Bread baking hints and tips

Below, we have suggested some useful hints and tips for successful bread and cake baking that we have gleamed from bakers over the years.

Tips for perfect bread

· If you mix your dough using your hands then expect it to be sticky. If you don’t like the dough sticking to your hands then coating them in a thin layer of oil should be enough to prevent it. Just keep mixing until it bonds together. If you hold the dough up and it doesn’t break apart then it is ready. Finished doughs need to be torn apart as the gluten in the dough makes it very stretchy.

· You need to knead a dough for around 10-15 minutes. If the dough hasn’t come together properly then add a little bit more water. It is better to have dough which is slightly too wet rather than slightly too dry because too much flour can make the bread tough inside. For this reason, try to avoid over-flouring the surface.

· When leaving dough to prove, leave it in a warm place but cover it with a damp, clean tea towel to prevent air from getting to the dough. If air does get to it, it causes a skin to form on the top of it, which will prevent the dough from rising properly.

 · If you are just beginning, hand shaping a dough takes more practice so start off with a tin. Half fill a loaf tin with dough and leave it to rise in a warm place until it is about two-thirds of the way up a tin. It will rise some more in the oven and pop over the edge of the tin for that traditional look.

 · If you are making cuts in the top of your loaf then lightly oil the knife to stop it dragging across the dough.

· If possible, cook your loaf in the centre of the middle shelf of the oven. If it is too close to either side of the oven it could split on one side.

· If you are baking in the evening, leave the bread exposed to the air overnight. It will develop a crust and firm up. In the morning, put it into an airtight container to store it.