Friday I made lasagna and two loaves of bread. Lasagna turned out really well but the bread was a little dense (heavy on the inside) any tips??
Saturday I hung out with D for the morning. Then he went to the wedding and I went to the pig roast. It was sooo good! I ate so much food :) There was a dance afterward.
Sunday I went to my friend's going away party and two other girls we went to high school with were there. I used to be really good friends with these two girls in elementary and high school and then we kind of lost touch, so it was really nice to see them. One is actually moving into a house with her boyfriend at the end of this month on my street! So hopefully we will keep in better contact again.
Yesterday evening I went to D's house and brought the leftover lasagna and we shared it with his roommate's dad an watched Out of Time. It was a pretty relaxed weekend and I only spent $50 which was on groceries and bread pans.
I am hoping to go for a bike ride today and need to finish some sewing projects I've been putting off. Maybe today is the day. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Re: Dense Bread
ReplyDeleteMake sure to let it rise 3 times for best airiness, and it should double in bulk each time :)
What flour are you using?
ReplyDeleteIf you can get bread flour, it's better or at least all purpose.
Also, make sure that you don't beat the dough too much either.
If you are using yeast to rise your bread (as opposed to baking soda) - Knead, knead, knead. I knead my dough for minimum 20 minutes and make sure it's super stretchy and easily and quickly bounces back to it's original shape. When you think you are done kneading, form it into a ball to let it rise, and press your finger into the ball slightly, if the depression bounces back out you're done kneading, if the depression stays pitted, you need to knead it some more. If you don't relax the glutten strands so they can stretch, you won't get fluffy bread.
ReplyDeleteAlso, let the dough rise for an hour. Punch it down a few times and re-shape it into the shape you want, then let it rise for another 30-60 minutes. Only when it's doubled in size, THEN pop it into the oven to bake.
Good luck and keep on trying. I'm still learning and praticing but I've totally noticed that my bread is much fluffier if I knead until my arms are about to fall off, LOL!
I was using AP flour. I would like to add some WW next time though. I used yeast but I didn't knead it for very long. I used the KA stand mixer's spiral hook to do the kneading and next time will put it on for longer or combine it with kneading by hand. I did let the dough rise for an hour and then punched it down, shaped it and let it rise for another hour. I'll give it another go soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips!