MEASURING
THE most important secret of making bread. Exact measurements. That’s the key to successfully baking bread. Exact measurements. With wet ingredients, use ONLY measuring cups with the cups/ounces marked clearly on the
side. After filling the measuring cup, place it on a flat surface and view it at eye level to make sure the amount of liquid is exact. Then, double check.
With dry ingredients, always “level off” the measurement with the back of a knife or a spatula to make sure the measure- ment is exact. Another helpful tip is to never use the cup to scoop the ingredi- ents (for example, f/our). By scooping, you could add up to one tablespoon of extra ingredients. Fill the measuring cup with a spoon before leveling off.
The SECOND most important secret of making bread.
Put the ingredients into the breadmaker in the EXACT order given in the recipe. This means:
- FIRST, liquid ingredients
Also, make sure ALL ingredients are at room temperature, unless otherwise noted (that is, between 77’85°F or 25°C
Last, its a good idea to start with fresh ingredients (especially fresh flour and yeast).
Now, lets try a simple (but really good) recipe.
