The 7 Most Common Breadmaking Mistakes You’re Probably Making

my bakers , I heard from a lot of you that you want to do more bread baking in 2020 like sour dough .

More no need doughs and just other basic bread recipes .

Now I am all about this because I love bread making .

But I thought it's really important before we get stuck into it that we cover some of the seven most common bread making mistakes so you don't make them in the future .

So let's get started with number one weighing your ingredients accurately .

Now this is really important when it comes to bread making because it's all about precision .

You'll know from my recipes .

I do cups , grammes and ounces because I come from Europe and we use grammes and ounces .

The thing about grammes and ounces is they're way more precise , So get yourself a really inexpensive weighing scale , so you always have it for bread making .

When measuring in cups , your volume can vary , and with bread making , we really want to be like , exactly precise .

So tip number two .

I say this often .

Don't let salt and yeast come in direct contact with each other , so when you're putting your ingredients in the bowl .

Put salt on one side of the bowl and put your yeast on the other side .

You can mix them into the flour , and then after that they can be mixed together .

Just make sure that they don't go in one on top of the other because the salt will kill the yeast .

Tip number three Inaccurately adding too much water .

Now this is a common mistake , and I'm going to tell you how to avoid it when you're mixing up your dough when you're adding in your liquid , only add in enough liquid until your dough forms one ball and it cleans the bottom of the bowl .

So at the end you've got a clean bowl and you've got a ball of dough .

You don't want it to be too soggy .

Otherwise , your bread is really difficult to work with .

Tip number four Not covering your dough at all stages .

Now this is really important .

In case you didn't know dough and air are actually not best friends .

You want to keep it covered with cling wrap or some sort of cling film and then put a tea towel over it .

You don't want your dough ever to be exposed just to the air because it can form a skin .

If your dough forms a skin , it's really difficult for it to proof , and it can ruin your bread dough .

So from the moment you mix your dough until you're shaping it at the very end , I want you always to keep it nice and covered .

Tip number five Inadequately proofing your Dough Now some people get a little bit afraid of proofing .

They don't know what to look for , and I'm going to tell you so .

What you do is that you push your dough , and if it bounces back kind of slowly , it's proved , and it's ready to go into the oven .

If you overproof a dough for too long , you don't have time to get it into the oven .

The end result will be that your dough is very flat , so you just want to make sure that you don't overproof it .

Another sign that of an overproof dough is that if it's covered in cling wrap and you peel it away and your dough sticks to the cling wrap , that is overproof .

Tip number six Failure to create steam in your oven .

Now bread loves steam , and I'll tell you why .

It gives it a lovely shiny crust to number one , but it also makes it really chewy .

So for the 1st 20 minutes or so of baking , you want a lot of steam in there with your dough .

There's two ways you can do it .

You can put a baking tray in the bottom and have hot water in it , and that will create steam as your bread bakes .

Or you can get a spray bottle that's just for water , and you can spray the dough and spray the oven and then shut it really fast .

And that will also create steam .

So those are two really good options .

Tip number seven .

Do not let the heat escape during baking .

Now I can't stress how important this is because bread loves the good hot oven .

So my rule of thumb is for the 1st 20 minutes .

Stay away from that door .

Don't open it .

Just peek through the window and let the bread do its thing .

In the first few minutes , your bread goes into the oven .

It allows for something called oven spring , and it makes your bread pop and rise Really nicely .

If you open that door , that ain't gonna happen , so just leave it Be also .

If you keep on opening the door , you'll end up with a soft crust and you don't want it .

Now that you know the seven most common bread making mistakes go forward and make killer bread .

Thank you so much for watching .

I really hope you found this useful .

Stay tuned for more bread recipes to come .

I'll see you back here really soon for more bigger , bolder baking .