How To Make Homemade Bread? Two Fragrant Recipes

We talked to professionals and learned how to cook their delicious bread at home

It takes time to bake bread, the process is similar to meditation and very soothes the nerves. The texture of raw dough, in which you immerse your hands, the monotonous rhythm of preparation of ingredients and kneading, a new smell during baking – something that previously may not have had time and energy, will now help you feel calmer, “ground” a little and catch a new level of balance. Different bread requires different time – from several days to a week. Treat yourself to fresh pastries in your kitchen.

BRIOCHE

The most romantic French morning bread is suitable for toast, pate, cream cheese, and jam. Delicate fluffy texture, glossy brown crust, mind-blowing smell of butter during baking. It’s definitely aphrodisiac bread.

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour of the highest grade, the thinnest grinding – 500 g
• Whole milk 3.2% – 150 ml
• Butter (82.5%, not less) – 125 g (pre-cut it cold into small cubes, no need to soften or heat)
• Eggs – 2 pcs.
• Small salt – 10g
• Sugar – 125g
• “Fresh” yeast – 15 g

Method of preparation:

1. Prepare the kneading. To do this, you will need a mixer with special nozzles with different speeds. With it, mix all the ingredients except butter at the first speed. As soon as you get a homogeneous mass, switch the mixer to a second speed and knead for another 15 minutes. Add butter and continue to whisk with a mixer at a second speed until the butter dissolves.
2. Transfer the resulting dough to a deep container and leave for an hour at room temperature.
3. Put the dough on the table and do a “warm”, pulling its ends and folding them in the middle.
4. Grease the dough tank with warm butter, put the dough and put the mold in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. The dough should rise about 3 times.
5. Divide the cooled dough into pieces of equal weight, roll the “balls” out of them and put them in an oiled baking pan. Choose the container taking into account that the dough will rise 2.5 times. Grease the laid “balls” with an egg on top.
6. Place the laid dough in an oven heated to 160 degrees and bake brioche for about 30 minutes – in the process the crust will become dark, this is normal.
7. Let the finished briosha cool down and cut it.

ITALIAN FOCACCIA

Wet, lush Italian focaccia with huge pores and a delicate crust, temperamental and sexy, will be a decoration on your dining or evening table.

Ingredients:

• Premium wheat flour (better Italian, in this case flour is very important) – 560 g
• Small salt – 11 g (1 3⁄4 teaspoon)
• Instant yeast (in granules) – 4 g
• Ice water (very important – ice water) – 450 g (2 glasses)
• Olive oil 15 g (1 tablespoon) + for generous baking tray lubrication
• Dried rosemary – 15-20g
• Coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Method of preparation:

1. Activate yeast in a small amount of warm water.
2. In a large bowl, use a spatula or mixer (at low speed) to thoroughly mix flour, fine salt, yeast with water, rosemary and ice water. The dough should be very liquid and sticky. Leave it at room temperature for 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the finished dough with olive oil and mix thoroughly again for 2-3 minutes. Cover the bowl with film and leave for 10 minutes.
4. Grease your hands with olive oil and warm up the dough, pulling the ends of the dough and folding them in the middle. Leave it for another 10 minutes. Then repeat the “famination” 2 more times with a break of 20 minutes.
5. Grease the baking pan abundantly with olive oil. It is better to use a rectangular shape or your standard oven baking tray, but with high sides – 3-4 cm.
6. Put the finished dough on a baking sheet/in the mold, sprinkle again with olive oil and distribute well in the form – as a result, the dough layer should be about 1.5 to 3 cm.
7. Cover the form with film so that it sticks to the surface of the dough and put it in the refrigerator overnight (8-10 hours).
8. 2-3 hours before baking, take the dough out of the refrigerator and put it in a warm place or in an oven heated no higher than 50 degrees. The dough should rise about twice. Sprinkle it with coarse sea salt and put it in an oven heated to 230 degrees for 15 minutes. Then turn the baking sheet/mold 180 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes until the bread is browned.