Bread Science

Whole wheat dough therefore rises more slowly and produces denser bread.

A preferment is a mixture of flour, water, and a rising agent. It is mixed the day before the dough is mixed. Fermentation reactions begin overnight and the preferment rises. It is then added when the dough is mixed. Using a preferment creates both better dough and better bread, as described below. Preferments include the following:

1. First, it is important to touch the dough as little as possible. Over-handling increases the temperature of the dough. It may rip the gluten, making the dough sticky and floppy. Many people make nice shapes and then ruin them because they do not stop when they should—this is commonly the cause of the impossibly long baguette.

Artisan bread needs a protein content of about 11.5%. You may be able to find a specialty flour, made for artisan bread makers, with 11.5% protein. Otherwise, you can make it by mixing two flours (for example, AP flour and bread flour) to get about 11.5%.

What makes good bread is the attention given to the dough, not the recipe.

For example, the basic bread recipe is 100% flour, 70% water, 0.7% yeast, and 2% salt. The weight of the water in the recipe is 70% of the weight of the flour. The weights of the yeast and salt are 0.7% and 2% of the weight of the flour, respectively. This means that the ingredients add up to 172.7%. (*Note:

Time is key to making good bread for one simple reason—the longer the dough ferments, the more flavor it will have.

Spelt adds a nutty or bean-y flavor to bread. Some people who have trouble digesting wheat prefer 100% spelt bread; with less gluten than wheat, spelt dough rises slowly and produces denser bread.

There are three common forms of yeast: fresh yeast (a.k.a. wet yeast, cake yeast, or compressed yeast), active dry yeast, and instant yeast.