There's something magical about the bread you get at your local bakeries - they're always sooo soft and fluffy. Many of these breads, especially packaged ones, are made with a ton of chemical additives such as calcium propionate, amylase, and chlorine dioxide which help keep them soft, light, and fluffy for days.
Commercial bakeries use two types of ingredients to slow spoilage — emulsifiers and enzymes. Emulsifiers keep bread from going stale by preventing oil and water from separating. Adding emulsifiers sometimes goes by the names “crumb softening” or “dough conditioning” because it works to preserve texture.
Wrap the bread in a damp (not soaking) towel, place on a baking sheet, and pop it in the oven for 5-10 minutes. In the microwave: Wrap the bread in a damp (not soaking) towel, place it on a microwave-safe dish, and microwave on high for 10 seconds. Check and repeat if necessary.
Perfect Your Yeast Levels
Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.
Yeast ferments the sugar present in the dough into carbon dioxide. The CO2 released from the yeast fills the dough and increases its volume. Once, the bread has baked, the heat causes the bubbles to break and makes the bread light and fluffy.
The secret to the wonderful taste and aroma of freshly baked bread is the Maillard reaction. It's a chemical reaction between proteins, certain carbohydrates and some of the fatty acids that occur when bread is baked in the oven, which gives it a delicious flavour and fine colour.
Baking soda and baking powder are more common in recipes for cookies, cakes, and quick breads, and they are responsible for giving baked goods the light, fluffy, porous structure that makes them delicious.
“Asian-style bread is high in fat and sugar – about 15 per cent ft and 25 per cent sugar. These two work together to give the soft texture.”
Baking with oil not only requires less work, and results in fewer dirty dishes, than butter, but it also produces tender, moist baked goods that get better with age and boast an impressively long shelf-life.
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.
My bread is like a brick – it has a dense, heavy texture
The flour could have too low a protein content, there could be too much salt in the bread recipe, you did not knead it or leave it to prove for long enough or you could have killed the yeast by leaving the dough to rise in a place that was too hot.
For best moisture retention, slice bread from the center out, rather than from one end. Store airtight with the two cut halves facing each other and pressed together. Wrapping bread to retain moisture keeps it soft, though it robs crusty artisan bread of its crispy crust.
By introducing fat, such as butter, oil, lard or vegetable fat, we will get softer results. Fat lubricates and tenderises the gluten to keep it moist and less chewy. They reduce the browning temperature, which shortens the time it takes for the crust to form.
If you want a lighter fluffier bread loaf just add 2 Tbsp of dry milk to the flour per loaf of your bread. Vinegar has a very similar effect to the dough as the ascorbic acid. It helps hold the dough together and strengthens the bubbles so they won't pop.
Calcium propionate is used as a preservative in bread and other baked goods, and it may be combined with propionic acid and sodium propionate. 1 Calcium propionate helps keep baked goods fresh by preventing mold and bacterial growth that would otherwise cause them to go bad.
It helps to make these soft and spongy.
Water vs.
Milk changes bread recipes by producing a softer loaf, due to the milk fat content, which also gives bread a richer flavor. Bread made with milk browns more easily than bread made with water, as lactose or milk sugar will caramelize as it bakes.
Does olive oil make dough softer? Yes - adding olive oil to sourdough bread will result in a softer crust and crumb. The oil as a lipid coats the flour and inhibits the gluten network resulting in a softer, tighter crumb and softer crust.
2 – Kneading Your Dough for Long Enough
Keading your bread for long enough is also key to producing soft and well-risen bread every time.
The mix releases carbon dioxide gas, causing the bread to rise while baking. The bubbles push the dough up and out, creating a soft and spongy texture.
British bread production has been industrialised to combine large, remote centres of production, plastic-wrapped loaves with a long shelf life, and an automated industrial baking process. The end result has a soft, pappy texture and little flavour unless made with seeds, cheese, onions, olives, or other additions.
The key difference lies in the dough's chemistry: Western-style bread has zero fat – its main [components] are flour, salt and water while Asian-style bread contains 15 per cent fat and 25 per cent sugar to give that soft texture.
Using too much baking soda or baking powder can really mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible.
Boiling the dough causes it to instantly puff, creating a chewy interior and giving the exterior a head start on forming a crisp crust. The baking soda also produces pretzels with a deep golden brown and cracked appearance.
Because it is alkaline, it encourages the Maillard reaction, or chemical process responsible for creating that golden color and caramelized flavor that make everything taste better. It's important not to use too much baking soda in recipes, as it can result in a metallic, soapy flavor.