guide – The Bread Guide: The ultimate source for home bread baking

Baking bread is serious business but many people, not excluding the fair sex, have a romantic perception of it. Maybe it's working with your hands in a computerized world and longing for the old, "simple" world that evokes a nostalgic sparkle, maybe it's the flour that spreads everywhere and gives the vibe of a romantic comedy. Either way, before I met my amazing wife, I found that declaring yourself as a skilled baker can, in fact, give a big boost to your love life. So if it worked for me, why not for you? in order not to brag about myself, I decided that this post would be written with my wife, after all, she had first-hand experience of dating a baker and can testify exactly what "did it" for her... Step One: Casually declare that you are a skilled bread baker It is important to emphasize that you specialize in bread baking as opposed to baking pastry that is considered more feminine and it is possible that your potential partner is a great baker herself so your cake baking skills will not impress her very much. However, baking bread is considered (not obvious to me why) masculine and even sexy by some woman, maybe its the fingers kneading the dough tightly' or maybe... ...Maybe I should stop here. In any case, the idea is to stimulate your dates curiosity, and then when she expresses hers for your baking skills it's your time to suggest that you will bake bread together (or if she is really clueless in the kitchen, you can offer to teach her the secrets of bread baking). Either way, the idea is to prepare the stage for baking bread together in one of your home kitchens. Step Two: Set The Stage For Some Romance The term to set the stage is exactly that, humans just like the animal kingdom use various tools to impress their potential partner. In the courting process. If a peacock has colorful feathers you also have a secret power - flour. Yes it sounds idiotic but believe me when I tell you it brings results. How Does It Work? You open the door wearing a black T-shirt, one that will later emphasize the flour that will disperse on you and emphasize how easy going guy you are and create the dirty look, a bit like oil stains on a mechanics jeans. You can even overdo it with a bit of flour in your hair, just a little, to bring a playful spirit to the date (maybe she'll reach out and help you clean up your hair, an intimate move by all accounts). In a gentlemanly gesture lend her your only apron. This will achieve two goals: She'll stay clean, which must be important to her on a date and you will get a little dirty and get the messy look we discussed before.The baking class will start with two glasses of wine, you are already in the kitchen, so why not? and good music, preferably Easy Jazz which will help create an intimate and homey atmosphere. A good playlist that I like is this one: click here for a playlist A 49-minute set that will make both of you feel comfortable with each other pretty quickly whether you like jazz or not.Another important accessory in this matter is the Bluetooth speaker which should be put in the kitchen. You do not want the music to blast from another room, so take care of it in advance and believe me, women are very perceptive to details and will probably appreciate the effort. A bluetooth speaker can give you a chance to respond in real time and change music straight from your phone if she has other musical preferences. Step Three: 4 Hands Kneading Session It is very important which bread you choose to prepare, in such a situation it is advisable to prepare a simple bread, which will rise quickly and will be out of the oven by the end of the date. This eliminates quite a few complex breads and leaves us with bread that can get out of the oven in about three to four hours. The bread that I used to prefer in such situations would be Challah bread or Egg bread: quick to apply, easy to prepare, requires kneading work which is critical in this case and allows both of you to cooperate in a four-arm kneading session that allows for a light touch of the fingers and light sparks while kneading the dough. You can also note that Challah is a great bread to make French toast with which you can also finish the date with or for the morning after ;) Be Prepard Baking involves, unfortunately, quite a bit of boring work and so my suggestion is not to bring it to the date. Prepare all the ingredients and dishes you need in advance, scale the relevant quantities in advance and allow the date to flow easily. A bit like in the movies when you do not see the boring bits of the cake baking, just a few cups of flour poured into a bowl and "scene"! the cake is ready. Finally, make sure the kitchen is clean and representative. This is the main room where the date is going to take place in so invest some of your time attention to it because no one likes dirty kitchen and even less dirty dishes. Impotent: Don't Get Upset If She Makes Mistakes It is important to note that if your date makes mistakes and does not follow the steps required in the recipe, you must be patient and understand that its kind of like like preparing food with kids: my son and I love baking cookies together. its a lot of mess and the cookies turn out OK in the end but the main idea here is to spend time together, not the cookies/bread itself. likewise the quickest way to destroy the date and spend the night with a tasty challah but home alone is if you scold your date when it misses important baking steps She F**d Up? Its Time For Plan B Not everyone has baking skills and that's fine, for each his talents. As I said before, the main thing is to spend time together. If, however, she f**cks up in a royal way, and completely destroys the dough (salt instead of sugar and whatnot) this is the time to switch gears to plan B: Prepare in advance an additional dough and put it somewhere hidden. You can let her in on your little secret or you can switch between the doughs just before you put it in the oven without her seeing what you do, either way make sure that by the end of the evening both of you will feel good and have a sense of common accomplishment from the bread you baked together (even if it is not the truth;) ) Step Four: Clean Up Good