I have been lurking on this list for over a year. It is a great list and I
have learned many things. Thought it was about time I joined in. Last week, I
attended the King Arthur(KA) Baking Class here in Burlington, VT. What a
great time! And some of the questions appearing in the last posting were
addressed.
For Dick Carlton:
Scalding milk does several things that enhance the dough. It helps bring out
the natural sugars in the milk and it kills the enzyme Protease which will
inhibit yeast. KA feels that scalding milk does achieve these things even if
pasturized milk is used. Shirley Corriher author of the book CookWise has a
discussion of scalding milk on page 80. (This is a great book by the way!)
She found research from Michigan State U. that isolated a protein in whey
that was responsible for reduced volume and poor texture. It is present in
nonfat dry milk as well as fresh milk. She believes that the amount of this
protein is the key to whether it will harm the bread. Scalding the milk
(whether it is fresh milk or reconstituted dry milk with water) denatures
this protein allowing the bread to rise better and have better texture.
For Joe:
To develop holes in bread, this was the subject of the Sourdough/Rustic Bread
class by KA. First use a sponge, beat air into it using something like their
Danish Dough Whisk (they like that better then the traditional wooden spoon
due to the extra air it allows to get into the sponge) and allow long slow
rises. This allows large air bubbles to form. Then "don't be too aggressive
with your kneading." Kneading is necessary to develop gluten, but gluten
will also develop on its own during the slow rise. Keep the dough as wet as
possible, use a dough scraper to help with the kneading. "Do not punch down
too vigorously" as you will punch out all the air in the dough. Just turn
gently to redistribute the yeast and heat that is in the dough. When shaping
the loaves, continue to keep the dough as wet as possible and fold the sticky
portion into the inside of the loaf as you shape, leaving the loaf smooth on
the outside and still sticky on the inside. I made the sourdough bread using
the LA-4 Lalvain du Jour starter that they gave us over the weekend. It came
out great and was full of "rustic" holes! (Lalvain du Jour is a dried product
that comes in a small pouch like grocery store yeast and is available from
KA, of course. It contains Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus plantarum and
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (type San Francisco). It made a great tasting bread,
even according to my Oakland born husband)
For Becky & others:
Shelf life of breads: Fat in any form, butter, margerine, oil, is used in
bread to lubricate the gluten and to keep bread fresh longer. Ideas to help
shelf life in lower fat breads include: addition of potatoes or potato flour,
using honey instead of sugar, and addition of Lecithin. KA, again, recommends
in their catalogue to "Cut back on the fat and improve shelf life by
substituting 1-2 Tbsp of granular Lecithin for an equal amount of fat in your
favorite recipe"
For Phyllis:
I asked the question about use of stainless steel with sourdough at the
class. Stainless steel is OK to use as utensils or bowls as it is
nonreactive. They say that you can even store sourdough in ss, but don't use
aluminum or other types of metals that are reactive. So I think letting the
sponge set in your ss Kitchen Aid bowl should be OK.
Now, can someone tell me about MasterCook Programs? I see them referred to
all the time and many of the recipes are using their format. I am just not
familar with the program, its uses, advantages, etc. I would appreciate any
info. Write me privately if you think the subject would bore the list! ;-)
Thanks so much to everyone for a wonderful and informative list. I look
forward to it every week. I hope this has not been too long for my first
post! Liz Alton, Georgia, VT