Study of the role of bran water binding and the steric hindrance by bran in straight dough bread making

•The role of bran particles and bran water binding in bread making was studied.•Synthetic bran, very low in water binding, affected bread quality the least.•Bran particles impeded optimal gas cell expansion, but only to a limited extent.•Bran particle size reduction down to 200 µm on average did not affect bread volume.