Reason why bread making goes wrong.

The Hovis Hill , a very famous hill that has appeared in many adverts for that very bread brand. And making your own bread can be a bit like walking up that hill, a little like hard work, you are half way up and wonder why you are doing it , you ask there must be a quicker way. But when you get to the top you look at the view and then you know it was all worth it.

Now there are any number of reason why when you are making bread it will not work out as well as you expected. And a number of thing can effects why the bread goes wrong but here is a list of common failing and the reason why they might have happened.

Close texture, stale yeast, too much salt or sugar, insufficient kneading, too much liquid, too little liquid, second rising to short, dough left to rise in to warm a room and finally the oven to cold.

Poor rising of the dough, stale yeast, too much salt or sugar, mixture to dry and rising time to short.

Uneven texture and holes, too much liquid, too much salt, insufficient kneading, too long or to short rising, dough left uncovered during rising, oven to cool and not knocked back enough.

Coarse texture, too much or too little salt, too much or too little liquid, insufficient kneading, too long or too rising or the dough left uncovered.

A wrinkled top crust, second rising too long, dough not covered, insufficient kneading and not knocked back enough.

A sour to yeasty flavour to the bread, stale yeast, too much yeast, yeast creamed with too much sugar and the second rising too long so the brad is over proved.

Cracked crust, second rising to short, tin too small for the amount of mix and finally the oven too cool.

So I think just looking back across this you must do thing in a simple way, use the best fresh ingredients, especially yeast. Make sure that you measure everything in to your dough mix. Anything to do with pastry bread or deserts always follow the recipe or you will end up in a world of regrets and bad products.

Do not rush thing and do the job right, if you have to knead the bread you have to knead the bread, and that means vigorous and strong movements by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook. When following the process cover your dough and  knock bak and shape as best as you can for as long as you have to do so.

And finally make sure you oven is preheated and at the right temperature, too cool and your bread will be pale dry and hard, to hot and the crust will be to dark or burnt, and your centre not cooked.

Bread is a easy thing to make and only takes a few ingredients , but you need to follow the process and make it work.  Start with an easy recipes get to know that recipe get it right and them make other breads. After you have mastered one the others will come in to place. And remember that nothing is better than telling everyone that you made your own bread by hand. It is a true sense of satisfaction that you get, it is that  a connection to the very basic of foods, bread.