In order to please yourself and your loved ones with fresh homemade bread with a wide variety of flavors and shapes, it requires patience and some knowledge of the secrets of baking. And the preparation itself does not take much effort. And although the whole process making bread(not its fast versions) takes a total of 4-4.5 hours, most of this time the bread works for itself - the yeast releases gas, and the gluten proteins form a spatial network that traps gas bubbles and the dough “rises.”

Here is a step-by-step description of the process of making standard bread from yeast dough. The whole process is divided into 9 main stages, the features of each stage are indicated. Ingredient quantities can be found in the basic recipe for simple bread dough. Having mastered the technique of making bread, realizing that there are no particular difficulties here, you will gradually move on to freely baking bread without any recipes and will be able to come up with your own variations.

1 Preparation of ingredients:

The main ingredients for making yeast bread are flour, yeast (sourdough), water (milk), salt and seasonings.

The water should be slightly warm (30 degrees). Flour (for fluffy bread this is mainly premium-grade wheat) must be sifted. To speed up the rise of the dough, it is recommended to heat the flour: in the oven at the lowest temperature for 3-5 minutes, in the microwave for 15-20 seconds at maximum power. If there is nowhere to rush, you can skip this operation.

Instant yeast does not require preparation; it is mixed with flour in a granular state. Dry active yeast is dissolved in the entire amount of water, or in part of the liquid required by the recipe (0.5-1 tbsp.), left for 10-15 minutes to absorb water (milk), and before mixing the ingredients, whisk until foam forms (you can do not beat). Fresh compressed yeast is simply diluted in a small amount of warm liquid and used immediately.

To improve the taste of bread, sour leaven is added to the dough instead of industrial yeast or together with it. Along with wheat flour, other types of flour are added (from a few spoons to 25% of the required amount of flour, sometimes more) - buckwheat, corn, oatmeal, rye (seeded or peeled) or wheat with bran (whole grain). The germ contained in whole grain flour gives the bread a slight nutty flavor. Many flavoring additives are also added to bread dough - herbs, onions, spices, etc.

To decorate bread, various toppings are used - semolina, bran, ground and whole oat flakes, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc.

2 Kneading the dough:

Yeast dough: In the sifted (and heated) flour, after adding fine salt, make a hole and pour in (for fast-acting - add) yeast, then the rest of the warm liquid (if the yeast was not dissolved in the entire volume of water) and mix everything with your hands or a spoon (small volume of dough) until a lumpy mass is obtained. Option #2: You can add not liquid to flour, but rather flour to liquid, the entire amount of flour at once or gradually. Yeast can be dissolved in all the liquid at once, and then start adding sifted flour mixed with salt.

Sourdough dough: Pour a portion of the starter into a convenient bowl with a ladle, add four equal-weight portions of flour and salt. Adding warm water little by little, knead the dough so that it does not spread.

3 Kneading the dough:

The lumpy dough obtained by simply mixing the ingredients must now be thoroughly kneaded, which will promote the formation of gluten, and the dough will become smooth and elastic so that it can be given a variety of shapes.

Transfer the dough from the bowl to the table (board) with a small amount of flour. Wash the bowl and leave to dry. We evaluate the resulting dough:

if it is too wet and remains on your hands in sticky lumps, then while kneading we will sprinkle flour until it becomes more dense;

and vice versa, if the dough is too hard and dense, then we will add a little water until the dough becomes more pliable.

How to knead the dough. One method is stretching and twisting the dough. Hold the dough with one hand and stretch it with the other. At first the dough will tear very easily, then it will become more elastic. We fold the dough again and then twist it slightly. Continue stretching and twisting the dough for 10-15 minutes.

By the second method You need to vigorously knead the dough for about the same time, pressing the heel of your palms into the middle of the lump of dough. If you press in just one place, the lump of dough becomes a sausage, then you need to fold the edges of the sausage into the center and knead it into a sausage again. You can also fold the sausage in half. As an addition, you can throw the dough on the table or hit it, for example, with a rolling pin. The dough can also be kneaded in a mixer equipped with a dough attachment.

