Soft, Lighter Bread

kirstyreanne

Hi all,

I had a breadmaker for Christmas (which I love already) & although the bread it makes is absolutely lovely, it is quite dense & heavy & whilst this is nice with soups, it's too much for me for sandwiches. Now I know that I'll never get it as light as shop bought bread as it won't have the additives (yippee!), but does anybody have any receipes for a nice light sandwich loaf?

TIA

wannaberich1

I'm having the same issue... as well as sinking at the top which is another thread!!!

I think it is a case of playing around with the recipe until you find one that works.. I use a couple of different ones but you could try all recipe's for some of their recipes?

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/994/best-bread-machine-loaf.aspx

purpledaffodil

Could try upping the yeast by an extra half teaspoon, or it could be your flour does not have enough gluten- I find Tesco's strong white bad in this respect.If this does not work then a touch more liquid? Although the fallen top can be caused by too much liquid so that may not help. Good luck with the trial and error. It will be worth it!

Agapanthus

Try extra-strong flour - that may help. If you're making wholemeal bread then replace some of the wholemeal flour with some extra-strong white. It's a question of experimenting.

kirstyreanne

Many thanks all for your replies (thanks button isn't showing so can't thank you properly at the moment). I'll have another go adjusting the recipes slightly.

The_Mighty_Gusset

I use Allinson's Premium White Very Strong Bread Flour - Te$co sell it, and it's usually cheaper than many of the alternatives.

I've also largely given up on bread making machines, I find they are very particular about accurately measured quantities in recipes, whereas if you do it the old fashioned way you can muck about with quantities much more.

MrsFraggle

I find I get a lighter loaf when I use warm water rather than cold.

Might just be coincidence, but my kitchen is a pretty cold room so I think the warm water does help.

anguk

I've never tried myself but I know some people use a dough improver or vitamin C when making bread:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/claybrooke-mill-dough-improver/F/C/cooking-baking/C/cooking-baking-bread-making/product/11682

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/doves-farm-vitamin-c/F/C/cooking-baking/C/cooking-baking-bread-making/product/13122

snow

I've used this bread improver from Lakeland, it works, but I still prefer to use very strong flours instead... And my mum swears by Vitamin C as an improver for low gluten flours.

Welshwoofs

I get very light loaves with asda or tesco's own brand strong bread flour. If I'm doing a wholemeal loaf I'll mix half wholemeal/half strong white.

The secret to a very light fluffy loaf I've found is that where the bread maker says 1 teaspoon yeast, I'll use 1 1/2. I also up the sugar by the same amount and the loaf rises right up and is very soft.

mi_jardin

I find my bread is a bit lighter when I set the timer overnight, it gives it that bit extra time to rise I guess.:o