Techniques

Every technique here is described by what to observe rather than by a duration. “Eight minutes” describes one flour, at one hydration, worked by one pair of hands. “The dough stretches thin enough to pass light through” describes a state the dough is actually in.

• Kneading

  Working a dough mechanically to develop its gluten network into something elastic, extensible and able to hold gas.

  Developingbeginner

• Autolyse

  Resting flour and water together before adding salt and leaven, allowing hydration and enzyme activity to begin development without work.

  Mixingintermediate

• Bulk fermentation

  The first fermentation, with the dough in one mass, where most flavour and most structural change happen.

  Fermentingintermediate

• Stretch and fold

  Developing a dough during bulk fermentation by stretching and folding it at intervals, instead of kneading it all at once.

  Developingintermediate

• Creaming

  Beating solid fat with sugar to force air into the fat, creating the gas cells a chemical leavener will later expand.

  Mixingbeginner

• Rubbing in

  Working cold fat into flour with the fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, coating the flour so gluten cannot fully form.

  Mixingbeginner

• Lamination

  Rolling and folding a dough around a sheet of fat to build alternating layers that steam forces apart in the oven.

  Shapingadvanced

• Blind baking

  Baking a pastry case before its filling, weighted so the base does not lift and the sides do not slump.

  Bakingintermediate

• Folding

  Combining a light aerated mixture with a heavier one while destroying as little of the aeration as possible.

  Mixingintermediate

• Whisking to a foam

  Beating air into a liquid protein so it forms a stable foam — and the narrow window between not enough and too far.

  Mixingintermediate

• Shaping

  Building tension into the surface of a dough so it holds its form and rises upward rather than spreading outward.

  Shapingintermediate

• Scoring

  Cutting the surface of a proofed loaf so it opens where the baker chooses rather than bursting where the crust happens to be weakest.

  Shapingintermediate

• Lining a tin

  Preparing a tin so the bake releases intact — a preparation step whose failure is discovered only when it is too late to fix.

  Mixingbeginner

• Softening butter

  Bringing butter to the plastic state that creaming depends on — a temperature range, not a step to be rushed with heat.

  Mixingbeginner

• Water bath

  Surrounding a mould with hot water so the mixture cannot exceed the boiling point of water — a temperature limiter rather than a cooking method.

  Bakingintermediate