Reply #15: I dunno really. LOL [View All]

[hippywife]

It just seemed like the thing to do. When I made the Italian Wheat Rolls, it only called for them to be shaped and allowed to rise on the pan before baking, but when I let them rise in the bowl first and then rise again on the pan they were really soft and fluffy. I'm really still just learning and experimenting.

I've always had the same problem you did with short dense loaves so I decided to try letting it rise twice and them letting the loaves rise in the pan for quite a while. It worked! This is the first time I've had loaves that actually rose to proper height. And the bread is very tender. It'll make great sandwiches. I think the bread flour was a huge difference, too. I don't think you can get good sandwich bread using nothing but whole wheat.