Try unilateral breathing to start or a 3-2-3-2 breathing pattern. Also, when your face is under water you should be exhaling through your nose steadily - you want your lungs almost empty when your face breaks water, you then take a 'sip' of air (not a gulp, you'll become short of breath easier).
A technique people use for bilateral (i.e. every 3 strokes breathing) is to say to themselves bubble bubble breathe to get the timing right.
The website swimsmooth has excellent training tips and vids for all of this, I deffo recommend it.