Bread is the stuff of life. It’s how we start our day in the morning, pack for lunch and dinner, and it’s the perfect complement to any meal. I believe that it’s feasible for everyone to make their homemade bread if they wish! Homemade bread is more nutritious, free from preservatives, and tastes better.
While baking at some point, you might find that your homemade bread isn’t as soft as you want it to be. Well, there are a few tips & tricks in baking that will help you in making perfect and softer bread.
Use of Fresh Ingredients-
The use of fresh ingredients is very essential for making bread. One of the most overlooked things we do while making a loaf of bread is not choosing the right ingredients which impact the overall quality of our bread. Selecting the best and the fresh ingredient is the key to making a good bread. If you’re using old yeast, it makes bread crumble and fall apart. Using old baking powder makes our bread dense.
Key: The fresher the ingredients the better the results.
Addition of Sugar-
The amount of sugar we add to dough is very less but it has a great impact on the quality of our loaf. Sugar is a natural tenderizer and also reduces water activity. It serves as food for yeast. By adding sugar we can get a softer bread.
Make sure your Bread is hydrated enough –
A well-hydrated dough allows the gluten to properly extend and promotes a strong gluten network. A moist crumb will feel softer to the mouth. This means increasing the dough hydration of a recipe makes a softer crumb. Yet, too much water can weigh down the gluten structure to create an overly dense loaf.
Don’t overproof or underproof the bread –
Proofing is the stage where you let your dough rise after you finish shaping the loaves and before it goes in the oven. It is the stage of fermentation. If you don’t let it rise long enough, and put it in the oven too soon, it is under-proofed. in the same sense if you take your time and wait too long before getting your dough into the oven you have over-proofed your dough.
Over-proofing of dough can limit the rise of the bread. If the resting time is long, the bread will sink back down. Under-proofing will also have a similar effect. Make sure you get it at the right time by giving your loaf a soft poke with your fingertip: it should leave a small indentation and very slowly spring back.
Milk –
Usually, milk is added to add flavor to the bread. Due to the milk fat content, we get the softer crumb of the bread. It also enriches the dough and gives the bread a creamy color, and a golden crust. The best way to add the milk to the dough is by replacing it with water, otherwise, our bread will become overly hydrated which leads to a denser loaf.
Just follow our simple tips & tricks in baking, you will achieve the most aromatic and soft bread, better than in the best bakeries.
READ HERE :BREAD ART: THE CRAFT OF MAKING BREAD
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