Bread Too Crumbly

I have a good recipe for making an egg/raisin bread for Easter (white bread), and it always comes out great, except that the bread is a bit too weak and crumbly. A slice of it can fall apart on you while eating, and if you try to butter it with anything but those spreads in tubs, you usually just tear the slice into pieces trying to spread the margarine.

Any advice on what to do to "toughen up" the bread? I've always used all-purpose flour; would changing to a bread flour produce a stronger loaf that holds together better?

Some particulars: 9 cups of flour, 2 yeast packages, 2 sticks of butter, 5 eggs, other small items like salt and sugar and vanilla, makes 3 loaves. I use the quick-rise yeast, might regular yeast make the difference I'm looking for?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Tony

Reply to
Tony
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That's a lot of butter. Since butter is a shortening, it could potentially make the dough crumbly by inhibiting gluten development when you knead.

However, of more importance - how much water are you using? Hydration has a major impact on crumbliness and without good information on that it's hard to tell whether it's contributing as a factor.

Furthermore, what's your specific method? Sometimes differences in method will account for poor texture.

Reply to
Alex Rast

I think it is the hydration also. There is a lot of butter, but the texture of the final product would depend somewhat on whether the butter was added early or late in the mixing process. This sounds like a recipe for brioche to me.

Reply to
Vox Humana

Yes, and switching to a higher gluten flour would certainly help. It's pretty hard to develop enough gluten for a good chewy bread with AP flour. That's why your local bakery doesn't use it for bread making.

Fred The Good Gourmet

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Reply to
Fred

Thanks - the liquid is 2 cups (1 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water). My method is the quick-rise yeast way. I mix the dry ingredients (7 cups flour to start, 2 pkgs yeast, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 3/4 cup raisins), separate the 5 eggs and beat the yolks and whites separately (reserve 1 yolk for glazing), and heat the liquids (1 1/2 cup milk,

1/2 cup water, 2 sticks butter, 2 tsp vanilla) to 125 degrees. Then mix all together, add remaing 2 cups flour gradually till dough is stiff, knead for about 15 minutes until the dough blisters and the raisins are falling out as you knead. Let rise once, punch down, make 3 loaves, rise again, bake at 375 for 1/2 hour.

Tony

Reply to
Tony

Yes, I suspect you have too little water. With most of the liquid being milk, and a lot of flour in addition (7 cups), there's not that much water, even with 5 eggs. The milk, btw, will also contribute to a crumbly texture, especially if you're using full-fat milk. If the dough feels pretty dry once you've finished kneading, as I suspect it does, then a crumbly loaf is probably going to be the net result. You can add some more water at the outset, perhaps upping the water content to 1 cup, but you won't want to make it so sticky that you can't knead. I'd then fine-tune the water amount at the end of the kneading, kneading in enough to give it a slightly moist feel but not so that it's genuinely sticky or runny - I know the consistency I'd aim for but am struggling for adjectives to describe it.

Anyway, experiment with water amounts and see where that gets you.

Reply to
Alex Rast

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll experiment with using bread flour instead of all-purpose, less fat, and more water, and see what works.

Tony

Reply to
Tony

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