The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book Part 22

STORING & USING BAKERS' YEASTS Baking yeast comes to us either in dried granules or moist pressed cakes, and technologists have put a good deal of energy into seeing that they are both exceedingly good at their job of raising bread.

The commonest kind of yeast for home baking is active dry yeast active dry yeast, the granular kind found in tiny flat foil packets at the grocer's, or in bulk at natural food stores. This is the kind we call for in our recipes: it is available everywhere, convenient to keep, and very dependable. A typical recipe in this book calls for 2 teaspoons (1 packet) of active dry yeast ( ounce or 7 grams). When we wrote Laurel's Kitchen Laurel's Kitchen, one packet measured a tablespoon, and when we started this book, it measured 2 teaspoons; now it is 2-but it still weighs the same, and still raises two loaves. The yeast companies are always trying to improve their products, and maybe from their point of view, less bulk means less storage and shipping s.p.a.ce.

For moist (or "cake," or "compressed") yeast, the equivalent amount is one square ( ounce or 17 grams). When you buy either of them in bulk, or want to subst.i.tute one for the other, think of moist yeast as composed of about half water by weight, so that active dry yeast weighs 45 percent as much as cake yeast of the same leavening power.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you buy yeast is to be sure it is fresh. If active dry yeast is kept airtight and cool, it maintains its potency for several months. Try to encourage your storekeeper to keep his supply refrigerated, and even so, don't buy yeast whose pull date has gone by. Sometimes active dry yeast is sold in open bins, and you are encouraged to scoop out what you want, put it in a paper bag, and take it home. Because exposure to warmth and air damages yeast over a period of time, bulk yeast of this type has been responsible for some densely disappointing loaves.

Whatever kind you buy, be sure to read the manufacturer's directions for that particular yeast. (Ask to see the label if you buy in bulk.) Until recently there were just two kinds of yeast, cake and active dry, and the directions for using them appeared in every cookbook. Lately, however, several new kinds of active dry yeast have appeared on the scene, and each one of them has its own particular requirements: if you use one of them, you'll get the best results from it if you follow the manufacturer's suggestions exactly. Some of these yeasts are designed to work very fast, and do. They make bread that is exceedingly light, with the other characteristics of quickly raised bread, too: uninteresting flavor and poor keeping quality.

Professional bakers have long preferred moist, or compressed, yeast for its greater dependability and ga.s.sing power. It can be activated at a wider range of temperatures, making it a little easier to use. It keeps for only a week or two in the refrigerator, but since bakers buy so much of it, it is convenient for them to keep a fresh supply on hand. Sometimes they do not object to selling a pound of it, or even half a pound-so if you like to use moist yeast and have been having a hard time finding it in the stores, try your nearby bakery. Fresh moist or compressed yeast is creamy-smooth looking, beige in color, not crumbly or grayish. not crumbly or grayish. A pound is enough to raise 64 normal loaves of bread-a serious consideration. A pound is enough to raise 64 normal loaves of bread-a serious consideration.

You can store compressed yeast wrapped airtight in the refrigerator for about two weeks; frozen (at 3032F) for as long as two months. If you purchase a large quant.i.ty, we suggest cutting it into one-baking-sized chunks, and wrapping them airtight in foil before freezing them. To prepare refrigerated compressed yeast for baking, dissolve the yeast in water that is no warmer than 85F. Soften frozen yeast in water that is even cooler.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST.

Before leaving the subject of yeast, it is perhaps worth mentioning that nutritional yeasts-torula, brewer's, etc.-are quite dead and will never raise bread. Even if you are using them for the sake of their nutritional wallop, in addition to regular yeast, their overpowering flavor does not add much to the appeal of the loaf, and one protein (glutathione) present in the pulverized yeast cells can actually keep your dough from rising well.

About the Ingredients: Water ...

