Why Is My Bread Machine Bread So Dense? - Bread Dad (2024)

FAQs

Why Is My Bread Machine Bread So Dense? - Bread Dad? ›

If your bread comes out too dense, it is likely due to one of the following reasons; You are using old or stale yeast, using a cold refrigerator temperature liquid (which slows yeast growth), baking in a cold winter temperature kitchen (yeast likes kitchen temps of 75-80 degree F), using all purpose flour (versus bread ...

Too much heat or humidity might lead to a too-quick rise and a crevice near the center of your bread. Conditions that are too cold might delay proofing or rising, resulting in a super-dense loaf. The bread machine works on a timer and hums along at its regular pace.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.

After baking the bread, put it in a plastic bag just before it cools to room temperature. The residual moisture in the bread will soften the crust.

Allow your white bread to rest for at least one hour (two hours is best). Whole wheat bread needs a little longer, so hold off for two to three hours if you can. Also, use a serrated bread knife to slice the bread. These are designed to cut through bread in a way that reduces tearing and crumbs.

Move the dough (either in the bread machine pan or to another bowl) to a warmer location. This might hasten the rising process.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

The bread dough did not rise enough. Whole wheat, cake, self-rising and non-wheat flours such as rye, oat, barley, rice and soy all have too little gluten. Also, self-rising and cake flours are lower in gluten and therefore will not produce the best yeast bread.

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

What is the best flour for bread machines? ›

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, with its high gluten, is an excellent flour for bread machines. Numerous people have told us that their recipes worked in the bread machine using King Arthur, when they didn't work with other all-purpose flours.

The texture and density of baked products such as bread and cakes, the manufacture of which is a major commercial concern, is controlled by the way their rheology and vapour content change during the baking process.

Many bakers are hesitant to pre-heat thoroughly because of costs, but then the whole bake is a waste and disappointing because of poor oven spring and a dense loaf. Too much extra flour worked into the dough while folding and/or shaping can cause dense bread.

Getting the amount of flour right is vital due to the high flour ratio to the other bread ingredients. Measuring one or two tablespoons too much per cup (easy to do) can cause your bread to be dense.

Pack the bread in a covered nylon bag and put it in the freezer of the refrigerator. Keeping this way can leave bread all month long. Want to save bread for a long time but still soft, should use oil paper or nylon bag, tightly packed inside to have a lump of sugar and then to cool.

Getting the amount of flour right is vital due to the high flour ratio to the other bread ingredients. Measuring one or two tablespoons too much per cup (easy to do) can cause your bread to be dense. You may think that Grandma made excellent bread and never weighed anything.

Some attribute the demise of the bread machine to the fact that cooks were just disappointed by their results. Lara Pizzorno, the author of Bread Machine Baking, chalked it up to food snobs who regarded the machine as “the electric equivalent of The Bridges of Madison County” in a 1996 article in The New York Times.

Choose the dough setting on your machine and press start. Allow the machine to knead, mix and rise your dough. When the entire cycle is finished remove the dough and form into loaf (loaves) or place in desired pan. Preheat oven to 375 Cover the dough and put in a warm place to rise for 20 more minutes.

In order to keep these things from being shredded or mashed during the kneading cycles, add them at the end of the second kneading cycle, about 3 minutes before the machine is due to go into its first rise. This gives the machine time to knead your additions into the dough, but doesn't give it time to tear them apart.