This No-Fail Recipe Makes Homemade Bread Blissfully Simple (2024)

FAQs

What ingredient makes bread moist? ›

Lubricate With Oil

One of the easiest ways our bakers follow to make bread soft and fluffy is by using 1-2 tablespoons of lubricant/fats such as vegetable oil to wet the ingredients. This will prevent the formation of excess gluten, as excess gluten makes bread chewy.

Yeast is another critical factor in ensuring your loaf doesn't come out dry. As the dough rises and ferments overnight, it will produce carbon dioxide, which helps to expand the dough and give it a more airy texture.

Bread flour with a high protein content is ideal for making soft and fluffy bread dough. The higher protein content helps to develop gluten, which is essential for the structure and texture of the bread. By using a combination of wet and dry ingredients in the right proportions.

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. Always use strong flour instead of plain and make sure too much salt was not added.

If you want delicate, soft, and tender baked goods, I recommend using oil vs. butter. Butter will result in a denser crumb and not be as moist.

Hydrocolloids can retain moisture in the bread. This is important because moisture plays a crucial role in the freshness and softness of bread. By holding onto water, hydrocolloids help prevent the bread from drying out too quickly, thus maintaining its moistness for longer.

The main cause for homemade bread drying out so quickly is the fact that no preservatives are used in the baking process. Store-bought bread uses preservatives that not only keep it moist but also help keep mold away. Homemade bread lacks preservatives, and so it does not last nearly as long as a store-bought loaf.

When you add milk to your dough, the lactose (milk sugar) will add a subtle sweetness to your bread, and the milk proteins will increase its nutritional value. Better still, the milk fats help retain carbon dioxide gases during baking, so your loaf comes out softer.

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

If the indentation left by your finger doesn't move, the gluten has stretched as much as it can and the dough is ready to bake. Don't leave it any longer or the air bubbles will start to collapse, as the gluten will be unable to support them.

Why does my homemade bread fall apart so easily? ›

Too much flour and not enough water can cause crumbly bread – people often do this if the dough is too sticky and they add more flour rather than kneading through it. Other culprits can be overproving or not kneading enough – the things you need to do to get a good structure.

As the yeast grows and multiplies, it uses the sugar, forming byproducts of carbon dioxide and alcohol, which give bread its characteristic flavor. Sugar tenderizes bread by preventing the gluten from forming. It also holds moisture in the finished product.

Brush or spritz water all over the bread. Use more if the loaf is very dry and/or has a thick crust. Use less if the loaf has a thin crust or just needs a little pick-me-up. I've actually run the crust of a stale loaf directly under the faucet for a brief second without the bread getting soggy.

foil. Storing bread in either plastic, cloth, or foil helps retain the loaf's moisture. This moisture retention is a plus when it comes to the bread's crumb (interior) — but a minus if you're talking crunchy-crispy crust, since wrapping bread will inevitably soften its crust as well as its crumb.