Once you know the batch of yeast you have is good, you don't need to proof it each time you

bake—unless you only bake bread very rarely. Just dissolve the yeast in water and add them to your

dough. Or add dry yeast directly to the flour. They come alive when you add the liquid to the dry

ingredients, but the action is slower. Yet proofing the yeast is still a good idea each time you bake as

it gives a jump-start to the dormant yeast cells, they start working a little faster after proofing.

Mix your dough

There are two ways to make bread dough:

Straight dough method—mix the dry ingredients, add the warm water with dissolved yeast,

and the dough is ready to be kneaded.

Sponge method—mix half of the flour with all dry ingredients and yeast but omit salt. Add

part of liquid ingredients to form a sticky, almost runny dough. Set this sponge, covered, in a

warm place for several hours or overnight. The yeast feed on the sugar to produce a

fermenting, bubbling mass. They multiply rapidly during this period of fermentation. When

you are ready to bake, work the rest of the flour and salt into the sponge, knead and let rise.

The sponge method replaces the first proofing of the dough so you may shape the bread

after kneading. But an extra proofing time helps to create a better-flavored bread.

The sponge method, centuries old and used as standard in many commercial bakeries,

produces the same dough as the straight dough method. The resulting bread, however, is moister

and richer-tasting because acid-producing bacteria in the sponge have had a chance to add their by-

products with their pleasing, slightly tart flavors. It does take longer than the straight dough method,

so it is no longer suitable for large-scale bread production where time is money.

Choose whichever method you prefer and have time for. Recipes often specify one or the

other, but there is no reason why you cannot change the recipe to suit your preference or time

constraint.

TASTINGS How to slow down yeast

You can mix yeast dough ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for a few

days, this is called retarding. The cold will dramatically slow the yeast activity. A

few hours before you plan to bake the bread, remove the dough and bring it to

room temperature. The yeast begins to work at a good clip within hours. How fast

depends on the actual temperature of the room. On a cold winter day it could be

eight hours. Expedite the process by placing the dough into a slightly-warmed

oven. If it is a warm August day, the dough only needs 2 or 3 hours. Let it rise in

the usual manner and bake.

You have three choices for mixing dough, provided you own a food processor and a mixer.

If you don't own either, your only choice is by hand.

Kneading a stiff bread dough is about the most demanding job you can ask of a home

appliance, or yourself for that matter. The machine needs to be quite powerful to be able to do the

job without overheating or stalling. A small or even a medium-sized food processor or mixer won't

do. However, kneading by hand is not difficult. It just takes a little longer and can relieve a lot of

anger or frustration if you really get into roughing up the dough like you should.

Here are two of the most popular dough mixing methods when using your hands.

1. Add the dry ingredients to a bowl. Mix liquid ingredients in a container, including the

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