Bread too dense? - This is the reason

Baking bread may seem simple. You need the most common ingredients to bake a loaf of bread: water, flour, salt, and yeast.

However, even if you bake bread regularly and have advanced baking skills, you never know what can go wrong. One of the most common problems when baking bread is when the bread comes out too dense.

Why is the bread too dense?  The most common reason for bread coming out too dense is the use of low protein flour. If your bread is dense and heavy, you may have also added too much flour or prepared the dough on a cold or too hot setting. 

In this article, you’ll learn why your bread comes out dense and heavy and what you can do to make it light and fluffy.

Why is my bread so dense and heavy?

If your bread has come out too dense and looks like a brick, don’t discard it and start baking a new one with the same process. It is important to understand where the problem comes from in order to avoid it next time.

Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find the reason for a dense bread. There are multiple factors that can influence the texture of your bread.

Here are some of the most common reasons why your bread is dense and heavy:

• Wrong type of flour
• too much flour
• not enough moisture
• your kitchen is too hot
• inaccurate measurements
• Insufficient or excessive kneading
• incorrect molding
• undercooked
• Under-raised or over-raised
• Incorrect yeast or inadequate activation
• dial too deep
• Do not let the bread cool

We’ll cover all of these common mistakes below, as well as solutions that will help you avoid a dense mess in the future.

1. Wrong type of flour

Flour is the main ingredient in bread making, and it’s no surprise that using the wrong variety of flour can make your bread dense and heavy.

To bake a light and fluffy bread, you have to use a flour that is high in protein . If you use low protein flour, you will end up with a dense loaf.

The reason is that low protein varieties of flour cannot form a good gluten network, which is what makes the dough elastic and the bread soft.

The protein content in flour differs depending on the type. Before you buy flour to make bread at home, be sure to check the amount of protein it contains.

It is important that you use flour with a protein content of at least 10% . Ideally, use varieties of flour with a protein content of up to 13%.

Keep in mind that the protein content of the same variety of flour can vary from one brand to another. It is always good to use the brand flour mentioned in the recipe you are following.

If the brand is not mentioned in the recipe, be sure to check the protein content needed for the type of bread you are baking.

In either case, it can be a trial and error process until you figure out how to work with the specific brand of flour you’re using.

2. Too much flour

Even if you use the right variety of flour but add too much, your bread will come out too dense and heavy.

Adding too much flour to the mix is a common mistake, especially for beginners who don’t quite know what bread dough should look like.

The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky when you’re done mixing the dry and liquid ingredients.

Once the ingredients have been mixed and you feel the dough is too sticky, don’t rush to add more flour. Transfer the dough to the kneading area and start kneading.

As you knead, the dough will lose some of its stickiness. You should add flour to the dough only when it is so sticky that there is no way to knead it.

If your dough won’t stop sticking no matter what you do, check out our article on how to fix sticky dough.

3. Not enough humidity

In some cases, you may think you’ve added too much flour, but the real problem could be a lack of moisture. If you add less water to the flour than necessary, the result is a dense and dry dough. 

The problem with dry dough, whether due to excess flour or lack of water, is that the yeast cannot develop and work its magic.

If you’re having a hard time getting the right texture for your dough, know that it can take time and a few failed experiences until you learn what your specific right needs to get to the perfect texture.

4. Your kitchen is too hot

If you are new to bread making, you may be surprised to learn that the temperature of your kitchen plays a big role in the texture of your bread.

If it’s too hot in your kitchen, the bread may come out too dense after rising. This is because the yeast ferments much faster when the room is warm . This causes the mass to rise to the max and then collapse.

On the other hand, if it’s cold in the room where you’ve put the dough to rise, the yeast will simply not rise or rise too little. The lack of fermentation and gas that causes the dough to aerate results in a dense and heavy bread.

In these cases, you have to let the dough rise longer or move it to a warmer room.

5. Inaccurate measurements

Have you ever thought that using measuring cups instead of a scale could be the reason why your bread is dense and heavy? We recommend that you use a scale instead of measuring cups. A scale allows you to measure all the ingredients accurately.

With measuring cups, you never know how much of the required ingredients is actually in the cup. For example, when measuring flour with a cup, you never know if the flour in it is dense.

You risk getting a denser dough than expected with the recipe you are following. Using a scale will take you one step closer to consistent baking results. We love this incredibly accurate food scale for all of our baking needs.

6. Insufficient or excessive kneading

Some people find the process of kneading the dough too exhausting. However, kneading is one of the most important steps in the bread baking process. A poorly kneaded dough gives rise to poor quality bread.

You must knead the dough to favor the gluten development process. Also, kneading increases the temperature of the dough, which causes the yeast to rise more quickly.

The yeast consumes the sugar in the flour and releases gas. These gases make the bread airy and less dense.

In general, it can take 10-20 minutes to knead the bread dough. If you are new to making bread, your hands may get tired within a few minutes of starting to knead.

If this happens, take a short break and continue kneading when you reach your desired dough consistency.

You may see professionals kneading the dough with mixers and think that you can do it at home too. However, successfully kneading the dough with a mixer is possible only with professional equipment.

