OOver the years, I’ve tried lots of different ways to make bread, some successful & some less so! Here are a few of my top tips for how to make a perfect loaf:

Use good quality ingredients
The quality of ingredients really does make a big difference when making bread. The majority of Elsie May’s sourdoughs contain just three ingredients – flour, fine sea salt and water so the quality of ingredients are very important in terms of both structure and flavour of the bread.
Knead by hand
If you’re new to making bread, I would always recommend kneading the dough by hand so you can feel the texture of the dough and how it changes as you knead it. Kneading the dough helps develop the gluten which gives the dough it’s strength and structure as well.
Keep your yeast cold
Whether you like working with fresh or dried yeast, keep yeast in an airtight container in the fridge so it lasts longer – yeast gets less active with age which will effect the rise of your loaf.
Use timings as a guide
Many recipes give specific timings on how long it takes for your perfect loaf to prove and rise. Use these timings more as a guide as air temperature can effect how long it takes for your dough to rise. Use your own instincts and regularly check your dough to monitor how it’s changing.
If it at first you don’t succeed, try again
Sometimes the loaves don’t work! If that happens to you, don’t get disheartened as you are working with ingredients that change over time and can be effected by many factors. If your loaves don’t seem to work, try a slightly different method or changing the quality of your ingredients.
Take your time
There are many recipes out there for making quick breads and some of them work really well. However, I’ve always found that the best loaves are the ones made over a longer period of time. If allow your dough to rise at a cooler temperature (you don’t need to put it in the airing cupboard) or even in the fridge overnight, then this can help to develop both the structure and flavour. The sourdoughs at Elsie May’s take two days to make!
Use a temperature probe
The temperature of your water will effect how quickly your dough rises – the colder the liquid is, the longer it will take to rise. By measuring your water temperature, you’ll be able to have a more consistent loaf every time you bake. For a traditional sandwich loaf or sourdough, the water temperature I would usually use is around 27 degrees Celsius.