How to Make the Perfect Bread

You guys. Let's talk about one of my favorite things in the world: freshly baked bread. From the moment that earthy, buttery smell wafts out from the oven, I'm sold. It's the perfect comfort food. And it's actually pretty easy to make yourself, even if you're not an expert baker. We'd like to share some basic bread baking tips and tricks, and one of Skyla's favorite Ciabatta Bread recipes.

Measure, measure, measure! Skyla makes fun of me because I cook "willy nilly" and never measure a thing. Check your free spirit at the door for this one! When most bread recipes in the world are just variations on the same 4 ingredients - flour, water, yeast, and salt - getting the proportions just right can make a big difference! Find a recipe and follow it closely to get the hang of it.

Steam it. Bread machines give you a perfect golden crust by trapping steam inside. You can get a similar result in your oven by putting a tray of hot or boiling water on the bottom rack as your bread bakes. Slide it in as you preheat, and try not to open the door until it's done.

Be patient. As you'll soon find out, we're not very good at this one. But as a general rule, the longer you let it rise, the more the flavorful your bread will be. For many recipes, you can even cut the yeast in half and double the rise time for a better result.

Here's one of Skyla's favorite recipes for a dense, oily ciabatta bread. This recipe originally called for about 24 hours of rising time, but we've never been able to wait that long, so she made some adaptations.

The (Objectively) Most Delicious Bread in the World

 

Step One Ingredients

½ cup flour
¼ tsp yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water (hot water will kill the yeast)

Combine water and yeast in a bowl. Mix with a fork until the yeast dissolves, then slowly continue mixing in the flour to form a dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour.

Remaining Ingredients
2 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ cup lukewarm water 
½ tsp yeast
Sea salt
Olive oil
2 TBS of rosemary or other spice(s)

Directions 
1) Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2) After allowing starter dough to rise, add the remaining water, yeast, and flour - in that order - to the dough.
3) Sprinkle 2 tsp salt over the dough and stir dough to incorporate. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. 
4) Spray rubber spatula (or saturate in olive oil from bottle) with olive oil spray, then fold dough over 8 times. Cover and let sit for another 15 minutes. This will make the dough more airy.

5) Repeat step 4.

6) Sprinkle your workstation with flour to prevent sticking. Divide dough into two pieces and dust with flour. Tuck under edges to make round.
7) Coat 2 pans (cast iron skillets make the outside of the dough deliciously crispy, but any baking pan will do) with 2 TBS of olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Put dough in pans upside down and slide around in pan to coat dough. Flip dough over and repeat. Cover pans and let sit 5 minutes

8) Poke dough with a fork a few times to deflate any large bubbles.
9) Sprinkle bread with spices and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
10) Bake bread on middle or top oven rack for 17-25 minutes.
11) Pop out and enjoy!

We love eating this bread with tomato basil soup, and dipping it garlic infused olive oil. It would also be a great dish to bring to a party. Happy Baking!