4 Rising dough:

Transfer the kneaded dough into a dry, clean bowl, cover with a cloth to protect it from drying out, and place in a warm place for 1.5-2.5 hours. The rate at which the dough rises depends on the room temperature and the composition of the dough. At room temperature (18-20 degrees), it will take 2-2.5 hours for the dough to double in volume (the first rise). If you keep the dough in a warmer place, this time can be reduced. Warm place - near the stove, near the radiator, in the sun. If you press on a well-made dough with your finger, a mark remains that does not disappear immediately.

In principle, bread can be baked after the first rise, but bread of the best quality, more tasty, with uniform porosity of the crumb is obtained if the dough has been risen at least 2 times and slowly. Sometimes, to achieve this, the dough is left in the refrigerator overnight (yeast activity decreases, the dough rises slowly), or the amount of yeast is halved. If coarse flour (oatmeal, corn, etc.) or, as in our case, bran flour (whole grain or peeled) was added to the dough, then the dough will rise more slowly, since such flour makes the dough heavier.

So, to make our bread tastier, we knead the dough after the first rise and let it rise again. Check the dough by pressing with your finger, take it out of the bowl and knead it a little, then shape it.

Part of the dough can be left in the refrigerator for 1-2 days; the dough can be frozen and the bread can be prepared when it is more convenient.

5 Forming the finished dough into a ball:

If you have prepared dough for more than one piece of bread, divide it into portions. We form a loaf from one portion, and cover the rest with a napkin. In order to give the bread the shape of a loaf, you need to form a ball from the dough. To do this, fold the edges of the dough towards the center. On one side the dough becomes smooth and round, and on the other side folds form. Turn the dough over with the seam (folds) down and use your hands to give the future loaf a round shape. We do the same with the rest of the dough - we get two pieces.

6 Final preparations:

Cover the ball of dough with a napkin and let it rise again (double in volume) - 30-50 minutes, check the readiness of the dough with your finger. On the surface of the risen dough, you can make cuts with a knife (in the shape of a cross, a grid, three oblique stripes) to increase the surface of the crust. At this stage, the dough can be sprinkled with sesame seeds, etc.

7 Preparing the oven:

During the first 20 minutes of baking in the oven, the dough will continue to rise until the yeast dies. And the rapid formation of a crust will not allow this process to take place fully. To slow down the appearance of the crust and make our bread more fluffy, place a fireproof wide bowl with hot water on the bottom of the oven and heat the oven to 230 degrees. Place a baking sheet there.

8 Baking:

Transfer the risen dough onto a baking sheet. Use a spray bottle to spray the oven with water to further saturate it with steam. After 20 minutes, remove the bowl of water. Bake for another 15 minutes. If our loaf turns brown too quickly, lower the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes. Then take the bread out of the oven and tap the back of the bun with your finger bones. If we hear a booming dull sound, the loaf is ready. If not, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Cooking times are for bread made from 750 g flour. In the recipe for basic bread dough you will find baking times for a smaller loaf.

9 Final rest and cutting:

The loaf should cool for a couple of hours, it is better to leave it until the morning. We recommend placing the bread on a wire mesh with legs, so the bread will be better ventilated. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife. You can purchase a special bread knife.

Store-bought bread will never taste better than homemade bread - it is not as aromatic, soft, and a day after purchase it completely stale so that you can safely throw it away.

But most women do not know how to bake loaves of bread at home, although there is essentially nothing difficult about it. In addition, you can always add spices, cheese or sausage to bread cooked in your own oven to give it a special taste.

This article presents accessible, simple oven bread recipes at home and some tips that will help you bake a delicious loaf the first time. A novice housewife can bake not only wheat loaves, but also:

• Rye bread;
• Borodinsky;
• With additives.

In addition, there is a method of preparation without using yeast, which will also be discussed below.

Step-by-step recipes for delicious homemade bread in the oven

At the beginning, it should be noted that for the preparation of this kind of baking it is always necessary to purchase high-quality flour. In addition, the yeast used should always be as fresh as possible. If these two points are observed, you can get soft and tasty bread.

Simple by leaps and bounds

The first recipe is dedicated to a simple bread, but very soft and airy. The aroma from its baking will pleasantly spread throughout the kitchen. This recipe can be called a “template” for baking simple homemade bread.

The consistency of the dough should ideally resemble thick cream. 1.5 kg should give just such a result, but if this turns out to be not enough, then there is nothing wrong with adding a little more.

The flour must be sifted, then add butter and salt. It will be most convenient to take a large bowl for this procedure.