The bread is in the oven, the house is filled with an amazing aroma of baked challah, which already does its part and contributes greatly to the intimate atmosphere in addition to the sense of accomplishment by creating something special just you two. It's your time, a bit like Cinderella, to become the princess of the evening. by now you are probably a bit of a mess and even if you're not, do it anyway. Ask her for a few minutes break and jump into the shower. It will give her time to wander around the house and look at everything you have prepared in advance to make a good impression (photos with your nephews, university degree, bike helmet, etc.) and come back all clean up with an aftershave that smells like a million dollars. While you're waiting for the dough to rise and later on for the challah to be ready, offer her to watch a movie to pass the time, and it is advisable to prepare in advance a chick flick to set the mood. after all its quite a hectic date and by then both of you would probably appreciate some time to relax and find your bearings... Which movie to watch? you could go with a contemporary one but I always preferred the classics. its gives you an intellectual vibe and perhaps more depth ( or that's h how I used to think at the time, it could be total nonsense) BUT I have to admit I always got good responses to one of these suggestions from my dates: The prince's bride, When Harry met Sally or, if you really want to impress use what I call my "Lethal Weapon" and go with a foreign film and score more point at the process:)my favorite choice for these kinds of situations was... Emily, a French movie. and you know the French... if there is something the French are known for is how good they are at romance... Back to the Challah... As good as the movie might be don't forget to jump to the kitchen once in a while and see how the challah is doing and in the meantime enjoy the movie and get tipsy from the wine the challah aroma that surrounds the whole house. Now, its money time and this is the time to "close the deal" in a gentlemanly manner Step Five: Sealed With a Kiss Hopefully, at this point, chemistry has done its deed and you no longer need me to explain to you what to do. I will suggest that at some point when you get up for air, you will return to the kitchen and go back to the living room with warm and crisp challah bread, some butter or jam, break the challah in the middle (another sexy move) and let your partner taste it. If nothing has worked by now then the hot challah will seal the deal. Believe me. Farewell So this is it really it, hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hope the date will be successful (I have good faith it will) so please do not forget to thank me later ...For your convenience I have included a recipe for the most simple challah there is. You can not go wrong with that. good luck! Date Night Sweet Challah Recipe Ingredients: This will yeald 2 Large Challas For the dough 20 g (1 tbsp) salt 1 kg - 2.2 lbs or about 7 cups flour 25 grams (2 and a half tablespoons ) dry yeast 120g (1/2 cup) sugar 120g (1/2 cup) oil 2 Large eggs 520 ml of water - about 2 cups and a bit To brush the dough 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water Preparation Activate the yeast Take a cup and fill it halfway with water ( use the water from the 520 ml ) Add a teaspoon of sugar to the cup add all the yeast to the cup of water with the sugar and mix it up. ( the yeast will stick to your spoon. Just knock it off. Don't worry if not all of your yeast has dissolved in the water. It will over time. set it aside and let it work its magic Mixing and Kneading the dough by hand take a large bowl and the salt add the flourAdd the sugar and mix them togetheradd your eggs and oiladd about half of the water ( about 250 ml or 1 cup ) and give them a slight mixAdd the yeast mix you made earlier ( it should have frothed up by now )Mix it all together and add the rest of the water flour your working surface. Take the dough out of the bowl and start kneading it.Knead for about 10-12 min until the gluten has formed a nice strong and flexible mesh. You can use the window pane method here. Stretch the dow until you can see light through it. If it does not rip its ready.Once your dough is ready, start to tuck all the dough int to the center and form a nice tight ball of dough and place it back in the bowl.Brush some oil on the ball of dough so it does not dry out and cover it with a damp towel. Let it sit for about 45 min to an hour or until it has gotten about 1.75 to 2 times in size. Further proofing and molding Once proofed take it out of the bowl and cut out your portions ( depending on how many challahs you want to make. for the sake of this article cut the dough into two and then half them again to get 4 equal parts. This will make 2 large challahs.once you have your ports of dough roll them back into tight balls, set them aside and cover them with a damp towel. Let them sit for about 15-20 min. You will now notice they have almost doubled in size again.Take each portion out and flatten it on your working table. Now start to roll the dough into sticks or "sausages"Braid your Challah ( see instructional video ) and place it on your baking pan.Cover the challah and let it proof once mover. About another 25 min or so. It does not need to double but should get to about 1.5 to 1.75 of its original size. https://vimeo.com/325514289 Baking Preheat the oven 10 360º F or 175º C In a small bowl beat 1 egg with a teaspoon of water.Brush the egg mix on to the Challah and sprinkle on a few sesame seeds or coarse sugar if you like.put the Challah in the oven and turn down the over to 330º F or 160º CBake for about 18 min and then turn the pan in the oven. This will give your Chala an even bake all aroundBake for another 7 min or so until you get a nice golden bake all over the loaf. Check the lower part of the Challah to see that it has a nice golden brown color.Once fully baked take out the Challah and place it on a rack with plenty of space underneath is to is can cool properly.The ideal waiting time before eating is 2-3 hour but you don't have time for that here.Let it cool for about 45 min at least before breaking into that delicious Challah beard.