What makes store bought bread so soft

Yes, that means more work but the airy results will be worth it. Lastly, note that you could potentially let the dough rise too long as well. If your dough is old you will find that you do have some airiness in your bread but it is much smaller than it should be and not as fluffy. How can it be achieved? Adding some gluten can help, especially with more whole-grain types of bread. Rye flour has less gluten than regular flour, and naturally, rye bread should be denser, but if you want to enjoy both worlds: healthy rye bread on one side and enjoy an airy bread on the other, it is recommended to combine two types of flour: rye flour and white flour and in this case adding some gluten contributes to the airiness of the bread.

Yeast reacts differently to variable temperature. Ten degrees difference in the temperature of the dough profoundly affects the growth rate of yeast. Basically, you want all of your ingredients and tools to be at room temperature. If you have your flout sitting in the fridge make sure to take it out about min before you start making your bread mix. This goes for any other ingredients you might use in your bread. So how does it work? The longer the yeast is allowed to work, the more gas is created which helps to create air bubbles in the loaves- the same air bubbles that make it airy and fluffy.

This technique is the best way to figure out if you sufficiently kneaded your bread dough. Insufficient kneading will result in underdeveloped gluten, creating a bread dense as a brick. To be on the safe side take a small piece of the dough a bit bigger than a golf or ping pong ball and hold it between your thumb and first two fingers gently start to stretch out the dough rotating it in a circular motion in order to stretch it around evenly. Once you have your dough thin enough that you can see light go through you know your bread is kneaded enough and you can start the proofing stage.

Measuring cups seem like an easy way to portion your ingredients but is it inaccurate. Remember, baking is a science and should be exact. There is too much room for error with measuring cups. You could have air pockets in the ingredient this is common with flour mostly while you pour it in the cup and you want to be able to tell that you do not have the correct amount. Some loaves, described as having 'premium' qualities, seem barely distinguishable from others being sold at less than the price of a postage stamp.

But the big bakers keep quiet about nutrition when pushing their 'standard' loaves, which still account for over half of the market and are sold on price alone. You might think that keeping prices down would be a good way to increase sales. But with bread, low cost and low quality have become so intertwined that conventional economics are turned on their head.

We produce some of the least expensive bread in Europe, but our bread consumption is also one of the lowest. It will take more than clever branding or a little soya, linseed and omega-3 to dispel the prevailing image of British bread culture as one dominated by pap. In the British Baking Industries Research Association in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, devised a bread-making method using lower-protein wheat, an assortment of additives and high-speed mixing.

Over 80 per cent of all UK bread is now made using this method and most of the rest uses a process called 'activated dough development' ADD , which involves a similar range of additives. So, apart from a tiny percentage of bread, this is what we eat today. The Chorleywood Bread Process CBP produces bread of phenomenal volume and lightness, with great labour efficiency and at low apparent cost.

It isn't promoted by name. You won't see it mentioned on any labels. But you can't miss it. From the clammy sides of your chilled wedge sandwich to the flabby roll astride every franchised burger, the stuff is there, with a soft, squishy texture that lasts for many days until the preservatives can hold back the mould no longer.

If bread forms a ball that sticks to the roof of your mouth as you chew, thank the Chorleywood Bread Process - but don't dwell on what it will shortly be doing to your guts. This is Britain's bread: a technological marvel combining production efficiency with a compelling appeal to the lowest common denominator of taste.

It is the very embodiment of the modern age. Below is a breakdown of the additional ingredients - aside from flour, water, salt and yeast - in a typical CBP loaf. Bread made with just these four ingredients was the basis of my bakery business for 25 years. Even yeast as an added ingredient is unnecessary with natural leavens or sourdoughs. So it is reasonable to ask: are these ingredients necessary? And, if not, what are they doing in our bread?

Enzymes are modern baking's big secret. A loophole classifies them as 'processing aids', which need not be declared on product labels. Additives, on the other hand, must be listed. Not surprisingly, most people have no idea that their bread contains added enzymes.

An enzyme is a protein that speeds up a metabolic reaction, and are extracted from plant, animal, fungal and bacterial sources. Chymosin, for example, is the enzyme used to curdle milk for cheese-making. It is either derived from rennet from a calf's stomach or synthesised by genetic engineering. A whole host of enzymes are used in baking. Their status as processing aids is based on the assumption that they are 'used up' in the production process and are therefore not really present in the final product.

