Struggling!
Hi,
I seem to be struggling with light fluffy bread in my 2lb bread tin. I do as follows..
400g Strong Bread Flour, 6g Yeast in one side of the bowl, 8g Salt in the other side of the bowl. Blob of olive oil in centre and then mix normal tap water in until its a nice dough. I then pour a bit of olive oil on the bench and then kneed the dough on that. I'm finding its sticking very badly no matter how slow or fast I'm kneading. I then keep adding a bit of olive oil to the bench to stop it sticking as and when. I knead for 5 to 10 mins until it feels different and feels very stretchy. I then put it into a bowl and prove for an hour to hour and half (doubled in size). I then get it out on a lightly floured surface and kneed a little bit more and then shape and transfer to the bread tin. I preheat the oven to 200 degrees (fan oven) and when its risen to the top of the bread tin , I put it in the oven for 25 mins at 200 degrees.
It cooks fine , and looks quite brown but almost always feels hard outside (the crust) and the inside doesn't have very many big holes , has quite a few little tiny ones but overall it feels very dense.
Any ideas?
I'm thinking the temperature is too high. If I put the temperature down, am I right in thinking it will make the crust less hard and should make it more fluffy inside?
Matt