Thread: Who bakes bread?

Originally Posted by Kees

The missus got me a bread machine for my birthday. I get great loaves using bread baking mixes from the supermarket but if I start from scratch, using wholemeal, water, yeast and salt I get very dense loaves.
Can anyone tell me what's the baker's secret is?

If your loaves are dense, I suspect that you have a problem with your yeast. Either there isn't enough, you're not giving it enough time to rise, or the yeast is dead. The density is from there not being enough rise in your loaf. There is a relationship between time and the amount of yeast. Less yeast equals more time. More yeast equals less time. Dead yeast equals a dense loaf.