two-story loaf. This is a simply fabulous-looking bread!

Variations on a theme

Once you feel at ease with yeast dough, other yeast products are a snap. Pizza dough, Italian

focaccia, pretzels, English muffins, bagels and calzone are not that hard to produce. There is no

limit to the amount of fun you can have with yeast. (You can even keep them as pets.) The baked

goods are almost always edible even if you make an error here and there in preparation. As long as

you follow the few basic rules, the yeast is alive and happy, and the gluten structure is solid, you

will end up with something not only edible, but delectable.

You need a challenge with a yeast preparations? Try croissants. Making them requires the

skill of a pastry chef and a bread baker. Home-made croissants, though challenge to make, are

absolutely heavenly when fresh from the oven and they are an enormous satisfaction to your

baking ego. With a good tart jam or marmalade, they provide a breakfast for the most festive

occasions. You make croissant dough the same way as puff pastry dough but yeast is the

leavening agent in croissants and the proportion of ingredients are different. There is only half as

much butter in croissant dough. See the Dessert chapter on how to make puff pastry. Once you

learn puff pastry, you are also an expert on croissants.

Storing Breads

Like fresh-ground coffee, all breads—whether leavened with yeast or baking powder—start

their downhill journey into staledom soon after they leave the oven. If they are still on the shelf in a

commercial bakery after 8 hours, their new home will be in plastic bags to slow down staling, and

by the next morning they are up for sale at half price as day-old breads or are given away for a

homeless shelter.

Baking at home you are in control to take advantage of serving absolutely fresh breads, as

well as to slow staling. When the meal is over, don’t let the bread sit in the basket for another half

hour but wrap it in a heavy plastic bag. That cuts off the harmful oxygen and seals in moisture to

slow staling. Since we now know all about staling (see section above on Staling), we know that we

have two storing choices to minimize it—keep it at room temperature (that slows it down) or freeze

it (that nearly stops it). If you decide to freeze the bread, use a heavy plastic bag, squeezing out as

much air as possible before sealing. Double bagging in two plastic bags is even better. Thin plastic

bags are not moisture tight and eventually your bread dries out in them. If that is all you have, use at

least three bags.

Many bakers slice the bread before freezing to make it convenient to defrost a few slices at a

time. Defrosted slices taste almost as fresh as when first out of the oven. Or freeze the loaf unsliced

if you expect to use a full loaf next time.

Quick breads, muffins and their various cousins are just heavenly fresh out of the oven but

they stale fast. Commercial bakeries often add chemicals to retard staling, along with extra oil, that

also helps maintain freshness. Anything you have read about how to slow staling of yeast breads

also applies for quick breads. If you don't plan to eat the bread or muffins the same day, wrap and

freeze as soon as they cool, particularly if the oil or butter content is low. You can successfully

refresh them in a warm oven (see Staling above).

You can reheat all baking powder-leavened goodies freestanding on baking sheets. This

gives them a slightly crunchy crust. If you prefer the original soft crust, put them back in the

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