The next time someone rings your doorbell, walks into your kitchen, and catches you with white flour all over your nose, tell them you’re in the 13-step program. That’s right, the 13 steps to bread baking program!
Mixing, fermentation, punching, scaling dough, rounding, benching, panning, proofing, baking, cooling, and storing are all key components in bread baking. There was a time not so far back in history when daily bread making was the norm. If bread wasn’t made daily, it was at least made on a regular basis, maybe weekly or monthly. Large chain grocery stores cater to most people’s baking needs, but even with that “home style” label on the package, it isn’t nearly the same as baking your own bread.
Make sure to buy a big bread box because as soon as you taste your own homemade bread, you’re going to want to make a lot of it. Would it be great to make your own baguettes, pita, or sour dough focaccia? There’s no need to be intimidated with bread baking. Once you’ve got an amateur cooking class under your apron, you’ll be able to reacquaint yourself with your kitchen. Pretty soon, your friends and family will be lining up down the block for a taste of your freshly baked homemade bread.
