Homemade bread question

[Denanna]

HI, first of all I finally managed to make edible bread, yay lol. I realize and am fine with not being able to make bread as soft as what you can get at the store, but I want to be able to use it for sandwiches and not just to go with meals. I know if I put it in plastic too soon it will get soggy but if you just keep it wrapped in a towel it gets dry so can someone please tell me how to get it right? Thanks so much.

[Daylily]

Once it cools down enough that it won't sweat in the plastic, it will be ok to bag up.

[Christy]

Best things are the old fashioned metal bread bins. Do you have hem in the USA?

 

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[lovinit]

I brush/rub butter over the top and sides of the bread while it is still warm to keep the crust from becoming crispy, and hard. Then bag when cooled completely.

[mommato3boys]

You can make it softer by adding dough enhancer. I buy the 2 gallon storage bags for my bread they are cheap and use twist ties. I would like to have one of the metal bread boxes. I think my mother may have one I just have to dig into her pantry and see if it is there. Next time I am B'ham I think I will dive in and see what I find.

[Stormy]

I brush/rub butter over the top and sides of the bread while it is still warm to keep the crust from becoming crispy, and hard. Then bag when cooled completely.

 

 

This is also the way I do my bread.

[Ambergris]

You can soften it by using potato water as your water, or by adding a spoonful of potato flakes.

You can soften it by adding a little honey.

You can soften it by crushing and adding in a 500 mg Vitamin C tablet.

[AMarthaByHeart]

Does anyone have an old fashion 'Angel Biscuit Recipe'? My mom and grandma made them. I can't find one that taste like theirs. Thanks.

[zophiel]

My bread is pretty soft, and I don't add anything. In fact, if anything, I add less flour. Here's what I do:

 

Once I have my yeast proofed, I add 1C flour and mix. Then add my salt and another C flour and mix together. Then I start adding flour little bit by little bit. Once it is holding together in a ball, I roll it out into a floured surface, and start kneading, adding flour as I go, little by little, until it is no longer sticky. Once it's elastic, I stop for a few minutes, and prep my rising bowl. Then I do another kneading session, adding a bit more flour if needed, until it's shiny and stretchy. I let it rise, punch down, knead a little. Then I divide into bread pans, and let it rise a second time. After the second rise, I bake it.

 

I find that if I use the flour little by little in the adding phase, I end up reaching the proper textures using a lot less flour than called for. Also, the second rise helps a lot. This is great bread for sandwiches. It does tend to "blob out" if trying to make a hearth bread. So my challenge is to make my breads a little more firm, so they hold their shape!

[Amishway Homesteaders]

sounds like you may be Baking it too long?

For most bread (sandwich type) 35- 40 minutes is long enough, when you take it out of pan (right away) you should put it/them on wire racks to cool. When cool put into plastic bags and close with twist tie. Leaving it out on counter is OK but if you want to keep it a few days put in ice box on a shelf. IF you make a bunch you can freeze the extra and it will still taste like fresh made.

 

Are you making it the old way (kneed, let rise, kneed a bit then put into greased pans, let rise again, then bake?

 

It should not be coming out hard that way?

OR

are you doing it that new "non-kneed' way? <--- I personaly don't like doing it that way.

[ChelleAlaska]

My sweetie loves soft store bread and I found a recipe for homemade bread that is just as good. Here is the recipe I use: EZ Whole Wheat Bread. It comes out so good. He doesn't like crunchy crust, so we also do like the other ladies and butter the top when it comes out of the oven. Let cool before putting in bread bag.

 

To make bread baking a bit quicker, when I am making one batch, I go ahead and measure out the dry ingredients for a couple more loaves in ziploc bags - one batch per bag. I have written on the bag a list of wet ingredients to add. The ziploc bags then go on the shelf (or in the fridge). When it is time to make up the next loaf, we just have to pull out one of the ziploc bags, add wet ingredients and make the bread. Saves a bit of time for us.

[ChelleAlaska]

I figured the cost for a loaf of our bread - we use mostly organic ingredients - if we use store bought flour - cost is $1.49 per loaf. If we use home ground flour - cost is $0.97 per loaf. Compared to around $5/loaf at the store, it works out pretty good!

[Denanna]

Thank you all for your helpful advice. Christy, We do have a metal bread box that we keep bread/rolls/ect in. Amber, that sounds yummy, I will try it. Zophiel, I might get brave and try that even though it's going outside the breadbox

Chel, what a great timesaver, I might just do that! AmHome, It is possible that particular loaf was baked too long. The recipe says 1 hour so maybe I will tweak it a bit. I think I put butter on the top of that loaf, but I waited too long and it was not warm. I made a sourdough loaf a couple days ago and put the butter on sooner and it was softer and bagged it as soon as it was cool enough and it is still soft so that's good. Sometimes I put everything in the breadmaker and set it on dough and go from there, and sometimes I do it all myself, which I prefer, but it's nice to have the option in case I have other things to do. I am working towards not buying store-bought bread anymore. I am very excited to finally be sucessful at making this very basic food. It makes me feel really good to do it myself, especially since I'm a pretty good cook and can bake yummy things too, I just couldn't do bread! LOL. I have a really great bread book my parents gave me a while back that has all kinds of different breads to make, now I think I feel confident enough to try them! I made homemade chicken soup the other night and made the Parker House Rolls from that book. It made 36. We have 4 adults and 2 kids and no rolls survived! One of my DD said you have to make those again, and my DH said I know who's making rolls for Thanksgiving!