I have a question about baking bread

[Alpo]

I was watching this video the other day.

 

The guy has his hot water, and he dumped some dry yeast in it, then he dumped in some sugar, stirred it up a little bit, dumped in the flour and started mixing it.

 

And I thought, wait a minute. I thought you dumped the yeast in the water and let it sit for a little bit until it - I think the term is bloomed? Then you add the sugar in the flour and the salt and whatever else you're doing.

 

I suppose it's possible they cut stuff out of the video because this was a video short, but still it just --- I've never baked bread. I've just read about it.

 

But it just seems like he was doing it wrong.

 

Yes / no?

[The Shoer 27979]

I've seen stuff like that also, the main reason that I was told is to proof your yeast, as in to make sure it is good.  That is what I have been told not sure that is the truth

[Sheriff Dill]

Usually you mix warm water or milk , yeast and sugar together and let proof. (Foamy). Then add flour and salt. Some recipes call for instant yeast that doesn’t need to proof prior to mixing 

Edited January 6 by Sheriff Dill

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

not hot water. anything above 120 kills the yeast. agree with above statements and careless, inaccurate methods do work also, if the yeast is healthy.

 

 

Edited January 6 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Subdeacon Joe]

If I'm confident that my yeast is good I'll do that.  Or mix it into the dry.

[Sheriff Dill]

17 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

not hot water. anything above 120 kills the yeast. agree with above statements and careless, inaccurate methods do work also, if the yeast is healthy.

 

 

I found 105-115 has worked the best for me whether I’m making bread, pizza dough or cinnamon rolls Warm beer is the best for pizza dough though. 😁

[Eyesa Horg]

1 hour ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Warm beer is the best for pizza dough though. 😁

And an excellent use of WARM beer. Saves the COLD 🥶 beer for when the pizza is served.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Doesn't it also help to have some form of OVEN?? 😇

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

I've recently started baking sourdough bread. You use starter instead of yeast. I have learned that people use a lot of different techniques to make it. My wife asked me to make some for her to use for stuffing on Thanksgiving.  At first I said that it was a lot of work just to use it for stuffing. But then I figured it was valuable practice. Now I have my basic bread down pretty good. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

5 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

I've recently started baking sourdough bread. You use starter instead of yeast. I have learned that people use a lot of different techniques to make it. My wife asked me to make some for her to use for stuffing on Thanksgiving.  At first I said that it was a lot of work just to use it for stuffing. But then I figured it was valuable practice. Now I have my basic bread down pretty good. 

That looks awesome 😎 

[Texas Lizard]

Just use a bread maker and let do its thing...

 

Texas Lizard

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

1 hour ago, Texas Lizard said:

Just use a bread maker and let do its thing...

 

Texas Lizard

 

Years ago we had a breadmaker. It worked pretty well. Just basic bread is all we made. It was nice timing it to have fresh warm bread for dinner.

[Texas Lizard]

3 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

Years ago we had a breadmaker. It worked pretty well. Just basic bread is all we made. It was nice timing it to have fresh warm bread for dinner.

Fresh bread baking does small good....

 

Texas Lizard

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Texas Lizard said:

Just use a bread maker and let do its thing...

 

Texas Lizard

had one. got rid of it. I'd rather do it my way.

[Sheriff Dill]

2 hours ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

I've recently started baking sourdough bread. You use starter instead of yeast. I have learned that people use a lot of different techniques to make it. My wife asked me to make some for her to use for stuffing on Thanksgiving.  At first I said that it was a lot of work just to use it for stuffing. But then I figured it was valuable practice. Now I have my basic bread down pretty good. 

Looks really good. Try scoring along the side towards the top from side to side. After about 20 minutes in the Dutch oven reslice on same spots. Then finish cooking.  It will give you taller loaves of sourdough as long as you have enough tension built up in the dough. I make quite a bit of sourdough. It’s very enjoyable to make. 

[SHOOTIN FOX]

Sheriff, how do you make your sourdough starter?

[Subdeacon Joe]

Some loaves I made for the Lity at Vigil for the Annunciation last year. 

 

[Sheriff Dill]

29 minutes ago, SHOOTIN FOX said:

Sheriff, how do you make your sourdough starter?

I have a dry starter I bought a while back. Once rehydrated I try to feed it daily. 2 tbs of starter 1/2 cup room temp water mix together then add 1 cup flour. Mix together and wait for it to be ready. This is half my normal recipe as it’s normally enough starter to make 2 loaves and still have some for next feeding. I’ve had same starter for 3 years now. 

