From: Joe f [joef@cell2000.net] Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 9:53 AM To: WPSNMailingList@onelist.com Subject: [WPSNMailingList] bread BUTTERMILK BREAD 2 tsp. active dry yeast 1/2 cup warm water 3/4 cup very hot water 1/4 cup honey 1 1/4 cups cold buttermilk 5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 2 tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into bits Dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. Mix the hot water with the honey and add the buttermilk. The temperature of the combined liquids should be slightly warm. Stir the flour and salt together, making a well (hollow area) in the center. Pour the yeast mixture and buttermilk mixture into the well and stir from the center outwards, incorporating all the flour. Test the dough* to see whether more flour or water is needed and adjust accordingly. The bread is lightest if the dough is slightly soft. For rolls, it should be quite soft. Knead** about 20 minutes, adding the cold butter in bits at the end of the kneading time. Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in a bowl (don't grease the bowl). Cover and keep it in a warm (80 to 90 degrees), draft-free place. I use a large, Tupperware bowl with a lid -- it works perfect for this. The lid keeps the dough from drying out. I heat the oven up for a couple of minutes while Iım getting everything ready, then TURN THE OVEN OFF, and place the bowl of dough inside. The temperature should be warm but not hot. The oven will help hold the heat in and keep the temperature more steady. After about an hour and a half, wet your finger and gently poke the center of the dough about 1/2-inch deep. If the hole fills in, it has not finished rising. If the hole doesn't fill in at all, it is ready for the next step. Flour your hands, press the dough flat in the bowl, and put it on the counter. Do not punch the dough down -- this can break the gluten strands. Form into a "round" as follows: With the sides of your hands, press the edges under and in toward the center, turn the dough 1/4 turn, press under and in again, and keep repeating until the gluten strands are stretched across the top of the dough. Place back in bowl, cover, and let rise again. The second rising will take half as long as the first. It is important to let the dough rise this additional time; as it is rising, the gluten is developing even more. If you do not let it rise this time, your bread will not rise as high or be as light and tender. Press the dough flat and divide in two. Round it as directed above, cover lightly so it won't dry out, and let rest 10-15 minutes until the dough is relaxed and softer. Press flat, pressing bubbles to edge of dough and out. When the dough is about as wide as your pans are long, roll the dough up crosswise, then pinch the edge to seal. Place in greased loaf pans, seam side down. The reason for flattening the dough and rolling it up rather than simply shaping into a loaf pan is that it stretched the gluten strands, strengthening the structure of the dough, and the bread will rise higher. Cover loaves lightly with a sheet of plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out. Let rise in warm place until the dough slowly returns a gentle fingerprint; don't wait until the fingerprint stays. When you first place dough in the oven, something will happen called ³oven spring.² This means that in the heat, the dough rises very quickly until the yeast is killed by the heat. If you wait on this third rising until the fingerprint stays, you wonıt get as much oven spring and the bread might even collapse a little bit. Your bread will be much better if you preheat the oven when the dough still has just a little bit of rising to do. It can only spring so much before the yeast dies, though, so donıt bake it too soon. With a litttle bit of experience, youıll know just when to put it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°, and bake the bread about 35-40 minutes***. When the crust is as browned as you like it, if the bread isnıt done yet you can lay a piece of foil across the top to help prevent the crust from browning further. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on wire racks. I brush the top and sides with a little bit of butter while it's warm. *TESTING DOUGH: Test the dough like this: "Clean your hands and moisten them slightly. Pick up the dough and squeeze it. Feel deep into the dough, not just the surface. It's sure to be sticky and wet, but is it soft, or is it stiff? A soft, pliable dough makes lighter bread. Does the dough resist your touch? Does it strain the muscles in your fingers when you squeeze it? If so, it is too stiff. On the other hand, the dough must have enough flour to hold its shape. Does it feel waterlogged, as if the flour is not contributing much substance to it? Does it have a runny, liquid quality? If so, it is too slack. Remember, even perfect dough will be moist and sticky at this stage." After you make bread a time or two, you will begin to learn what the dough feels like when it has enough flour. **KNEADING: It would take a whole page to completely explain kneading, and you probably already have the basic idea. However, if you add too much flour to keep it from sticking, you'll end up with dry or crumbly bread. One way to do it is with a dough cutter (see description under equipment). You keep it in your dominant hand, scraping the dough up off the counter. With your other hand, you push at the dough, mostly with the heel of your hand, folding it and working it any way that works best for you. From time to time, scrape the sticky dough off your hand with the dough cutter. You can also knead it similar to the usual way, but with a different technique (see next paragraph). Anyway, as you work the dough you are developing the gluten, which is the stringy, elastic strands in the dough. These elastic strands are what will support the structure of the bread as it rises. It takes about twice as long to knead whole grain bread as white bread. Under-kneading is often the cause of heavy whole wheat bread. Another major reason is not letting it