Why Is My Breadmaker Bread So Dense And Heavy?
Generally, when baking bread, you go into the bake with a certain goal whether it’s bread with a crispy golden crust and a light airy center or a light, soft crust with an equally light fluffy center. The aim to get the light airy center is almost always the same.
However, there is no denying the fact that baking is not a cakewalk in any sense. It comes with its own set of challenges that you must master in order to get the perfect results. One of the most common issues associated with baking the perfect bread is that you might end up with a heavy and dense structure that feels like a brick when what you really want is a soft airy pillow surrounded by a lovely protective outer crust.
Whether you’re using an oven or a breadmaker this brick of bread is a common occurrence for bakers around the world and can be very frustrating after hours of preparations. So how do you create a light airy bread with a lovely golden crust? While there is never an exact answer to this question, we’ve provided a few possible ways to avoid dense bread below.
Why Dense or Heavy Bread?
While baking might not be rocket science, still getting the perfect loaf tends to be an art in itself. It takes exceptional skill along with several years of experience to get the perfect crusty and fluffy bread every time.
Dense or heavy bread can be the result of not kneading the dough mix properly –out of many reasons out there. Some of the other potential reasons could be mixing the yeast & salt together or losing your patience while baking or even not creating enough tension in the finished loaf before baking the bread.
Whatever the reason for the heaviness of your bread, when used correctly, a breadmaker should provide you with the soft crusty bread you desire every time.
Tips to Make Your Breadmaker Bread Less Dense
Whether you are using a compact breakmaker or a high-quality bread machine, it is important to invest in some patience while baking. If you always end up making heavy or dense bread, it’s probably time for a change.
Below we present a series of useful tips that can guide you on your path to that light airy bread you’re seeking.
Choose the Right Flour: When it comes to improving the quality of your bread while baking, choosing the right bread or flour is of utmost importance. The type as well as the texture of the flour that you choose play a vital role in deciding the overall quality of the bread that comes out of the breadmaker.
Whole wheat flour tends to have the hardest and the densest composition out of all other flour options. Therefore, you should avoid making use of whole wheat flour when you wish to achieve the fluffy composition. In order to achieve a lighter & sweeter texture, it is recommended to make use of finer flours such as white flour.
On any given day, preparing your own flour from scratch, is the best option. In addition to being a healthier alternative to the otherwise packed & preserved flour, freshly-prepared wheat flour tends to deliver a unique taste to your bread.
Sift the Flour Properly: Sifting flour properly breaks up any lumps while aerating the flour at the same time. An aerated lump free flour means it is lighter and it makes mixing easier allowing for even distribution of salt and yeast. Basically, a looser, finer, aerated flour makes it easier for the dough and the yeast to form those pockets of gas when proving that makes a bread fluffier and lighter.
Rising of the Bread Dough: The fermenting agent or yeast can either make or break the bread that you are baking, better quality yeast will always help. Allow the dough enough time to form those air pockets that lightens up the flesh of the bread, especially after the second knead. When you make use of the bread machine sourdough process, ensure that you add a family of yeasts or some fermenting agent to deliver the right fluffiness as well as consistency.
In addition to following the tips above, you can also consider making use of a reliable, high-quality bread machine to ensure the best results.