How do you make your home made bread light and fluffy???

[ilovedjasondonovan]

Currently we either make the dough by hand or use the bread machine to make it and then cook it in the oven ourselves.

Whatever we do it always turns out like a brick. An edible one, but still a brick.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can make them lighter??

Was discussing this today with a baker who recommended using vitamin C as an additive (you can buy it from Lakeland apparently)

Vitamin C - really? How much would you need to use?

Wholewheat or white? Wholewheat is v difficult to get a light texture with. I make mine half and half or 2/3 white flour. Also knead well for at least 10 minutes and make it as wet as you can but still kneedable.

We normally do a half and half as purely wholemeal is just too heavy for the tiddlers.

Yes, shop-bought bread contains it also.

Not sure how much you'd use, but it's quite cheap

here at lakeland

Make sure your dough is soft - quite wet - prove fistly for 1 1/2 hours then 1 hour once in tin. Agree add 1/3 white flour to help lighten wholemeal. Also put about 10 ice cubes in a tray below for the first 20 mins, the steam helps. HTH

You don't need vitamin C.

Half and hlaf come out much softer than wholemeal.

Dough should be wetter than you think. Make sure you knead for 10 minutes, then leave to rise till doubled in size, knock it back, put it in the tin, then let it double again before cooking.

Homemade bread doesn't have the same texture as bought because it hasn't got the same additives and enzimes in it as bought bread, but it is much better for you.

Agree with hobbittoes- you need your dough to be quite wet. Richard Bertinet's method's are brilliant- I highly recommend his dough book.

Agree with making it wetter. Also, I use half bread flour and half plain- Bread flour or strong flour makes for a dense loaf. In fact, if I'm making rolls or baguettes I will use a very small amount of bread flour, if any at all.

Should have said ice cubes in tray below in oven!

Knead it well! My Dsis gets positively irate and punches the dough like it personally offends her but her bread is always really good. Her pastry is like shoe leather though, because she takes the same approach.

My DM is the inverse - lovely light pastry, bricklike bread because she sort of prods it around instead of thumping it.