Bread Making Tips for Beginners

Learn about the process of kneading, the secrets to cultivating yeast and more.

By Jennifer Nemec
Published on December 15, 2020
article image
by iStockPhoto/John Peacock

What does kneading dough do? What flour should I use for bread? Get these handy bread-making tips for beginners and learn the whys and hows of gluten development.

The process of bread making often seems cloaked in mystery. You put a few simple ingredients together, follow a peculiar set of steps, and voilà, the staff of life. The process seems so alive, so magical, so … intimidating. My usual response to such fearful thoughts is to research how and why something works. Like most things that seem scary, bread is, at its heart, quite simple. The answer to the mystery of bread revolves around yeast and a protein called gluten.

Harold McGee, who literally wrote the book on science in the kitchen, On Food and Cooking, breaks the making of yeast bread down into four steps: “We mix together the flour, water, yeast and salt; we knead the mixture to develop the gluten network; we give the yeast time to produce carbon dioxide and fill the dough with gas cells; and we bake the dough to set its structure and generate flavor.” Sounds easy enough, right? OK, maybe it doesn’t just yet. Let’s break each step down individually.

Bread Making Tips for Choosing Flour

Through the millennia humans have been making bread its ingredients have become pretty specialized. Depending on your desired outcome (are you looking for an airy white bread or a dense, crusty artisan loaf?), you can take advantage of this quality.

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