The yeast is first placed in heated water, and when it becomes liquid enough, it needs to be poured into a bowl with flour. Now all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed for a quarter of an hour.

After an hour and a half, the kneading procedure is repeated, then the dough needs to be given a few more hours (ideally 180 minutes) for it to settle. During kneading, the mass must be pressed down and carbon dioxide will come out of it.

The dough is distributed into bread baking molds, but if there are none, you can manually form neat loaves.

The mixture should sit in the mold for another hour and then it’s time for baking - the molds with bread are placed in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for an hour.

This is a recipe for the most ordinary, but really tasty bread, to which you can add cheese if you wish. To do this, the easiest way is to rub it onto a loaf that has not yet cooled down.

We offer you to watch a video so that you can see all the stages of preparing such simple bread at home:

Healthy rye

Rye bread is considered more dietary. To prepare it at home in the oven you need:

• Flour (rye and wheat) – 1 kg each;
• Yeast (it is better to use dry yeast) – 1 table. spoon;
• Water – 1.5 l;
• Sugar - half the table. spoons;
• Salt – 2 teaspoons. spoons;
• Sunflower oil – 1 table. spoon.

Baking rye bread at home in the oven is practically no different from the first recipe.

The water needs to be heated to room temperature, then pour in the yeast, previously mixed in one container with sugar.

Then let it brew for a quarter of an hour.

Sift both types of flour and place in a bowl of suitable size.

Add a little oil (vegetable) and a couple of pinches of salt.

Gradually start adding water with yeast, stirring while doing so.

Knead the mixture and let it sit for 1 hour in a warm and dry place, covering the container with a towel (can be placed in a plastic bag).

Grease the mold for future loaves with oil, place the dough there and leave for 30-40 minutes, covering with a special baking film.

During this time, let the oven preheat.

Bake the bread at 200 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

One head of garlic is sometimes added to rye products for a piquant taste.

Without yeast on kefir

This is a budget-friendly recipe for making loaves with a crispy crust and amazing flavor. For it you will need:

• 300 grams of flour (wheat);
• 1 tsp. spoon of soda;
• 200 milliliters of kefir (you can measure it in a glass);
• 1 tsp. spoon of salt.

The consistency of the dough should be approximately the same as when making pancakes. First you need to mix together all the dry ingredients of the recipe, that is, flour, salt and soda. After this, kefir is added.

Stir what happens with a spoon, and then knead thoroughly with your hands for ten to fifteen minutes. The mass sticks very much to your hands, but you cannot add flour during the cooking process, but you can grease it with butter.

Heat the oven to 200 degrees, place the dough in a baking container, having also greased it first. This bread takes an average of 40 to 50 minutes to bake. It is best to check readiness using a thin wooden stick.

Borodinsky

Borodino loaves are very healthy and have a piquant taste. Preparing this bread at home in the oven requires the use of the following products:

• Rye flour – 3.5 cups;
• Wheat flour – 2 cups;
• Yeast – 2.5 teaspoons. spoons (it’s better to take dry ones);
• Sugar – 3 table. spoons;
• Sunflower oil – 1 table. spoon;
• Salt – 2 teaspoons. spoons;
• Ground coriander – 1 table. spoon;
• Natural cocoa – 3 tables. spoons;
• Water.

The consistency of the dough should be liquid, like sour cream. To achieve this, rye flour (1.5 cups) must be mixed with water at room temperature.

Then add yeast (half a teaspoon) and sugar (1.5 tablespoons) to the resulting mass. Since Borodino bread requires leavening, after completing these steps, the bowl of dough should be placed in a dry and warm place for 2-3 days.

Wheat flour must be sifted and mixed with the remaining rye flour in a deep bowl. Then gradually pour in boiled water.

Add the remaining sugar, yeast, cocoa, a pinch of salt, coriander, butter and a tablespoon of pre-prepared starter. Beat all components thoroughly for 10 minutes.

Place in the pan, cover it with a clean towel and wait about two hours, allowing the future loaf to brew. At 180 degrees in the oven, Borodino bread is baked for half an hour.

Dark bread is served with all soups; it will be especially tasty with borscht and cabbage soup.

By the way, every housewife prepares Borodino bread in her own way and it is very difficult to find the same standard recipe for its preparation. You can only choose the most suitable one for yourself.

Therefore, we suggest watching another video recipe. Perhaps you'll like it better.