As a general rule, water that is good to drink is good for bread-making. Some minerals in the water strengthen the gluten and act as food for the yeast, but exceptionally hard or alkaline water can r.e.t.a.r.d the yeast's action. If your water is very hard, you may find that you get a better rise if you add a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice to the water measure (not the yeast-dissolving water, please!). Very soft water will make a soft, sticky dough that does not rise well. For this reason, distilled water (the softest of all) works poorly in baking.

The amount of chlorine normally used to treat drinking water is in low enough concentration that it does not disturb baker's yeast, but where a less vigorous leaven is working-for example, in Flemish Desem Bread-don't use chlorinated water.

Many liquids can be used in bread-water, milk, fruit juice, soymilk, potato water, applesauce, egg, cooked cereals, and others. Water, though, is the most universal and one of the very best: it lets the full vital flavor of the wheat shine out strong and clear. Please note that whatever liquid you use, the yeast should be dissolved in water only, and at the proper temperature.

... & Salt Salt's most obvious contribution is flavor: if ever you find you have made an unexpectedly strange-tasting bread, there's a fair chance you forgot the salt. If you left it out, the bread will probably have other problems, too: saltless loaves are usually crumbly, have a characteristically porous top crust, and they often collapse. Salt strengthens the gluten and regulates the growth of the yeast.

It is possible to make good bread without salt, as we describe in the section on Saltless Bread, and many people, for reasons of health and/or taste, prefer it that way. In the recipes in this book we have used what most people who are accustomed to lightly salted food find acceptable, but you will easily adjust our quant.i.ties to suit your own taste and needs.

Most salt available in retail stores contains anticaking agents, and often "free-flowing" agents as well. These additives do not affect breadbaking in any noticeable way, but if you prefer to avoid them, check to see if your natural food store sells additive-free salt. If it lumps up a little, you can usually crumble it easily, but do protect it from moisture so it won't turn into a hard rock. When you make bread, if your salt is not finely ground, dissolve it in part of the water measure rather than stir it into the flour so that you will be sure it gets mixed evenly into the dough.

Much has been made lately of the superiority of sea salt, and you can pay an outrageous amount for it if you are willing. There are bakers who swear by the beautiful lilac-colored salt from a particular bay in South France, and others who pine for the petal-pink sea salt of Hawaii. It is true that bread dough is conditioned by many minerals, and perhaps these exotic salts contain some of them. However, even if the water you use in your bread is so soft that it is practically distilled, we question whether any minerals that might be present in these salts could be worth their exotic price.

As for normal sea salt, whether you find it on the supermarket shelf or in a specialty store, most likely it originated in the vast red salt-drying ponds that stretch along the southern part of the San Francis...o...b..y: it is there that the Leslie Salt Company manufactures virtually all the sea salt sold in this country. Ocean water is dried, sc.r.a.ped up, washed, redried, redissolved and precipitated, so that what is left is very nearly pure sodium chloride. If it were not purified in this way, there would be a substantial amount of ocean pollution along with the salt-not only bits of seaweed and fish but some toxic minerals like lead and cadmium, and residues of pesticides, as well. Leslie's sea salt is 99.95 percent sodium chloride. To be "food grade," salt must be very pure indeed; and this is true whether the salt was mined from the earth or evaporated from seawater, and no matter how much you pay for it.

About the Ingredients: Sweeteners There is a persistent myth that added sugar or honey is necessary to provide food for the yeast. Yeast does prefer added sugars and will choose them first over those from the dough itself, but truth to tell, the yeast can convert dough starches into sugars perfectly well, and these are adequate for it in all but the very longest-rising doughs. The cla.s.sic daily breads of Europe contain no added sugar or fat, but Americans seem to prefer their breads a little on the sweet side, and most of our recipes do call for some sweetener.

Sugar in any form-honey, fruit, mola.s.ses, or granulated cane-not only affects the bread's flavor but also makes the crumb tenderer; and when you slice the finished loaf and put it into the toaster, the toast browns faster. In small quant.i.ties-about 1 tablespoon per loaf or so-the type of sweetener you use will not make too much difference in taste, but when there is more, the sweetener should be considered a flavoring agent as well.