rise three times. ALTERNATE KNEADING TECHNIQUE: The usual kneading technique requires you to continually add flour, which will result in bread that is dry and crumbly, and maybe hard. Instead of continually folding the dough over, which exposes new, sticky dough from the center of the ball, try this method. Press the dough down in the middle with the heel of your hand. Turn the dough a quarter turn, lift the side of the dough that is farthest away from you until the piece of dough is standing on the end that was closest to you. Again, push the dough down in the center, which means youıll be pushing the top end down into the middle. Turn dough a quarter turn and repeat. You will have to add flour from time to time as the dough absorbs what is on the counter, but you will not have to add as much as if you kneaded the traditional way. With this method, sticky dough is not exposed with each kneading action. The whole point of kneading is to develop the gluten. You should only add enough flour to get the dough to the correct texture and consistency. When I try to explain this technique to someone without being able to demonstrate it in person, I ask them to think of a pillow. Donıt fold the pillow in half like youıve probably been taught to knead dough. Raise the pillow onto its end and push the other end down to the counter to meet it. Turn 1/4 turn, lift it onto the end again, and repeat. I hope thatıs clear enough for you to figure it out. I normally start kneading with my hand and the dough cutter while the dough is sticky. The blade part of the dough cutter gets pretty messy at first, along with your other hand. From time to time, I scrape the dough off the scraper and off my hand. At first, it is all one sticky glob. At this stage, you add flour pretty quickly to get the dough more manageable. After I've added some flour and the gluten is developing, I start kneading by hand using the above method. I probably change about half-way through the kneading process. When I showed the ladies how to make w.w. bread last month, they were amazed at how the "feel" of the dough developed. They took turns kneading, but I had each of them feel it as it developed, so they could see how the dough felt. I also had them pick up the dough and stretch it, so they could see how the gluten was developing. Those strands you can see in the dough are the gluten strands. When you stretch the dough at the beginning, it breaks apart immediately and the strands are not very long -- almost non-existent. As you knead it, the strands get longer and the dough gets more elastic. ***BAKING TIME: The book says 1 hour at 325°. This is one disagreement I have with The Bread Book -- an hour is way too long. 35-40 minutes is usually just right, especially if youıre using 4x8 pans. The old test is to remove the bread from the pan, thump the bottom, and it's supposed to be done when it's hollow-sounding. That's so subjective and I could never figure that out. You just have to learn from experience. I go mainly by the color of the bread. If youıve let it rise sufficiently and are baking at the correct temperature, it will be a rich golden brown color when it is done, but not dark brown. EVALUATING THE BREAD: If the bread is flat or sunken on the top, you probably didn't add enough flour. Another possibility is that it was over-risen and collapsed in the oven. If the loaf is rounded on top but is short and dense, with an even crumb, it probably wasn't allowed to rise enough, or didn't contain enough liquid. If it doesn't rise enough, possible causes are: not enough liquid, too cool an environment to rise in, surface of dough dried out and it couldn't rise well, and possibly was not kneaded enough. If the loaf was well-risen, the crust is golden brown, the center is done just right, and it has a fine crumb and good texture, congratulations and remember how you did it! YEAST: I buy my yeast through the co-op. You can use the packets from the store, but thatıs the most expensive way to buy it and sometimes it's old and doesnıt work well. I have always had much better luck with the co-op yeast. . If you choose to buy it in bulk, store in the freezer or refrigerator whatever you won't use within a few weeks. I have kept yeast in the freezer for more than six months and it still worked fine when I took it out. I don't know what the maximum time is that it can be stored in the freezer. FLOUR: The amount of flour you use depends on how much moisture it contains. It could vary by as much as a cup or more. That is why bread recipes always give an approximate amount of flour. As you gain experience, it will be easier to tell when youıve added enough flour. Different crops of wheat contain different amounts of moisture. Sometimes when I open a new bucket of wheat, the first loaf of bread from it isnıt so great. I adjust the amount of liquid depending on what the bread looked like, and then I can use those proportions for the rest of the bucket. Good whole wheat flour will start going rancid within a few weeks, so it should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. I grind several weeks worth at a time and store most of it in the freezer in Rubbermaid 8.5²x12²x3² containers. I take out one container at a time and store it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, out of the way. If youıre making bread by hand, youıll need to get the flour out ahead of time so it will be room temperature when you start. I store my pastry flour (ground from soft wheat) in Rubbermaid containers that are similar, but square. If your family is not used to whole wheat bread, you might want to try to get Prairie Gold flour - it's a different wheat with a lighter taste than regular (red) wheat. (This used to be called Golden 86.) This is what I use. I used to buy both kinds and mix them, but it was too much trouble. Bread made from red wheat is still good, but it will be heavier and have a stronger flavor. Some people prefer that, but many do not, especially if they're trying to get used to whole wheat bread. There is another alternative that might be good to start with if your family is not used to whole wheat bread. Heartland Mills makes a flour called ³Golden Buff sifted whole wheat flour.