This is a deception that allows the food industry to manipulate what we eat without telling us. In their own trade literature, enzyme manufacturers extol the 'thermostability' of this or that product; in other words its ability to have a lasting effect on the baked bread. Manufacturers have developed enzymes with two main objectives: to make dough hold more gas making lighter bread and to make bread stay softer for longer after baking. Many bakery enzymes are derived from substances that are not part of a normal human diet.

Even if such enzymes are chemically the same as some of those naturally found in flour or bread dough, they are added in larger amounts than would ever be encountered in ordinary bread.

And now the safety of bakery enzymes has been radically challenged by the discovery that the enzyme transglutaminase, used to make dough stretchier in croissants and some breads, may turn part of the wheat protein toxic to people with a severe gluten intolerance. This development is important because it suggests that adding enzymes to bread dough may have unintended and damaging consequences.

Surely no one can seriously suggest that bakery enzymes should be omitted from bread labels. Enzymes can be allergens and should be identified on labels in the same way as the major allergen groups. There is a fundamental dishonesty in treating enzymes as though they had no effect on baked bread when this is patently why they are used.

Judgements about ingredients should take into account the whole food; an enzyme may be harmless in itself but may be used to make an undesirable product.

Modern baking is schizophrenic about time, on the one hand wanting to reduce it to nothing, on the other trying to extend it indefinitely. And it is also in two minds about its raw materials, torn between the desire to remove things that get in the way and the impulse to add things that will make the bread easier for machine production , bigger, softer, cheaper, longer-lasting or more apparently healthy.

Baking technologists just can't leave well alone. There's always some functional advantage to be pursued, some marginal value to be prised from dumb nature, as if the human race had never quite mastered this business of bread. They also impart a rich, distinctive flavour. Due to the rise in dairy allergies and the popularity of veganism in recent years, it is becoming more common for commercially prepared bread to contain egg replacements such as soy lecithin, whey, or xanthan gum.

You know how they say the devil is in the details? From brands to types, each has its own properties that can make all the difference. Flour retains water at varying levels. They also produce unique eating textures. Sometimes switching the flour to a different brand is the difference between a soft light crumb and a harsh dense disaster!

To store bread, seal it in a bag before it cools completely 35C or 95F. You will find the bread stays soft for days! A combination of changes and forward planning is required. Getting it right will make you a favourite in your household! I can testify on that one! Let me know how it goes in the comments.

You are able to contribute to my coffee fund with any amount you are comfortable with. Every coffee is thoroughly appreciated! Thank you! They have similar amounts of water content so a straight swap should be fine. The bread may look a little paler. Let me know how it works! Your email address will not be published. Skip to content Bread is the stuff of life. Here are the basics of making your bread softer. Get My Baking Guide. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

Get your weekly newsletter for bread bakers! Subscribe to the newsletter. It will have nearly no oven spring and must be handled carefully. This is why we score before the final rise. Scoring after would deflate the dough. And then bake. A little butter brushed on the crust right after baking will bring out the crust colour some and soften the crust. I need to attend confession now that I have sinned and told someone how to make commercial bread.

Forgive me for I have sinned". A generic white sandwich loaf is a perfect description and should not be confused with bread, which it is not. Dig out your old bread machine recipes and see if that makes him happy.

Put Wonder Bread in the search bar and you'll get all kind of results - or tang zhong, but I don't think life has to be that complicated for unfussy husbands, lol. If you don't have a starter, it also works well as a yeast bread - just add the flour and liquid in the starter to the main dough instead.

The flavour will be different from the original, but still tasty. I usually use around 0. I do the first rise overnight in the fridge and the second rise at room temp the next day. Room temps here are around 27 to 31 Celsius. The second rise takes around 2 to 2. I've had the same problem - plain white sandwich bread. I use this recipe and it always satisfies those Wonder bread fans. You cant make it like commercial soft lifeless doughy bread, but they will eat this and not complain.

This is a recipe from the flour bag at King Aurthur Flour. Wonder Bread was the King of breads. I've tried everthing I know, using all the tricks, to make bread like it to no avil.

Dear manna, your secret is safe with us. I thought commercial practices would be somewhat different to what we do, but, 30 minutes mixing? Goodness, no wonder it compresses down to nothing when you squeeze it. Thank you everyone else for the suggestions. As soon as I 'force' my husband to eat the delicious olive, potato and sage loaf Mardewi, Wild sourdough I'll give the King Arthur recipe a whirl.

You can find the full recipe instructions on page of the book. If someone requests it, I can paraphrase the instructions here. It's my go to white sandwich bread. For loaves, bake them for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the loaves degrees halfway through for even baking, if needed.

I gave this recipe a try. Mixed it in a KA 6qt for 10 min on medium speed.