We use honey because the flavor harmonizes well with whole wheat, and for ecological and other reasons we prefer it to refined sugar. For many of us, besides, there are real advantages to keeping granulated sugar completely out of the kitchen but if you want to subst.i.tute brown sugar in any recipe that calls for honey, you should have good results. In bread-making quant.i.ties, the nutritional differences between sweeteners are insignificant.

HONEY.

Honey is fascinating stuff. Books have been written about it, and songs and poems as well. One tiny bee works her whole lifetime to produce one teaspoonful, so we use it with a certain appreciative awe. Honey gives a bright sweetness to bread, and because it holds moisture, bread made with honey keeps well.

Since its character reflects the flowers it comes from, there is considerable variation from one jar of honey to another. This is of much practical interest in breadmaking. We have had honey as black as mola.s.ses that was so acid or so full of enzymes (or something something mysterious!) that the bread made with it simply would not rise. Commercial bakers, when they use honey at all, generally pick the pasteurized kind because even the lightest honey is a biologically active ent.i.ty, with properties that can interfere with the dough's development. The home baker can deal with these vagaries better than the professional, whose livelihood depends on being able to produce identical loaves day after day; but even at home if you are making a long dough, one that will take more than four or five hours to rise, we suggest scalding raw honey before adding it to the dough. For the least damage to its flavor, heat it in a double boiler, and don't let it get over 180F. Or if you prefer, heat it in part of the liquid from the recipe, then cool to the proper temperature. Some honeys are acid enough to curdle milk if the two are heated together, but that won't hurt the bread. mysterious!) that the bread made with it simply would not rise. Commercial bakers, when they use honey at all, generally pick the pasteurized kind because even the lightest honey is a biologically active ent.i.ty, with properties that can interfere with the dough's development. The home baker can deal with these vagaries better than the professional, whose livelihood depends on being able to produce identical loaves day after day; but even at home if you are making a long dough, one that will take more than four or five hours to rise, we suggest scalding raw honey before adding it to the dough. For the least damage to its flavor, heat it in a double boiler, and don't let it get over 180F. Or if you prefer, heat it in part of the liquid from the recipe, then cool to the proper temperature. Some honeys are acid enough to curdle milk if the two are heated together, but that won't hurt the bread.

MOLa.s.sES.

Mola.s.ses is one of our favorite sweeteners, especially for the heartier breads, which its dark flavor complements boldly. There are many varieties of mola.s.ses, most by-products of sugar refining. Sugarcane is pounded, the juice extracted, and from the juice comes sugar. What remains behind is first extraction mola.s.ses, the lightest. Second extraction is darker because more sugar has been removed. Finally, third extraction mola.s.ses, or blackstrap, is left. It still contains some sugar, but so little that it is not commercially practical to take any more out. Blackstrap is well known as a rich source of iron and other minerals, partly because sugar extracting used to be carried on in iron vessels. Nowadays this is not necessarily so, and the iron content varies a lot from brand to brand (and so does the flavor).

Because sulfur is used in the refining of sugar, there is residual sulfur in the mola.s.ses-highly objectionable to people who are sensitive to it. Unsulfured Unsulfured mola.s.ses is available most places; it is this that we have used in testing our recipes. Which kind you prefer is very much a matter of your own taste. As a rule of thumb, the darker the mola.s.ses is, the more sugar has been removed, and the stronger the flavor. Blackstrap, by far the darkest of the lot, is more a flavoring agent than a sweetener, and it should be used with caution by those who haven't become addicted to its tangy bite. mola.s.ses is available most places; it is this that we have used in testing our recipes. Which kind you prefer is very much a matter of your own taste. As a rule of thumb, the darker the mola.s.ses is, the more sugar has been removed, and the stronger the flavor. Blackstrap, by far the darkest of the lot, is more a flavoring agent than a sweetener, and it should be used with caution by those who haven't become addicted to its tangy bite. The Joy of Cooking The Joy of Cooking (at least our vintage edition) p.r.o.nounces thus on its pungency: "Blackstrap mola.s.ses is a waste product... and is unpalatable." To its fans, blackstrap is marvelous. (at least our vintage edition) p.r.o.nounces thus on its pungency: "Blackstrap mola.s.ses is a waste product... and is unpalatable." To its fans, blackstrap is marvelous. De gustibus. De gustibus. Whatever kind of mola.s.ses you use, of course, it will make your bread darker in color than if you had used another sweetener. Whatever kind of mola.s.ses you use, of course, it will make your bread darker in color than if you had used another sweetener.

