweat" in the pan and it should slide out easily.
Now is the hard part, waiting for the bread to cool. Bread will continue to bake internally while it cools. So, according to the experts, you are not to cut bread until it completely cools. But how impossible is that! Since I usually make several loaves at a time, we begin one loaf immediately even if it slightly collapses! Hot buttered bread moments from the oven needs to be in everyone's childhood memories at least once!
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