Bread Recipes - Yeast, French, White & More | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

How to improve the taste of homemade bread? ›

If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.

Allow the bread to rise in a draft-free 80°F to 90°F area away from a heat source. If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf.

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

If you add baking soda to a quick bread, the gas bubbles it releases into the batter lifts your bread. When the combination of baking soda and acid combines with heat, proteins in the batter (like eggs) turn rigid. The rigid structure traps the gas and results in a light, fluffy texture.

Your bland bread could be the result of rushing the process. Try a slow overnight rise in the refrigerator. Plan ahead to proof your loaf overnight. This hands-off time in the icebox will slow the fermentation process in your dough and result in a complex-flavored loaf.

Eggs: Eggs, like flour, provide structure for the yeast bread dough. It is also a good way to enrich the dough with the nutrients found in eggs. When eggs are used in a yeast bread, it makes the bread have a richer flavor.

Problem: Your bread has a fermented, alcoholic smell or taste to it. Causes: Too much yeast. Over-proofed.

You can also add herbs and seasonings such as garlic, rosemary, dill, chopped onion, jalapeño, shredded cheese, chopped nuts, dried cranberries, etc. My no yeast bread is the quick bread alternative here—you can add flavors to that loaf, too! Baker's Tip: Avoid adding too much flour to the dough as you work with it.

Instant milk powder makes bread dough super soft and fluffy and also helps to give it a good rise. It also contributes to the dough staying nice and soft after baking for a little longer than a recipe that does not use milk powder.

Does letting bread rise longer make it fluffier? ›

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

Unlike yeast, baking soda needs an acid to activate it. By adding an acid to baking soda (such as lemon juice or cream of tartar) a chemical reaction occurs that produces carbon dioxide and fills your bread with air — much like yeast does. You can substitute yeast with equal parts lemon juice and baking soda.

Baking soda changes the texture of baked goods by causing a batter or dough to spread, while baking powder produces light, fluffy texture. Some recipes may call for baking soda or baking powder on their own, while others may require both ingredients to create the ideal balance for great texture.

Adding 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of baking soda to bathwater may help relieve some of the symptoms of an active yeast infection. Baking soda is known anecdotally to help to calm itch and soothe other ailments like athlete's foot, poison ivy, and hives.

'Any nuts, seeds, small or chopped dried fruits, olives, fresh thyme or rosemary can be added without changing the dough. For the best distribution, scatter the ingredients into the dough at the 'knocking back' stage. '

Sugar (glucose) provides “food” for yeast, which converts it to carbon dioxide and alcohol; sugar enhances bread flavor; gives the crust a golden color; improves the crumb texture; and helps retain moisture in bread.

Homemade bread contains no chemicals, artificial additives, preservatives, or enzymes. These are often used in store-bought bread to make them stay fresher for longer and enhance the taste.

If the flavor is unappealing, then yes, toss or compost it. But if it tastes good, then you can make bread crumbs and/or croutons with it.