MALT.

Malt is extracted from sprouted barley, usually, and sometimes from other grains. It has a rich taste and so enhances the flavor of grain that manufacturers of white-flour products often use it to help approximate the satisfyingly warm flavor of whole wheat.

The form of malt that is most concentrated and most easily available is barley malt syrup, a thick, viscous semi-liquid: this is the kind that we have used in recipes in this book. When you buy it be careful to get the plain-flavored kind-hop-flavored malt syrup, sold for brewing, is quite bitter. Look for a brand that has not been diluted with corn syrup, certainly.

This malt syrup is non-diastatic: non-diastatic: it has been heated in its manufacture, and contains no active enzymes that would affect your bread. it has been heated in its manufacture, and contains no active enzymes that would affect your bread. Diastatic Diastatic malt, or dimalt, does contain active enzymes. Dimalt is most often sold in natural food stores in the form of flour. The flour is much less concentrated than syrup in sweetness and malty flavor, but because its enzymes convert dough starches into sugars, a small amount sweetens a whole loaf, making dimalt a good choice for people who want to make bread without added sweeteners. The dimalts that are available to the home baker vary in potency, but as a rule, a quarter-teaspoon per loaf is just about the maximum you can use without having the bread become a gooey mess that can't bake properly. malt, or dimalt, does contain active enzymes. Dimalt is most often sold in natural food stores in the form of flour. The flour is much less concentrated than syrup in sweetness and malty flavor, but because its enzymes convert dough starches into sugars, a small amount sweetens a whole loaf, making dimalt a good choice for people who want to make bread without added sweeteners. The dimalts that are available to the home baker vary in potency, but as a rule, a quarter-teaspoon per loaf is just about the maximum you can use without having the bread become a gooey mess that can't bake properly.

For more about malt, including instructions for making your own, see this page this page OTHER SWEETENERS.

Pure maple syrup is one of the most delicious sweeteners, whether you pour it on pancakes or use it to sweeten bread dough. Be alert to its freshness, though. It does not keep well, even in the refrigerator. If mold forms on the top, skim it off. The molds can't survive in the syrup itself, but other micro-organisms can, and they can alter the flavor drastically. If there is any question in your mind, bring the syrup to a boil-often that revives its usefulness. But even then always taste it before you cook with it, because when its flavor is off it can ruin a whole baking. The crystallized version keeps longer.

Sorghum syrup, from a grain that grows well in most places in the United States, is rather sour, and we did not like its flavor in bread. There may be many good ways to use it, but we are not familiar with them.

Crystallized fruit sugars (date, banana, and the like)-and for that matter turbinado, demerara, and the whole health-food-store panoply-may have some subtle advantages over supermarket varieties, but they are expensive for what you are getting, which is-sugar. Some are far less sweet than their more plebeian counterparts, so you may find it necessary to add much more to get the same sweetening effect.

Finally, a word here about fructose, which not long ago received a whole lot of attention as a sinless "natural" sweetener. It does occur naturally in honey and fruits and vegetables, but commercial fructose is a highly processed sugar, usually manufactured from corn syrup, which is itself a highly refined sugar. We can't recommend it at all.

