Want to leave a huge impression on the bread lovers in your life?

Consider leaving that impression, with an impression, with some fun and easy stenciling. 

Throughout this post, I’m sharing how to add a design element to your bread. It’s a small technique with big impact. 

Take a look closer look at the delicate floral imprint, surrounded by a faint checked pattern.

I stumbled across this technique accidentally when I left the edge of a lace runner leaning against my dough and discovered the fabric made a small indentation in the raw dough.

It was very faint, but it was there.

So, I decided to cover the entire loaf with the lace to see how it would turn out.

This is a great time to look around your own home to see what lace pieces or other textured fabrics you have on hand.

Just about any fabric can work too.

Waffle-patterned tea towels, crocheted market baskets and old doilies would all be great for this technique. 

If you plan to use an open lace fabric, like I did, you’ll need to create a barrier between the bamboo proofing basket and the lace.

First, drape the basket with a plain cotton cloth, and then, lay the textured fabric on top of that.

This way, the cotton cloth under the lace will prevent those basket rings from leaving an impression. 

Be sure to lightly dust your lace/fabric with flour before placing the dough against it.

After the dough has proofed, gently turn the dough out onto a surface and remove the basket.

If my dough wasn’t covered by the lace and cotton cloth, the ring pattern would be imprinted in the dough.

Lift the barrier cloth off of the dough, and then, carefully lift the lace to reveal the faint impression on the bread.

I’ve tried this technique quite a few times now. I have to admit on a few of them, the stenciled design was not as deep as I would have wanted.

I think in those cases, I was impatient and did not allow my dough to proof long enough to create a deeper impression.

You may have to play around with the technique a bit to get the depth of impression you like the best.

Even a faint impression can be more fun than no impression at all.

My kids gave me this very cool bread saw for Christmas last year. You can find it online HERE.

Meanwhile, I continue to work on my food-on-the-move videography. I’ve included my latest Food in Motion video below for your viewing pleasure.

You can watch the video fullscreen within this post, or you can click and watch it over on You Tube.

If you opt to watch this video on YouTube, please consider subscribing to my channel, as I’m trying to grow my audience on that platform too.

Thanks so much for the support and enjoy the video.

Food in Motion

I think this technique will probably work on just about any bread recipe that requires proofing time.

I’d like to try this the next time I make sandwich buns. 

The crusty bread recipe I used for this post is by pastry chef, Zoe Bakes and you can find her delicious recipe HERE.

Homemade bread is even better when shared.

Consider bagging a loaf for delicious gift giving.

Meanwhile, I’ve featured a number of other posts about bread over the years, and you check a few of them out below.

Burger Buns

Wheat Sheaf Bread Loaf

Focaccia Bread Sticks

Beautiful Baguette

I hope you’re inspired to trying your hand at Stenciling Bread.

Pop back over here and let me know how it turned out for you.  I’d love to hear about it.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by. 

See you back here next time.

Stay safe and be well.♥