Artisan Breads

Well now that I am finally done with Cakes, I now get to start learning about different kinds of breads. We have learned a lot in this class so far but it is very similar to what we learned in How Baking Works. When we make our breads they are pretty much the same process. There are four main ingredients to bread; bread flour, salt, yeast and water. This is known as a lean dough. You scale all of these ingredients following the recipe and then just mix them all together. It's pretty simple but makes amazing breads. The fun part comes in when we get to shape the dough. We made Challah bread the other day which was really fun to make. This type of bread is called an enriched bread because other ingredients are added to the main four such as sugar, eggs and fats. A lot of people think that Challah bread is defined just by its braiding, but it is actually called Challah bread because egg yolks are used in this bread which is rare. The shape of the dough does not matter just that it has the yolks in it. It is most common to see it braided; you can make a three, four, five or six braid Challah bread. I made a three and a six. Now if making the six braid, you start off with six little balls of dough and roll them out to eight or nine inches long. You then pinch all six strands of dough at the top and then move them in a certain way to get a nice braid when you are finished. Each strand is numbered one through six and it is determined by the position of the strand. So if you move a strand then its number will change. The pattern for a six braid is: cross two over six, one over three, five over one and then six over four. It may look odd at first but if you keep repeating it then it will come together. This bread was personally my favorite that we have made so far, it's also really good for french toast. The picture above is my six braid challah bread that I made in class. Now you can add seeds on the top of these as well to add flavor and texture. It's delicious either way. I really like this class and I'll tell you more about all the cool things I learn.