About the Ingredients: Fat Most of our recipes call for a tablespoon or so of oil or b.u.t.ter per loaf because even this small amount helps the bread keep longer, enhances its flavor, and makes it tenderer. A tablespoon of cool b.u.t.ter or two to three tablespoons of oil per loaf make what bread scientists call a "conditioning amount": it actually helps the loaf to rise higher in the oven. More oil is required because liquid oils have less of the fatty acids that are solid at fermentation temperatures, and these fatty acids are the conditioning element. Different kinds of oil have slight differences in composition; as a general rule, the higher the melting point, the more conditioning effect you can expect.

Be sure it's fresh: rancid fat can spoil a loaf completely. Refined oils don't contribute flavor of their own to the bread, but unrefined oils do. The ones we have found successful are sesame oil, which has an emphatic taste (best when there are also seeds on the crust), and olive oil, good especially in sandwich bread and rolls where you don't want sweetness. Olive oil has a high melting point and therefore some conditioning properties; bread made with it usually rises beautifully.

From the nutritional standpoint, it is best to minimize the use of any fat or oil, and for this reason we have tried to use as little as possible while still providing a wide variety of flavor and texture to the breads. You can, however, follow the recipes in this book, or any other bread recipe, for that matter, with no oil or b.u.t.ter at all; the slice will be chewier, the crumb more open; in most cases the bread won't keep as well-though there are other ways to help bread keep well.

If you are looking at your bread with an eye to lowering fat content, we suggest you take a canny look at just how much you spread on the slice. It is very easy to put a full tablespoon of b.u.t.ter on a piece of toast, and building the habit of using less takes a continuing, conscious effort. If you are reducing the fat in your diet even more drastically and have given up fatty spreads on your bread altogether, why not try the European custom of breaking fresh bread rather than slicing it? The exposed crumb is then much softer and more appetizing. On this score, too, hearth breads and sourdoughs, rolls, and bread-sticks, are good eating without the b.u.t.ter.

Grease Nearly everything you bake on or bake in has to be greased to prevent sticking. In our experience, vegetable oil does not work reliably for this job unless it is hydrogenated-the solid white stuff sold as vegetable shortening. We kept a can of this around with a small cloth napkin inside-using it only only for greasing-until our friend and baking wizard Manuel Freedman suggested this alternative, which works beautifully. for greasing-until our friend and baking wizard Manuel Freedman suggested this alternative, which works beautifully.

Buy some lecithin, either the granule or liquid form, at the supermarket or any natural food store. Mix cup lecithin and 1 cup liquid vegetable oil, blending smooth in the blender. Keep it in the refrigerator. Use this for greasing anything-it works like magic. For best results, apply a very very thin coat only, being careful to cover the entire surface. "It's the best release product in the business," says Manuel, and he knows whereof he speaks. thin coat only, being careful to cover the entire surface. "It's the best release product in the business," says Manuel, and he knows whereof he speaks.

*Corliss A. Bachman, Home Food Systems Home Food Systems (Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, 1981) (Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, 1981)

Timing

If you're a canny baker, you can manipulate the quant.i.ty of yeast and the temperature of the dough so that its rising times suit your convenience, and so that you produce the bread you like.

As you've seen, most of the recipes in this book make yeasted dough that is ready for the oven in three or four hours, but if you want to let the dough rise longer nearly any recipe can be adapted to accomplish this. Similarly, you can reduce the preparation time so that your fast dough is in the oven in 2 hours.

There are other reasons to vary the timing of your bread. More yeast and warmer dough make a higher loaf. Cool dough and a longer rising time produce a slightly smaller bread, but one that is flavorful, keeps well, and is very nutritious.

There are some tricks to making good bread on your own schedule. Some of them are obvious, others are not. In this section we try to explain the possibilities, but if you are a beginner, we would urge you most earnestly to set aside time to make A Loaf for Learning at a leisurely pace once or twice before you try changing timings. When you get fancy it helps to know what you're about.