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

I don’t bake but my girlfriend has worked with chefs most her life and man that woman can cook !!! She tells me the main reason to proof the yeast mixture before adding the main ingredients is to have a much larger volume of fluid “ infected if you want to use the word “ with active yeast, she says it makes for a much more uniform rise to the dough that has less voids or dense areas in the bread and therefore cooks more evenly and has better taste. I can’t argue because her breads and deserts are awesome 

[Sheriff Dill]

53 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Some loaves I made for the Lity at Vigil for the Annunciation last year. 

 

Looks tasty 

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 minutes ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Looks tasty 

 

"Yummy" is how a fellow Subdeacon describes it. Water, flour, salt, and yeast. 

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

3 hours ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Looks really good. Try scoring along the side towards the top from side to side. After about 20 minutes in the Dutch oven reslice on same spots. Then finish cooking.  It will give you taller loaves of sourdough as long as you have enough tension built up in the dough. I make quite a bit of sourdough. It’s very enjoyable to make. 

 

Thanks for the tip. I've had some loaves get the full height I want but most could be better. Searching on line I've seen so many different ways people do some of the techniques. It's coming along. I am having fun sharing with my daughters families.

[Sheriff Dill]

23 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

Thanks for the tip. I've had some loaves get the full height I want but most could be better. Searching on line I've seen so many different ways people do some of the techniques. It's coming along. I am having fun sharing with my daughters families.

Welcome. There are so many different ways to bake bread. It’s about finding the way that works best for your liking. I don’t cook mine the normal way most do. 
 

I mix everything together. Let sit for 2 hrs then add salt. Mix all in and do a set of stretch and folds. Then let sit for two hours. Shape for 3 minutes sit for 20 minutes. Shape again and let cold proof for approx 2 hrs in fridge in basket covered with wrap. Sometimes it’s less than that sometimes more depends on the dough. Ive also let sit in fridge overnight and baked in am. 
 

Pre heat oven to 350 with Dutch oven in it. Score dough and bake for 20 minutes covered. Then score again bake uncovered until bread is 180degrees. Let bread cool little bit before placing on cooling rack. We don’t like the dark crust on ours so we don’t let it get to dark. 
 

Heres some of my loaves 

 

 

This is generally what my starter looks like when it’s ready and happy. This time of year in New England it’s a very lazy starter with the cold. So usually ready in 18-24 hrs.  
 

Edited January 7 by Sheriff Dill

[watab kid]

i just want to cut off a hunk of the finished product and eat it - that all looks so good 

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

12 hours ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Welcome. There are so many different ways to bake bread. It’s about finding the way that works best for your liking. I don’t cook mine the normal way most do. 
 

I mix everything together. Let sit for 2 hrs then add salt. Mix all in and do a set of stretch and folds. Then let sit for two hours. Shape for 3 minutes sit for 20 minutes. Shape again and let cold proof for approx 2 hrs in fridge in basket covered with wrap. Sometimes it’s less than that sometimes more depends on the dough. Ive also let sit in fridge overnight and baked in am. 
 

Pre heat oven to 350 with Dutch oven in it. Score dough and bake for 20 minutes covered. Then score again bake uncovered until bread is 180degrees. Let bread cool little bit before placing on cooling rack. We don’t like the dark crust on ours so we don’t let it get to dark. 
 

Heres some of my loaves 

 

 

This is generally what my starter looks like when it’s ready and happy. This time of year in New England it’s a very lazy starter with the cold. So usually ready in 18-24 hrs.  
 

 

Yours rises enough after the last stretch and folds in two hours before cold proofing? Mine takes much longer.

[Sheriff Dill]

3 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

Yours rises enough after the last stretch and folds in two hours before cold proofing? Mine takes much longer.

Yeah. I think it all depends on the strength of the starter. The only time it has taken longer than the two hours is cold proofing when I’m trying to get the poke/spring back test to my liking 

[El Chapo]

What you are describing is just like a yeast starter we would do for beer.  With beer, especially with liquid yeast, a starter allows the yeast to multiply before it's time do to their thing making wort into beer.  I don't usually do it with dry yeast because dry yeast is cheap and there are many more cells in a dry yeast packet.  Usually with beer you'd use malt extract or make a simple wort with just base malt at a lower gravity (sugar content) to get the yeast going, with the idea that if they're used to eating the sugar in barley, the cells that come out of the starter will be good to make beer.  Sugar water would accomplish a similar task, there's just usually not white sugar in beer (although some people will use white sugar to increase alcohol content in beer, depending on the style).  The foam you are seeing is carbon dioxide, which is the byproduct of fermentation.  The warm water and sugar are food for the yeast who will eat the sugar, turn it into ethanol, and fart out the CO2. 

