How to Bake with Yeast
Understanding the basics of how to bake with yeast is essential for home bakers regardless of skill level. Whether you’re using yeast for dinner rolls or baking up a batch of cinnamon rolls, it’s beneficial to understand the function of yeast in bread making to ensure successful recipes.
- Prep time
- --
- Cook time
- Not listed
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 110 g Whole milk (lukewarm)
- 30 g Granulated sugar
- 12,5 g Fresh Yeast
- 1 Egg yolk (room temperature)
- 1 Egg (room temperature)
- 250 g Bread flour (high protein content flour)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 80 g Unsalted butter (room temperature, 82% fat content)
Instructions
- 1
How to bake with yeast depends on baked goods eg. bread vs. brioche or pretzels all have a different process. The recipe and process below is a typical yeast- based sweet bread that is enriched with milk and butter.
- 2
First day - first proofing
- 3
Start with mixing half of the sugar with lukewarm milk then sprinkle yeast on top. Make sure that the kitchen is nice and warm, and in 10 minutes the yeast should foam
- 4
Place the yeast mixture into your stand mixer with the kneading hook on, then mix it together with the egg and egg yolk
- 5
Mix in dry ingredients; bread flour, rest of the sugar, and salt, and start kneading until the dough until it comes together
- 6
Slowly start to add room temp (soft) butter chunks by piece to the dough. Knead the dough for another 10 minutes on medium high speed until it becomes elastic and shiny and not sticky any longer
- 7
Move the dough into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest and rise in the fridge overnight for 12 hours. Alternatively, rise the dough for 1-2hours at room temperature in a warm but not hot (avoid direct heat) spot in your kitchen
- 8
Second proofing
- 9
After the dough has risen overnight, pop the air out, roll it out then shape it according to the recipe.
- 10
Proof the dough now the second time now at room temp. Proofing might take 1-2h depending on your kitchen temp, wait until the dough doubled in size
- 11
Bake the bread according to your recipe.