Breads? I know it's odd

[La Quinta]

My husband and I have been making our own bread for a long time...BUT...it always turns out a bit "cakey" as I expressed to Habs some time ago regarding cuban bread. I have no idea why. I live in an extremely (and I mean extreme) dry climate. I would always assume that "cakey" bread is the last thing we would need to worry about...buy new yeast regularly...flour from Whole Foods...etc. Any baker/smokers out there? HELP?

[Gizmo]

What type of recipes for bread have you tried?  Have you done a wheat and white flower combination bread?  Most of the recipes I have for the bread maker use powdered milk, sugar, yeast, and flower.  The wheat recipe calls for
2-1/2 Tsp Dry Yeast
2-1/4 Cups bread Flour
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1-1/2 Tsp. Salt
1-1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp Dry Skim Milk
4-1/2 Tsp. Shortening or Sweet Butter (I use shortening, as I always hear it works better)
1-1/2 Cups less 3 tbsp. lukewarm water.

[Wildcat]

Is it possible that you are not allowing the yeast enough time to work before baking?

[Habanero Smoker]

When you first posted the problem, I thought you were only referring to Cuban bread. As I recall you bake your bread in an oven with a pan of water, so I won't go over that.

I'm not sure what you mean by it being cakey. Cake texture varies for dry to moist, if the bread is on the dry side and crumbles, or dense then it is a dough consistency problem, and that could be caused by any one of your ingredients. You state that your yeast is good so the other most common problems are that you are either using the wrong flour that doesn't have enough gluten and/or too much flour making the dough to strong for the yeast to do it's job. Also bread flour made by different manufacturers have different amounts of gluten, and they also may measure differently. If you have a scale you may want to weigh the flour instead of measuring. The standard weight for bread flour is 4.75 ounces per cup.

I always say, if I can't figure out the problem I always go back to the basics. This site may be helpful.
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/bread.htm

[Habanero Smoker]

Here's another link that may be useful in trying to find a solution. Your problem could also be caused by using to high of a temperature at the start.
http://www.baking911.com/bread/problems.htm

[La Quinta]

Hi guys...thanks for the web pages Habs...I actually found one of them this morning...before logging on...that baking 911 is fabulous! I'm going to make a pullman loaf for a party tomorrow and cut out the "guts" for "tea sanwiches"! I hope it comes out ok! My Mom bought my husband the pan for his birthday this week and I can't wait to try it out! (We are an odd family!)
Giz...I've made every kind of bread...bagel...english muffin...I just can't figure out why they always come out denser (if that's a word) then the ones you can buy at the store? We tried crackers...don't do it...just buy them...there is a reason there are 700 different kinds of crackers in the store...they know how to make them...I DON'T!

Thanks for all the feedback as to my cakey bread...and Habs...I mean dense...holes too small in the bread...I want a nice light crunchy bread. Never had problems with the crust...that's easy...It's the crumb.

[Habanero Smoker]

There is a really good reference book you may want to purchase;"Cookwise"; by Shirley O. Corriher. Although it is not solely a bread book, it has an extensive sections on breads. This book is broken down into sections, and goes into the science of cooking/baking, has a lot of tips and list common problems. I was looking through it more closely last evening, and for yeast bread problems one of the problems listed:

Dense cakelike texture: (could be one or more of the following)

• Inadequate rising time
• Fat added at wrong time
• Too much sugar
• Too much salt
• Oven or stone too hot

So now I've just learned what cakelike means. :)

[Gizmo]

We tried crackers...don't do it...just buy them...there is a reason there are 700 different kinds of crackers in the store...they know how to make them...I DON'T!

Yah, the 700 different kinds in the store are all the rejects from what they were trying to do.
No mistakes in cooking, only recipes you won't repeat (if you can remember what you did -my problem).