When you vary timings, it's particularly important to keep alert to what is happening to the dough; that is your tipoff to how well you are adjusting the amount of yeast and the temperature of the dough. After each rise, look really carefully at your half-inch finger-poke. Does the dough come back a little, shrinking the hole? For the next rising, you will want to give the dough a bit more warmth so it can ferment adequately in the amount of time you have allotted. If the dough not only doesn't fill in the hole but sighs profoundly with alcohol on its breath, next time keep it cooler, for you are courting a gray, yeasty-tasting loaf. The final rise, or proof, is the most important to time closely. Especially if you're new at this, try to arrange to work nearby so that you can keep an eye on the loaf.

Bakers call doughs that rise slowly "long" and those that rise quickly "fast" It isn't strictly grammatical, but it is a convention, and we've followed it in this book.

Timings for Straight Doughs A straight dough straight dough is one that has been mixed using all its ingredients from the beginning. Most of our recipes follow this model. In the next pages we present the four basic straight dough timing patterns. Most of the breads in this book can be made following any one of these timings, if you make the suggested adjustments. is one that has been mixed using all its ingredients from the beginning. Most of our recipes follow this model. In the next pages we present the four basic straight dough timing patterns. Most of the breads in this book can be made following any one of these timings, if you make the suggested adjustments.

A sponge dough sponge dough is mixed in stages and offers further possibilities for timing variations. See is mixed in stages and offers further possibilities for timing variations. See this page this page Bread in a Tearing Hurry

Very high, with mild bakery-made flavor, loaves or rolls produced by this timing come in handy when you want bread fast. We have seen recipes that purport to produce yeasted bread even faster, but we have not liked their raw-gluten taste: you would do better to make a quick bread leavened with baking powder! (see this page this page.) We believe that the timing presented here is the fastest way to have real bread real bread from dough that has actually developed and ripened properly. from dough that has actually developed and ripened properly.

This pattern will work for any recipe that doesn't call for unusual timing. Basically, you double the yeast and keep the dough very warm; if you manage it just right, the dough moves so quickly that you really have to stay on your toes to avoid letting it get away from you. For light b.u.t.tery dinner rolls, this timing is a natural; if you are making loaves, it isn't a bad idea to choose a recipe that has interesting ingredients to add taste and texture, since the bread will not in itself have rich flavor. Including dried fruit, potato, or cooked cereal, for example, would enrich the flavor, and also offer the advantage of increasing the bread's keeping quality, which otherwise is quite limited.

Good Morning (or Good Afternoon) Bread

In general, the recipes in this book follow this pattern because it is the one most of our friends find convenient. It fits comfortably into a day at home, with plenty of time on either side: if you start at ten, the bread will be out of the oven by mid-afternoon; or, begin about lunchtime if you want fresh rolls for dinner without any rushing.

The dough is really a fairly fast-rising one, and will produce very light bread. Still, the timing is not so fast that the bread does not have good flavor and keeping quality, and the nutritional value is respectable, too. For best flavor, don't let the dough get warmer than 80F during its first two rising times. If the dough is kept cooler, it will rise a little more slowly, but the bread will be very good: see next page.

Early Riser's (or Night Owl's) Delight

With the same measurements of the previous choice, this timing is more leisurely both for you and for the dough. We usually start the bread about 5:00 A. M. and take it out of the oven at lunchtime. Another household we know begins in the afternoon and finishes just at bedtime. (They have some truly enthusiastic midnight snackers in that house.) With the longer rise, the bread has rich flavor and very good keeping quality, plus some nutritional advantages from the extra fermentation. Since it rises at room temperature, no special arrangement is necessary for warming the dough, so long as it is protected from drafts. Doughs like this do not demand such precise timing as those with a faster pace, but they still have plenty of energy to rise high.

Simple breads are at their best made in this way because the flavor of the wheat really has a chance to bloom. Flemish Desem and French Breads definitely require the longer rise, but any recipe in this book that does not specify an unusual timing will work beautifully on this schedule.

Night & Day Doughs

Our friends Delores and Gregg are enthusiastic about 24-hour bread because it fits effortlessly into their work schedule: they just mix it up one day after work, punch it down before bed-time and again in the morning, then shape, proof and bake after work the next day. The twelve-hour version can follow the same pattern, except it has to be mixed in the morning before work, not always such a leisurely affair. Both versions benefit from longer baking time, about 15 minutes extra-more if the loaf is heavy.

