Things You'll Need:
- Flour
- Yeast
- Milk
- Sugar
- Butter
- Salt
- Eggs
- Mixing bowl
- Loaf pans
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Step 1
Use the right type and amount of flour in order to achieve a light and airy bread. Softer flours, such as white flour and bleached wheat flour, make a naturally softer loaf than cracked wheat or rye. When adding flour to the wet mixture, don't add the entire amount stated in your recipe. Many recipes call for too much flour. Determine the correct amount of flour by the feel of your dough as it mixes. When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and holds together as a mass, you have enough flour in the mix.
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Step 2
Use ingredients in the wet mixture designed to create lighter and airier homemade bread. Use milk instead of water as your main wet ingredient, or add milk powder to the mixture if you don't want to use whole milk. Add eggs for lightness. Fats, especially butter, help bread create a softer crumb. Sweetener, in the form of sugar or honey, helps the yeast create bubbles, adding to the airiness of the loaf.
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Step 3
Knead your dough carefully, taking care not to overknead it. Only knead the dough until the surface becomes shiny. At this point, you have achieved the necessary cohesiveness of the dough and more kneading can make for a stiffer dough and tougher bread. If your recipe calls for letting the dough rise, then punching it down before it rises again, as do most traditional bread recipes, consider skipping the punch-down step. Often this omission helps to make for a much lighter and softer loaf of bread.
