Eating Healthier in Today's World

How to Make Your Bread More Chewy?

I am sure you have all tasted breads that actually have some texture when you bite into it.  This chewiness usually enhances the flavour of the bread and makes it more hearty and satisfying.  Chewy breads are usually a result of a little extra care when the bread is made, purposely to produce this texture.  It was very prominent in many of the bread we had during our recent sojourn in Slovakia in Eastern Europe.  I thought we could give you a few tips and recipes to produce these wonderful chewy bread textures in your own kitchen.

High Gluten Flour - First and foremost, you need to use a good high protein flour in the breadmaking process.  Grocery stores now sell "Bread Flour"which is exactly that, a high-protein flour.  Basically what the manufacturers have done is taken a basic all-purpose flour and added extra gluten flour to it.  You of coarse can do the same thing at home with any flour you already have.  Gluten flour is usually readily available in grocery store bulk bins and if you can't find it we also carry it in our consumable department.  If you mill your own flour and you want extra chewiness, you can add 1 Tbsp. of gluten for every 2 cups of flour you use in your recipe.  The gluten flour helps the bread to develop more stretch in the dough and also insures the rise of the bread is stronger and won't collapse when baking.  Hard RED wheat or hard WHITE wheat are the kinds of grains that will usually produce enough gluten in the bread.  We usually look for a protein content of at least 14 percent for making yeasted whole wheat breads.  Make certain your flour is fresh as well.  Stored at room temperature, it will keep 1 month; in the refrigerator , 2 months.  After that , unless there are preservatives in the flour or in the packaging, the natural oils in the flour will be getting rancid, and the quality of the bread cannot help but be affected.   Look for expiration dates on the bags if buying packaged flour and store it at home in a cool spot in an air-tight container.

Double Rise or Longer--Chewy textures can be achieved as well by double or even triple rising the bread dough. We sometimes let our recipes "rest"in the bowl for 15 to 20 min. before shaping them, when we are doing the faster one rise method.  To get chewier texture, take the dough, once you are finished kneading it and shape a ball and place it in a bowl.  Warm the bowl by rinsing it with warm water.  Put the round of dough in the bowl with the seam side down.  Cover the bowl snugly with a platter, plastic sheet, or whatever to keep the dough from drying out.  The bowl should allow plenty of room for the dough to rise without bumping the cover.  Don't oil or grease the bowl.  Try to keep the dough in a cool place about 70 degree F. for a slower even rise.  This will usually take 1 to 2 hours depending on how much gluten the flour that you used has.  Once the dough has doubled in bulk, you can either shape the dough or give the dough a second rise.  The longer slower rises will change the character of the finished breads textures and give you more to chew.  The strands of gluten are closer together and the stretchiness in the bread dough improves.  Remember that the yeast will rise faster the second or third time you rise the bread so keep an eye on it so not to overrise the bread in the pan proofing stage later.

Bake the Bread in a Steamed Oven - Baking bread in a steamed oven will make the crust beautifully rosy brown, thin and crispy-chewy in texture, and enhances the flavour of the bread as well.  Most of us don't own expensive steam ovens but a good approximation of their effects can be had with simple everyday equipment--and without endangering life and limb.  Our preferred method is placing a heavy skillet or other pan in the bottom of the oven wihen you preheat.  When you put in the brea, pour one cup of boiling water into the pan, shutting the oven quickly.  This method is easy, but works only with a very well-insulated oven.  Be sure the bread pans you are using are all metal.  The second method we use a lot when making French Style breads.  You preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and spray the risen loaves of bread with an atomizer of water.  You repeat this spraying every 3 to 5 min. for about 12 min. just as your creust begins to brown nicely.  Now turn the temperature down to 350 degrees F. and bake until the bread is done.  Whatever method you use for steaming, please be careful.  The temperatures are high and the presence of steam makes the heat intense.  Plan ahead, so that you have the oven racks in place before heating the oven, and so that you know where you are going to put eah pan when the time comes.

 All three of the above tips will make a chewy, heartier loaf from your regular bread recipes.  You can also try our Peasant's Hearty Bread recipe here using the above tips or this wonderful tasty Yogurt Pumpernickel bread recipe.