How to Build a Simple Weekly Bread Practice That Actually Improves Your Skill
Weekly bread baking is about condensing work into a brief period, not spreading it out in a marathon. Each week you make a simple, weekly bread with a purpose you’ll learn more about bread than if you make 4-5 different breads over a weekend. Initially, you don’t need breadth (different breads), you need depth (understanding of process). By making the same dough over and over again, you will start to recognize the subtleties of the dough, the way the crumb tastes, the rise. Understanding those subtleties is what helps you gain control of your bread.
Pick a simple bread recipe and try to make it every week on the same day. Week 1, focus on your mix. How long does it take your dough to come together? What is the dough like when mixed? Week 2, keep your ingredients the same, but play with proof time. How does dough respond to temperature changes? By changing one thing at a time, you can keep track of cause and effect rather than getting confused.
One big error I see people make is that when a loaf doesn’t turn out, they will change several variables at once. They might switch flours, knead longer and adjust oven temperature. How are they supposed to know what helped or hurt the bread? Approach each loaf as a mini-experiment. If your crumb is tight, try increasing the proofing time a bit next time, while keeping the rest of the inputs the same. In this way, mistakes become educational.
What does a weekly bread habit look like? Week 1: Mix and knead 15 min Day 2: Fold 1 min, Shape 2 min, Bake 30 min, Cool 30 min, Slice and examine crumb 5 min. While your bread is proofing, go about your day. You don’t need to be actively involved the whole time. Each week, take a mental note (you don’t need to write it down, just mentally note) how your dough mixed, proofed, looked coming out of the oven, the crumb, what you found challenging and easy during the process.
After a month or so, you will start to notice patterns. You will start to feel more comfortable with your dough. And each week, you’ll be building on the previous weeks’ efforts. Bread making will no longer be a hit or miss enterprise.