Baking bread in an electric oven at home

For an electric oven, you can use any of the recipes listed above. Several important rules must be followed:

1. To prevent the bread from burning on the bottom, it should be placed on a baking sheet, previously sprinkled with coarse salt. Dampened paper or special foil will help protect the loaf from burning the top;
2. The classic baking temperature for products of this type in an electric oven is 180-200 degrees. This rule applies to the average level;
3. If you pour boiling water on the bottom of the oven, the dough will rise correctly. For this purpose, you can also use a bowl of boiling water placed before baking.

Having learned how to bake bread, you can safely take on the preparation of various baked goods: pies, pies, cakes and any other. Start with pies! All the neighbors will come running to you to find out what smells so delicious!

Sometimes it happens that you want something tasty, but you are too lazy to go to the store. Then we start improvising. Surely the recipe for sweet baked apples in the oven described appeared exactly like this.

Do you like mushrooms? Yes, there are rarely people who don’t like them. There are many ways to cook them. For example, mushroom sauce. Various recipes are described. All gourmets are delighted with them!

So, as a result, you can take some really useful tips that will be especially useful for novice housewives:

1. The easiest way to check the readiness of bread is with a wooden stick. As an alternative solution, you can use a regular match. If, after piercing the loaf, there is no dough left on the stick, then the baking is ready;
2. You can add various ingredients of your own after testing the initial recipe and achieving the correct result. Otherwise, it may not turn out very tasty;
3. During kneading, the dough needs to be pressed down a little, so carbon dioxide comes out of it;
4. You can replace yeast with ordinary kefir - cheap and tasty;
5. It is important to use only high-quality and fresh ingredients, especially flour. If you are careless about the freshness of the products for making bread, then the bread itself will not turn out the best;
6. To make the yeast rise faster, the dough should be placed in a warm place. You can even additionally cover the container with the dough with a warm towel or any other suitable thing.

If you follow all these rules, you can prepare really tasty and fluffy bread in the oven at home.

Do you want to know how to bake garlic bread with dill? If yes, then the following video is for you:

Bread never meant too much to me until I tried homemade bread. A miracle, an ordinary miracle. I remember how my husband and I took turns rocking our two-month-old son at night, cutting off pieces from our first baguette. How tough and lopsided it was... But I’ve hardly tried anything tastier than this baguette. The first bread baked with your own hands is some kind of starting point, no matter how pretentious my words may sound. When you hold your first candy bar in your hands and can’t believe your eyes that you baked it yourself. The taste of a hot crust that cannot be conveyed in any words, when you don’t even notice whether it is easy to chew :))

Among the recipes published on the site, there is a detailed guide for beginners. So go for it, I am sure that everything will work out for you. The success of home baking is built on experience. The more bread you bake, the better it turns out. Your hands get used to the test, the anxious tension goes away - “what if it doesn’t work out?” No, this does not mean that everything will always work out. You're just ready for mistakes. Knowing that anything can be fixed when it comes to baking homemade bread. Buy more flour, grow a new starter, find a more interesting recipe... I know people for whom baking bread has become a passion. Fortunately, I managed to avoid this fate. Now I rarely bake bread, but if I take on this task, it is with great joy and warmth. I don’t know, maybe this will be interesting to someone, but most of all I like whole grain bread. Somehow he is the real one... :))

Pumpkin bread

Bright looking and tasting yeast bread with fresh pumpkin puree, garlic and hot pepper flavored vegetable oil, and aromatic dried herbs.

Bagels, hot bagels

During the Christmas holidays, lovers of home baking have the opportunity and time to try new recipes. For example, these are such wonderful bagels. Preparation will take some time, but why rush on a festive winter day when there is still a week of weekends ahead...

Unsteamed whole grain bread, recipe with step-by-step photos

Warm, soft homemade whole grain bread with milk and honey, relatively quick to prepare. Great for sandwiches and sandwiches. In addition to a detailed recipe with step-by-step photos, the article provides some general principles for baking bread with whole wheat flour.

How to bake simple wheat bread in the oven

This recipe is for those interested in baking homemade yeast bread. This process is labor-intensive and time-consuming, so it cannot be called a practical one. But it is not complicated either. I think it can be used as a training one. It is with the example of this simple wheat bread that you can learn the basic principles of making bread at home. I tried not to engage in dry theory, but simply tell how I did it myself and what happened :)

Yeast dough buns, recipe with step-by-step photos

Simple and delicious buns made from yeast dough with kefir. Excellent rise, very tasty and fluffy.

