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Can you give me a good bread recipe with a soft crust? We've tried these no-knead recipes and the crust has always come out too hard -- that's turned us off fr

Can you give me a good bread recipe with a soft crust? We've tried these no-knead recipes and the crust has always come out too hard -- that's turned us off from baking our own bread.

turtlebits 9y ago
I've had good luck with focaccia bread recipes. However I used a bread machine to knead and proof and then baked it in the oven.
cwyers 9y ago
It's paywalled, but America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated has a great sandwich bread recipe for stand mixers that's not a lot of work and turns out great.
ceratopisan 9y ago
Adding butter, powdered milk, or even dried potato into the recipe will often give a softer crust. A small amount can go a long way! Another trick is to brush the loaf itself with melted butter, especially after taking it out. These no-knead recipes are higher-hydration breads and therefore have correspondingly higher cooking temperature, which will harden the crust. You may be better off looking for sandwich bread / pan bread recipes. Pan de mie pans may interest you if you really get into this.
sevensor 9y ago
For my money, kneading is part of the fun. Within reason anyhow. Like the sibling comment says, add fat. I use butter or olive oil. It's hard to go wrong when supermarket bread is your baseline. Pretty much any loaf you bake is better (the occasional inedible experiment notwithstanding.) Here's my approach. Let's call it... Four Kids Bread -- The Bread You Make When You Have Four Kids And Can't Be Bothered To Do Anything Fancy Step 1: Mix some flour, maybe three cups, with an equal amount of water and maybe a teaspoonful of yeast and a little less than a teaspoonful of salt. This makes a very wet mix. Put it in a big bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Step 2: Find a cool part of your living space and let it sit there. Possibly forget that you started bread. Step 3: A day or three later, whenever you get the chance, remember that you started bread. Come back to it. It smells funky, but there's no fuzz on it so it's probably OK. Step 4: Add some fat. Half a stick of melted butter, or a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Step 5: Add a little flour and stir, continuing to add more until stirring becomes tiresome. Then put some flour on a flat surface and turn the dough out onto it. Sprinkle some more flour on top. Knead the dough until it stops being fun. Add more flour if it sticks to your hands or the surface. Step 6: Shape it into a cylinder, more or less and put on an oiled baking sheet. Cover and let sit until it looks bigger. Or not. If you don't you'll have a denser loaf. Possibly very dense. But maybe you're in a hurry. Step 7: Preheat an oven to whatever seems hot enough. 375? Ovens vary. Step 8: Bake until it's done. I know they say to use a thermometer, but I don't have one so I thump the bread and if it sounds hollow, it's done. Hasn't failed me. Looks like a lot of steps, but it's really minimal effort. Cheaper and way better than American supermarket bread.

Can you give me a good bread recipe with a soft crust? We've tried these no-knead recipes and the crust has always come out too hard -- that's turned us off from baking our own bread.

turtlebits 9y ago

I've had good luck with focaccia bread recipes. However I used a bread machine to knead and proof and then baked it in the oven.

cwyers 9y ago

It's paywalled, but America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated has a great sandwich bread recipe for stand mixers that's not a lot of work and turns out great.

ceratopisan 9y ago

Adding butter, powdered milk, or even dried potato into the recipe will often give a softer crust. A small amount can go a long way! Another trick is to brush the loaf itself with melted butter, especially after taking it out. These no-knead recipes are higher-hydration breads and therefore have correspondingly higher cooking temperature, which will harden the crust. You may be better off looking for sandwich bread / pan bread recipes. Pan de mie pans may interest you if you really get into this.

sevensor 9y ago

For my money, kneading is part of the fun. Within reason anyhow. Like the sibling comment says, add fat. I use butter or olive oil. It's hard to go wrong when supermarket bread is your baseline. Pretty much any loaf you bake is better (the occasional inedible experiment notwithstanding.) Here's my approach. Let's call it... Four Kids Bread -- The Bread You Make When You Have Four Kids And Can't Be Bothered To Do Anything Fancy Step 1: Mix some flour, maybe three cups, with an equal amount of water and maybe a teaspoonful of yeast and a little less than a teaspoonful of salt. This makes a very wet mix. Put it in a big bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Step 2: Find a cool part of your living space and let it sit there. Possibly forget that you started bread. Step 3: A day or three later, whenever you get the chance, remember that you started bread. Come back to it. It smells funky, but there's no fuzz on it so it's probably OK. Step 4: Add some fat. Half a stick of melted butter, or a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Step 5: Add a little flour and stir, continuing to add more until stirring becomes tiresome. Then put some flour on a flat surface and turn the dough out onto it. Sprinkle some more flour on top. Knead the dough until it stops being fun. Add more flour if it sticks to your hands or the surface. Step 6: Shape it into a cylinder, more or less and put on an oiled baking sheet. Cover and let sit until it looks bigger. Or not. If you don't you'll have a denser loaf. Possibly very dense. But maybe you're in a hurry. Step 7: Preheat an oven to whatever seems hot enough. 375? Ovens vary. Step 8: Bake until it's done. I know they say to use a thermometer, but I don't have one so I thump the bread and if it sounds hollow, it's done. Hasn't failed me. Looks like a lot of steps, but it's really minimal effort. Cheaper and way better than American supermarket bread.