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Anyone who has ever tried it knows how it can be, at least at the beginning, to try to bake bread at home. After all, it’s flour, water, salt, caraway, yeast — what could be difficult about that. Of course there’s a difference whether you bake bread with yeast, or with sourdough. Just preparing the starter takes a few days. It’s very easy for your starter to die after a few days. Then you’ll have no choice but to start a new one. Or today you can buy one. Baking with commercial yeast is easier, but bread made with sourdough is much tastier.
So how to make the bread?
If you have cultivated your starter, mix the required amount with water and rye flour. Make the dough, the preferment, and leave it somewhere warm to rise. Nicely on the windowsill in a bowl, covered with a cloth. It usually takes some time. Meanwhile weigh out another portion of flour; you can use wheat, or again rye, salt, water and caraway. When the dough has risen, add the remaining ingredients, work them into a dough, put it into a tin or into a banneton, and cover to proof again. When the dough has nicely risen, preheat the oven to at least 250°C, and place the dough into the hot oven. Put a tray on the bottom and pour hot water into it. The dough must steam. Bake like this for about 10 – 12 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C, and bake for about 40 minutes. Gradually lower the temperature. It’s better to bake at a lower temperature for a longer time. The bread will then be well baked inside as well. You’ll know this when you cut it open — it doesn’t stick.
And one more ingredient for unbeatable bread
Few of you would think that the ingredient is ordinary apple cider vinegar. Just add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the dough. You’ll see that the bread will be truly excellent. You can also add vinegar to dough for doughnuts — they will be excellent too. It may seem a bit amusing, but next time you bake bread, try it. You can make apple cider vinegar at home, and if you don’t want to, you can buy it in a supermarket.
Baking is not just work, it’s an art
Anyone who has tried to bake bread at home will admit that the first ones weren’t much. Don’t be discouraged by failure, and keep trying. Every flour is different, every starter is different, and so are yeasts. And every oven bakes differently. When bread used to be baked at home in a hearth oven, the housewife had to heat the oven correctly. Otherwise the bread was underbaked or overbaked. It was an art. But homemade bread stayed soft until the family ate it.