A standard hand mixer or household stand mixer is not suitable for kneading bread dough. Instead, you can use a Danish dough mixer, made specifically to make the process of kneading and mixing dough by hand easier.

But how do you know you’ve kneaded the dough long enough? It is easy. Experienced bakers have devised an easy technique called the glass test.

It consists of taking a small piece of dough and stretching it with the thumbs and the first two fingers. The dough should stretch without tearing until you can see light through it.

If your dough passes this test, then it’s ready for the final rise, the fermentation phase.

It’s best to take your time and knead the dough by hand for a fluffy bread, but over-kneading can also be a big problem, as it makes the dough stiff and loses its elasticity.

Knead your bread just long enough for it to pass the glass test.

7. Incorrect molding

Don’t just roll the dough into a ball and bake it. Take your time to shape the ball correctly, as the result will be a less dense bread.

Shape the dough into the desired shape before the final rise, making sure to create enough tension as you fold it .

By tucking the dough into the center, you create tension in the outer parameter of the bread. This causes the bread to rise and air out.

A poorly shaped dough will not rise and will instead become a heavy loaf of bread.

8. Underbaking

Bread can come out too dense if you underbake it. Although all bread recipes will tell you how long you have to bake the bread, your oven is the one that really decides the baking time.

To check if the bread is fully cooked or not, use a food thermometer. We use this one for instant accuracy. The internal temperature of a well-done bread is 190-210°F.

If you don’t have a thermometer, take the bread out of the oven and tap on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, the bread is well-done.

9. Insufficient or excessive lifting

The dough can become airy and fluffy only when it has had enough time to rise. The final proof of the bread is especially important; it is recommended to use a proofing basket for the final rise to obtain a well-developed dough.

Normally the dough rises twice to get a perfect loaf, but you can even rise the bread 3 times or more.

Neither under-leavened nor over-leavened dough is light and airy. To check if your dough has risen enough to fit in the oven, do the prick test .

Prick the dough with your finger and see what happens. If the dough quickly returns to its initial shape, it needs more time to rise.

If it rises slowly, then your bread is well proofed and ready to go in the oven. If the mass does not rise again, it is that you have waterproofed it excessively.

10. Incorrect yeast or improper activation

In order for the bread to come out soft and fluffy, you have to make sure that the yeast is fermenting properly. Not only the temperature of your kitchen affects the activation of the yeast.

You also have to add the yeast to the hot water for it to work. Hot water (above 110°F) will kill yeast, while cold water simply won’t activate it. The temperature of the water to which you add the yeast should be around 100°F.

In addition to the temperature of the water, you should pay attention to the date on the yeast container. If the yeast is expired and not active, no matter what you add it to, you will never get a spongy bread.

You’ll also need to make sure you use the correct yeast and that you don’t use wine or brewer’s yeast, which could result in a dense, sour flatbread.

11. Dialing too deep

Scoring seems to be the easiest step in the bread baking process: just make a few slits in the bread before baking. Some people even think that the only reason to score bread is to give it a nice look after it’s baked.

But the truth is, scratching is more important than you think. If you score the bread too deeply or get carried away and make too many cuts in it, the dough will lose the gas that has accumulated in it . Thus, you will end up with a dense and heavy bread.

To make the bread fluffier, score it as soon as the fermentation process is finished. Make a few slits in the top layer of the dough and quickly pop it into the oven.

Doing this will prevent the dough from exploding in the oven and releasing all the gases accumulated in it.

12. Do not let the bread cool

When your freshly baked bread finally comes out of the oven, you may be tempted to immediately slice it up and try it. But you have to let the bread cool down before you cut it. Also, you have to chill it properly to keep the bread from being dense and chewy.

Once you take the bread out of the oven, let it cool without covering it with a towel. As the bread cools, excess moisture escapes from it, resulting in a soft, fluffy loaf.

If you cover the bread with a towel as it cools, you trap the moisture inside. This makes the bread dense and heavy.

Cooling the bread well is the only thing you can do to improve the texture of your bread after it has been baked.

Why is my bread chewy?

In addition to being dense, the bread can come out very chewy. One of the main reasons that the dough is chewy is the use of a flour that contains a very high amount of protein.

We have already mentioned in the article that it is recommended to use a flour that contains between 11 and 13% protein. But using a flour with too high a protein content can lead to a taffy dough.

Taffy bread was what our ancestors baked and loved, so it’s not the end of the world, but now that there are so many varieties of flour available, it’s much nicer to eat a light and fluffy bread if you can do it.

How to fix chewy bread

There are two ways to make your bread less chewy. First, you can use a different flour with a lower protein content . You can also add a bit of low protein flour to even out the texture.

A staple in every kitchen, plain or all-purpose flour can easily save the day and make bread less gummy if added to the dough in combination with high-protein flour.

Another thing you can do so that the bread does not come out chewy is to add some type of fat.

You can find numerous bread recipes that call for eggs, milk, and other ingredients that contain fat and can improve the texture of your dough.

Other mistakes in bread making

For your convenience, we’ve found a helpful video that explains some of the most common mistakes bakers make so you can perfect your process and make deliciously fluffy bread every time.

We hope this guide has been helpful to you on your bread-making journey. Let us know how your next try went, and don’t forget to check out our article on how to avoid hard crust on bread.