Irish soda bread

Homemade bread / Flour, kefir, soda, oatmeal, raisins, nuts and no yeast - the perfect quick homemade bread for Saturday breakfast. In order to knead the dough, you will need a spoon, a bowl and five minutes of free time. You don't have to wait for the dough to rise a couple of times and put the bread to proof before baking. Irish soda bread goes straight into the oven after kneading, where it rises perfectly, even better than traditional sourdough bread. / Delicious recipes for every day / This bread can be baked by a person who has never stood at the stove. It's so simple. Irish bread rises well without yeast. The dough is kneaded with kefir and soda, which, once in an acidic environment, perfectly loosens the bread.

If you throw pieces of cheese and bacon into a regular dough, and then stretch the dough into the shape of a large sheet and make several cuts on it, you will get nothing more than... fougasse. This is the name of French flatbreads that are traditionally baked in Provence. An hour in the kitchen, and now the land mine is already on our table.

Wholemeal bread

I once got this bread quite by accident: the house suddenly ran out of flour, and I had already managed to put the dough on the loaves. Having rummaged through the shelves, I found a bag of whole grain flour, which I still didn’t dare try... I poured the flour into the dough, added water, butter, sugar, salt and began to knead the dough. I always mix with my hands - I like the process. The first thing that surprised me was how nice the dough turned out. Non-sticky and at the same time soft and moist. Pleasant creamy shade and fresh aroma. But the most interesting thing awaited me later, when the loaves were already in the oven. Stupefying, incomparable bread smell! This didn’t happen even when I baked Orlov bread with sourdough and maltose molasses. Do I need to clarify that both loaves made from whole grain flour were eaten right there, hot. It is enough to spread a thin layer of butter on them, and you will get a complete ready-made dish.

Baking bread at home

Recipes according to GOST / Why bake exactly the same loaves that are sold in a nearby store? And then that they will not be exactly the same. And they will be much tastier! A verified recipe for a traditional loaf of bread near Moscow. / Homemade bread / I can safely recommend this recipe to all those who want to get their hands on homemade bread baking. If you do everything strictly according to the instructions, the result will always be good. The loaves will most likely turn out right the first time. For the first couple of weeks we ate them while still hot.

Oryol sourdough rye bread recipe

Homemade bread / This sourdough rye bread is incredibly aromatic thanks to maltose molasses, which you can’t buy in a regular store, but can easily be ordered from any online store for lovers of homemade bread baking. It is inexpensive and has a long shelf life. It is used not only to flavor rye dough, but also for Asian sauces. For example, for teriyaki. Rich malt aroma, bright red color. This tall bread with a crispy crust will appeal to those who are partial to fragrant, slightly moist baked goods. I prefer the more modest Darnitsa bread. But it’s worth baking Orlovsky at least once to find out what the bread tasted like in the 60s of the last century, when its recipe was developed. / Recipes according to GOST / Not the most common GOST bread recipe, created during the Khrushchev “thaw”. I personally have never seen anything like this on the counter. But, tempted by the look and ingredients in the recipe, I decided to try it. I got hold of maltose molasses. Fortunately, by that time my starter had already been grown and gained strength. The bread turned out interesting. I hope you will like it too.

To prepare the simplest yeast bread dough you will need premium wheat flour, salt, baker's yeast and water. This dough can be used to make round loaves, pan bread, loaves, bread rolls, bread sticks, flat bread, flatbreads. If you add 1-2 tbsp to the dough. (per 1.5 kg of flour) vegetable oil, you will get the ideal base for delicious flatbreads, pizza and other flat pies with savory fillings.

The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for several days or frozen. To improve taste homemade bread You can add a little buckwheat, rye, oatmeal and low-grade wheat flour to the dough in the following quantities. To add a light flavor - a few spoons per kilogram of premium wheat flour. To more significantly change the quality of the dough, wheat flour with bran (peeled or whole grain, as well as flour of grades II and III) and rye flour can be added in amounts of up to 25% (or more) of the total amount of wheat flour required by the recipe.

