Today was bread day...a perfect day to a women's heart! It was really our first day of baking and we tackled it like reeling in a fish on a hook. Author and renowned baker Priscilla Allison Martel taught us the basics of bread making. First, as a baker, you must understand your environment: the temperature, humidity level and the available and quality of the equipment. Second, you must know your flour. Bread represents the flavor, color and texture of the flour used. Each type of flour has varying percentages of protein. Bread flour has around 12-14% protein while cake flour has only 4-6% protein. Hence, the higher the percent of protein the more gluten forms and the more elastic and plastic the bread becomes. Besides flour, bread is made up of a lot of water, which helps activate the protein and turn into gluten. The higher the protein flour, the more water is used. Third, yeast is the part of the recipe that makes it ferment, rise and grow and take on a unique flavor.
The baker's saying - time = taste and temperature = flavor
Key Points:
-Why salt? helps make the bread stronger, helps with browning and gives it flavor. Salt should never be add on top of the yeast - salt can kill yeast.
-Always measure using a scale and always use same metrics
-Be nice to the dough, if it is tough, then let it relax, cover it and let it take a nap. The dough will loosen up and become more pliable.
-the timeline of making a dough - mix, ferment (let sit in warm area), form, proof (let it rise again), bake
-use cornmeal on baking sheets to prevent dough from sticking
-the smaller the piece of dough, the higher the temperature for cooking and vis a versa
-use a Cuisinart to make your dough - will take 45 seconds!! The formula - 145-temperature of the flour = the water temperature needed. Place flour in the machine with sugar, yeast etc. Turn on machine and quickly add all the water! Count to 45 and walla done!
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