Density versus fluffiness of pumpkin bread

[jaybee65]

I made my very first ever attempt at baking something last night: pumpkin walnut bread. In the process, I discovered many things: Flour is messy! Walnuts work better in bread when you remember to crush them, rather than dumping them into the mix whole! Drinking alcohol as you struggle to measure ingredients precisely is probably not a good idea, but *does* make it less aggravating!

I followed the recipe (found online here) as carefully as I could, and the bread turned out pretty well for a first attempt. However, the texture is a lot fluffier and less dense than I was expecting -- it's rather cake-like, in fact. Is this likely to be due to the kind of flour I used? (The recipe called for All-Purpose flour.) Is there another type of flour that might produce something denser? Or is it something other than the flour that influences this? Any suggestions gratefully received!

Comments

[redsnake05]

Baking soda breads are quite cake-like - it's pretty much a cake recipe with no sugar. But if you don't like the lightness, you could make it with wholemeal flour, which tends to make anything denser, chewier (and higher in fibre). Or substitute in some rye flour for the same effect. Ooooh, and I like whole walnuts in baking. What about some sunflower seeds too?

Flour is messy - and, yeah... alcohol and measuring. But I can't talk, since I don't ever actually measure anything while baking.

[jaybee65]

Baking soda breads are quite cake-like - it's pretty much a cake recipe with no sugar.

Oh! I see. So the baking soda might be the issue? I might try this once more with wholemeal flour to see if it turns out dense enough for my taste, but otherwise it may be that this is just the wrong type of recipe for what I wanted. (I've eaten pumpkin bread, banana bread and similar things made by other people and even in cafes, and they typically seem chewier and less fluffy than this.) In fact, I think whole walnuts might have worked in a dense bread, but in this one, the contrast between the overall lightness/fluffiness and the size of the walnuts is just too great.

If not a baking soda bread, what type of recipe should I be looking for? (For example, some recipes I found use baking powder instead of baking soda -- would those be better?)

Thanks so much for your response!

[redsnake05]

Hmmm. See, everything I bake turns out quite dense, even cakes that are supposed to be light and fluffy. It's like my superpower (fortunately, I like dense cakes). So I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to advise. If it was me, I'd use yoghurt or buttermilk in place of the water (both would up the density factor). Baking powder breads are another possibility - try and see. Experiments are good - in fact, that recipe, with 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and buttermilk instead of water, would probably be pretty yummy. I might even try it this afternoon.

[jaybee65]

Yogurt sounds like an excellent idea. I will try a few variations and see what happens! (And, honestly, I'm actually pleased with the results overall. Given that I am pretty clueless about preparing food, the fact that I managed to make something edible without blowing up the kitchen in the process is an achievement!)

Thanks again -- you've given me some good ideas!

[melannen]

I have been told - and note, I'm a denizen of this community, so I'm not actually good at this - that *when* you add the baking soda to the batter can have an effect on how fluffy the end result is, especially if you're slow with the mixing and measuring so it ends up sitting awhile. So if you didn't add the baking soda as the very last thing, maybe try that? (Adding it last gives it less time to react.)

If you think that maybe the recipe just makes for a fluffier bread than you'd prefer, then you can just reduce the amount of baking soda, too; but you'd have to either guess, or base it on a recipe you've made before that does come out to the right density.

[jaybee65]

So many variables to consider! But that's kind of fun. I can fool around with one recipe and learn a fair amount just with that.

[matgb]

all purpose flour will have a lower gluten content than bread flour. It's the gluten that glues the bread together, so the stronger the flour, the more gluten it's got, the less fluffy the bread should, theoretically, be.

If it's yeast cooking, the amount of rises and kneading you do makes a difference as well, but try a stronger flour first.

[aedifica]

I *think* I have also found that using butter in place of oil makes a denser cake, so it might work for your bread too. I haven't tested it, though, so the density I noticed might have been caused by some other factor.

[jaybee65]

It's the gluten that glues the bread together, so the stronger the flour, the more gluten it's got, the less fluffy the bread should, theoretically, be.

That makes a lot of sense! I may try a different flour, or maybe a mixture of all purpose and something else.

Yeast cooking is something I will leave until later...the idea of kneading, etc., is a bit daunting to tackle before I master simpler things.

[jaybee65]

Ah, that's another thing to experiment with, then! Thank you.

[matgb]

Actually, yeast based stuff was amongst the first thing I got into; we were very skint, and decent bread was a luxury, but I really wanted some, so taught myself.

Apparently I "must have a knack for it" as lots of people tell me it's difficult, but I've not found it so.

As long as you make sure the dough is wet enough, but leave it to settle and soak in the water for a few minutes before starting kneading, it's fairly easy, and if you start with basic recipes, the worst that happens if you mess up is uneven texture, which doesn't hurt it much at all really.