Basic bread dough recipe

Ingredients:

Flour	1500-1550, or 11.5-12 tbsp.	1000-1050, 7.5-8 tbsp.	750-800, 5.75-6.1 tbsp.	330-400, 2.5-3 tbsp.
Warm water	900 ml., or 4.5 tbsp.	600 ml., 3 tbsp.	450 ml., 2.25 tbsp.	200 ml., 1 tbsp.
Fresh yeast	30 g.	20	15	6.5 g.
Dry yeast	1 tbsp.	2 tsp	0.5 tbsp.	0.5 tsp
Fine salt	1 tbsp.	2 tsp	0.5 tbsp.	0.5 tsp
Baking time	2 loaves for 45-60 min.		45 – 60 min.	25-35 min.
Bread output	2.4 kg.	1600	1200	500 g.

Preparing bread dough:

1 Dissolve fresh or dry yeast in a small amount of warm (30-35 degrees) water. Leave the active dry yeast for 15-20 minutes, then whisk a little. Add dry instant yeast to the flour immediately; there is no need to dissolve it in water.

2 Sift 1.5 kg into a deep bowl. flour, mix with salt. Pour the yeast into the flour, add the rest of the warm water, mix into a single mass to make a stiff dough, place on the table with the flour. If necessary, add a little flour or water, depending on whether the dough is wet or dry. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until a homogeneous, smooth mass is obtained that does not stick to your hands.

3 Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover with a napkin or film and put in a warm place. Leave for 2-2.5 hours in a warm place. The dough should double in volume, it is better that the dough rises not once, but 2 times. To do this, the risen dough must be kneaded and left to rise. We check the readiness of the dough by pressing on it with a finger - the mark does not disappear instantly.

4 Transfer the dough to the table, knead it a little and divide into two parts (if prepared from 1.5 kg of flour). Give each part the desired shape, cover with a napkin and let rise again (30-50 minutes), check for readiness by pressing your finger.

5 Preheat the oven to 230 degrees, place a wide bowl of boiling water on the bottom of the oven, which is necessary to saturate the space with water vapor, which will prevent the crust from forming too quickly and the bread will rise well. It is better to place the baking sheet in the oven, and transfer the risen bread onto the hot baking sheet. Before putting the bread in the oven, spray it with water from a spray bottle. You can add more water to the bowl.

6 After 20 minutes of baking the bread, remove the bowl of water and bake the bread for another 15 minutes. Then, if the bread begins to burn, reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes. Take out the loaf or pan with bread and check its readiness. To do this, tap the base of the bread with your knuckles. The bread is ready if you hear a booming sound; if it is dull, put it in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

7 The finished bread needs to cool completely. It's better to leave it until the morning. Cut bread with a sharp knife.

1 You can make cuts on the bread before putting it in the oven to increase the surface area of ​​the crust.

You can sing an ode to bread endlessly. Bread is the head of everything, if there is bread, there will be lunch... Today, buying bread is not a problem, but technology in this case has rather gone to the detriment, since now in a loaf you can find almost the complete periodic table, which allows baking not go stale for weeks. Have you ever bought American toast bread? Check it out, you will be unpleasantly surprised.

Or homemade baked goods, the ingredients of which you are more than sure of. Baking bread at home is very simple. Don’t be afraid of working with the dough, treat it with trust, and in return it will give you a warm and fragrant crumb.

History of creation

You can consider the history of the development of bread endlessly - it has been constant as the basis of the human diet from century to century, while the recipe and cooking methods have steadily changed. According to scientists, it began about 15 thousand years ago, when our ancestors began to grind grains using stones, after which they mixed them with water. Thus, the first bread took the form of a semi-liquid stew. Over time, having curbed the fire and learned to maintain it in the hearth, people began to bake unleavened cakes. Thanks to this, they made their diet more stable, being able to stock up on food from grain.

The first bread in its more or less familiar form appeared thanks to the ancient Egyptians. According to the assumption, about 6 thousand years ago, as a result of a mistake (a very successful one, it must be admitted), people found out that the fermentation process is capable of loosening the dough; they probably simply left it in a warm place overnight, and in the morning they discovered that the mass had become softer. Such a rapid fermentation process is associated with high ambient temperatures and unrefined grains. Thanks to this discovery, the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt figured out how to bake soft and fluffy bread at home instead of a hard flatbread.

