Hi everybody! I'm new here, so please redirect me if I need to post in a different place :)
I've been cooking and baking for many years, but I've always had trouble getting a good crumb in very basic flour, water, yeast bread rolls. I am trying to get a more feathery crumb, but much of the time I get a rubbery texture. It's not horrible, but not very good either.
Here is an example of a roll I baked yesterday.
and here is the crumb:
the texture is a lot like a kitchen sponge as opposed to good bread - very rubbery.
I honestly have no idea what I'm doing wrong. It's been something that has frustrated me for years, so I am very much looking forward to getting any suggestions.
Thanks!!
Different flours will produce different textures. What kind of flour did you use? Also, a full recipe might help too so that others can chime in on particulars.
Are you using an mixer?
Yes, I use a kitchen aid mixer.
What is your recipe and method? Agree with the comment about different flours producing different results (texture, aroma, flavor, color).
I use the recipe from this site - Tom Cat's Semolina Filone. I replace all of the flour with my own preference of the day, which is generally a combination of whole rye, whole spelt, all purpose and whole wheat. This recipe is flour, water, salt, yeast only. Very good results. Reduce water in the dough by about 10%. The water quantity in the original recipe is quite wet in my experience.
I generally use just store brand AP flour. I will have to try some different brands. Is there any that you recommend that works well for this type of bread? Also, much of the time I generally don't follow a recipe, just making a 70% hydration dough, but this time a used the recipe for the European Hard Rolls from King Arthur Flour
www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/crusty-european-style-hard-rolls-recipe
I tried to follow the recipe weight and timings as closely as possible, but I still got a similar result to what I normally get.
What I really want to duplicate are the type of hard rolls I've gotten on cruise ships. They are very light in texture.