Baking bread is as easy as starting with five parts flour and three parts liquid.
The only other things it needs are yeast and a bit of salt. That’s all you need to make basic bread.
When making bread, the one thing worth remembering is that yeast dough is hard to overwork. It is very forgiving. When you bake in Dutch ovens don’t worry too much about how stiff your dough is, just make sure the loaf is a bit rubbery and smooth.
The fun begins when one decides what to do with this basic of bread recipe.
Should I substitute milk for water? Or cream? Or some other liquid?
What can I add to change the bread? Basic things like sugar or honey, eggs, oil or butter; or more exotic things such as herbs, garlic, chopped fruit/nuts, cheeses or chopped meat. Other flours like whole wheat, rye, potato, and oat flours add wonderful different flavors to bread baking.
The list is endless.
More next week.
