Bread turns out hard.

[jeanne90]

I love breads but I can't make it perfect on my own. I tried making banana bread and soft pretzels but they turn out to be hard after coming out from the oven. Anyone here who can help me as to where I have gone wrong? The use of yeast in the bread recipe is suppose to make the dough bread fluffy and soft but in my case it doesn't turn out to be so.

 

[sking]

Are you putting enough milk or water into the batter? You might want add a little more liquid too soften it up a bit.

 

[Suplex790]

Perhaps you should use all milk, and no water. This often happens if not enough liquid is used to keep it moist.

 

[limcid]

Hmm, I don't use any milk at all in the breads I've made. Maybe experiment with different yeasts and flours. It could also be a bad recipe, itself. Try some similar recipes.

Also, I wouldn't try to make a whole loaf. Make several very small loaves at once, noting the difference in the ingredients. This way you could do several test runs all at once, saving time, money, and frustration.

Heh, listen to me talk like I know. I've only been making bread in my bread oven for less than a month. But I love my bread!!!

 

[jeanne90]

Ok thank you all for the tips. I will try first with adding more milk and see if the bread will soften a little.

 

[limcid]

What does the milk do to the bread. The bread recipes I've used only call for water.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

Some of the bread machine recipes that I use only call for water, but then it says to add a little powdered milk to the dry ingredients. I think it might make a little fuller body on the bread, and maybe healthier, if it is made with milk instead of just water.

I have tried variety in my recipes with other ingredients, as well. If it says butter, and I only have a dab left, I have used olive oil instead' and the bread came out just fine.
I like to add a bit of shredded carrot to the recipes, and sometimes herbs, like oregano and garlic, for a bread that is going to be eaten with soup or stew.
If the bread is coming out hard, and not rising, maybe the yeast is not working. Get the little jar of yeast, and not the little packets, and then keep it in the refrigerator, so it stays fresh. Be sure the water in the batter is warm, and that there is sugar for the yeast to feed on, and then see if it rises better.

 

[Becky]

When you say it is hard, do you mean that the crust is hard on the outside or the bread itself is dense?

 

[jeanne90]

When you say it is hard, do you mean that the crust is hard on the outside or the bread itself is dense?

The bread itself is dense.

 

[Becky]

If that's the case then increasing the amount of liquid should hopefully work well If it feels sticky at first then just keep going as it will become a lot firmer as you knead it. Let us know how you get on!

 

[Lilley1]

It can be very frustrating when your bread turns out hard or dense, especially when you have been craving it and smell it cooking. I'm not an expert but have baked bread from scratch several times over the past few years but only for special occasions or when I have that uncontrollable craving. When bread has turned out dense for me I have noticed it was two things on two separate occasions. The first would be butter. Does your recipe call for melted, cooled butter? Mine did and I was too impatient to allow the butter to cool naturally without putting in the fridge (this recipe takes a total of 6 hours to complete). So, the ingredients being used at the wrong temperature could be one factor. The other time my bread turned out dense is when it had a very hard time rising. The temperature outside and inside my house was too cold for it to rise. So the next time I just used a heating pad under the bowl with a heavy towel on top of the bowl and it worked great.

I'm sure you will find the reason why your bread turned out dense. Don't give up!

 

[natb]

I have found over the years, to be careful not to over cook your bread and not to get to much flour in it. Also, after moving from eastern Canada where the humidity is higher than here in Alberta, that I had to adjust the amount of liquid in my recipes. The main thing is not to give up, practice makes perfect, and enjoy.

 

[PrideKidd]

For me it all depends on what type of bread I am trying to make. If it is a regular type of bread, I agree with most posters that reducing your liquid would be helpful, as well as trying a different kind of flour.

When I am making banana breads and such I have taken to using crushed pineapples in place of oil. I know it sounds odd but grandma knows best right, it seems to make my breads of this kind way more soft and yummy!