The enthusiasm for baking at home has been in the spotlight in recent years, and even more so during ‘lockdown’, in turn putting pressure on foodservice operators such as cafés to make sure that their own breads are up to scratch, particularly if making their own. TOP TIPS Making your own bread? Bread making is a science that requires patience, strength, and skill, and to do it well, you need to understand the steps that are required, advise Green’s Cakes, a company that specialises in home baking products and ingredients. The first step is accuracy. Weighing ingredients on a kitchen scale is more accurate than measuring volume with cups and spoons, and because of variances in humidity, flour mills, and room temperature, you may need to adjust how much flour you use, they point out (you will develop a knack for knowing when to use more or less flour or water over time). The second step is mixing. There are two types - the straight-dough method (where you combine and mix the ingredients and then knead the dough until it is smooth stretchy) and the sponge method. This second method involves mixing together the yeast, water, and part of the flour, allowing it to rise. When the dough has doubled in size, you then add the remaining flour and ingredients before kneading the dough. The sponge method allows the flour to hydrate before it’s mixed more, resulting in a lighter, airier product in the end.
12 CAFÉ LIFE | DECEMBER 2021
Bread
BOOM RISING AND PROOFING The third step is letting the bread rise fully before putting it into the oven. You need to let the dough fully rise and ferment first. As the yeast feeds on sugars in the bread, gas is released and captured in the bread’s gluten matrix — and the dough rises. This rising is considered complete when the dough has doubled in size. The length of time it takes varies based on the type of flour, amount of yeast, and temperature. While the dough is rising, keep it in a warm, draft-free place. You can help it to stay moist by placing a damp tea towel over the bowl. Once the dough has roughly doubled in size, gently fold it down to redistribute the gas. Do not do this too many times, as you could end up with a very flat-baked product (one to two times should be enough). Proofing the dough. ‘Proofing’ refers to the final rising of the dough. It’s helpful if you have an oven with a bread-proofing setting, but not essential. For each recipe, the length of proofing required is different, but usually, it’s anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. BAKING The final step is the baking process. After the dough has been proofed, you might
want to top it off with some seeds — or brush it with an egg wash for a golden glaze on the top? Or even to score it with a knife. Just be careful at this stage not to jeopardise your work by deflating the dough… When you place the dough into a hot oven, you’ll see a quick, initial rise, referred to as oven spring. This is normal; a result of when the gases from the yeast get trapped in the gluten matrix, allowing the bread to rise and hold its form. Whatever you do, avoid opening the oven. If you do, you’ll allow cool air to enter, which could disrupt the baking process Other tips Green’s Cakes would recommend is using a stand mixer with a dough hook. With a stand mixer, you can mix a dough in as little as five minutes - perfect for making large batch preparations in the foodservice setting. They can be an investment, but a highend model will last for years, they add. RISING APPEAL Consumers are currently eating the most bread at lunch time (57%) (Delífrance Bakery Trends Report 2021), so it is imperative that operators create on-trend lunch options to provide your customers with tasty and appealing choices.
