There's a bakery near my daughter's place in london, just a simple bakery like any other, that makes, of course, bread. It makes typical english bread, in a bread pan, that can be sliced for toast or sandwiches. It, unlike american sandwich bread, doesn't have sugar or milk.
It's got a loose crumb, so when you toast it it gets nice and crispy outside, and stays a little soft inside, and is light, not dense.
We generally make a variation on the "no knead" artisan type bread, but it tends to be a bit chewy (i like that for eating bread, bread to sop up sauces or oil, salad dressing, etc and generally to eat with a meal without butter) and occasionally i make an american style sandwich bread, but it's got milk and a little honey and it's very moist and soft. but i wanted a bread that would be softer, more open and more springy, i guess, without sugar, and without the qualities milk gives the bread.
Presuming that flour, water, salt and yeast are the ingredients, the difference must be given by the procedure - or the proportion. What procedure or proportions would give these characteristics? Should it be more wet? less wet? longer rise, shorter rise?
