Your bread is supposed to have holes in it.

"A nice open crumb" (the holy grail of bakers) is basically big holes for your jam to fall through. So why do the professionals chase this elusive pocket of air?

Before you frown at the holes in your bread, let’s talk “open crumb”. (It is all bakers talk about sometimes.)

An open crumb is basically the footprint left by the wild yeast in naturally leavened bread. There’s not one strain of yeast causing this bread to rise (as with supermarket breads), but millions; each one doing it’s work to ferment the food, make it tasty (and, yes, leave its mark on the crumb).

Take-home message? Sorry about your jam, but be happy your bread has holes in it. It means it’s really good bread!

Top tip: I find the crust quite useful for mopping up the jam when you finish. It has more strength to it than a fast rise bread.

Alternatively: cut it lengthwise, rather than the usual downward cut.