The Easiest Bread Recipe You'll Ever Bake (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a soft and fluffy bread? ›

Lubricate With Oil. One of the easiest ways our bakers follow to make bread soft and fluffy is by using 1-2 tablespoons of lubricant/fats such as vegetable oil to wet the ingredients. This will prevent the formation of excess gluten, as excess gluten makes bread chewy.

Charred crumbs of a flatbread made by Natufian hunter-gatherers from wild wheat, wild barley and plant roots between 14,600 and 11,600 years ago have been found at the archaeological site of Shubayqa 1 in the Black Desert in Jordan, predating the earliest known making of bread from cultivated wheat by thousands of ...

Muffin Method (most common)

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly in one bowl with a whisk or fork to distribute all ingredients completely. Combine the liquid (wet) ingredients in another bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients all at once.

Sugar: When yeast is mixed with sugar it consumes the sugar and produces carbon dioxide gas, which causes the bread dough to rise and become light and airy. Instant Yeast: Instant dry yeast can be added directly to the flour mixture without needing to be activated first.

Expandix is a modified tapioca starch that is an excellent thickener and dough conditioner. It will hold moisture well and help keep baked goods moist for a longer time. Commercial dough conditioners. They will help to lock moisture in the flour and keep bread and baked goods moist longer.

And It's not just cakes that benefit from a touch of vinegar, but also biscuits, muffins, and even bread. So when it comes to bread, it's the same concept – vinegar inhibits gluten formation which leads to a more relaxed and extensible dough, resulting in a less dense and chewy bread.

It promotes a rich color to the crust and a surface shine on the loaf, and also increases the volume of the bread. Crust color is enhanced when steam is injected into the oven. This is because at the early stages of baking, there is a rapid increase in enzymatic activity on the surface of a loaf.

The grain was ground on the course surface to break down the soft center of the kernel into flour. It was a very laborious process and had the disadvantage of producing basalt grit which got into the bread and gradually wore down the teeth. Bread was baked in small domed clay ovens, or tabun.

What truly makes bread? ›

The process of making bread can be broken down at a very simple level into four steps. First, the ingredients are mixed; the four basic ingredients used to make bread are flour, water, yeast, and salt. Combining these creates a dough, which is then kneaded before being left to rise, before being baked.

As long ago as 2,000 BC the Egyptians knew how to make fermented bread. The practice was to use a little old dough, or leaven, to “start” the new dough. These two doughs were mixed together and allowed to ferment (rise) for some hours before baking.

Eggs also act as an emulsifier. By surrounding small particles of fat, the egg helps make the quick bread batter smoother, thus contributing to volume and texture. In addition, when eggs are beaten, they incorporate tiny air bubbles that expand with heat in the oven, contributing to volume.

The point of kneading dough is to help strengthen the gluten in it. Gluten is what gives your bread; it's structure and texture. Gluten that is not strong enough results from under kneaded dough, whereas gluten that is too tight results from over kneaded dough.

Quick breads are a type of bread made without yeast, instead relying on other leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder.

The softness of the bread is an effect from the gluten content and amount of fat and liquid in the composition. The lesser gluten and the more amount of fat and liquid in recipe, the softer it becomes.

Once reactivated, yeast begins feeding on the sugars in flour, and releases the carbon dioxide that makes bread rise (although at a much slower rate than baking powder or soda). Yeast also adds many of the distinctive flavors and aromas we associate with bread.

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

Due to the addition of yeast in the dough, the bread becomes spongy. Yeast has the capability to reproduce rapidly and produces carbon dioxide while respiring. This gas helps to fill the dough of bread and increases its volume making it rise, thus making the bread spongy and fluffy.