Taming the yeast beast??!! :)

Herbed wholemeal pull apart rolls made using the recipe from the divinetaste blog

Mixed Herbs and Garlic Focaccia

Mixed Herbs and Garlic focaccia

Wholewheat Focaccia

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Cheesy Salsa Spirals (pardon the garish background to the image)

Wholewheat Bread

A whole lot of my family and friends are surprised (a bit shocked and skeptical too) to hear that I bake bread at home. I think that’s because of this fear of the unknown – the yeast. Most people are pretty comfortable with baking powder and baking soda, but mention yeast and their enthusiasm disappears. I can’t think of any reason why this should happen cause for me, bread baking is even more therapeutic and guilt free than the cakes and cookies. It is healthy, it is wholesome and free from additives, chemicals that commercial bread contains and yes, did I mention way more tasty too? There are so many wonderful bloggers who have been baking bread since much longer than I have, and they have also compiled some yeast FAQs and guidelines for new bread bakers like you and me. So here I am, sharing those with you and inviting you to join me on my journey of taming the yeast beast and baking some delicious homemade bread.

The most concise and precise article on yeast available on the web by the cook’s illustrated mag.

Blogger Suma Rowjee explains all that you need to know about yeast.

I have graduated from using active dry yeast to instant yeast as it gives much better results and in lesser time. I almost always try to incorporate wholemeal flour or wheat bran in my bread and use oil instead of butter while kneading. Earlier I used to knead the dough only by hand, but now with a toddler’s demand on my time, I first combine the bread dough in the food processor and then give it a finish by kneading it by hand on my kitchen counter. I prefer to cover the dough with cling film (or even a big plastic bag, when I had run out of cling film) instead of a damp muslin cloth as it makes less cleaning up. Brushing the proofed dough/rolls with egg wash gives the crust that beautiful shine and color but brushing with some olive oil once the bread is baked also works almost fine.

Hope that will encourage you to try baking some bread.

Happy baking!