A Concise and Robust Recipe for the Preparation of Yeast-Leavened Bread

What you need:

1. 2 level teaspoons instant dry yeast (Costs Rs.18/- per packet in Calcutta)
2. 1 fresh egg (it helps to let it come to room temperature before use)
3. 3 cups maida or atta (keep a bit extra handy just in case)
4. Two tablespoons of sugar (or 1 tablespoon if your tablespoons are huge)
5. 1 cup warm water (blood temperature. Too hot and your yeast will die)
6. 1 tablespoon butter. It helps to have the butter at room temperature.
7. 1 teaspoon salt.
8. Spoons, forks, knives, whisks, bowls, plates and other things.
9. Lots of patience.

The Procedure:

Step I: Activating the yeast

• Take the warm water in a large bowl and add the sugar.
• Swirl until most of it dissolves.
• Add the yeast.
• Swirl again until you have a relatively homogenous solution.
• Keep aside for 15 min. The solution should start foaming.

Step II: Making the dough

· To your activated yeast solution add the egg, butter and salt.

· Whisk together with a whisk to get a homogenous solution. If you don’t have a whisk to whisk with, you may wish to whisk with a fork.

· Add the flour (atta or maida, whatever floats your boat) and mix well by hand.

· Knead to form the dough. Add more flour or water as required.

Note: The key point to keep in mind is that your dough needs water to keep the yeast happy. Too much water and you will lose the CO₂. The dough should be just dry enough that it doesn’t stick to everything when you’re kneading it.

· Knead the dough by hand. Knead it well. Knead it vigorously! Knead it for 10 minutes.

Note: What we’re doing here is developing the gluten. The more you knead it, the stronger your dough gets. A strong dough is essential to prevent the CO₂ from escaping, thus giving you a lighter texture. Over-kneading your dough is theoretically possible, but unlikely to happen if you knead it by hand.

Step III: Fermentation

Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it alone until it doubles in size. I cannot overemphasize how critical this step is. It must double in size and you must wait as long as it takes for that to happen. It will take anything from 1.5 to 3 hours. Maybe more. Fermentation time depends on a complex set of factors including the ambient temperature, water content of the dough, salt content, sugar availability and many more. Use your patience here. Watch a movie or read a novella or something. Set a reminder on your phone to check on your dough every hour or so. Whatever happens, do not proceed until your dough at least doubles in size. Okay? Good job!

Step IV: Shaping and Proofing

· Lift your beautifully risen dough gently onto a lightly floured surface.

· Cut it into a bunch of pieces with a sharp knife.

· Shape the pieces into oblate spheroids and place them in a lightly greased baking dish. You may also make bread rolls. Roll shaping is beyond the scope of this article; you will have to Google it.

Note: The aim here is not to lose too many of the carbon dioxide bubbles generated during fermentation. Try to avoid squeezing the dough.

· Cover the baking dish with a plate and leave it alone for 1.5 hours. This is the proofing stage: the final fermentation before baking.

You’re almost there! From this point forward you must not attempt to handle the dough directly. You must defend your baking dish and fend off curious poking fingers. Do not poke the dough! It feels really freaky to the touch, but you must resist the temptation. Damaging the dough at this stage will result in a thick, heavy, chewy lump. You will not be pleased. But your dog and/or cat will love it!

Step V: Baking!

· Pre-heat the oven to 200^oC. Leave the dripping tray in the oven, just above the lower heating element.

· Switch the oven to bottom heat and insert the baking dish.

· Bake for 20min on bottom heat.

· Switch to dual heat and lower the oven temperature to 180^oC. The aim is to brown the buns (or rolls or pavs) to the amount that you desire. (10 minutes’ browning time works for me)

Notes:

Planning your bake: It typically takes 30 min for the initial prep, 2 hours to ferment, 10 min to shape the bread, 1.5 hours to proof, and 30 min to bake. Leaving 20 minutes for running around looking for things in the kitchen, the total prep time is 4 hours. If you start soon after lunch, you will probably be able to finish just I time for dinner.

Know when to ignore your instincts: The dough will definitely rise given enough time. Don’t freak out if it takes longer than you anticipated.

Brown bread: This is where I was seriously surprised. Atta and maida give similarly soft and fluffy results.

First time bakers: Relax! The recipe is Rushil-proof; it’s virtually impossible to mess it up. That said, it probably won’t hurt to run down to the market and pick up a loaf of bread to keep in reserve just in case something does go wrong.

Additives: Cheese, herbs, meat… anything that isn’t too acidic or salty. I haven’t yet had the chance to try making stuffed buns. Do let me know how it goes.