crusty bread

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Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 1:37 pm Post subject: crusty bread

but what if you don't want crusty bread? I made two loaves this morning by mixing the dough in the bread machine then shaping and baking in the oven. Nice loaves but quite a thick crust on them. I've noticed the same if I try and do rolls. I'm after something softer ( I nearly said like shop bought!) what do i have to add to the basic mix to end up with a thinner crust? or even better a soft bap like texture. ( my recipe is just flour, oil, salt, water and yeast.)

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 1:43 pm Post subject:
I find that if you add a little more water to the dough you'll get a lighter crumb; and when you bake them, chuck (literally) a small amount into the oven two or three times then the crust is softer. Also, bake them at a lower temperature. I usually do bread between 200 and 225 C, but rolls I do at 175 to 200.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 1:46 pm Post subject:
ta!!

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 1:58 pm Post subject:
If you don't cover it properly whilst it rises then that can add to the problem. I use lightly oiled cling film

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:01 pm Post subject:
tea towel not enough then?

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:10 pm Post subject:
Place a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven when you bake your bread; this will produce a steamier atmosphere and a softer crust. Also, one I do sometimes, is to immediately cover the loaves when you take them out of the oven with a very damp teatowel to produce the steam effect.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:15 pm Post subject:

Darn Sarah beat me to it...I was going to shamelessly refer the honourable lady to [url="https://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Cookery/Bread_Making/"]an article[/url] which says "Should you find you've slightly overcooked the loaves you can drape them with another cloth while they cool, so the steam moistens them and hides your mistakes." - just as well I didn't, hey?

Alternatively you can accidentally shut a meant-to-be-crusty loaf in the oven before it has cooled down and come back the next morning to make sandwiches and find the over door covered in steam and the loaf lovely and soft

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:23 pm Post subject:
i notice that the old bread machine advocates milk powder in the recipe ( i usually forget!) what would that do? I've tried adding an egg in the liquid, not a bad loaf but a bit cakey in texture and dries out quicker.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:30 pm Post subject:
No idea. I'm a bread Luddite..........

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 2:33 pm Post subject:
Supposed to make it store longer, can't see why, I think it makes it sweeter and don't like it so never use it. The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook (the old one) has a recipe for baps...and I dare say like me you have a million in your bookshelves too, perhaps there are some ideas and tips there?

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 3:03 pm Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook (the old one) has a recipe for baps...and I dare say like me you have a million in your bookshelves too, perhaps there are some ideas and tips there?

doh! ( could have been a pun....!!) I've got that book ( who hasn't!) off to look at it now! Its usually the simple answers isn't it?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 4:33 pm Post subject:

If you leave the bread in the machine to cool it goes softer. You have to store it somewhere airtight though! My bread machine has a sandwich programme for a softer crust, but I like it crusty, so I've never used it. I'll try it tommorow and see what happens.

It said in the book that milk powder was to increase the nutritional value of the bread. I didn't have any milk powder, so never bothered with it (seems to be fine up to now) the flour people said not to put sugar in, so I don't, and yesterday we ran out of butter, so I left that out as well. Apparetnly it's supposed to improve the keeping qaulities, but our bread lives on the breadboard (cut end down) and gets eaten within about 12 hours, with may be a bit left overnight for toast in the morning, so I wouldn't know about keeping it!

Sugar is supposed to make it crustier, so if you leave that out it might help. clarks say not to put sugar in it anyway.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 5:45 pm Post subject:
( who hasn't!) I haven't, that's who.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 6:08 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

We've experimented with butter, sugar, different yeasts, milk powder, all manner of things like that in the bread machine. A bit of sugar does indeed help the crust, but the milk powder doesn't seem to do a thing. Butter doesn't seem to produce a better loaf than using a bit of vegetable oil does, and adding some oil or butter certainly helps the bread keep without going stale.

I find that I get a crustier loaf from the bread machine by taking it out hot and wrapping it in a teatowel, rather than keeping it anywhere airtight. It crusts as it cools. A bit less oil in also helps.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 05 6:29 pm Post subject:
i tend to use oil in mine as the recipe calls for a tablespoon and I'm too lazy to scrape butter in and out of a tablespoon, so I just measure out the oil instead. Tend to reach for the olive oil too as its handiest! And the Hamlyn all colour cook book is a classic of its time - apart from the chicken in aspic recipe!!

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