Weighing out ingredients is the first step to any successful bake.

And I should stress the word weighing. You might be used to measuring ingredients by volume, like using cups and spoons. Although it may work in some cases, mostly it is very inaccurate.

Let me explain. A cup of an ingredient does not correlate to a cup of another ingredient.

Equal volumes of wholemeal flour and white flour would be quite different by weight. Equal volumes of buttermilk and water would be also quite different by weight. And that goes for any ingredient. Salt and sea salt. One type of yeast to another type of yeast etc.

If you have a proven recipe which uses measures by volume, then that is totally fine. But if you are trying to create your own recipe or convert a measure by weight recipe to measure by volume, you will struggle.

It is much more reliable and consistent and easier to use scales.

Each of the steps of baking affects the result dramatically and if you measure your ingredients incorrectly then you will be set up to fail straight from the get-go!

Autolysation is (if taken) the second step of baking.

The process involves mixing all the flour and water of a dough recipe and leaving it to hydrate.

Flour contains two proteins called glutenin and gliadin. When water is added the two proteins combine to form gluten.

The better your flour is hydrated the better the gluten development will be.

This is especially important for wholemeal breads and high hydration dough. The simple act of mixing flour and water and leaving it to sit for some time will help you with making a great loaf of bread.

Autolysation will decrease the total mixing time of your dough. This is helpful when making dough by hand as well as with a mixer.

When mixing dough, you will find that in time dough heats up due to friction.

Reducing mixing time will help you control this. It is important to note that the dough is a lot more easily over-mixed after autolysation so you have to keep an eye on it in the mixer.

An over-mixed dough will become shiny and sticky and way too stretchy.

On the other hand, hand mixing, although warming the dough up, will never result in over mixing.

Mixing in the simplest term is the even distribution of ingredients throughout the dough.

But of course, it is more complex than that.

The first step of mixing is determining your water temperature. Correct water temperature dictates the final dough temperature.

If your dough is too warm, then it will ferment too quickly, and you may risk oven fermenting it.

When mixing with a mixer you must keep in mind that the mechanical motion will create friction and friction creates heat.

Mixing time will vary between hand mixing and using a mixer. Not only because of temperature control but of course also because a mixer will do the job quicker.

Flour contains two proteins that work together to create gluten – glutenin and gliadin.

Glutenin helps develop dough structure and elasticity. Gliadin gives dough the ability to be stretchy (extensibility). It is the balance between the two proteins that allows the dough to be stretchy without tearing and elastic without stretching too far.

The purpose of mixing is to achieve adequate gluten development so that the dough can stretch, resist ripping, and to hold trapped gas inside and whilst fermenting.

A well-mixed dough will resist pulling and will have good strength and at the same time be supple and have a bit of stretch. It is important to not over mix dough. This is almost impossible to do by hand but is quite easy when using a mixer.

I would always recommend under-mixing the dough and then adding strength by folding during the bulk fermentation stage.

Many factors affect mixing time. What kind of dough is being made, what kind of mixer is used, what the temperature is and what is being added to the dough be it fats or seeds.

Generally, you would start off by mixing your dough on low speed to bring it all together for around 3 minutes. Then on second speed 4-5 minutes or until sufficient gluten development.

Judging this will come from experience and will depend on what kind of dough is being made.

If we are talking about a dough like brioche then you might need to mix it for up to 25 minutes! In that case all the ingredients must be stone cold before mixing to prevent overheating the dough.

The reason why brioche and other enriched dough (with added fat) take longer to mix is that fat hinders gluten development as it coats the flour. When adding a large amount of oil to a focaccia I personally like to fold the oil into the dough whist I am performing the folds during bulk fermentation. That way I do not disrupt the gluten structure.

To learn more about hand mixing click here.

As soon as you stop kneading your dough fermentation begins.

There are several leavening agents that can be used to ferment dough.

From a leaven made from a sourdough starter to yeast or yeasted preferments like poolish or biga.

During the bulk fermentation stage, the dough develops most of its flavour.

To achieve good flavour, texture and keeping quality in any bread fermentation time is important. Generally longer fermentation will achieve this.

There are many breads, especially yeasted ones that will be fermented quickly. This is generally for achieving a soft fluffy crumb and a soft crust, but flavour will suffer at the same time.

Sourdough (naturally leavened) bread has that characteristic flavour and texture because it is generally fermented slowly over a long period of time. Organic acids get produced in the dough which contribute to flavour and have a strengthening effect on dough structure.

Apart from developing flavour and texture during bulk fermentation the dough fills up with carbon dioxide which makes the dough expand and rise.

Without the build-up of gas, the dough would stay flat and be under proofed.

The temperature of your dough and the place where it is fermenting is crucial. The optimal dough temperature after mixing for wheat-based dough is 24-26C (75-79F). For rye bread it is around 26C (79F). Of course, it all depends on the temperature of your kitchen.

Maximum yeast activity occurs at around 26C (79F), but while it will ferment quickly and fill up with gas – at the same time, the dough will not spend enough time developing flavour.

To get the perfect balance of developing flavour and gas production the dough should be around 24-25C (75-78F).

If your dough came out warmer, then ferment it for less time. If it is cooler, then do it for longer.

Folding is a step taken for most types of dough. It can achieve various results that may be beneficial.

At the least it will degas the dough which is recommended to be done for almost all types of dough.

But it gets a lot more useful than just de-gassing.

Folding will equalise temperature in the dough – if your dough is in a cool room then the outside of it will cool down and the inside stay warm. By folding you will be distributing the temperature throughout the dough evenly thus helping with even fermentation.

