Bread

[FarmerChick]

I just tried a new white bread recipe from the internet......came out very heavy.....has that hocky puck feeling to it...LOL-LOL

Instead of making 2 loaves I made 1/2 of it into rolls. Well those rolls are heavy also....very heavy.

Delish taste cause Tony just ate a hot one down with butter------

but what I am asking here is :

how do ya'll get a lighter fluffier type bread? Is there a trick I am missing cause all my breads come out heavy. More liquid or add a dash of milk??? or anything to make it lighter and fluffier??

just wondering and thanks for any tips you can give me!



ALSO---how do ya'll store your fresh bread. In the olden days I always saw in on the counter with a cloth over it......what do you all do to keep it fresh for a while?

thanks ---trying to hone up my bread skills...work in progress.

 

[patandchickens]

I just tried a new white bread recipe from the internet......came out very heavy.....has that hocky puck feeling to it...LOL-LOL

If it's all white flour not whole wheat, the problem is almost certainly too much water. This is especially likely given the time of year -- flour this time of year has usually absorbed some humidity and you're likely to have to cut down very slightly from the amount of water the recipe calls for. Just a couple few Tbsp difference, one way or the other, can make a huge difference in how the bread comes out, unlikely tho it may seem. So try the same recipe several more times, experimenting a bit with the amount of water.

Another thing that can help is adding a couple Tbsp of wheat gluten (vital wheat gluten, gluten flour), although some people apparently have trouble these days finding it at a good price. It'll give you a fluffier airier texture.

Using some potato water for part of the recipe's water can help too, although I almost never remember to save potato water (water from boiling potatoes)

ALSO---how do ya'll store your fresh bread. In the olden days I always saw in on the counter with a cloth over it......what do you all do to keep it fresh for a while?

On the counter with a cloth, or nekkid in a breadbox, is fine if the loaf is only meant to last a day or two. For storage up to 3-4 days, put it in a plastic bag or plastic box (make sure bread is dead cold first, or it will sweat and then mold prematurely). For longer storage I'd suggest the freezer - homemade bread just does get stale and moldy faster than preservative/chemical-laden store bread.

Do not store bread in the fridge - it actually gets stale FASTER when refrigerated, and mold growth is not retarded very much.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[roosmom]

See, I like heavy, yeasty bread, right up my alley....mmmmmmm

Keeping it fresh............We always saved our bread bags for putting over feet in the winter before we went outside, so we had bread bags laying around. We also used these bread bags for putting loaves of hommade bread in after it had COMPLETELY cooled. another option for you.

 

[Homesteadmom]

When kneading or if using the machine check after a few minutes & if it is really wet add a little more flour till it is a real dough that is not shiny & wet. You might also think about proofing your yeast before using it.

I have a couple of bread storage containers that have a cutting grid built into them & I love them as I can cut uniform sizes all the time.

Also did you use bread flour or just all purpose flour?

 

[MorelCabin]

I uset o make light fluffy loaves, but my DH likes them heavy, so I fixed it by just not letting it rise so much. Maybe you just aren't letting it rise enough?

 

[ScottyG]

Adding a bit more sugar to the dough will make it rise more. So will adding a bit more yeast.

Also, I feel confused. I've always thought that MORE water in the dough made it lighter. All the evaporation while it bakes makes those delightful air holes in the bread. Like, baguettes and ciabatta and other very springy, hole-y breads are very wet doughs in general. Hmm. More research needed.

But yes, I'd say, up the sugar, up the yeast, and up the time of your last rising (just before baking) and you'll be all set.

 

[patandchickens]

I've always thought that MORE water in the dough made it lighter. All the evaporation while it bakes makes those delightful air holes in the bread. Like, baguettes and ciabatta and other very springy, hole-y breads are very wet doughs in general.

If you take a recipe meant to make 'regular' bread and put too much water in it, the product takes on a very heavy, underrisen, foam-rubber-y quality -- try it and see. It does have a larger pore size than the bread was supposed to have, but not in an (good) airy French bread type way, more like some sort of industrial packing material

IME, more sugar and yeast can help up to a point, but too much (esp. too much sugar) makes the dough overrise and then go *phlumph* down to yield an underrisen loaf.


Pat, who occasionally forgets to add yeast, and let me tell you THAT sure gives you a pretty amazing result, sort of like a springy brown hockey puck only weighing a lot more - even the chickens won't eat it

 

[MorelCabin]

When I was little my mom got this amazing bread recipe from the kids camp. It makes about 20 loaves. Anyway she had never made bread before but gave it her best...my mom is an amazing cook and baker...always was...
She forgot the yeast. So she had 20 loaves of bread that were heavy and hard as a rock. She didn't know what to do with it all but wanted to get rid of it before my dad got home because she was really ambarrassed about it. So she put it all in a garbage bag. My dad almost died trying to get it to the curb:>)

 

[Beekissed]

Don't most recipes have a prescribed amount of water that you use initially and then no more? Or are some of you using recipes that calls for adding more water in the process?

I know when we get heavy bread (and we make bread weekly) it is one of two things. Either the yeast was killed at the start by having too hot of water, or too much flour was added and not enough kneading (one son gets in a hurry with his bread making and just throws in the flour, gives a cursory kneading and is surprised if the bread is leaden! )

I've had an occasion when the yeast was just not any good, maybe too old. But, for the most part, these are the only reasons we get "dead" bread. We use 4 c. of water each time, so we can't possibly be using "too much" water, so we figure too much flour for the set amount of water sounds more fitting.

Oh, BTW, we used ziploc bags and put the extra from each batch in the fridge. We use ours so fast here they don't have time to "get more stale in the fridge", but, if you don't use yours this fast, they store well in ziplocs in the freezer.

 

[FarmerChick]

WOW everyone---thanks so much for the advice and tips to store.

I did use too hot water for the yeast on a batch last week I experimented on...I guess I killed it cause it didn't rise hardly and was laden like a rock.....chunks to the dogs and they got it down..LOL

very great info for me to figure out. Ya know even the 1 tablespoon of sugar I can taste so much in the bread. I don't like the sugar taste for some reason(?)--I know--wierd--but Tony loves it.

I will do some major experimenting. I guess it is worth going thru tons of flour to find the right combo for my bread.

I will buy "bread" flour next visit to the store and try that. Not ready to experiment too much farther just yet..LOL

great info!!!!!