The familiar name “bread” supposedly appeared thanks to the bakers of Ancient Greece who baked flat cakes in special vessels - klibanos. From here it spread throughout the world, undergoing changes depending on the area.

Role in society

The technology of baking bread itself has also improved over time, occupying an increasingly larger part of people's nutrition. Bread was an indicator of status in Europe. For example, it was not enough to know how to bake homemade bread - the housewife had to strictly observe the presentation of dishes at the official table.

Bread ranged from the highest quality - white from sifted flour, which was offered to the most titled guests at the head of the table, to simple black, which was placed at the end of the table for the simplest eaters. Stale loaves were also used - they were hollowed out, imitating plates, and food was served in them.

Role in Russian culture

In Russia, it is extremely difficult to overestimate bread as a symbol. It is justifiably considered synonymous with well-being in all its forms. That is why all joyful events, be it the arrival of dear guests or a wedding, were met with a loaf of bread and salt. Bread is like a full house, a house is like a talisman against troubles.

Our days

Now there are no problems with how to bake bread at home. The classic recipe includes a fermentation catalyst (sourdough or yeast), flour, water and salt. From here, recipes are increasingly diverging that will help you revive the heritage of both Russia and other countries in the conditions of your home kitchen.

Judge for yourself, at least the following are available to you:

• Russian loaf;
• Caucasian lavash;
• Italian ciabatta;
• French baguette;
• German pretzels.

But each of these names has several varieties! You can delight your loved ones with something new every day.

Basic recipe

To bake bread at home in the oven, just take:

• premium wheat flour - 1 kg;
• warm water - 625 ml;
• fresh yeast - 30 grams (if your yeast is dry, then take half as much);
• coarse salt - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• sugar - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• flour for kneading - as needed.

Sequencing

It should be noted that you can either bake bread in a bread machine or by hand - in the first case, you will even make the task easier for yourself. It will be enough to correctly set up all the stages of mixing and place the necessary components in the equipment. Plus, in busy conditions, this is even more convenient, since the device will do everything for you - there is no need to constantly be at the oven.

Sift the flour into a heap onto a clean surface, make a depression and pour half of the water into it, add the rest of the ingredients there, except for the flour for kneading. Slowly gather the flour around the edge with your hand, kneading the dough until it becomes a semi-liquid, viscous mass. Add the remaining flour and continue stirring until you have used all the flour in the pile. By this point, the dough will no longer stick to your hands and will be soft but elastic. Work with it as actively as possible - knead, fold until it becomes elastic. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with film and place in a warm place.

Once the dough has doubled in size, knead it vigorously for at least half a minute. At this stage, you can add various products and seasonings in order to give it individuality. We will consider options for such combinations, which will show how to bake bread at home with a unique taste, after the main recipe. It should be noted that you can either bake bread in a bread machine or by hand - in the first case, you will even make the task easier for yourself. It will be enough to correctly set up all the stages of mixing and place the necessary components in the equipment. Plus, in busy conditions, this is even more convenient, since the device will do everything for you - there is no need to constantly be at the oven.

Place the prepared dough into the baking pan and return it to a warm place, covering it first. It should again at least double. This will take approximately an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Place the risen bread in it and bake for half an hour. The cooking period can vary depending on the thickness of the dough layer. In order to determine the readiness of the baked goods, just tap the bottom of the bread - if the sound is dull, then everything is ready.

Wrap the finished bread in a kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Flavor variations

Below we will highlight successful combinations of additives, thanks to which you will learn how to bake homemade bread with a taste that is inaccessible to store-bought samples:

All of these variations are not limited to just the oven - if necessary, you can either bake bread in a slow cooker or in your grandmother’s wood-burning oven.

Yeast alternative

More and more people are trying to move away from yeast in favor of sourdough, arguing that the latter is older and healthier. The debate between these two baking powders is still open.

Making sourdough at home is quite simple, all you need is some rye flour and patience. Sequencing:

• Mix 100 grams of rye flour and 150 grams of warm water in a spacious container. Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for a day.
• The next day, add another 100 grams of flour and water, mix, and return to place.
• After another day, add 150 and 100 grams of water and flour, respectively, and return the container to its place.
• A day later, repeat the procedure with 100 grams of flour and water, return to its place.
• On the fifth day, the natural baking powder is ready. The sourdough is airy, full of bubbles, and has a slightly sour bready smell. You can bake!