² They sift SOME of the bran out of their stoneground whole wheat flour. This makes the bread lighter in color, flavor, and texture. It makes a very lovely loaf of bread. It does still need to be stored in the refrigerator, or for long-term in the freezer, because it does contain the wheat germ (the part of wheat that will go rancid after milling into flour). This is what I started making bread with, before I got my grinder. However, if your family won't eat bread made from complete whole wheat flour, this can be good for a period of transition. WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR: There is another kind of whole wheat flour, which is milled from soft wheat instead of hard wheat. You cannot use it for bread, for the reasons Iıll explain below. You donıt have to worry about buying it accidentally, because it is always clearly marked as whole wheat pastry flour. Hard wheat (used for making yeast breads) contains a sufficient amount of protein. Protein is what forms the gluten strands and supports the structure of the bread. Pastry flour has much less protein, and therefore would make a very flat, heavy loaf of bread (otherwise known as a brick!). However, when baking muffins, cookies, biscuits, pancakes, and anything else that is not a yeast bread, the pastry flour works much better. Some people claim that it works fine to just grind their hard wheat on a fine grind, but it is most definitely not the same. The higher amount of protein in hard wheat makes these other baked goods tougher. In addition, items made with pastry flour are lighter in color, lighter in texture, and less whole-wheaty tasting. Again, you cannot use pastry flour in yeasted breads. Because it does not have enough protein, the structure of the bread will not be supported and it will be flat and heavy. However, when I am making yeasted dough for things like pizza, dinner rolls, and cinnamon rolls that do not have to rise as high as a loaf of bread, I often use half w.w. bread flour and half w.w. pastry flour. Since these items donıt have to rise as high, the structure doesnıt need to be as strong. In these instances, using half pastry flour works fine for me. We donıt care for some of these items made from 100% whole wheat bread flour, but we like them fine made with half bread flour and half pastry flour. To us, it tastes the same as using half bread flour and half unbleached flour. HOME-MILLED FLOUR: This is something Iıve learned on my own but have never read anywhere else. When you grind your flour at home, it will be more or less super sifted. Therefore, a cup of it will be fluffier than a cup of purchased whole wheat flour. Because of this, if you use home-milled flour in recipes you will probably find that there is too much liquid proportionately. When I first began grinding my own flour and all my recipes were flopping from too much liquid, I decided to try tapping the measuring cup full of flour 8 or 10 times with the spoon. You will see the flour settle down, and will have to add more to get a full cup. I know this goes against everything you were ever taught as a cook, but it really does work. If you donıt do it, youıll probably need to add more flour to the recipe. By the way, whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour, so if you're converting a recipe to whole wheat flour, you'll have to add more liquid (usually a tablespoon or two; maybe more, depending on the quantity of flour in the recipe). However, whole wheat pastry flour does not absorb as much liquid as regular whole wheat flour. It absorbs about the same amount of liquid as white flour. BUTTERMILK: The buttermilk makes the bread keep longer, gives it a tender texture, and a rich flavor. This bread can be made with plain yogurt instead of buttermilk -- it gives a slightly different flavor, but the same results. Alternatively, a person can also use powdered milk and water. But I believe the buttermilk makes a big difference. Sometimes we get tired of the rich flavor and I use just water for awhile. PANS: Most bread pans sold are 5.5 x 8.5 inches, or even larger. If you can find 4x8 pans, they work better for whole grain bread. The larger pan requires the gluten to stretch across a wider expanse, which does not allow the bread structure to be as strong. (That explanation is not scientific, but I explained it to the best of my ability.) Whole grain bread is more likely to collapse before baking, plus it is more difficult to get the inside of the bread done before the outside is too done. I read this in the _Bread Book_, and have found it to be true in personal experience. When I got rid of those big pans I was using and starting using 4x8 pans, my bread rose high and lovely. DOUGH CUTTER: This tool is called by a variety of names: dough scraper, dough cutter, and chopper are three that I've heard. It is a piece of strong, thin, flat stainless steel about 4²x6². One side is like a blade (not sharp), and is used to scrape the dough (or chop nuts). The opposite edge is rounded, or has a plastic or wooden handle to grasp. If you get one, youıll wonder how you ever got along without it! If you're like me, you use a spatula or pie server to scrape and clean your counter off when you've been cooking. My mother sent one to me a number of years ago and I had no idea what it was for, but quickly learned that it worked great for cleaning off the counter. When I got the _Bread Book_, I learned how it can be used for kneading. I also use mine all the time to cut dough into smaller portions. Theyıre available in cooking supply stores for about $7 or $8. For French bread, buy a French bread pan. It is about 17 inches long, and most will bake two loaves of bread at a time. If you look at it from the end, it is shaped like a rounded ³W.² French bread is one thing I make with half whole wheat bread flour and half unbleached flour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please click above to support our sponsor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL OF THE PACK