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The bread you want to make is an art bound by the strictures of science. There are many variables. But there are, generally, only four basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt.
So what are the variables? Better to ask what isn't variable!
Here are some clues, but this is an involved subject and you may want to do some additional research on the net or at the library.
Flour: For a good, crusty artisan bread, you have to use bread flour. There are bread flours and there are bread flours. They have different gluten content. Something in the range of 10.5% to 12% is right. If you have the choice, use an unbleached type.
Water: Generally, tap water is okay unless yours has a strong taste. If so, use bottled water. If yours in chlorinated and tastes like it, let it sit in a bowl for a few hours and the chlorine will go away. Also related to water is how wet a dough you make. For a slow rise dough (see below) a wetter one may be better. Something like 62% to 65% water, by weight. Flour weight is variable, so you'll simply have to weight what you're using. Water, however, is constant: 1 pint = 1 lb.
Yeast: Here, there is a simple answer and a lot of not so simple sub-answers. For all intents and purposes, yeast is yeast. The easiest to use in good old dry yeast like you find in the small envelopes at the grocery store. The subanswers are in how you use that yeast. The best way to get a good tasty loaf is to use a little less yeast than you might ordinarily and to allow the yeast to develop slowly. This might be by allowing a long, slow, low temperature (room temp) rise. Alternately, depending on the bread, you might also use a starter - a biga, a sponge, a starter, a poolish, etc.
Mixing: "Mix less rather than more" is probably the best advice if you follow the slow rise method. Rough dough handling is fully appropriate for many doughs. Indeed, if you need to make bread in a hurry, mixing well and roughly helps quickly develop the gluten. But the gluten also has the capacity to develop on its own, but only with time. To mix hard and then allow a slow rise will result in an overdeveloped dough that will not rise as well.
Dough handling: Handle the dough developed slowly much more gently than you would a quickly developed (roughly mixed) dough. When punching it down, don't follow the word (punch) literally! Just fold it over and allow the air to escape, but don't beat the air our of it. that "air" is really the gas that causes the dough to rise. Save it! The flip side, however, is to not be **too** gentle. You do not want air pockets in your dough after folding it. Make sure no air is trapped in the folding by pressing it out.
Steam: Nothing helps crust development more than steam. Commercial bakeries have, quite literally, steam injectors in their ovens. The bread is steamed for the first 10 minutes or so of the bake. This is, obviously, impossible at home. So what to do? Well, two things, really. First, spritz the formed loaves before you bake them. No need to saturate them, but a mist spray of water will help. Next, when you set up your oven, put a pan in there. Ideally, this is a cast iron skillet that will hold the heat. A thin aluminum or stainless steel pan won't do at all. Allow the pan to get hot with the oven. When you put in your bread, put some *boiling* water into the pan. Be careful! It will instantly turn to steam and you could be scalded. Try to get a 1/4" (4 oz or so) of water into the pan so you have some water in reserve to turn to steam. Quickly close the oven door and don't open for at least 10 minutes. This will give a fair approximation of a steam injection system ... close ... but not perfect. But it is the best you can do at home.
Another related thing is the loaf formation and treatment. You know those slash marks you see on bread? They're not for decoration. They serve a definite purpose. As you form the loaf and let it sit for the last rise in situ, the dough forms a skin. If the slashes are not made, the skin will inhibit the rise - and those "big holes" you want. So slash the top of the loaf. This requires a **very** sharp knife. Use a single edge razor blade. Really. Not a knife. I guarantee you do not have one that is sharp enough for this. Even professional bakers use a scalpel-like device called a "lame" (Fr., lahm). While a lame is double sided, it is, essentially a razor.
Baking: Bread wants a higher temperature. About 400 or even 450, depending on the bread. In the end, you want an internal temp of about 200. But you have to balance the crust formation and browning against the time to get that internal temperature, so all the temps I just gave are only guidelines.
As I said, bread making, and baking in general, is an artform constrained by hard science and rigorous exactitudes. The best way to learn is to read and then dive in. The cost for the ingredients is pretty minimal. So have fun. Experiment. See what works for you. And if you don't get that perfect loaf at first, don't do anything but chuckle and then move on to the next batch.
It ain't rocket science ... but its close!
Have fun!!!!!
:hi:
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