I know I should have posted this at the beginning of my very own bread challenge. But , I have started looking at some of my collection of cookbook, cooking magazines and came across this .
This post kinda of gives an insight into bread, both yeast and quick breads...This infor I found in THE AMERICAN WOMAN COOKBOOK copyrighted in the year 1940.Might I had some of this is as true today as it was back then...This will be a long post....so be warned...
so here it goes......
Yeast bread....
Bread as a universial article of food has much favor, ( who doesn't love bread)...Bread is usually included in most meals...or at least one form of it...Flour , its chief ingredient, is not quickly perishable and is rather easily stored and transported. I store my flour in an canister and the different varieties are stored in the freezer. Bread is mild in flavor,is inexpensive and furnishes material needed by the human machine.
Excellent bread can be made of good bread flour, salt, water and yeast. Better bread can be made if sugar and fat are added. It is the handling of the dough, not in the proportions of ingredients, that much bread is made.
Flour and Meals used in Bread-making
While flours and meals made from oats, corn ,rice and other seeds are used to some extent with wheat flour in making yeast breads, by far the larger amount of yeast bread is made from wheat flour only and most of it is made from highly refined white flour. This is because the gluten of wheat
flour possesses properties of toughness and elasticity which enable dough containing it to stretch and hold gases produced by it by the action of the yeast or introduced by it by baking powder. The dough rises and becomes light.
However the quality of the wheat flour depends upon the season in which it is grown. Winter wheat is sown in the fall ,but remain in the ground all winter and is harvested in the summer. This grain is
generally poor in gluten ( some people are allergic), but rich is starch. Winter wheat is used largely for pastry flour. Spring wheat is sown in the spring and is harvested in the summer at about the same time as the winter wheat. The grain is generally rich in gluten but poor in starch. Spring wheat flours are best for bread making. Standard flours are a mixture of spring and winter wheat, and vary little in quality.
In selecting a flour for bread-making every effort should be made to secure a flour of good bread-making properties. Bread flour, when rubbed between fingers ,has a granular feeling. It will not hold its shape when pressed in hand. Bread flour can be used successfully in making cakes and pastries( mmmmmmm goodddddd.)
A good pastry flour( pies, doughnuts and such) differs from bread flour in containing more starch and not only less gluten but less elastic gluten than bread flour. It has an oily feeling when rubbed between the fingers, and holds its shape when pressed in hand. Pastry flour can not be used successfully in making bread.
PROPORTIONS OF FLOUR AND LIQUID IN DOUGH
For 1 cup of liquid use approximately 3 cups of flour. This proportion varies widely because of differences in the absorptive powers of different flours. A good bread flour will take up more water than a poor bread flour. Flour, except graham or whole wheat, should always be sifted before being measured.
YEAST
The most satisfactory temp. for the growth of yeast is from 75 to 95 degrees. it ceases to grow when temps are below 30 degrees and is killed at 212 degrees. Yeast should not be softened in very cold water if immediate activity is desired.
COMPRESSED YEAST-- A cake of fresh compressed yeast breaks with a clean edge and has no odor of putrefaction . It is creamy yellow and uniform in color. When old, compressed yeast becomes slightly slippery, is streaky, and has unpleasant odor. Only fresh compressed yeast should be used in bread-making. In compressed yeast, the yeast plants are alive and ready for action, hence, bread-making with compressed yeast requires less time than with dry yeast.
DRY YEAST-- Dry yeast is a mass of yeast plants mixed with cornmeal and dried. As yeast will live for some time and yet can not grow without moisture, these dry cakes will keep for many weeks. The dried plants are inactive and even when warmth and moisture, food and air supplied, they take some time to become active again.
LIQUID,RAILROAD or STARTER YEAST-- This consists of potato water, sugar, and salt in which the yeast plants are in active condition. The starter must b e stored in a cool temperature to retard the action of the yeast. The disadvantage of liquid yeast lies in the fact that other yeasts than those best suited for bread-making may be thriving there also, and soon bread made from this perpetual yeast may a characteristic flavor. Starter should be thrown out occasionally and remade with a fresh yeast cake.
AMOUTS OF YEAST
from one-sixth of a cake to four cake of compressed yeast maybe used to one cup liquid in making bread. The amount of yeast within this range does not affect the flavor of the bread if the dough is handled properly. With the minimum amount of yeast. the process will take 6 hours or more; with skillful handling, be completed in one hour and twenty minutes. From 2 Tablespoon to one cup of liquid yeast maybe used for each loaf of bread.
METHODS OF USING YEAST
Compressed or dry yeast should be softened is from 1/4 to 1/2 cup luke-warm water to which 1 teaspoon of sugar has been added. The compressed yeast maybe used immediately. The dry yeast maybe set aside in a warm place for an hour before it is added to the batter.
LIQIUDS FOR BREAD-MAKING
All liquids should be boiling or scalded before used, to kill any organisms which might develop in the dough.
Mild is the best liquid because of its contribution to the food value as well as to the appearance in the loaf. It gives a white crumb and a rich golden crust. The loaf retains its moisture better than when no milk is used.
Water is cheap, but has not food value. It produces a satisfactory loaf , however.
Potato water produces a characteristic crust excellent in flavor and hastens the action of the yeast. It darkens the bread slightly but gives a loaf which retains its moisture and does not gets stale as quickly as when water alone is used.
MISCELLOUS MATERIALS USED IN BREAD
Sugar us added to improve flavor, to produce a better bloom in the crust and to hasten the activity of the yeast. Too much sugar slackens or softens the dough. In making large quantities of bread, the liquid is decreased if a large quality of sugar is used.
Salt is used to improve flavor of the bread. Too much salt retards the activity of the yeast.
Fat is added to give slight tenderness to both crust and crumb and to improve the keeping qualities of the bread. Any soft fat of mild flavor maybe used as shortening in bread.
Eggs give yellow color to the crumb and a brown rich bloom to the crust. Because of their leavening power, eggs add to the lightness of the loaf.
Currents, raisins, dates and other fruit add flavor and nutrition but have little effect on the texture of the dough.
Nuys add shortening in addition to flavor and food value.
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