Welcome to this breadmaking series, where we’ll dive into the culture, science, and history behind all kinds of bread. Whether we’re working with a fluffy loaf of flour, water, salt, and yeast or exploring breads that don’t rise at all, this series is all about building confidence, curiosity, and creativity in the kitchen.
I’ll be featuring six special Selefina blends – each one used in a unique recipe that will highlight a different facet of what makes bread so fascinating and endlessly creative. Think of the recipe as a fun exercise: a way to apply what we’ve learned and, of course, a chance to bake something fun. Let’s roll!
— Rena S
Please enjoy this series by Rena Sak. Food photography on this page is ©Rena Sak.
Lean bread is a good place to learn about basic bread foundations and practice them. Lean dough contains little to no fat or sugar, consisting primarily of four basic ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. Breads like baguettes, ciabatte, pita, basic pizza dough, and even a basic sourdough loaf would be considered lean bread.
If you’re familiar with these breads, you’ll know that there are some pretty big differences between a baguette and a pita. You can learn to manipulate dough in so many ways, from types of flour, hydration amount, fermentation method, shaping, and, of course, the bake itself. For my first recipe, let’s dive more into two areas for us to play with: hydration and fermentation.
Lower hydration doughs (typically under 65%) mean firmer doughs, easier shaping, and a tighter interior, or crumb. These are great for old-school sandwich loaves, bagels, and simple rolls. High hydration doughs (typically 75% upwards) can be sticky and tricky to shape, which is why they’re often baked in pans (like focaccia) or end up with rustic, wonky forms (like ciabatta). One of my favorite breads is the Catalan pan de cristal – at over 90% hydration, it's initially like a batter!
More hydration means more steam from within due to the added liquid. This allows the dough to expand more, giving open, irregular holes (open crumb), a crackly crust, and a moist, chewy bite.
Faster-acting commercial yeast is actually a more modern invention, only going back about 150 years. Sourdough, made from natural yeast and bacteria, is the most ancient form of bread, tracing its roots to ancient Egypt. Since sourdough (starter) is a fermented product in itself, it adds way more depth and aroma compared to normal yeast – even if it takes more time. Breads like panettone, made with a stiff starter called lievito madre, rustic loaves like pain de campagne, and many rye breads rely on a starter.
Typically, more leavener means dough rises more quickly; less means it rises more slowly. Both options can yield differences in flavor, texture, and even color. You can even combine both methods, such as with a pre-ferment, like a poolish, where a portion of the flour, liquid, and yeast are left to ferment for a while before being added to the main dough.
Some cultures will just mix their chosen flour and water and let the dough or batter ferment naturally over several days before cooking, like the tangy Ethiopian Injera bread.
To flavor the fougasse, we are using the Sweet + Zesty Onion Mix Spice Blend for an alliaceous kick. But we won’t be adding it straight out of the jar. Hydrating it first will give us moist onions tucked into the holes and crevices of the loaf, while helping the beautiful flavor to permeate throughout.
The contrast between my weekday sandwich bread and that sweet, fluffy Hawaiian loaf wasn’t just about flavor. The addition of a few simple, yet key ingredients completely changes how a bread behaves, and that’s how we turn a simpler, lean dough into what bakers call an enriched one.
Enriched breads start the same way as most breads: flour, water (or other liquid), and yeast. But once you add things like butter, eggs, milk, and sugar, everything changes. The texture gets softer, the flavor deeper, and the end result is something closer to a treat than a staple.
Think of Brioche, Challah, Panettone, or Hot Cross Buns. These aren’t everyday breads for most people - and that’s no accident. Historically, enriched breads were often saved for special moments: holidays, religious celebrations, or once-a-week treats. Ingredients like butter, eggs, and sugar were considered luxuries for many - more expensive, harder to access, and harder to store. Even for farming families who had eggs or dairy, making enriched breads took extra time and effort (you’ll see why) - something not feasible for everyday baking.
These days, it’s much easier to find all kinds of enriched breads any day of the week (though they’re often still pricier), yet for many of us, they still hold a similar sense of occasion, nostalgia, and indulgence.
Behind every pillowy slice of enriched bread is a little bit of magic. The addition of butter, eggs, sugar, or milk doesn’t just make bread taste amazing; it changes its very nature. But, how?
Fats, like butter, oil, or shortening, soften the crumb. Butter adds richness and flavor (common in home baking), while oil and shortening make bread extra tender and extend shelf life (common in industrial baking). Fats coat flour’s proteins, making it harder for gluten to form, so enriched doughs often need extended kneading.
The classic French brioche is an example of a bread with a lot of fat, using up to 50% butter or more by weight compared to flour.
Eggs, specifically yolks, act as emulsifiers, helping fat and water combine smoothly into the dough. They add richness, moisture, and color, but also weaken the gluten due to their fat content. Egg whites, however, help build structure.
Challah is an example that traditionally relies on eggs for color and structure, often omitting dairy in the recipe.
Sugar does more than sweeten - it’s hygroscopic, meaning it pulls in and holds onto moisture, making the crumb softer and helping bread stay fresh longer. But a lot of it can impact gluten development and yeast activity.
Rosca de Reyes, Mexico’s sweet, ornately decorated bread eaten on Epiphany (January 6th), is a great example of a sugar-rich dough.
