There are some common mistakes that people make that ruin the bread. If you know about these you can make changes and give this a try. I urge everyone to try to make your own bread. If you have failed in the past please use these tips and give it another try.
Photo of my homebaked bread taken by ChristineMM 1/22/11 (not digitally altered).
1. How much flour to use
The amount of flour should not always be what the recipe says. The flour quantity varies a bit by the humidity in the air. Thus where you live and the season of the year matters. Even a good recipe you used in the winter may need a different amount of flour in the summer.
Use the recipe as a gauge. If it says 6 cups of flour, add 5. Then start looking for the "right condition" of the dough. Use what the dough looks like rather than the text of the recipe.
The dough should pull off the side of the bowl cleanly and not be wet and sticky. If the dough is sticky, add another 1/3 cup or so and continue. Keep adding small amounts. At some point you will see what I mean when I say the dough pulls off the side of the bowl. If it pulls off for a few seconds then goes back on and is stuck there again, it needs more flour. You should be able to pull the dough out of the bowl in one big hunk and have it come cleanly off the bowl.
If you use too much flour the bread can come out like a brick. If you make the batter too wet it will not be right either. I think most people use too much flour.
If you accidentially put in too much flour the dough will have extra flour that has a hard time incorporating into the dough and it is dry and just a mess. It won't be an even soft batter ball, it will be more tough with extra dry flour all around the bowl. Rather than throw away your dough you can try to save it by adding in a little water right away. Keep mixing and see if you can get it to the right batter consistency by adding little bits of water at a time. If you are patient and know what a proper dough should look like you can usually get it to the right consistency and save that batch.
2. Using the cup measurement for flour incorrectly
Flour should never be packed into the cup. Do not dig the measuring cup down into the flour and smash it against the side to fill it. Do not pack it it in to flatten it down. That adds more flour.
I found this YouTube video that shows the weight difference between the two methds that this cook used.
What I do to measure is something I learned somewhere else, where, I do not recall. In case the flour in your storage bin or bag has compacted, this helps. I take a spare cup and put flour in it, then I pour the flour into the measuring cup slowly using a kind of back and forth sifting and pouring method. This adds air into it. As said in the video I do not pack it in. I level off the top by pushing the extra flour off the top with a knife.
(This measuring method should be done with every baking recipe not just bread.)
One reason some recipes say to sift flour is that incorporates air back into the flour and prevents it from having too much flour. The other reason is just to avoid lumps in the batter.
If you use too much flour the bread can come out like a heavy brick.
3. Weighing the flour
Some recommend this as the most accurate way to measure flour. I can't be bothered with this extra step. You will need a metric scale if you want to do this. Plus, the issue with the humidity described in #1 still is an issue when making bread. If you want to use weight, a website may help with the conversion using English measurement recipes to gram weights, such as this one.
4. Don't kill the yeast during prep
I use warm water about 95 degrees F and add the yeast and pinch of sugar. I used to measure the water temperature with a thermometer but now I know what it feels like so I wing it. I let it sit for a few minutes while I do other prep work and I can see it rise. This is proof that it is alive. If your water is too hot you will kill the yeast and it will not rise.
5. Use fresh yeast
To save money I buy yeast in bulk at a warehouse store or in a grocery store. The packets with one serving per packet must be refrigerated and may be dead due to mishandling by grocery store staff; they are also much more expensive per serving than buying a big vaccuum pack for $5. I keep my yeast in a zip top plastic bag or in a small jar in the refrigerator and throw it out after one year (I date the package).
6. Yeast storage tips
If you buy that big bag at the warehouse store here is a recommendation for storage. Put most of it in a zip top bag in the back of your refrigerator and date the bag. That will remain temperature stable and will last at least a year.
Put a smaller amount in a small glass jar in the refrigerator. Pull out the small jar to use it. This way just that small amount is subject to the back and forth from the fridge to the room temperature which is not ideal for it to experience frequently.
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