Although it seems like a major hassle at first, making bread is actually quite easy and incredibly fun. All it takes is flour, yeast, a bit of salt and some water. There is no need for additives, the list of which you can find on the packaging of industrial bread.

Bread seems to have been created some 10,000 years ago. It would not be surprising is the first bread happened by accident, as most tasty foods have. Perhaps, someone left a mix of flour and water to close to the fire and found a delicious surprise later on. Who knows? It does not matter. Clearly, it does not need high-tech tools to make bread, just a bit of elbow grease. About every region of the world has its own particular type of bread, and they all follow the same basic recipe. Everyone who has baked bread at home will tell you the pleasure of the smell of warm freshly baked bread around the house. There is something about the smell of fresh bread that makes you hungry, or at least gourmand. And anyone who has eaten fresh bread from the oven will tell you: none of the breads you can find in supermarkets matches the taste and aroma of the real thing.

The fun begins quite a bit before breaking the crust of the finished warm bread. Although I have a bread machine, I really prefer making the bread by hand myself. I like the bread machine and it is convenient, as it does everything and I can use the timer to have fresh bread early in the morning, but it is not quite the same as hand-made (the bakeries that charge an obscene amount of money for this very basic food will call it “hand-crafted”, but hand-made is the same). Letting the yeast rise and kneading the dough are already tantalizing the senses. Personally, I find that using a mix of regular flour with whole wheat flour makes bread with a stronger flavor, a bit of old-fashioned bread type. I also like to make a “levain” and let it evolve overnight. It seems to enhance the aromas of the dough and of the bread. By the reactions I get at home when the bread is ready, I clearly am not the only one thinking this way. And that is the other joy of making bread: the sharing of the bread with others. It is amazing how something this simple can generate such happiness, conviviality and smiles. You should try it and, as I said before, it is really easy to make. The only thing that took me some time to quite do right was how to fog the oven by saturating it with water steam, which helps make the nicest crunchy and golden bread you can think of. All the pictures included in this article are from my kitchen. As you can see, home-made breads look good, and they taste good, too.

Just give it a try. It does not take all that much time and it is a better use of time than being glued on a smartphone waiting for God knows what.

Copyright 2020 – Christophe Pelletier – The Happy Future Group Consulting Ltd.