A Few Tips for Making Your Own Bread
Breadmaking
The first thing an artisan baker must know is what distinguishes breadmaking from pastry-making. And that difference comes down to a single word: gluten.
When we prepare a cake or a muffin, we are simply assembling ingredients. At most, we might beat some eggs, but there is no dough to work. Unlike pastry, breadmaking is about working the dough. Kneading serves to develop the gluten.
To understand the effect of gluten, just think of the related words glue and agglutinate. During kneading, the elasticity of the dough is developed, which prevents carbon dioxide from escaping during fermentation. This is what makes the dough rise (expand and gain volume). In a cake, it is baking powder that creates volume during baking. In bread, it is the yeasts or natural sourdough cultures that raise the dough before and at the start of baking. During fermentation, the yeast or natural ferments in the sourdough transform sugars, producing carbon dioxide and causing the dough to expand in volume.
Most recipe books include sugars and fats in the list of ingredients needed to make bread. But grains themselves contain enough carbohydrates and lipids that none need to be added. It is false to think that flours (even commercial ones) do not contain enough carbohydrates (sugars) to activate fermentation. In their natural state, grains contain plenty of carbohydrates to feed yeast and make dough rise—this is beyond doubt. However, industrial refining of flour removes a large share of the carbohydrates and lipids from the grain. Even so, one can easily bake bread without adding sugar or fats. The industry’s profit-driven logic unfortunately leads it to systematically add sugars and fats to bread. Unlike industry, an artisan baker can easily make bread that meets both quality and health standards.
Fermentation
There are two ways to trigger and control the fermentation of dough: with or without yeast.
Sourdough
(lactobacilli, I. plantarum, brevis, fermentum, candida i, saccharomyces cerevisiae, saccharomyces exiguus, pichia saitoi.)
Sourdough bread is prepared in several steps.
Preparing the Mother Starter
Preparing the mother starter (or ‘chef’) takes up to two weeks. It consists of mixing a small amount of water and flour to make a small, soft ball about the size of a tennis ball, not kneaded. This ball must then be buried in flour in a warm place in the house. Each day, the crust is removed from the ball and just enough water and flour are added to restore its original size. This operation must be repeated for 7 to 10 days, until fermentation begins. The ball should start to expand.
At this point, more water than flour is added daily until the mixture has the consistency of mud (slightly more water than flour). The starter is ready when it gives off a faint sulfur odor. Bread preparation can then begin.
If it is not being used, it is important not to forget to feed the starter (add water and flour) two to three times per week. When baking bread, one must also remember to replace the portion used. In both cases, the starter is left to ferment for eight hours at room temperature, then stored in the refrigerator until the next use.
Making Sourdough Bread
First, mix the water required for the recipe, part of the flour (about half), and inoculate this dough with the mother starter. Cover this preparation and let it ferment for at least 6 hours. As soon as fermentation activity is clearly underway, salt and the rest of the flour can be added, and kneading can begin.
Working sourdough dough is the same as working yeast dough. Once the dough is well kneaded, it must again be left to rest and ferment for at least one hour. The dough is kneaded again when it begins to expand and becomes more supple. At that point, it must be kneaded vigorously one last time and shaped as desired. The final rise may take between two and four hours depending on environmental conditions and countless imponderable factors. In the trade, it is often said that the dough itself decides.
Yeast
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)
The dough can be inoculated at the very moment of kneading, meaning all ingredients are mixed at the last moment and the dough is worked immediately.
Alternatively, water, a small portion of flour, and the yeast can be mixed some time before kneading.
The key is never to use more yeast than necessary and to give the dough enough time to rise. This results in a stronger dough during proofing and, above all, a healthier, tastier bread.
Fermentation and Digestibility
Sourdough (or yeast-free) fermentations are often credited with benefits for digestion. These are true with regard to the secretion of saliva triggered by the slightly tangy taste of the resulting bread. However, claims that sourdough fermentation cancels out the demineralizing effects of whole grains must be explained with nuance.
Grains as well as legumes contain phytic acid located throughout the grain but especially in the bran. This acid prevents the absorption of minerals in our bodies. Fortunately, nature has endowed grains with an enzyme, phytase, which in a moist environment acts chemically on phytic acid to neutralize it.
For grains and legumes that are cooked, soaking becomes important to improve their nutritional value. In the case of bread, fermentation time is of the utmost importance.
Because sourdough fermentation can only be slow, it guarantees the nutritional quality of the bread. The conscientious baker will give the dough, even when inoculated with yeast, the time it needs for nature to act. There are several ways not to rush fermentation. The experienced baker will know how to control fermentation temperature to avoid speeding it up too much.
Another easy tip is to add the salt to the water at the beginning of mixing. Many schools and books advise adding it near the end. Salt is an anti-ferment agent, and its role is precisely to slow fermentation. This shows that many books and courses are often designed without regard for our health.
Concerns among specialists about yeast breads are unfortunately justified when we consider the carelessness of the industry.
But some research indicates that the intestines of people accustomed to whole grains produce the enzymes necessary for proper mineral absorption.
Publications often contradict one another on this subject, but the rigor of the artisan baker ensures the right precautions will be taken.