Ed Okie <okie@digital.net> frothed endlessly:
>"Slash dough tops, or not to slash" is an interesting question. It popped
>up recently in another website forum. Responses were, as one might expect,
>passionate (the subject ranks right up there with yeast "type" and baking
>stones). One theme prevailed: the slash-opening allows dough to rise
>better in the oven, interior dough has room to expanded. Truth is: the
>slash doesn't make a bit of difference. Side-by-side tests in my kitchen
>consistently show "same as" or "rise higher -without- a slash." Esthetics
>and tradition is the reason for slashing. Your tummy won't experience a
>bit of difference.
Your tummy won't experience a bit of difference if you bake the dough or
not. Esthetics IS important.
Many people do the right thing without understanding why. However, the
right thing can be dependent on many other factors, all of which are always
obvious.
The key reason I slash is to control oven spring. Some breads will
"spring" in the oven and greatly increase their size. This is more true of
underproofed breads and much less true of overproofed breads. If you bake
an underproofed loaf, it will often tear and become misshapen when extreme
oven spring hits it. This can make it harder to toast. Slashing the loaf
gives the loaf a prefered stretch path, and helps you control the shape of
the final loaf.
With fully proofed doughs this isn't a real issue. With overproofed
doughs, slashing can cause the loaf to collapse.
With regards to dried out dough surfaces, it's so easy to avoid having
them, it shouldn't be an issue. Steaming helps crust formation.
>Same arena, question variation: "Which (additive) should I use (dough
>improvers, enhancers, additives and various "secret" ingredients). Shared
>wisdom: toss 'em all in the trash. Don't buy 'em in the first place. Learn
>to work and understand basic ingredients, the techniques of working with
>four basic elements: flour, water, yeast and salt. The variations possible
>are enormous. Most enhancers and additives are often a short-trip to
>nowhere, band-aids to underlying problems
Here we agree, with reservations. Dough improvers and enhancers are a
crutch, and a baker is better off learning how to bake with the ingredients
they have. You can make good bread with just about any flour in the
grocery store, you can compensate for that odd batch of flour. (It helps
to buy more than 5 pound sacks, so you aren't always changing flours with
each recipe.
The reservation? If you use a bread machine, you are at the mercy of the
person who programmed the bread machine. When you push the start button,
XX minutes later, the machine WILL bake your bread (unless you have a power
failure). You need to be sure that your bread will be fully risen at that
point in time. As I understand it, dough enhancers were first developed to
allow commercial bakeries (like Sunshine, Rainbo, Mrs. Baird's, and Iron
Kids) to bake in tight time constraints and consistently. Home bread
machines put you in the same position as the commercial baker.
If you are having problems with a bread machine, start by not using the
"bread in an hour" method, then by getting any of the "Bread Machine Magic"
books by Lois Conway et al and following their advice. If you still have
problems, you might consider using dough enhancers.
>Weighing ingredients is by far the best method of constructing bread.
>Though the expense of a scale ($40-60) may seem frivolous - once used,
>you'll never go back to the "volume-cup" method. After you use a scale,
>"How did I ever get along without it?" will cross your lips. Beyond the
>accuracy issue (consistency), simplicity and less things to clean are
>extra but significant benefits... true Bone-Idle-Lazy goals in life.
People made good bread long before there was consistent flour or
scales. They make it easier, but with care you can make good bread with
any measuring system. This is clearly in the "it's a poor workman who
blames his tools - but a master violinist sounds better with a
stradavarius" category.
All the good bakers I know measure carefully. And then they feel the dough
to make sure it feels right. And adjust accordingly. They know what the
dough should feel like to make the bread they want to make. And the feel of
the dough is their goal in dough making. Not using 4 cups of flour. Or a
pound of flour. Or 1/2 kilgram of flour. Or whatever arbitary measurement
the recipe uses.
I usually suggest people take a baking class to learn what dough should
feel like....
>Other tradition-changing methods: I never oil my mixing bowl for rising
>dough. After the mix period, the dough stays in the bowl for whatever rise
>(ferment) time required. Plastic wrap covers the bowl. The "Stretch-Tite"
>(yellow box) brand is the best I've come across, less than $3 for 250
>feet; clings better than any other brand, and is heavy duty in thickness.
>Highly recommended.
I like Saran Wrap's QuickCovers better. They are like hair covers. They
are reuseable. For months and months. Making them cheaper in use than
even the cheapest cling-wrap.
>Do BIL members weigh token amounts such as yeast and salt? No. Scales
>aren't accurate in those low weight ranges (1 gram of yeast as an example).
That's true - if you buy cheap scales. Using mixed methods gets you back
to the position of having to convert measurements when you
scale. Lessee... that's 2 tsp per batch.... and if I'm making 8 batches,
that's 16 tsp. Which is 5 tbsp and 1 tsp. Or 1/4 cup, 1 tbsp, and 1 tsp.
Or... is it?
>Baking tip: books and magazines often specify "unsalted butter." Hint from
>the BIL crew: using unsalted butter isn't important. Doesn't make a bit of
>difference in your breads, salted or unsalted butter. It's
>laboratory-technical gibberish, in relative terms a microscopic measurement.
This actually is important, though not for the reasons you might think. In
cakes and sweets, the matter is more important than breads, as so little
salt is used in them to start with. In breads, well, while the salt isn't
so important, the quality of the butter is. When a creamery makes butter,
the unsalted butter is made to higher standards because unsalted butter has
to rely on the quality of the cream for it's taste. Salt covers a
multitude of freshness sins, handling problems, and cream with
off-tastes. As a result, unsalted butter is a better butter. If you can't
taste the difference, that's OK, but that doesn't mean the difference
doesn't exist.
Mike
--
Mike Avery
MAvery@mail.otherwhen.com