Why is homemade steamed bread different from store-bought? After hearing the reason, I understood

China is a capital of staple foods. Why do we say that? Staple foods are basically essential to every meal. They provide our bodies with energy and keep us full of strength all day long! Northerners like to eat wheat-based foods, while southerners like to eat rice noodles. Anyone who has watched "A Bite of China" surely knows that on the map of our China, staple foods are incredibly diverse.

At home, I often watched my mom and grandma steam steamed bread and make wheat-based foods, and they tasted so fragrant and delicious! Before they were even out of the pot, I was already drooling! As we gradually grew up and moved out to live on our own, we inevitably thought about the soft, delicious steamed bread our moms made at home, but when we made it ourselves, it just did not taste the same.

I do not know if everyone is like Huahua, but the wheat-based foods I make are always not soft enough, and the surface looks all wrinkled. Although they are edible, they are also rather dense, completely unlike the texture of steamed bread in my memory.

But when steamed bread is made, it usually comes out as a big pot of it. You cannot just throw it away, right? You can only swallow your bitterness like eating coptis and force yourself to eat it. A few days ago, when Huahua went home, Huahua asked mom why the steamed bread I made was not as soft and delicious as the one mom made.

Mom asked me to explain the steps I used to make steamed bread, then shook her head and said there was nothing wrong with them. While I was puzzling over it, mom suddenly asked me, did you let the dough rest? I clapped my hands at once. Right, I did not let the dough rest!

Mom told me that whether you are steaming steamed bread or steaming other things, letting the dough rest is the most important step. When we mix the dough, we definitely add yeast. The reason we add yeast is to let the steamed bread ferment into something soft and delicious. But this fermentation also needs a certain amount of time, and "letting the dough rest" is that period. If you do not leave enough time for the dough to rest, then do not blame yourself when the steamed bread you make is not soft.

When fermenting steamed bread, you also need to adjust whether to do one fermentation or two fermentations according to your ingredients. Usually, one fermentation means that after kneading the dough, you let the dough ferment in the basin for a period of time. Two fermentations means that after kneading the dough, you shape it and place it in the pot to ferment. Steamed bread that has gone through two fermentations will become even softer and more delicious after coming out of the pot.

Now do you all have some idea why your steamed bread is not soft enough? Mom also said that when mixing the dough, because yeast is mixed in, it is best to choose water that is warm but on the cooler side to dissolve the yeast. Otherwise, you might scald the yeast to death, which makes the yeast lose its vitality, and this can also lead to the steamed bread coming out not soft.

These are all the things mom told Huahua to pay attention to when making wheat-based foods. Does everyone know them now? Master these little tips, and I believe everyone can also make delicious steamed bread and wheat-based foods!