When I bake bread it is heavy and flat. How do I get it light and fluffy?

Answer 1

Make sure you don't incorporate too much flour; if it becomes too dry when you're kneading it, it will be heavy. Make sure you wake up the yeast before mixing it in, by mixing it with warm water and a drop of sweetener. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. If it's too cold, the yeast won't wake up. Also, make sure you are adding enough salt. Salt acts as a leavening agent, and without it your bread will be flatter. And make sure you knead it for a sufficient amount of time, and let it rise for a sufficient amount of time. If you use a machine to do your kneading, be careful not to over-knead because it will leave your bread like a rock. But if you do it by hand, you really can't overdo it, even if you knead for hours. Let's see, what else... for the final rising, make sure the bread is as tall as you want it before you put it in the hot oven. If you wait TOO long it might fall. To make it rise well in the specified amount of time, your kitchen should be warm, and you should cover the rising loaves with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. This has really made a difference for me. SO, there's alot to consider, and bread baking falls somewhere between a science and an art, so keep it up! It will keep getting better and better, and this is a great time of year for baking! :o)

Answer 2

Try adding the yeast to warm milk instead of warm water (this makes for softer fluffier bread!), and let it stand in a warm place for 30 mins-1 hour first. Are you using Strong flour? It's the best type to use for bread. And when you rub the fat (flavour and texture-wise, butter or margerine are better than lard) into the flour, use your fingertips, do it from about 6 inches above the bowl, to keep the flour aeriated, and add salt and also a teaspoon or two of caster sugar to the flour before rubbing in the fat. You could also try letting the dough prove twice before baking (activating the yeast more, and improving the texture), and bake at a lower temperature than your recipe states (try 170 or 180 C), as I've often found the bread is rock-hard when I've followed the temperature stated in recipe books. Just keep checking to see if it's cooked through when it looks/smells done (knock on the bottom of the loaf, and it should sound hollow.
You might also like to try putting your dough in a loaf tin, as then it will rise upwards rather than spreading outwards, making for more soft insides, rather than more crusts! I sometimes glaze the loaf with a bit of warm salt-water, but definitely NOT egg, as egg will harden whilst being baked. It looks pretty, but it's more suited to brioches and other cakey breads than normal bread.

Best of luck, and enjoy!

Answer 3

Check the expiration date on your yeast. If you buy yeast in a jar, refrigerate after opening.

Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap or waxed paper, then let it rise in a warm place until double (30-60 min.), punch down, shape into loaves, and let it rise again before baking.

Your kitchen may not be warm enough for the dough to rise. Here are some ideas for creating a warm rising environment:

*Boil water in the microwave, leave the steaming cup of water in it and place the dough or loaves, covered with waxed paper or oiled plastic wrap, in the microwave to rise.

*Run an inch of very hot water in the kitchen sink. Place the dough or loaves in the water and cover the entire sink with a dish towel.

*After the dough is shaped into loaves, fill the mixing bowl you used for the dough with very hot water, place a pizza pan or cooling rack over the bowl, and put the loaves to rise over the hot water. This lets the bread rise and also makes it easier to clean the bowl.

*Run the dishwasher's plate warming cycle, then place the rising dough in the warm dishwasher.

*If it's 80 degrees outside, cover the dough well and place it on your patio table.

Answer 4

You probably aren't letting it rise long enough. How long you let it rise depends on the type of bread, the freshness of the yeast, the amount of sugar in the dough and the amount of fat in it. Generally speaking, with yeast bread after mixing all the ingredients you should let the dough rise until doubled in bulk. Then you kneed it and let it rise again until doubled. Then you kneed it, seperate it into loaves and let it rise once more until doubled in bulk. Then it is ready to bake.

Answer 5

Yep, you need yeast, you must mix it with the flour (one spoon on every bread), and you must knead it, then you make a ball with the mixture, and put it in a bol covered with a cloth, and let it there untill it increases its size at double (more or less), they you may knead it and make the bread...

Answer 6

I'm guessing that your yeast is dead. Buy new yeast. Don't overwork the dough in the kneading process.

Good luck

Answer 7

Your dough is to dry, it must start really sticky, and knead it for longer. Also try filtering your water it may be to hard (chalky).

Answer 8

try more baking soda or yeast

Answer 9

yeast?

Answer 10

YEAST