I made some bread and it is a little dry. I followed the recipe “White Bread Plus” in “the Joy of Cooking”.

HubbaBubba66: I made some bread and it is a little dry. I followed the recipe “White Bread Plus” in “the Joy of Cooking”.
The bread proofed okay. i waited until the dough doubled in the bowl, then divided it and proofed it again in the bread pans before baking. I kneaded the dough in a tabletop mixer, but had to finish kneading by hand–the dough kept creeping up over the top of the dough hook! Other than that, i stuck to the recipe. Also, I live in the midwest, so I do not need to adjust for altitude.

Answers and Views:

Answer by nicci
The heat of the day and humidity can influence the bread making process also. On hotter days with lower humidity, I use just a bit more liquid.

Answer by Ger
You probably should have used less flour, and even added an egg yolk for more moisture. Everytime a person scoops out flour, it is a different measurement. The only way to get the exact same amount of flour each time you bake is to weigh it. This time you probably had the flour a bit more packed than usual, but wouldn’t know it because you didn’t weigh it. A cup of flour can weigh between 4.2 ounces and 5 ounces depending upon how it is filled. As you can see, with such a difference the amount of liquid in the recipe would not be enough for the larger 5 ounces.

If you don’t want to buy a scale, best thing to do is to always use less flour than the recipe calls for, then check the consistency. If it is still sticky, add more flour. if not, then you just saved yourself another dry loaf. 😉

Answer by Nadia HB
Okay, to make your bread a little more moist and fluffy add a tablespoon of brown sugar or honey or syrup.
No matter what you think you cannot taste the sweetness, but I always use a table spoon of something sweet in my savory breads. It just gives it a little lift.
Might help, xxx