Bread Baking for Beginners
Bread baking saved me during the worst parts of the pandemic. I started experimenting with bread about a month before the world shut down for the first time, before stores started running out of all-purpose flour and commercial yeast and sourdough starter became a cool, ubiquitous trend instead of that weird thing I’d been wanting to try. That phase of collective living has passed us by, but my love of bread making remains. If anything, it’s stronger than ever.
It’s not necessarily that homemade bread tastes amazing, although it does. Oftentimes I’ll bake bread and never eat more than a slice or two, instead happily watching my husband and daughters consume it over the course of a week, or take it to the office and leave it on the table in our communal space. It’s rarely, if ever, that I want to eat what I bake (although there wouldn’t be a thing wrong with that motivation). It’s the ritual and the science of putting a dough together, the physicality of kneading and shaping, the meditative practice that proofing requires of me. When I’m making bread, I feel connected to the most ancient of humans millennia ago, enlivened by the idea that while the rest of our lives couldn’t be more different, there’s at least one small thing we share.
And, of course, there was no small measure of comfort to be found in the miracle of bread. When I was in the midst of any one in a series of mental health crises, I would look at a bowl of water, flour, and yeast and wonder how on earth this muddy, glue-like substance would become beautiful. Then I’d cover it and leave and come back per the recipes instructions and witness the great transformation, the messy slurry replaced with a puffy, substantial marvel. On those days, the tangy bread smell emanating from the bowl would reach through the clouds of depression straight down to my stomach and whisper, Eat.
Like any self-respecting millennial, I post pictures of most of my bread babies on social media. This usually leads to questions from friends and family about where I tend to pull recipes from (King Arthur Baking, mostly) and how I recommend they get started. I’m a far cry from an actual expert, but I do have a few tips on how to get started on a bread habit based on these frequently asked questions.
I don’t think I’m ready to bake bread yet. I don’t even have a bread machine!
I will let you in on a little secret—I still have no clue what a bread machine is or how it works or what it does. I’m assuming they’re very helpful, considering how popular they are with high volume bakers who are either in charge of feeding a large family or are very dedicated to their work. If you have one or want one, feel free to use the hell out of it. I'm a fan of making technology work for you.
But if your question is do you need a bread machine, I’m here to say—no. No, you do not. People made bread for thousands of years without anything more complex than their hands.
That being said. If you want to drop money on equipment, because you’re like me and have a dopamine deficiency and need to spend time and energy ordering and subsequently waiting on something to help with a new hobby—you’d do well to invest in a KitchenAid stand mixer, and a dough hook attachment if your mixer doesn’t come with one. For most breads it won’t matter much, but for those recipes that require a ton of kneading, trust me, your hands will thank you for it.
What equipment do I actually need?
This answer will vary depending on who you ask, and depending on what type of baking you plan on doing. However, this is what I would recommend everyone wanting to dabble in breadmaking acquire:
Parchment paper. I prefer to get the pre-cut sheets that are already the size of a sheet pan, but the regular old roll in a box will do just fine, too.
Plastic wrap. I don’t love recommending single-use plastics, but sometimes plastic wrap is just the best choice for covering dough while it rises or rests.
Food scale. One of the reasons I pull so many of my recipes from King Arthur Baking, European cooking sites, or cookbooks of professional chefs is that they provide ingredient measures by weight in addition to volume. There’s a lot to be said about how accurate weight measuring is vs. volume, but the real reason I love it is that it makes for quicker clean-up. You can dump everything in a single bowl without dirtying a sink’s worth of measuring cups.
Baker-specific cooking spray. I’ve tried a lot of different methods of greasing and flouring pans, and honestly sprays like Baker’s Joy or PAM Baking are the best in the biz, no competition. It’s also great for preparing a proofing bucket or bowl.
Bench knife. These tools are super handy. I use mine all the time, to scrape sticky dough from a work surface, to divide dough, to score loaves, to prepare a false filled braid, to measure the length and width of a rectangle of dough. I use mine (I have multiple!) for all kinds of kitchen tasks.
Bowl scrapers. These are perfect for ensuring your dough makes it to the proofing bowl intact. I also use them to remove extra sticky enriched doughs from my fingers.
Simple loaf pans. These are relatively inexpensive and can be found at your local Walmart or Target. Nothing fancy is required; store brand is fine for what you’ll be doing with these.
Oven thermometer. This little buddy will keep your oven honest with you. I used to have so many problems with baked goods taking forever to cook. When I added an oven thermometer to my middle rack, I discovered that when my oven’s preheated alarm sounded, it was often nowhere near the desired temperature—we’re talking up to 100 degrees difference!
Rolling pin. There are several different varieties out there, so you may want to visit a store in person rather than shop online so you can handle the different models and see which one speaks to you. I prefer a plain, single-piece cylindrical model myself.
More can and will be added if your bread habit takes root, but these are some good and relatively inexpensive items to have on file before your bread journey begins.
Why are there so many flours and extracts? What do I actually need?
All-purpose flour is exactly what it sounds like. This is going to be your most-used flour when it comes to bread baking.
Self-rising flour is usually used for cakes. It’s rare to see it called for in a bread recipe.
Bread flour is similar to all-purpose flour, but it has a higher protein content which makes it more difficult to knead and develop those hearty strands of gluten.
Cake flour is similar to all-purpose flour, but it has cornstarch added to it.
Whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour are rarely called for, but they’re worth having on hand for the few times they do. I love a chocolate chip cookie with a little whole wheat flour!
Vanilla extract is a must-have for any kind of baking, with almond extract being a close second. Buy others as needed.
Okay, but what about yeast? What’s the difference between instant and active dry?
Honestly, I’ve never noticed a difference. Although I’m sure there is one, I use the two interchangeably.
I hope this gets you a little closer to your own bread journey. Please let me know in the comments if you end up trying any recipes. I’d love to see the results!
