With The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) contestants set to face the notorious bread week, resident baking expert at Dr. Oetker, Beth Stevenson, has pulled together her top tips for anyone looking to bake along.
The end of episode two, which ran last Tuesday (September 28), showed us that this year’s contestants are facing a difficult week under the watchful eye of expert bread baker, Paul Hollywood.
Under-proved dough and raw bread bakes are often served up to the judges, so how can you turn out a perfectly baked bread roll or babka in a short space of time? Beth has all the answers.
Take a look at her top bread week tips below:
10 Bread Week Tips
- Kneading bread is a key step: To check it is properly kneaded you can do the “windowpane test”. Stretch a piece of dough and it should be translucent enough that you can see light passing through it and the dough doesn’t snap.
- Be patient with your proving – Your proving times may differ depending on the temperature of your kitchen, if your dough is not properly proved, your dough will be very dense when baked. Proving is a very important step in the bread-making process, it helps give the dough structure, resulting in a lovely aerated loaf and also allows the flavours in the bread to develop.
- If your kitchen is very cold you can prove your bread dough in the oven: Pop your bread dough in with a roasting tin filled with boiling water in the base of the oven, the heat and moisture from the water will help the dough rise (make sure the oven is switched off).
- Oil your bowl before you leave your dough in it to prove, this will stop it sticking to the bowl as it proves.
- To check your dough is proved and ready to bake, gently poke a small indent into the side of the dough using your finger, if it springs straight back your dough is not proved enough, if it slowly begins to spring back but still leaves a small indentation then your dough is perfectly proved and ready to bake.
- You get a lovely crispy crust on your bread loaf and soft fluffy texture inside if you add a roasting tray half filled with boiling water into the oven as your bread bakes, the steam will help create a lovely crust on your bread.
- To check your bread is baked, tap the bottom to the loaf and it should sound hollow.
- If your bread is browning too quickly, you can loosely cover your loaf with foil to stop it from further browning and to allow it to bake all the way through.
- Never add your salt and yeast to the bread mixture at the same time, or add at opposite sides of the bowl as the salt can kill the yeast so therefore your bread will not rise.
- Soda bread is a great starting point for making bread as you don’t need to leave it to prove and therefore it is quick and easy to make, you can also add lots of yummy flavours to it.
