Simple Sweet Bread Recipe | Julie Blanner (2024)

FAQs

What does too much sugar do to bread dough? ›

A dough that has a high percentage of sugar (10% or more) will need more yeast than a bread made without sugar and will take a longer time to rise. A dough with more than 5% sugar (to flour weight) will brown on the surface earlier in the baking time than a dough with no added sugar or with less than 5%.

Additionally, when dough is fermented slower, the complex starches and sugars can ferment fully. These fermented sugars create an alcohol-based ingredient known as maltose, which works to make the bread taste sweeter while also deepening the aroma.

You can actually add a small amount of wheat gluten to enhance the dough and make it lighter and fluffier. The more gluten, the stronger the dough is. You can purchase vital wheat gluten and replace 1 Tbsp of flour with the vital wheat gluten. Here's a link to Anthony's Premium Vital Wheat Gluten on Amazon.

Yeast feed on sugar and it's the gasses produced by yeast that causes the dough to expand and “rise”. More accurately stated though, it's the yeast that has the effect but it's a symbiotic relationship. Too little sugar will impede the rise by not having sufficient nutrient for the yeast.

The classic sugar used by generations of bakers, C&H® Granulated Sugar has been trusted for a reason—its fine, uniform crystals make it ideal for measuring and baking breads, cookies, pies and cakes.

While sugar and other sweeteners provide "food" for yeast, too much sugar can damage yeast, drawing liquid from the yeast and hampering its growth. Too much sugar also slows down gluten development. Add extra yeast to the recipe or find a similar recipe with less sugar. Sweet yeast doughs will take longer to rise.

Sugar is optional; a little bit makes yeast happy, but too much—generally, more than 1/4 cup per 3 cups of flour—slows yeast down.

You will see many recipes that add a teaspoon of sugar to help the yeast to work faster. Adding up to 5% of sugar will speed up fermentation as it will feed the yeast in the initial stages before enzymes begin to break down the complex sugar molecules in the starches into simple sugars that the yeast can eat.

TIPS FOR MAKING QUICK BREAD

Baking is a science, and certain ingredients like flour and leavening agents need to be measured and added exactly how the recipe suggests. Avoid overmixing the batter as it can lead to tough, dense quick bread that may sink in the middle.

What's the purpose of an egg in a quick bread? ›

Eggs also act as an emulsifier. By surrounding small particles of fat, the egg helps make the quick bread batter smoother, thus contributing to volume and texture. In addition, when eggs are beaten, they incorporate tiny air bubbles that expand with heat in the oven, contributing to volume.

Combining baking soda with an acid produces a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas which causes the food to expand and become fluffy.

Commercial bread is softer due to the steam process used by bakeries, which is made to keep bread hydrated and fresh. Use cold water in a pan and put it on a rack beneath your bread to create steam.

The rise on bread dough is a crucial step, particularly the second rise. You want to rise the dough so that the yeast still has enough energy in it to work in the oven to give you a nice, light, fluffy loaf of white bread.

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

For example, you can add a little more flour, butter, or any other dry ingredients called for in the recipe. This can help dilute the extra sugar and bring the flavors back into balance [1]. Double the recipe: Another option is to double the rest of the recipe, excluding the sugar.

A little sugar, up to three percent, speeds up fermentation. The yeast processes the added sugar first, saving the time it would take to break down starch into sugar. With over three percent sugar, however, the fermentation rate no longer increases. [1] Above six percent, sugar actually decreases the rate.

However, if too much sugar is added (these simple vanilla cupcakes had twice as much as they should have), then not only do they rise to the extreme but the structure takes so long to set (these were baked for 15 minutes longer than a normal batch) that they then collapse dramatically towards the end of baking.

Yeast feeds on sugar so by adding a tablespoon or two provides yeast a readily available food. This increases yeast's activity and speeds up fermentation as well. However, adding a large amount of sugar to your dough will affect yeast's metabolism. Sugar is hygroscopic which means it absorbs moisture from the dough.