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types of yeast and conditioners

Joan Ross <rosskat@pipeline.com>
Tue, 3 Feb 1998 11:34:30 -0500 (EST)
v098.n012.11
It was interesting to read what people have to say about the different
brands of yeast.
I have tried SAF, SAf with vit C, Fleishmans's ,Red Star and recently
Fermipan (an Italian yeast with vit C- especially for Italian types of bread
) and have settled on Saf(with vit c) for the time being. All my breads came
out fine with all varieties of yeast, but interesting enough I liked the
"texture" I got with the Saf ( even the plain kind without the C ). I
believe the results are a combination of factors.

I suggest, the brand of flour has a lot to do with the overall quality and
rise of the bread. I used to buy All Trumps- A General Mills flour that was
high gluten ,bromated, bleached.It made the best loaves- But I switched for
personal reasons that I did not wish to have all the bromates since my kids
eat a ton of bread.
For the past  few years I switched to Baker's and Chef's flour ( available
at Sam's ) and use their bread flour. They also have a high gluten-bromated
flour if you don't mind using bromates. I have sometimes used Better For
Bread Flour when I am out of my large quanitity flour and King Arthur Flour
but still prefer the Baker's and Chefs flour. I like Hodgen's Mills for the
whole grain flours and personally believe whole grain breads are probably
the best to eat in the long run for your nutrition and health. 

I have owned 4 different kinds of bread machines and I can tell you the same
recipes come out different in different machines! So there is a lot to
consider when evaluting yeast and flour ( and even water!!) and the recipe. 

As far as dough conditioners /confusion of what to use: This is my
suggestion: First evalutate the flour/yeast/recipe combination for your hand
made or machine made breads( rising ability and texture etc. ) Recipes with
fats, milk, sugars , eggs generally come out lighter textured, finer grained
because some of the ingredients do indeed tenderize  dough. 2nd, add one
simple change to the recipe for evaluation, say lemon juice and take it from
there.

I have found out that bottled lemon juice/white vinegar is probably one of
the cheapest sources of dough conditioners to start off with( tenderizers
and relaxes the gluten in the recipe) Bottled lemon juice does contain some
preservatives  by the way - so use fresh if you wish )When I experimented
with my dill pickle bread ( see the recipe on my  culinary page:
http://www.pipeline.com~/rosskat/  I was amazed that the bread was so fine
grained, light textured and fluffy- most likely from the pickle brine (
vinegar/preservative  based ).It's a great once in a while-try a change of
pace- recipe.

I have bought and tried a commercial dough conditioners called CT-1  which
is excellent ( contains vit c and potassium bromote among other things )
which certainly aided in the keeping quality of the breads and the breads
were moister and more tender but I was seeking a more simple (? healthier )
product. I didn't want to feel like I was buying supermarket bread. Again my
personal opinion!

I have tried diastatic malt powder, liquid malted barley, leicithin, dry
milk powder, gluten powder, ginger etc. etc.and combinations of these dough
conditioners but in the long run, I try to bake a great loaf of bread the
most economical or practical way. So my suggestion and my own personal
opinion is start with one or two changes in the recipe and evaluate from
there. There is no need to buy  expensive commercial pacakaged stuff when
you can try different things at home and come up with what works best for
YOU! Most supermarkets and health foods store will have what you may you
need to make your won dough conditioners in your recipes. 

sincerely

Joan
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http://www.pipeline.com/~rosskat/ personal & culinary topics