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Fluffy home made bread secrets..

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ive recently started baking bread.. ive got a range of recipes and i follow them all by the letter! but my bread always comes out very dense. its edible and goes nice with a stew or some soup... but no good for a sandwich!!

can anyone give me any advice on how to get the bread fluffy and light?

 

ive been told a range of theories from kneeding to oven temp, but i dont know whats right!!

 

:help:

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Its all in the kneed. If you pull the dough and stretch out the gluten you will get lighter bread. What i tend to do it kneed it as normal at first then start stretching it out like blu tack or plasticine and roll it up. Mine comes out fine.

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ok so the trick is kneeding and stretching!! ouch my arms.. lol... how long do you kneed for??

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ok so the trick is kneeding and stretching!! ouch my arms.. lol... how long do you kneed for??
As long as you kneed to!

 

The amount it requires depends on your strength on the temperature of the dough and your hands. You'll learn through experience to realise when it feels right

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As long as you kneed to!

 

The amount it requires depends on your strength on the temperature of the dough and your hands. You'll learn through experience to realise when it feels right

 

I have a bread mix which I bought when it snowed. Havent used it yet, but will remember your advice.

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ive recently started baking bread.. ive got a range of recipes and i follow them all by the letter! but my bread always comes out very dense. its edible and goes nice with a stew or some soup... but no good for a sandwich!!

can anyone give me any advice on how to get the bread fluffy and light?

 

ive been told a range of theories from kneeding to oven temp, but i dont know whats right!!

 

:help:

 

I used to have a breadmaking machine which did all the kneeding for you, but I gave it away. Wished I hadnt now.:(

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i have a bread maker that someone gave me! but it has no instructions and i havent really looked at it! its at the back of the pantry! my MIL said not to bother with it as its just as easy to do it yourself! im starting to think she's wrong.. lol

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The other trick is to keep the dough nice and wet - don't add flour when you're kneading as this will change the texture and it will tend to be more brick-like. If you find the dough is sticky you can use a drop of oil on your hands but generally the wetter the better just keep working it using your finger tips rather than your whole hand and eventually the dough will become more manageable...

 

Adding some fat, butter or olive oil, to your dough will also help to soften it.

 

I think it's probably best to work on your basic dough and get that right before you try adding too many fancy ingredients.

 

450g strong white bread flour, (or half white, half wholemeal)

280g water (or half in half water and milk)

7g dried yeast (or 15g fresh)

15g salt

 

a couple of tablespoons of oil or a large knob of butter can be kneaded in.

 

You can activate the dried yeast first using a little water and flour and a teaspoon full of sugar but that's not strictly necessary. Fresh yeast can just be creamed with a little water before adding to the flour.

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Bread making machines make great bread. Smells fantastic too. Downside is that u tend to eat it all when cooked with loads of butter. Lol.

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My electric mixer has two 'paddles' to kneed dough. I usually mix the dough using the 'paddles' for about 10 minutes then hand kneed the dough for 5 minutes before leaving it to prove.

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I recently started making bread,I use a food processor

with a dough hook which takes the hard work out of kneading.

The bred does not taste,smell, or have the texture of the bread my grandmother made

If I remember correctly the yeast in the old days was the texture of firm tofu and was called balm.Does anyone else have the same recollection ?

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Sometimes the yeast can be the problem. We have had packets of dried yeast that haven't made good bread. When we have made a second batch using a different packet of dried yeast, same flour and technique its been better. We tend to use dried yeast as its not as easy to get fresh yeast but I do prefer bread baked with fresh yeast.

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