letter and when the bread baking is finished the bread
not only looks nothing like the recipe books picture, but
tastes terrible as well?
There is no denying that bread baking as with baking
anything is a delicate process.
Bread baking involves so many things that first time
bakers are often discouraged after a few failed
attempts to turn out professional looking and tasting
loaves.
Little do they realize that if they only possessed the
professional Bakers secrets bread baking would be so
easy that the bread would practically make itself!
For instance: How many amateur bakers know the
secret to keeping bread from sticking to the pan every
time?
None! So when they try their hand at bread baking for
the first time their bread sticks to the bread pan, and
ends up a crumbled mess if they try to force it out.
Then they cry and give up thinking that the problem
lies with them.
The shocking truth is that it doesnt!
The problem lies with their lack of knowledge of THE
bakers bread baking secret.
The secret professional chefs and bakers wont tell you,
the secret they guard so jealously.
My father happened to learn this bread baking secret
in his younger baking days (which is no surprise since
his great great grandfather was a chef for the White
House and owned his own bakery) and has passed it
on to his children ever since.
Okay, okay, I know you are probably screaming at me
by now Beth, get on with it! Tell us the bread baking
secret already!
So here it is; You will need only one tool besides for
the oil and bread pan you already have, and that is
quite simply CORNMEAL (you shouldnt need more than
1/4 to 1/2 cup for two loaves of bread).
Cornmeal? You ask doubtfully. YES, cornmeal!
No, you do not add the cornmeal to the bread
ingredients! That is not the bread baking secret.
What you do is you oil your pan as usual, and you
lightly sprinkle cornmeal on all of the sides and bottom
inside of the bread pan.
Now you can safely place your bread dough into the
pans without fear of it sticking to them.
While your bread is baking, instead of sticking to the
pan, your bread will stick to the cornmeal and slide
easily out of the pan when done baking.
You may need to use a butter knife and slide it in
between the pan and the bread before turning the pan
over and allowing your bread to pop out.
A lot of the time this will be unnecessary however and
your bread will pop out just by your turning the bread
pan upside down.
You will probably also want to use the butter knife to
scrape the excess cornmeal off the bottom and sides of
the bread as you may not care for the taste of
cornmeal.
This bread baking secret will work whether you are
baking a batter bread or a rising bread (also called
yeast bread). I personally use it for both.
Here is another treasured bread baking secret, this
one only for batter breads:
On the last ten minutes of its baking time cover the
bread pan containing the batter bread with another
bread pan (a steel bread pan works best), and leave it
on until the bread is finished baking.
This will keep the batter bread from burning or
becoming too hard on top. You may vary the time you
leave the steel bread pan on according to how your
batter bread usually looks when it is finished.
If it is a very dark brown on top and difficult to slice
because the top is so hard, then 20 minutes will work
best. But if it is just a little too hard on top and a little
too brown the 10 minutes should suffice.
Do not cover the bread at all if it usually comes out
golden and soft on top after the baking is completed.
You may also glaze a batter bread on top with a
tablespoon of melted butter mixed with a tablespoon
of honey, and sprinkle some flaked coconut or sliced
nuts on top of that.
To glaze you start by taking the bread out of the oven
five minutes before the required baking time is
finished, then spread the butter/honey mixture on top
of the bread, sprinkle on your coconut or chopped nuts
and bake for the remaining 5 minutes.
Here is another useful bread baking tip for rising
breads:
If your bread loaves over rise (say because you were
busy and forgot about them), then you can use a pair
of scissors to cut off the excess sides, being careful not
to cut any dough from off of the top.
You may then use this excess dough to make rolls.
You simply oil a pizza or cookie sheet and form the
dough into several small balls.
Rise them for another half hour and then bake on 350
degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes or until
golden brown.
Do yourself a favor and put these tried and tested
bread baking secrets immediately to use in your
kitchen, and your family will rave over the results.