Few things match the scent of freshly baked bread.
We are sure you will agree with us: entering a bakery and letting yourself be enveloped by the scent of hot bread is an almost transcendental experience.
It is therefore not surprising that more and more people are trying their hand at bread making , the process of creating bread which follows 6 precise phases:
- Dough
- First leavening
- Forming
- Second leavening
- Cooking
- Cooling
If the ingredients are very simple, however, baking remains an art full of secrets and knowing the most common mistakes can help you master it like a true master.
Here are the 3 main nightmares of every person who approaches the delicate white art, the big "DO NOTs" that you must keep in mind to bake memorable loaves.
1. Choosing the wrong flour
It may seem trivial, but flour is the first ingredient of bread and choosing the wrong one will inevitably compromise the final result. The right flours are specific for baking or pizza and have a greater quantity of gluten, which will give your dough the right extensibility and tenacity.
With a little study and training, you will soon learn to read the W and P/L values of different flours, discovering that different indices correspond to different preparations.
For example, flours with W between 90 and 160 are called 'weak flours' and are used to produce dry biscuits or biscuits, while flours with W between 160 and 250 have a medium strength and are used for Apulian or French bread, for direct dough or short leavening and for pizzas and focaccias.
2. Be in a hurry
To have an excellent product, running is prohibited! The slower the leavening, the tastier, lighter and more digestible your bread will be.
Not only that: you don't need very high temperatures to make your baked product rise: the dough starts to rise even at very low temperatures, as long as you have the patience to wait a little. Do you remember the saying “He who goes slowly goes safely and goes far?”. Here, it also applies perfectly to your bread.
3. Don't get your hands dirty
Long live the technology that helps us in the kitchen, but when it comes to baking, your hands are the most precious tool you have. Not only because they don't overheat the dough and leave its organoleptic properties intact, but also because " feeling the dough " will help you get to know it better.
If you cannot do without the mixer in the initial phase, remember to take care of the reinforcement folding, dividing and shaping strictly by hand. So, moreover, each loaf of bread will be truly unique.
4, 5, 6, 7,…
Alas, when it comes to baking, mistakes (but also satisfactions!) multiply. In this first Cucina In-cubo article we only told you about 3 of them, but if you are really passionate about making bread and would like to discover all its secrets, there is the perfect course for you: our Master in Bread Making .
The course takes place on Saturday and lasts 6 hours, all the time necessary for you to learn more about the subject. Maestro Giovanni Gandino will guide you through the recipes and your imagination towards "the bread list", that is, the most innovative and successful accompaniments between bread and cuisine.
During the course you will be able to produce, taste and discover particular combinations such as: tea sandwiches to pair with cheeses, beer sandwiches for fish dishes, citrus morsels for raw fish tartare and cocoa bread puffs for important and spicy delicatessen dishes .
We are already hungry and you, what are you waiting for?
