<< Back to Recipe index

Home Bread Production

Premixes are by far the most convenient method of producing bread on a small scale, but a scratch recipe is included for those wishing to start with more basic ingredients. After weighing off or measuring the ingredients, all other stages are the same.

Ingredients	kg		Ingredients	kg
Premix	1.0		Flour	1.0
Butter, Margarine or oil.	0.020 (optional)		typical Bread Improver	0.015
Yeast (dry)	0.010		Salt	0.020
Water	0.600 (approx)		Milk	0.040
			Butter, Margarine or oil.	0.020
			Yeast (dry)	0.010
			Water	0.570 (approx)

Directions for use
For scratch doughs ensure that you purchase good breadmaking flour. You can add extra ingredients if desired, but you may experience problems and may need to adjust the amount of liquid to maintain dough consistency.

Mixing
Combine all the dry ingredients, add warm water (unless the weather is cold, the water should usually be no more than 35 deg C ) and mix into a dough. Add enough water or liquid to provide a sticky dough initially which, as you knead, will become less sticky. If the dough remains sticky after considerable kneading, you can add a little flour or premix to dry it up a bit. Continue kneading quite vigorously until the dough becomes smooth and silky and begins coming away from your fingers more easily. If you knead vigorously and well, this should take about 10 -15 minutes. When mixed, the dough should be about 28 - 30 deg C. If it is warmer than this, then next time adjust your water temperature down; and vice versa. Dough below 25 deg. and above 33 deg. will not perform well.

N.B.

1. Unless you have a machine designed for dough making, you may damage your mixer by trying to properly mix large quantities of dough.
2. Fact sheets and premixes to help you prepare buns and other baked products are available from Laucke.
3. Most good cook books have metric conversion charts to help you convert from grams to lbs or cups.

Dividing and Moulding
Once mixed, cover the dough with a damp clean cloth for about ten minutes, preferably in a warm draught free environment. . This allows the dough to ‘relax’ from the rigours of mixing in preparation for the next part of the process. Then cut the dough into the sizes required for your product. e.g. small loaves are normally weighed at 500 grams. Larger loaves such as those for a tin the size of a sliced sandwich loaf are weighed at 800 grams. For rolls or smaller units cut into appropriate size.

Rolls and small items should be rounded or shaped into a nice smooth form, and placed straight on to a greased or silicone papered tray. Spacing of the dough pieces is dependent on the expected final proof size and preferred final appearance.

For bread, shape the cut dough piece into a round, smooth surfaced mass and cover for a further 5 minutesThen flatten the dough piece on a lightly floured or oiled surface and try to gently press or roll out into a smooth sheet about 1 cm thick. Fold the sides of this sheet in to the centre, and flatten it out a little to be about the length of the tin, then roll the dough up like a swiss roll. Try to avoid incorporating air bubbles into the dough piece when forming this roll, and also to produce a nice smooth and definitely not torn surface. Place the moulded dough piece into the slightly greased tin or mould the dough into the required shape and place on a tray.

Proofing
The final proof can now take place in a warm and moist draught free environment. An esky with a boiled kettle in it or a container of hot water in a cold oven with the door closed are good places to prove the dough. The dough is ready for the oven when, with a moist finger, you gently place a small indentation on the surface and it slowly rebounds. Usually this occurs after 30 - 40 minutes.

Baking
When camping or using a camp oven you can place your products directly in the camp oven, and replace lid. Prove next to the fire but not in contact with coals or flame. The oven should not be too hot to handle comfortably during this stage.

When ready to bake, shovel some hot coals into a hole slightly larger than the oven and place the oven on these coals with a few coals also placed on the lid. It takes some practice to achieve an unburnt crust but the inside of the loaf will be delicious. Smaller products should bake in about 15 minutes and whole dough pieces placed in the oven should take about 30 to 40 minutes.

At home pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C and gently place your loaves etc. into the oven. If you would like a crisp shiny crust, then place a tin with some B-B-Q hot rocks in the oven when you preheat it, and then pour a little hot water into this tin when you put your loaves in the oven. Be careful not to scald yourself on the steam from this water. After 10 minutes carefully remove this water tin from the oven.

Leave products in the oven until they are a nice golden brown colour. This usually takes 15 - 20 minutes for small rolls etc.; and about 40 - 45 minutes for larger loaves and tin breads. If the loaf sounds hollow when tapped it should be baked.