Baking Bread with Yeast

Hey everyone

I hate to be the one to say it, but Winter is here! Like you didn’t already notice…Brrrr! However I was born in Winter so like Princess Elsa said, “The cold never bothered me anyway!”.

It’s that time of year I totally appreciate, besides getting to dress up & pile on those fancy Jackets with high heeled Boots I must say its more about the food! All those seasonal foods that harvest this time of year & most importantly the morning aroma’s of a bakery throughout my home-fresh bread baking oooff! So good!

Warm, soft & comforting bread…Did you know that we South African’s are the only people in the world that eats fresh bread warm straight out of the oven with butter. While the rest of the world awaits for the bread to cool down before serving it #proudlysouthafrican. It my FAV thing to do spread butter on hot baked bread & when it melts it makes my heart go all lovey dovey inside.

Sometimes when I mention the word “Yeast” to people I can literally see the horror on their faces, like oh no she didn’t! Well after this post, I promise that’s all going to change & you will now be a confident Bread Baker in no time #likeaboss 😉

So how does yeast work, unlike the other chemical rising agents such as bicarb, baking powder &
self-raising flour, yeast is alive & is an edible fungus (I hate that word fungus eww, but its a fact). The only thing yeast has in common with the other rising agents is that they both release Carbon Dioxide bubbles that get trapped in the gluten network making the dough or batter further expand in the oven.

There are 160 different species of yeast known. One species is baker’s yeast used to leaven bread throughout the world and is called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. Just try saying it, lol. The scientific name Saccharomyces, refers to “saccharo” meaning sugar and “myces” meaning fungus for brewers & bakers (brewers sugar fungus).

So how does yeast work?

Yeast is alive & to feed it needs sugar.
Yeast needs oxygen to live (bake).
Yeast needs the correct temperature to thrive between 22C-32C & is dies at 60 degrees C.
Yeast needs salt to activate, but to much salt can kill the yeast cells.
Yeast needs moisture to help the distribution of ingredients.

The different types of yeast are :

Instant yeast 10gr packet.
Fresh yeast in a cube 25gr (needs to be dissolved in water & takes longer to rise).
Yeast plants
Active dry yeast (for brewers).

Baking Bread (Basic Lean Dough)

Ingredients:

360gr cake flour
5ml salt
5ml sugar
60gr margerine
+/- 150gr lukewarm water
10gr instant yeast (to substitute use 25gr cube fresh yeast for every 10gr instant yeast, just remember to add the cubed yeast to the lukewarm water to soak,before mixing)

Method:

NB: the highlighted words are the important production steps, if done incorrectly or forgotten it will show in the end result.

Preheat the oven 180C.
Scale & measure all ingredients.
Mix the dry ingredients & rub in the margarine forming bread crumbs.
Add the yeast & then the liquid a little at a time so not too sticky.
Knead until smooth soft dough forms.
Leave the dough aside to Rise double in size.
Knock down the CO2 bubbles & Divide the dough equally.
Shape & leave to second rise on the baking tray.
Glaze (with an eggwash 15ml milk + 1 egg for seeds) & Score (with a knife lightly on the surface to form baguette lines).
Bake until brown for about 20-30 minutes & to check tap the bread with your finger nail it sound make a hollow sound its done inside.
Cool down & enjoy.