This page lists a number of help hints and tips for making good bread. Most of the tips here are aimed at making loaf or roll type breads where there is a substantial amount of soft inner material and a crust. Other bread products like pittas and naan breads follow the same basic rules of bread making so some of the tips below will be applicable. A little common sense or experimentation will quickly tell you what to apply where.

The Bread Goes Stale Quickly and has a Cumbly Texture

The most common cause of this problem is leaving the bread to rise for to long. This is easily done if you are unable to control the temperature of the environment where the bread is rising. It is also tempting to let teh dough rise that little extra bit in an effort to make a lighter bread. The problem, however, is that the dough becomes over stretched and falls to pieces. Allowing the dough to approximately double in size is the correct amount of rising. This problem can also be caused by adding too much yeast.

The Surface of the Bread is Heavily Cracked

The dough was probably allowed to dry out while it was rising. Rising dough should be covered with a tea towel or oiled polythene to stop the surface drying. Even if the surface doesn't crack it is generally not very pleasant if it has been allowed to dry. Many modern books on bread making suggest the use of oiled polythene but I find that it sticks to the bread no matter how well I oil it and it is messy to oil it in the first place. A tea towel, on the other hand, pulls cleanly away but needs to be washed afterwards.

The texture of the bread is uneaven or has large holes

The most likely cause of this problem is insufficient kneading meaning the ingredients weren't well mixed. It is recommended that you gently knead the dough for 10 minutes. If you fancy a bit of a workout you can successfully knead dough in 5 minutes. This problem can also be caused by leaving the dough uncovered while it is rising.

The bread is "heavy" or "doughy" and lacking a springy bread like texture

This can be caused by a number of factors. First check that the flour used was intended for bread. Any flour sold as strong or extra strong can be used to make bread. Normal white flour is intended for cakes and other such items and is unsuitable for bread making as it lacks sufficient gluten. Alternatively the dough may not have been left to rise for long enough or rising was attempted at a temperature high enough to kill the yeast. Finally the bread may simply have not been cooked for long enough. In this final case you can sometimes salvage a loaf by popping it back in a hot oven.

The bread collapes or has a sour flavour

This can be caused by two things: either the bough was allowed to rise for too long or the oven wasn't hot enough during cooking. Many ovens only just get hot enough to bake good bread and need to be fully up to temperature before the bread is put in.

Wholemeal bread is heavier than white bread

Almost certainly this is caused by too little water in the initial mixture. The whole grains in wholemeal bread require extra water to become soft and pleasant in the final product. If insufficient water is added they can draw it from the dough resulting in the bread being “heavy”. Try a mixture of half wholemeal flour and half white flour for a lighter wholemeal loaf.