Bread Questions

Recently, Amy emailed me a question regarding my bread book. Unfortuately, Amy, I am hoping you are reading this as your spam blocker at MSN is blocking my email reply to you! Apparently it has recognized my email address as spam for some reason, and so no one who I email at MSN or Hotmail can get email from me. It's a bother.

Amy's question was:

I've tried your white bread, 100% whole wheat bread, and the mixture bread (white/wheat.) The white turned out the worst, just flat. I'm having trouble in two areas: 1) lack of rising, and 2) low flavor.

My response:
Hi Amy,
The lack of rising is most likely because of one of three things: poor quality yeast (too old or otherwise not active), not enough kneading, or not enough gluten in the flour. Most likely with a new baker it is not enough kneading. It may help to set a timer when kneading the bread to make sure you are kneading long enough, and start the timer once you have put enough flour into the dough so that it is no longer sticky.

For the flavor, did you add the salt to the bread? The salt tends to make a world of difference in the flavor and texture, I have found. Also, what sort of oil did you use? The oil may make a difference in the flavor of the bread. I usually use either butter or olive oil. Usually olive oil, as I like the flavor. Something with less flavor may affect the flavor of the bread.

Also, when the bread rises well it also slices better, and thus works better for sandwiches. The kind of knife you use for slicing bread also makes a big difference, as well as letting it cool completely before it is sliced.