 

All of it is just fermentation.  Obviously when you bake bread, any resulting alcohol is going to evaporate in the hot oven.  Sourdough starters are just using the wild yeast from the air, the flour and water are the food for them.  That's why it takes a long time, maybe weeks even, to get them going.  Once the cells multiply enough, the starter will double in size pretty easily, because there's a lot more cells present then than when you start, which depends on whatever yeast cells are hanging around in your home air.

 

4000 years ago that's how people made beer.  The discovery of yeast being responsible for fermentation was just a few hundred years ago.  The process is the same whether it's bread, beer, wine, cider, or the early stages of making distilled liquor. 

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

17 hours ago, Sheriff Dill said:

Welcome. There are so many different ways to bake bread. It’s about finding the way that works best for your liking. I don’t cook mine the normal way most do. 
 

I mix everything together. Let sit for 2 hrs then add salt. Mix all in and do a set of stretch and folds. Then let sit for two hours. Shape for 3 minutes sit for 20 minutes. Shape again and let cold proof for approx 2 hrs in fridge in basket covered with wrap. Sometimes it’s less than that sometimes more depends on the dough. Ive also let sit in fridge overnight and baked in am. 
 

Pre heat oven to 350 with Dutch oven in it. Score dough and bake for 20 minutes covered. Then score again bake uncovered until bread is 180degrees. Let bread cool little bit before placing on cooling rack. We don’t like the dark crust on ours so we don’t let it get to dark. 
 

Heres some of my loaves 

 

 

This is generally what my starter looks like when it’s ready and happy. This time of year in New England it’s a very lazy starter with the cold. So usually ready in 18-24 hrs.  
 

 

The recipes I've seen call for baking the bread to 200-205°. Usually when I first check it's about 170-175°. Maybe I'll try just a little less time baking. Also they've said to bake at 450°. 

[Sheriff Dill]

23 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

The recipes I've seen call for baking the bread to 200-205°. Usually when I first check it's about 170-175°. Maybe I'll try just a little less time baking. Also they've said to bake at 450°. 

The recipe I use says 450 also I do a lower temp to not get the crisp. I take it out at the 180 and it continues to cook till the 190-200. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

7 hours ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

 

The recipes I've seen call for baking the bread to 200-205°. Usually when I first check it's about 170-175°. Maybe I'll try just a little less time baking. Also they've said to bake at 450°. 

culinary school said 190F. though the instuctor just rapped them with a knuckle. hollow sound is good.

Edited January 8 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[The Shoer 27979]

On 1/6/2026 at 2:14 PM, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

Never mind

Edited January 8 by The Shoer 27979

[Dapper Dave]

So...I just finished my first actual baked in the oven loaves. 

See, this arrived;

 

And I had to do SOMETHING with it, right? So I found this with a VERY quick search online;
Basic White Bread (Kitchenaid) Recipe - Food.com

 

Long story short, it says to do exactly what Alpo was talking about;
...Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and mix 1 minute...

 

So, I did, and first things first, that was a BREEZE with the KitchenAid! Second, it came out looking like this;

It TASTES great...seriously, not nearly as dense as I suspected and the dough did rise both times just fine. The wife likes it - one loaf is cut up for sandwiches and the other frozen. 
But, that is really short. After it rose the second time it didn't puff up at all. I "punched it down" by gently forcing a fist into the mix and letting the gas escape - yeast farts, I guess.  why? Seemed like the thing to do at the time?

Any thoughts? And yes, I'm gonna do it again...I will get this right, I love fresh baked bread. .
 

Edited January 28 by Dapper Dave

[Subdeacon Joe]

It looks like it collapsed. 

My guess is your second rise was too long or your oven wasn’t quite hot enough. 

 

 

[Dapper Dave]

Both rises were timed per recipe. Oven was set to 400 degrees, same. Oddly enough, I checked my mother's cookbook and the very same recipe was in there. 

So perhaps the oven stated temp isn't the actual temp?

[Subdeacon Joe]

9 minutes ago, Dapper Dave said:

Both rises were timed per recipe. Oven was set to 400 degrees, same. Oddly enough, I checked my mother's cookbook and the very same recipe was in there. 

So perhaps the oven stated temp isn't the actual temp?

 

Treat the rise time in the book as an estimate,  not a hard and fast number.

 

Your oven thermostat may be off.  Common on home oven.

 

I just now read that receipt  What's odd is that it's similar to what I do, but I bake a 350 and don't have that problem.  So now I'm stumped.