Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:12:35 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v109.n029 -------------- 001 - Haack Carolyn Subject: Tom's question: what's a cup of yeast? Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:08:26 -0700 (PDT) Looking at the observation at the end of the raw potato yeast, "This yeast makes delicious bread" ... maybe the "cup of yeast" was a cup of what we'd call the preferment or starter, the aged-overnight mixture. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.2 --------------- From: Cindy Smith Subject: about yeast Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:09:58 -0400 Hi, while reading this Digest of bread-bakers, I was just wondering exactly what yeast is and where it comes from. I found this response at answers.yahoo.com: "Yeasts are single-celled fungi. As fungi, they are related to the other fungi that people are more familiar with. These include edible mushrooms available at the supermarket, common baker?s yeast used to leaven bread, molds that ripen blue cheese and the molds that produce antibiotics for medical and veterinary use. Many consider edible yeast and fungi to be as natural as fruits and vegetables." There are also some links to articles: Source(s): http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2007/10/11/? http://students.washington.edu/neihart/y? http://www.kountrylife.com/forum/message? What I'm curious about is how people obtained yeast before the modern era when you can buy yeast in packages at the grocery store. Pretend I'm Amish and am not allowed to buy commercial yeast at the grocery store: How do I get yeast to make bread? A lady in our neighborhood when I was a child used a starter that she inherited from her mother and used it to bake every week, so I know that you can grow yeast from other yeast. What I'm interested in finding out is how one obtains yeast when there is no other yeast around from previous baking. Perhaps I should look this up in my Foxfire Books (if I can find them). Thanks. Yours, Cindy Smith cms@dragon.com Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni! A Real Live Catholic in Georgia! --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.3 --------------- From: michael masterson Subject: Re: round pita bread Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:19:34 -0500 >>Back to bread. What is the best way to make the flat pita bread >>into a nice round disk? Mine are pretty funny lookin but work fine. > >The only way I have found is to start with very round balls, by >rolling the dough between the palms of my hands and shaping it with >the help of my thumbs. > >Once I have a round ball, which can take some time because I am no >dough artist, I gently squeeze it down to a round thick disk between >my palms, and then use my palms to further press it down on the >table. If using a rolling pin, it usually works best if you apply >pressure on it from the centre of the disk out. > >Pizza makers never use a rolling pin to get their round disks - they >simply pull and turn the disk until they have the desired thickness. The guys at one of the local Mediterranean restaurants take balls of dough, and mash it flat with their hands, then work it on the table, then they dock it, and finally stretch it to shape over a rounded pillow like form, which they plunge into the oven pit they use.. it may be a commercial tandor style oven, I'm not sure, it's a box that's got a round opening on the top, can't see down into it from across the counter, anyway, they leave the pita in there for a couple of minutes, then fish it out with a hook on a long stick. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.4 --------------- From: "Steve Gomes" Subject: little proof box Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:21:32 -0600 I usually use a big plastic bag to put the shaped loaves in to let rise. Sometimes the plastic touches the loaf and I think we could get a bigger rise if we had the loaf in something without it being touched. any ideas. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.5 --------------- From: "Karen Ford" Subject: The Art of Italian Cooking Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:51:32 -0700 Another site to order used cookbooks from is Alibris. They list different price points for the used books, from $1.99 on up depending on condition and who is selling, and the locations that they will be shipping from. I generally try to order all from the same place so they arrive at the same time, but being the cookbook junkie I am, sometimes that is not possible. Of the books I have ordered, they have been delivered within 7 to 10 days (I live in Arizona) and have been in the condition described. Karen --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.6 --------------- From: WLHelms@aol.com Subject: Making round disks of bread Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:03:36 EDT Re: Back to bread. What is the best way to make the flat pita bread into a nice round disk? Mine are pretty funny looking but work fine. The only way I have found is to start with very round balls, by rolling the dough between the palms of my hands and shaping it with the help of my thumbs. Once I have a round ball, which can take some time because I am no dough artist, I gently squeeze it down to a round thick disk between my palms, and then use my palms to further press it down on the table. If using a rolling pin, it usually works best if you apply pressure on it from the center of the disk out. Here's another suggestion: Try using a Tortilla Press (readily available from Target). One would need to make a round ball and press it (using plastic wrap on either side). With a little experimentation one should be able to press a perfectly round disk in short order. I also use mine to press dough rounds for my fried apple pies. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.7 --------------- From: "Steve Gomes" Subject: rye bread Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:20:42 -0600 Okay folks. The bacon turned out great and I will never if I can help it buy store bought bacon again. Now I am curing a brisket to make pastrami. So I will need to make a rye bread. I don't want to do a starter, though. What have we got? thanks. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v109.n029.8 --------------- From: JMille2788@aol.com Subject: Old Bread recipes Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:34:06 EDT Thanks for submitting the "old bread recipes." It sparked my interest too. I wondered if the old yeast was not very strong. I think when they said "a cup of yeast" they really meant a full cup of yeast. The yeast may have been more like a barm or the batch of sour dough living in our fridges. But the difference was that they meant something other than the yeast we are accustomed to picking up at the store where a quarter teaspoon could easily raise several loaves of bread, given enough time. While looking for references I saw a book I had already borrowed from the local library: _English Bread and Yeast Cookery_ by Elizabeth David. It has a section on home made yeasts. "The basis being a mash of grain, malted barley or rye, sometimes flour, sometimes boiled potatoes: anything that could give a good ferment and covert into sugar and then alcohol". I suspect we are spoiled by the easy acquisition of yeast at the store and that we are missing the character the old style breads had when made from the wide variety of things used to make them rise. Just the thought of all the things I could try to make into my own yeast stirs up my creative juices. If only I had enough time, enough space, and a big enough appetite. JD Tumwater WA --------------- END bread-bakers.v109.n029 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2009 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved