Bakers dish on loaves from simple no-knead dough to a super-show sourdough

1. Edmonton
Baking bread: Tips and trade secrets from Edmonton bakeries
Bakers dish on loaves from simple no-knead dough to a super-slow sourdough
CBC News · Posted: Jun 20, 2020 9:00 AM MT | Last Updated: June 20
Time, temperature and baker's math will help you bring your best bread to the table. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
The smell of warm, freshly-baked loaves has wafted through many households during the
pandemic as people around the country learned the craft of making bread.
Once the isolation craze took off, flour flew off grocery-store shelves and sourdough starters
were shared among friends.
Over the past couple weeks, CBC Edmonton's Radio Active spoke to some of the city's top
bakeries to get their tips and inside secrets on baking everything from pizza dough to gluten-free
bread.
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2. The classic white loaf
Laura Rogerson of Breadlove teaches baking classes, and posted a video online during the
pandemic of how to make a super simple loaf of white bread.
She recommends using a scale instead of cups and spoons to measure out ingredients.
"It takes into account any variables with different ways of scooping out your flour, and weights of
flour. It's a very low cost way to elevate the level of your bread making," Rogerson told CBC's
Radio Active.
It's a no-knead recipe, and Rogerson said it's more about time-management than complicated
steps.
While she encourages people to give making bread a shot, Rogerson is looking forward to selling
her loaves again.
"I feel like when somebody buys a loaf of my bread, that I'm joining them at their dinner table,"
she said.
"It's a way of connecting; there's nothing more evocative than the smell of bread making."
Sourdough
Yvan Chartrand of Bonjour Bakery in Strathcona said when it comes to making sourdough, you
need to be "a little bit passionate, or a little bit crazy to do all that work."
While the ingredients may be a simple mix of flour, water and salt, the process takes time.
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3. "It takes three days, basically, to make one loaf of bread," Chartrand said. It takes a full 24 hours
to make the sourdough, another day to mix the dough and allow it to slowly proof, or rest and
rise, and then, on the third day, it's baked.
There are three secrets to baking the perfect loaf of bread according to Chartrand. "The first
secret is temperature, the second is temperature and the third, I'm going to let you guess."
From the water, to the room, to the oven, temperature is key in making sure your sourdough
comes out exactly the way you want it.
"Baking is an art and a science. Where the science comes in is when you want to reproduce it,"
Chartrand said.
"Google baker's math, or baker's percentage. It's simple mathematics, but it's quite important to
have consistent results."
Ezekiel bread
Barb Lockert from Barb's Kitchen Centre is a big fan of Ezekiel bread, which usually
contains whole millet, wheat, barley, pinto beans, green lentils, even soybeans and rye kernels.
At Bonjour Bakery, the bread takes three days to make, from start to finish. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
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4. "It tastes just delicious, a little bit of a nutty flavour," Lockert said. "And the texture, if you knead
it well enough, it will look like 100-per-cent whole wheat."
Lockert said it's simple to make and also freezes nicely. She typically puts the dough into a
regular loaf pan, but it can also be done in a souffle dish for a round shape or free formed onto
a baking sheet.
Honey or molasses also adds a nice sweet flavour to Ezekiel bread, Lockert said.
Nut and seed bread
Todd Barraclough of Brio Bakery is a pro at adding nuts, seeds and even fruit to bread for a tasty
twist.
Barraclough recommends using a traditional yeast bread as a base when you're starting to
experiment. White bread flour in particular has stronger gluten to support the additions.
"If you're going to add seeds and nuts … add it in small increments and as you go along you'll
start feeling if that looks good," he said. "A lot of people will add the whole kitchen all at once
Todd Barraclough says when it comes to mixing in other ingredients into your bread, start slowly. (Kory
Siegers/CBC)
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5. and you'll get a disappointing end result."
Bakers should wait until the mixture becomes a stronger dough before adding nuts, seeds or
fruit in. Don't include more than 15 per cent of your dough weight in other ingredients.
"You just want to gradually add it in and make sure you get it evenly distributed," Barraclough
said. "You want to be gentle … and then you'll have great results."
Gluten-free bread
Teresa Anderson from Gluten Free Kob is a gluten-free bread specialist.
She got into gluten-free baking when she and her son were diagnosed with Celiac disease.
"It took me a couple years of trial and error ... when you don't have gluten that holds it all
together, you can have a crumbly product," she told Radio Active. "Probably 20 or more different
recipes before I got it right."
For gluten-free bread, there has to be something to bind all the ingredients together. Anderson
said chia or flax concoctions can help to make the bread moist and not crumbly, but it's
important to follow the recipe.
"Whether you're Celiac or not, you would enjoy the texture and taste," she said.
If you want a guide to learn more about gluten-free bread baking, Anderson has been teaching
online classes during the pandemic.
Pizza dough
Breadlove's Laura Rogerson joined Radio Active for the final segment of the bread column with a
crowd favourite: pizza dough.
"Even if people aren't eating a lot of sweets and other breads, you can always get a reaction
when you put homemade pizza in front of somebody," she said.
Rogerson's go-to recipe is: 500 grams of flour, 1 gram of yeast, 16 grams sea salt and 350 grams
of cold water. Mix it up and then let it sit for 12 hours until it has doubled in size, then you shape
the dough into balls.
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6. "This recipe makes a beautiful, thin, crispy crust, similar to a Neopolitan pizza. The beauty of it is
that it is super simple," Rogerson said.
It can also be kept in the fridge for a week.
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