A home made bread question

[sofasurfer]

Last week I make a loaf using frozen dough. It was very airy and made awesome toast. I got tired of it real quick, though, because of a slightly undesirable flavor.

Today I made a loaf from scratch. Basic flour, water, salt. Tastes pretty good. My complaint is that it is denser and doughier. Toast is not airy. I kneaded it well and it was not sticky. Did I not let it rise enough?

[1stimestar]

How fresh was your yeast? Check the expiration date. And yea, let it rise at least double.

[LowKey]

When I make a basic flour, water, salt and yeast bread (it's my gramp's Eyetalian bread recipe), I let the yeast sit out overnight. I mix 1 cup of flour, one cup of water and one packet of yeast in a BIG bowl. Throw in about a teaspoon of sugar. Not more unless you have a really BIG bowl. NO SALT. Add that the next morning.

Cover with a clean dish towel and leave it on the counter overnight. This gets the yeast going good and strong. In the morning, stir it down and add the rest of the ingredients and continue on. The crust should be thick and crusty but the inside should be good and light.

When I make regular loaf bread I use Carla's recipe out of the Encyclopedia of Country Living. It takes milk, butter, sugar, flour water, a little salt and yeast. Best bread I ever made.

[sofasurfer]

The yeast is dated good till June 2015.
If I want to let the yeast work all night, why would I add flour to the mix instead of just letting the yeast/water mix sit alone?

I watched many videos till I found what looked easiest and most basic. I wanted just the basic water/flour/yeast concoction so I can be sure to understand the process at the root.

I mixed yeast/1.5 cups water/honey. Let sit about 16 minutes till a good skin on it. I mixed 1/2 cup flour at a time, stirring with a whisk till I had about 1.5 cups worked in. Then I used a wooden spoon though another 2 cups (about) of flour till it all formed into a ball. Let it rise while the pan set in warm water in the sink. Kneaded till I had no more sticky sticky. Punched it down and kneaded again a bit then placed in the pan. Seemed like a lot of dough so I cut off about an eighth of it. Reformed the lump and put into pan. Let it rise for a half hour or so. I baked the cutoff next to it as a lump...3 inch muffin looking. I baked it all for 35 minutes at 375 degrees. Aside from the loaf being a bit small, it did not rise above the pan, it looks fine. But as I said, I am not content with the texture.

[Rick]

The temp of your water is critical as is the type of yeast you use. Did you use active dry yeast, Quick rising yeast or compressed yeast? Active dry yeast takes much longer to rise than quick rising yeast (hence the name) so it makes a difference in how long you let the dough sit. Yeast is a living organism so it takes the right temperature of water to activate it. 95F - 115F is the temp of water you need to add your yeast to. If it is hotter than that the yeast will die and the bread won't rise. Colder than that and the yeast won't activate. Check your yeast about 6 minutes after you add it to the water. You should see tiny bubbles starting to appear. This is called "proofing" the yeast and it ensures the yeast has activated and is actually starting to grow and release carbon dioxide. All you should have mixed at this point is the yeast and water. I've never let my yeast sit overnight. If it works for Lowkey then he doesn't need to fix it.

I use a sifter to sift my flour as I measure it. The reason is the flour settles during shipment and a cup of sifted flour weighs 4 1/4 ounces while a cup of unsifted flour weighs 5 ounces or just a little more. That means you are adding more flour than the recipe calls for if you don't sift the flour. If you don't have a sifter then fluff it with a spoon or spatula. You just want to break up the flour so it is fluffier.

The dense bread is usually caused by too much flour, not letting it rise enough or the flour you used. Whole grain, rye, etc. create denser breads than unbleached all purpose flour. Hope that helps.

[sofasurfer]

Fleischmanns Active Dry.

I remember my mom sifting flour.

I did not concern myself with measuring the flour. I kneaded it and added flour until it had no more sticky spots. When I found a sticky I dusted a little on that area.

[Rick]

That may be the reason for the denser bread. Follow the directions on the amount of flour and sift it. If you have too much flour for the amount of yeast used then the yeast can't raise all the flour.

[sofasurfer]

Aha. Okey dokey. Thanks.

[sofasurfer]

I have eaten some of it. Has that yucky taste that the frozen dough bread had. Can I assume that is a plain bleached white flour taste? Also, the bread is messy when cutting. Lots of crumbs. When I made the frozen dough bread it cut great with no crumbs, but this batch is very crumby. Should probably use whole wheat next time or at least mix a little in for some flavor.

[1stimestar]

I never measure my flour but I've been making bread a long time. I just dump a pile of it onto the counter and pour my yeast water/milk mixture into a well, working it as I pour. Also, if you knead it too much, it will be tough. I think you didn't let it rise long enough. You want to let it rise in a warm spot. I put it on top of the fridge to get it up high as it is the warmest place in the house. I normally only bake in the winter when it's really cold.

[Rick]

Did you do that when you first started? You can eyeball a lot of things after you've made it many times and know you are correct. But if you are just starting out with something I'd suggest you need to know what works well and measuring is pretty critical. I seldom measure spices because I've made enough stuff that I know how much a given spice is by eyeball but I measured everything in the beginning.