11 TIPS FOR EXCELLENT HOMEMADE BREAD

Making homemade bread is always a challenge and a satisfaction. I love homemade bread and I prepare it very often and it's never the same, I always experiment, use different kinds of flour, recently I also began to experiment with the starter culture and I'll share my experience with you some other time. The most important thing in kneading and preparing bread is...believe it or not - love. You need to prepare your bread with love and send it through your hands into the dough. Actually, that applies to every food you prepare because cooking is love :)  Here I'll present you some basic rules for well-prepared bread:

1. Bakers say that bread is most beautiful when made with soft flour.
2. The flour from which you will make the bread should be stored at room temperature (if it is cold, leave it to warm).
3. Always sift the flour before kneading - it will heat up and absorb more air, which is good for the dough to rise.
4. If you use fresh yeast for bread, it mustn't be dry or hardened. Dry yeast mustn't be older than 6 months. For 1 kg of flour, 30 g of fresh or 15 g of dry yeast (2 bags) is usually enough.
5. Salt should never be mixed with yeast, as it slows down the activation process. It is best to mix the salt with the flour, then add the yeast.
6. The yeast grows best if you first mix it with a little sugar, then mix it with lukewarm water or milk and leave it to stand warm.
7. It is very important that the dough is well kneaded before and after rising.
8. The rising dough mustn't be left to dry. Keep it covered.
9. Excellent bread is obtained if the dough is kneaded 1 day earlier and left to rise slowly in the refrigerator or in another cold place. But such dough should then be kneaded for a longer time.
10. The bread will have a great crust if, while baking, there is a bowl of boiling water in the oven with it. If this is not possible, then, before the bread is completely baked, it should be moistened on top with your hands, and then returned to bake.
11. The crust of the bread will be crunchy if you leave the baked bread to cool on a wire rack.