Milk (particularly whole milk) adds fat and moisture, creating a more tender crumb. Tip: Milk powder is a great pantry staple to store for adding to breads.
Milk breads, like the Japanese Shokupan, use milk as a key ingredient in the dough, contributing to its soft and slightly sweet flavor.
Fun fact: These same ingredients that make gluten development tricky in enriched breads are exactly what we love in cakes and muffins. They don’t just block gluten - they bring all that softness and tenderness. So even though the ingredient list looks similar, the technique and final result are totally different.
Enriched doughs behave differently from lean ones. Since ingredients like butter, eggs, and sugar weaken gluten development and slow down yeast activity, these doughs need a bit more care to rise tall and bake soft.
Five Pepper Cacao Doughnuts
To demonstrate how an enriched dough is made, behaves, and tastes (yum), I developed this enriched doughnut recipe containing all of those key ingredients: egg, butter, sugar, and milk - so you’ve hit the enriched dough practice jackpot! I’ve even included a little optional trick to help the yeast get a head start.
I’ve added this Five Pepper Cacao spice to the custard filling, balancing it with honey, vanilla, and cinnamon. It’s fun, unique, and has a sweet kick. I got the inspiration from a local restaurant that serves fresh doughnuts with various dipping custards, one flavored with Chinese Five Spice. (It’s my all-time favorite sweet sauce now.) Enjoy!
Why are bagels so unique that they’d leave lasting memories a few decades later? I can’t answer for everyone, but for me, they were in a category of their own. That shiny, crisp crust, the dense, chewy interior, the playful ring shape. Nothing else compares.
The true origin of the bagel is debated, though most sources trace it back to Central Europe. Polish royal records in the 14th century mention a boiled, ring-shaped bread called obwarzanek, a potential precursor.
Another legend claims a Viennese baker created the bagel to honor the King of Poland, an avid horseman who defended their city, shaping the bread like a stirrup (bügel in German). Other evidence indicates it was inspired by pretzels brought to Poland by German immigrants.
Bagels have widely been associated with Jewish communities, with the word itself derived from the Yiddish beygal. Jewish immigrants carried the tradition to New York, where the bagel took on its iconic status. Today, the “New York bagel” (if there is a single type) is often considered the gold standard - one many bakers, myself included, aspire to create.
Fun fact: Bagels used to be much smaller, weighing about 2 oz (60 g). By 1915, they had grown to 3 oz (90 g), and today they average a whopping 6 oz (170 g).
Bagel dough is a lean dough with relatively low hydration (like the fougasse bread from this series), typically under 60%. Unlike most breads, we’re not after fluff or big, airy bubbles; we want a tighter structure and a satisfying chew. Many bakers, myself included, also cold-proof the dough overnight to deepen the flavor and strengthen the gluten before boiling and baking.
Three key elements define a true bagel: boiling before baking, strong flour, and shape. While the latter two may not be absolute requirements, they’re what give bagels their unmistakable look and texture.
This is the defining step. Boiling gives bagels their shiny, golden crust and contributes to that chewy, dense interior. The hot water gelatinizes the surface starches, creating a thin "skin" that sets the crust early, limiting oven spring and producing that tight crumb. Skip the boil, and you’ve got ring-shaped bread (still fantastic, just not a bagel).
High-protein flour, such as bread flour, is essential for a bagel’s signature chew. More protein means more gluten-building power, leading to a strong, elastic dough that can hold its shape through boiling and baking. Simply put: the higher the protein, the stronger the flour. That’s why bread flour is called what it is - it’s made for this.
Fun fact: The difference between cake flour, all-purpose flour, and bread flour mostly comes down to that protein level. Cake flour typically hovers around 8-9% protein content, with its low gluten-forming power making it perfect for tender cakes. Bread flour ranges around 11-12% or higher, while all-purpose sits in the middle, making it a good all-rounder.
You can spot a bagel from a mile away with its glossy crust and iconic ring shape. But the hole isn’t just for looks; it helps the bagels boil and bake evenly, creating a uniform crust-to-crumb ratio (as opposed to a bun that rises higher in the center). Technically, you can boil any shape, like balls, buns, and rolls (similar to pretzel shapes in Germany). Then again, could we still call it a bagel?
Bagels aren’t the only type of bread to take a bath before baking. Some of my favorite breads undergo a “pre-treatment” that defines their appearance, texture, and flavor. In Poland, obwarzanek, a twisted ring bread, is boiled before baking and sprinkled with sesame or poppy seeds. In Turkey, simit is dipped in molasses water (often grape or fig) before being coated in sesame seeds and baked to a deep amber finish. And the well-known German pretzel gets its signature color and flavor from a dip in lye water solution.
Bagels are perfect for experimenting with simple, easy-to-handle dough (no stand mixer required). This recipe uses an overnight cold proof to develop deeper flavors, creating the lovely blistered crusts. I’ve added Dill-icious Ranch seasoning into the dough, packed full of herby flavor from dill, parsley, and chives, with savory notes from garlic and onion. It's the perfect sandwich bread for cream cheese and lox or, my personal favorite, tuna salad!
A quick list of all the spices Rena used in this series.