Perhaps most importantly folding will increase dough strength. This can have a massive impact on the dough. As you fold you are creating more layers in the dough structure and aligning the gluten and creating more tension in the dough.

If a dough is made in a mixer, then you must be careful to not do too many folds. A mixer is a lot more effective at creating a strong dough which does not require many folds.

That is why handmade dough benefits most from folding.

Adding certain ingredients to your dough can also be done during this step. As I explain in the video that olives or olive oil can be folded into a focaccia dough whilst it is proofing instead of trying to knead those ingredients in.

One fold is recommended for most doughs. A regular dough made with yeast that is being fermented for around 2-3h should receive at least one fold to at least degas it.

Dough made with weak (like APF) flour benefits from folds too.

High hydration dough like ciabatta, focaccia, pizza etc. benefit from numerous folds as it will make them more voluminous.

The only dough that does not benefit from folding is 100% rye – because there is no gluten and no point in folding. And stiff, low hydration dough as it will be strong enough from the get-go.

In a case of low hydration dough, you should just degas it (otherwise known as punching down).

When to fold? This depends on fermentation time and type of dough. A normal hydration dough (60-68%) which is being fermented for around 2-3h should receive at least 1 fold which should be performed half way through bulk fermentation.

A high hydration sourdough focaccia (80%), for example, which is being fermented for 3 – 6 hours may benefit from 3 folds.

No matter how many folds are being performed, it is important to do them in equal intervals. If you are planning to do 3 folds during a 4 hour fermentation, then they should be separated by 1 hour.

The last fold must also be performed at an equal interval before the next step, so that the gluten has sufficient time to relax.

Dividing the dough marks the end of bulk fermentation.

It is as simple as it sounds. But there are a few things to consider.

First of all, you would not divide the dough if you were only making one loaf of bread.

The dough can be divided by just eyeballing it. This works best at home and if you are only making two breads. Otherwise, scales should be used to achieve an even batch.

If all your dough pieces are various sizes, then they will require various baking times.

When dividing dough that is not sticky no flour is needed. But when dividing sticky dough, you should keep all surfaces including the scales and your hands floured.

If you are making a large batch or if you must divide your dough into a lot of small pieces, then you have to work quickly as the dough is still fermenting whilst you are dividing it.

Try and cut the dough into the required weight in as few cuts as possible. It is always better to have a piece of dough that is comprised of as little smaller pieces as possible.

I like to use my dough scraper for dividing my dough.

After the dividing step comes the preshaping.

Once the dough has been divided it needs to be preshaped to change the random sized pieces into more consistently shaped ones.

Preshaping is there to organise the dough and make the final shaping a lot easier and more effective.

The tightness of the preshape will determine how long the dough will need to be rested before its final shaping. The tighter the dough the longer the rest.

This gives us a great opportunity to control the process.

If your dough is already quite proofed and your risk over proofing, then do a light preshape so that you can do the final shaping sooner and not waste time.

Also, if the dough is quite loose, then a tight preshape will create more strength in the dough and stop it from spreading out.

Most of the time dough would be preshaped into round pieces. But for some breads it is advantageous to preshape the dough into a shape that is like the final product.

Baguettes or breads that are made of dough that is oblong would be better to preshape into long pieces like cylinders. Bagels and strands for braided loaves would benefit from this too.

There are times that the preshaping step would be skipped. If you are only making one loaf of bread and it does not require extra folds, then it can be shaped into its final shape straight after bulk fermentation.

When making breads like ciabatta, focaccia, fougasse the preshaping step is skipped as the dough is shaped at the point of dividing it.

After the preshaping step comes the bench rest.

This is exactly what it sounds like. We are resting the dough on the work bench. A passive step that is nevertheless important.

During the resting period gluten in the dough relaxes and makes our final shaping task easier. Also, during this time, the dough will keep fermenting. With that in mind the preshaping must be done properly to suit the needs of the dough.

The tighter the prehsape the longer the bench rest. The more fermented the dough the less time should be spent resting and thus a lighter preshaping should be done.

The dough should be covered while resting to prevent a hard crust from forming.

After the bench rest comes the final shaping. This is the step that determines the shape of your bread.

Be it baguettes, round loaves, oblong ones, bagels, braided loaves, pizzas, ciabattas, focaccias, crackers, flatbreads etc.

Shaping is a skill that takes time to master.

There are many techniques for the many shapes.

After the final shaping it is important to place the bread into baskets or between baker’s linen or be it on a tray.

Remember to make sure that your loaves do not stick because that would be very disappointing. If you are using a basket or a couche, then make sure that it is floured adequatly.

Cover the loaves to prevent a hard crust from forming and leave them for the final fermentation.

Practice makes perfect.

My youtube channel is full or recipes demonstrating every kind of bread shape there is. Check it out!

After the final shaping comes the final fermentation (final proofing) step.

Unless the dough is retarded in the fridge this step will be mainly for the purpose of raising the bread to the desired volume.

Most flavour would have been developed during the bulk fermentation stage.

Bread should not be left to rise for too long during this step otherwise it might collapse when scored before baking.

Being able to tell when a dough has risen enough comes with experience.

There are too many variables to be able to tell an exact time of how long a dough should proof. It is up to the baker to judge that.

If the bread is fermenting rapidly then final fermentation might need to be cut short. Same goes if it is the other way around. You might think that the time has come to bake because the dough has been rising for a certain amount of time, but time does not always equal fermentation.

You must bake the bread when it is ready and not when you are ready!