Compared to my bread, Papa John's pizza crust is lighter than the non-crunchy bits of popcorn.

I use whole-wheat flour.  I'm afraid that I am not very scientific with my bread, but I've determined that my cheap-for-orbital mixer can only handle about one cup if liquid.  The only consistency I've gotten is dense, fine-crumb bread.  With the mixer, I actually leave the dough stickier than what I would do buy hand.  I tend to do a quick final-shaping and just leave it to rise; no touching except experimental pokings after it's out of the mixing bowl.

Hello,

I'm so glad to find this place with great resources. This week I've made my first loaf following recipe from a Hovis yeast package. It smells and taste great, but it was very dense. After some googling and watching youtube and Good Eats (Dr. Strangelove) episodes, I knew my method was wrong. Didn't know about folding, and the day was too cold didn't have proper rise before bake. 

Then I tried the Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal bread from this site today, here is my problem (link to my bread photo and comment). The first 2 rises were fine, but after shaping the rise in pan is where it failed.

Both loafs were not doorstops, even the next day, couldn't have killed a duck (like in the film About a Boy) but it's dense. It's like a very cakey bread!

Also, I don't have a kitchenaid nor any mixers, I've been doing this by hand. Lots of recipes recommend only kneading for 5-10 mins and most of them assume one has a mixer but I could not pass the stretch window test to get the elasticity where needed to be without kneading at least for 20-30 mins. I do the heal-push-turn kneading method. My pizza dough came out perfect, but not my breads. Is it my method or the recipe that i've gone wrong?

Did I overknead? Underknead?

What else could have cause the dense bread?

How can i improve this next time?

I haven't a thermometre, I've heard of the tapping method, it wasn't full hollow but was afraid to overcook the bread. In this case, is this better to overcook than to undercook?

Advise much appreciated!

I've just returned from France and bought a loaf 'boulle'? in a bakery in Lille. It's exactly the type of bread I love and would like to be able to make myself.

It's a heavy tough white bread with a deep crust (probably not suitable for people with false teeth).It's vaguely similar to the batch loaf which is found here in Scotland in waxed paper wrapping and in Ireland usually unwrapped. Although not a batch loaf it's texture description is the nearest I can give.It is a world apart from the bland daily baked baguette sticks from local bakeries. I wasn't surprised that the Lille bakery had a queue of customers extending out into the street.

Can anyone help with a recipe that comes near to this bread? 

Hello all, Need some help again I'm afraid. I was lucky enough to have access to a professional kitchen yesterday with a fantastic steam/bread oven. I baked some sourdough there, which normally at home, rises well, bursting through its crust and comes out airy and quite light with big holes. However in the pro' oven at the resturant it came out with a beautiful even colour but didn't rise so well, and was much denser than normally is the case. Perhaps I didn't get the pro' oven hot enough when it went in? As it gets to temp' (in this case 250) very quickly indeed I didn't think of getting the oven rampant hot to start, which I do at home. Is that where I went wrong ? Needless to say I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Thanks for reading

James

So this is my second attempt at making this bread.  Actually, the first one turned out beautifully, but this is what I did differently.

I made the Firm Starter, then had to leave for business.  So instead of leaving it overnight, it was in my fridge for about 10 days.  It was fine when I got back yesterday, so this morning I got down to it.  I followed the next steps, and mixed it by hand and kneaded it in the bowl for a few minutes, but MAN, my wrists (and entire body weight) were no match for it.  I had to stop kneading it obviously, so its sitting on my kitchen counter covered in a towel.  What should i do?  That is one seriously dense dough!

Also, as an aside, I made the BBA Potato, Cheddar and Chive Torpedos and they were FANTASTIC!  Highly recommend everyone give that one a try.

I made a rustic white bread using Nancy Silverton's recipe from her Breads from La Brea Bakery book. This is my first time baking in cold weather and I'm thinking low fermenation temperatures might be the problem, since I've used this formula before with no problems.  I know my starter is healthy and performing well, so I am confident we can remove that from the equation. Here is what happened:

When it was time for the fermentation, the house was between 60F & 65F, and after two hours I could see no change in the dough. I then placed it in a room with a heater that raised the temperature to between 70 and 75.  After a total fermentation period of four hours the dough seemed to have spread out (the container was a bit wider than the dough) but not to have risen much, if at all. When I pressed on it it seemed rather firm, and my finger left an impression that lingered.  I didn't let it ferment further for fear of ruining the dough. I'm now wondering if I should have let it ferment longer.

I then shaped it and let it proof for about an hour as recommended but again, the rise I was supposed to expect was not discernable. Again I dared not let it sit out longer for fear of overproofing.  Should I have let it proof for a longer period at this point?

So next it went into the refrigerator overnight. Today I let it sit out for four hours in the warmed room as Silverton instructs, but the boule did not double in size as she describes (it barely rose at all) and when I pressed on it, the dough did not spring back as she says it should.  

Dreading the outcome, I baked per her instructions.  The result was a nice color and startling oven spring given the size of the dough (I hadn't expected anything at all!) but the crumb was stili denser than I was hoping for. My room mates praised the flavor and density so it wasn't a complete waste of flour, but I am wondering what I can do to make the dough less dense next time. By the way, I made a sourdough batard with this starter a few days earlier and it was also more dense than I prefer.  I would appreciate any suggestions/advice you may have.    Thanks!! Photos of the boule and the crumb are below.

Hi

I am an amateur yeast baker, just wanted to ask, because all the thing I've baked have come out  great in terms of taste, but their crumb is often really dense and heavy. I was wondering whether anyone knows what the cause of this is? I've used all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, with rapid rise yeast.

 Thanks!