General Yeast Bread Instructions

Most yeast breads are made similarly. If you want a soft dough use all purpose flour. If you want a chewier bread, use bread flour. (I prefer all purpose and Ed usually uses bread flour.) This is what I usually do:

  • Warm liquid (no need to scald milk) to baby bath temperature (luke warm).
  • Add all ingredients except the bulk of the flours, but do mix in 1 of the cups of flour. Mix gently and let sit a few minutes. (This lets the yeast get started. It isn't strictly necessary but seems to make things work better.)
  • Now add most of the rest of the flour. Stir with a manual dough hook until its pretty well mixed.
  • Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth (or until you are tired.) You can add flour if you need to if the dough is too sticky.
  • Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a cloth/towel and let rise until doubled. (This can be as little as an hour with some doughs, and 2 1/2 hours for others.)
  • Punch down.
  • Some recipes have you let rise and punch down again (like Challah) but most don't.
  • Shape the dough into desired shape.
  • Let rise
  • If desired brush on coating (like egg yolk and poppy seeds.)
  • Bake as directed.

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