Dry Bread

[Roby]

What would make my bread come out dry?
The dough comes out very moist maybe a little to moist, mixed in a machine cooked in the oven.

There small loaves.

Ingredients Cooked at 350, 25 min
2/3 Tbl water
1 1/2 Tbl oil
1 egg
1 Tbl Honey
1 1/4cups bread flour
3/4 cups whole wheat bread flour or White Wheat
1 Tbl powdered milk

3/4 tspsalt
1 1/2 tsp yeast

 

[taxlady]

I don't think there is nearly enough liquid in that recipe.

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't think there is nearly enough liquid in that recipe.

You're right. 2/3 tbsp of water? I've never seen a measurement like that for bread.

 

[Andy M.]

But the OP stated the dough was, "very moist maybe a little to moist".

 

[taxlady]

But the OP stated the dough was, "very moist maybe a little to moist".

Maybe it seems moist because of the oil, but the flour still didn't get properly hydrated.

 

[CharlieD]

+ 1, I agree. Another thing is how long you bake and what temperature that play roll.

 

[pepperhead212]

I can't imagine even being able to make a dough with 2 tsp of water, so I think you probably mean 2/3 c of water? That, plus an egg seems like plenty of water with 2 cups of flour, even though the WW absorbs a little more water. However, that is a very small loaf, compared to the ones I make, though baking only 25 min. @350° doesn't seem like it would dry it out.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I agree that if the dough was soft and pliable, ecen a llitle too wet, the OP just put in the wrong measurement for the water for his post.

With that assumption, I have found that the amount of fat used in yeast breads, quick breads. cakes, and even pastries , is the determining factor for how moist the end product comes out. Water evaporates to an extent, and will not make for a moist end result. But fat will. For every one cup of flour, I use 3 tbs of fat, be it butter, cooking oil, or whatever fat is required for what I'm making. I believe the OP used too little oil in the recipe.

With that 3 tbs.fat for one cup of flour ratio, I can bake great yeast breads, muffins, cakes, and quick breads. The difference in them comes down to the leavening agents, flavorings, and sugar content.
That's how I can just wing it with so many recipes that supposedly require exact measurements. That ratio of fat to flour opened the door to great, and successful experiments with baked goods.

Anyway, that's my solution to the dry loaf issue. Feel free to discuss it. That's why we are here.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[pepperhead212]

Chief Seriously, do you really put 3 tb of oil per cup of flour in your yeast breads??? That would be 18 tb, or 1 1/8 cups of oil or butter, in a recipe with 6 c of flour, which I can see in a brioche or challa, as well as many quick breads and sweet breads (that zucchini bread I made recently had an even higher %!), but that's unusual; with yeast breads with 6-7 c flour, most of mine have 4 tb, which keeps them fairly moist, for several days while using the loaf up. So that 1½ tb seemed about normal, for that much flour. And many dinner breads are made without fat at all, and these are very moist, as long as you eat all of them soon! Which is why I rarely make those just for myself, though, of course, the leftovers have good uses, as well, like bruschetta. Or even breadcrumbs - bread is never wasted!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Chief Seriously, do you really put 3 tb of oil per cup of flour in your yeast breads??? That would be 18 tb, or 1 1/8 cups of oil or butter, in a recipe with 6 c of flour, which I can see in a brioche or challa, as well as many quick breads and sweet breads (that zucchini bread I made recently had an even higher %!), but that's unusual; with yeast breads with 6-7 c flour, most of mine have 4 tb, which keeps them fairly moist, for several days while using the loaf up. So that 1½ tb seemed about normal, for that much flour. And many dinner breads are made without fat at all, and these are very moist, as long as you eat all of them soon! Which is why I rarely make those just for myself, though, of course, the leftovers have good uses, as well, like bruschetta. Or even breadcrumbs - bread is never wasted!

crossing memories. I checked both my multi-grain, and white bread recipes.

Yup, I was mixed up a little. For the white bread, U use 7 tbs. oil for 15 cups of flour. For the multi-grain, it's 5 tbs. of oil for 4 1/2 cps mixed flours. Sorry about the mistake.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Try this recipe:

1 cup buttermilk, 80°– 90°F
¾ tsp salt
1 Tbs unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
1 Tbs real maple syrup
1 cup bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup milk powder
2½ tsp yeast, active dry, instant or bread machine

Put the ingredients into the bread machine in the order given, set it for a 1½ lb loaf with medium crust, and run it on the whole wheat setting. I would let it bake in the bread machine, but that's just me. If you do decide to use the bread machine, be sure to remove the paddle from the pan after the second rise.

 

[Roby]

not sure what or how that 2/3 tbsp of water cot in there I'll on it.

 

[Roby]

I don't know what the 2/3 Tbl water is.
Cooked at 350 for 25 min.

 

[Roby]

The 2/3 cup water + 1 Tbl Water

 

[dcSaute]

there is a method called "baker's percentage" - everything is measured as a percent of the flour used....


I use 130g per cup for bread flour, whole wheat would be very slightly more.
1.25c + .75c = 2 cups = 260 grams of flour
2/3 c water + 1 Tablespoon water = 175 grams of water



175g water / 260 g flour = 67% hydration
that's on the low side.
the lower side for bread flour
and the yet lower low side for whole wheat.
hence the "bread is dry" issue.


try 75% hydration - 195g water aka 6.594 fluid oz = 13 Tablespoons of water.
if you have a scale -

260 g bread+whole wheat flour

195 g water
kinda' demonstrates why baking by weight is so handy.....