Bread Recipes - Yeast, French, White & More | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

What makes French bread taste like French bread? ›

Most French bakers use a poolish process, which consists of a mix of yeast and water that's allowed to ferment overnight. The next day, this mixture is added to the rest of the ingredients. This gives the dough more flavor and aroma.

If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.

Eggs: Eggs, like flour, provide structure for the yeast bread dough. It is also a good way to enrich the dough with the nutrients found in eggs. When eggs are used in a yeast bread, it makes the bread have a richer flavor.

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf. Using old ingredients (rancid nuts, "old" shortening) will cause yeast breads to taste old or have an "off" taste.

One of the secrets of a great baguette is to start with a sponge (a mix of flour, water, and yeast), which gives the yeast time to mature and combine with the other ingredients, creating the mildly sour and nutty flavors and chewy texture.

Your bland bread could be the result of rushing the process. Try a slow overnight rise in the refrigerator. Plan ahead to proof your loaf overnight. This hands-off time in the icebox will slow the fermentation process in your dough and result in a complex-flavored loaf.

This can affect the bread by adding a "yeasty" taste if you put too much into the dough. General amounts of yeast are around 1 - 2 % of the flour, by weight. Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand.

Depending on the recipe and rising time, you may use as little as 1 teaspoon, or up to 2 1/4 teaspoons (sometimes more) of instant yeast per pound (about 4 cups) of flour.

If you add baking soda to a quick bread, the gas bubbles it releases into the batter lifts your bread. When the combination of baking soda and acid combines with heat, proteins in the batter (like eggs) turn rigid. The rigid structure traps the gas and results in a light, fluffy texture.

Problem: Your bread has a fermented, alcoholic smell or taste to it. Causes: Too much yeast. Over-proofed.

Why does store bought bread not taste yeasty? ›

Bread flavor traditionally comes from the slow fermentation process. Since supermarket bread usually lacks a slow fermentation, companies add sugar to make up for that fact. So, essentially, supermarket bread rises too quickly and it lacks the flavor that comes from fermentation.

French bread tends to be longer and narrower. Italian bread loaves tend to be shorter and plumper. French bread tends to be hard and crusty on the outside, with a light and soft crumb.

In France, bakers pay careful attention to where their flour is made and which grains are used in the milling process. The result is usually softer, heartier, and tastier bread than can be found in other parts of the world. French flour tends to be made with a lower ash content than the flour from other countries.

The reason this can happen is: They are loaded with butter and sugar, which act as a tenderizer and preservative and make them keep well for several days. New Orleans-style French bread is the opposite. It has very little or no fat or sugar and no preservatives. French bread is fresh for a finite amount of time.

French flour is 'softer' and contains less gluten. It will contains grains only grown in France.