Helllo! I am a girl from Hong Kong. I like eating bread very much,
especially the European style one. But I can just buy it in delux
hotels and too expensive. So I try to make bread at home.

However, I come across with a problem of dense texture and hard crust
of my loaves of plain white bread. My receipe is usually 500g strong
flour, 350 ml water, 2 teaspoon dry yeast, 1 teaspone salt. I take
every steps seriously such as ensuring enought rising and proving
time.

I think, the problem of dense texture is in the process of kneading.
Books always recommend kneading for 10 mintues. But do you think that
it is enough. Have you heard of 'screen test'? I found this method to
test whether it is kneaded enough in a big English bread book. That
means if we use our fingers to make a part of the dough into thin
sheet, if it is elastic enough and won't break, that means kneading is
finished. However, I have tried to knead from 10 minutes to 50 minutes
and did this screen test every 5 minutes. The dough still can't pass
the test.

Can you share your experiences of kneading with me. How long do I need
for kneading actually? In Hong Kong, buying bread is too easy and
people usually have no time and patience to make bread. And the
brakery learning school just asked me to add 'flour improver' to make
the bread softer. I like natural food and don't want to add any
emusifier.

Thank you for your help!