These breads have exceptional flavor, nutrition and keeping quality providing that they are kept cool enough to ferment properly in the time allotted. The loaves will not rise so high as they would with more yeast on a more accelerated schedule, so if making a large loaf is important to you, adjust the recipe you choose so that you can increase the amount of dough in the pan slightly-or else consider following a long-rising sponge pattern for your bread instead of this one. (See this page this page.) Lengthening the Rising Period FLOUR.

For longer-fermented breads in particular, we like to use a rough stone-ground flour. It is not just that the larger bran particles, softened in the fermenting dough, make ideal dietary fiber that is especially beneficial (which they do), but the coa.r.s.er flour makes a particularly delectable texture, too, and the full wheatey flavor seems to sing out most appealingly. If the dough is made into freestanding hearth loaves, coa.r.s.e flour seems to hold up better than finer flours do.

The recipes in this book and the suggestions in this section are based on the high-gluten whole wheat bread flour that is standard in the United States. In most of Europe and Australia, and other parts of the world, too, flour is often lower in gluten. Doughs made from these lower-gluten flours can make delicious bread-cla.s.sic French Bread is an outstanding example-but they do not tolerate either very fast or very long fermentation periods as well as doughs made with high-gluten flour.

SWEETENER.

In a long dough, the yeast may consume a considerable amount of the available dough sugars. To compensate, add a small amount of extra sweetener. Don't use diastatic malt in longer fermentations; some of its enzymes weaken the gluten and soften the dough, making these breads dense and wet. (Also, see next paragraph.) OTHER INGREDIENTS.

Any ingredient that would normally reduce the size of the loaf will have an exaggerated effect as the fermentation time increases. (Raw honey, for example, which ordinarily reduces the rise of bread very slightly may do so considerably if the dough is a slow-rising one.) When the culprit is an active enzyme or a competing organism, as it may be with honey or cultured milk products, or with fruits, you can minimize the effect by steaming or scalding the ingredient beforehand. Be sure to cool it before adding to the dough-you don't want to warm the dough if it is going to rise a long time.

TEMPERATURE.

The most critical variable of all is temperature. If you can keep your dough within five degrees of what you intend, you can time it very closely to be ready when you want. Suggestions for making these calculations are given here, but you will quickly learn to make the adjustments necessary for your own flour and room temperatures, even without the mathematics. In this respect, cooler doughs are more tolerant, fast ones very demanding.

SOME CALCULATIONS FOR CLOSE TIMINGS.

Breadmaking need not be a matter of guesswork. You can control the timing of your dough's risings very accurately by controlling its temperature. Of course, even if it starts out warmer or cooler, dough will eventually come to the temperature of its surroundings, but in the meantime it will be rising too quickly or too slowly for the best fermentation at your selected timing. With one or two loaves, following normal timings, this is not crucial because the dough changes temperature in a relatively short time; but when you have a large dough (many loaves) or are planning on a very fast rise, the mixing temperature makes a bigger difference.

Here's a way to figure how to get the right dough temperature: - multiply the dough temperature you want by 2 subtract the temperature of your flour result: the temperature your liquids need to be - For example, - 80Fx2=160 - 16065=95F DOUGH KNEADED BY MACHINE.

Using an electric dough hook or a food processor to do the kneading will raise the temperature of the dough. For this reason, you will have to use cooler liquids in the recipe itself (but of course not not to dissolve the yeast). In fact, though this is important, you have to be finicky only with recipes like French Bread where the dough must be really cool. to dissolve the yeast). In fact, though this is important, you have to be finicky only with recipes like French Bread where the dough must be really cool.

Calculations have been devised to compensate for the warming effect of the machines, but they are exceedingly c.u.mbersome. Just measure the temperature of the dough when it's mixed, and then again after you finish kneading to find out how much your machine warms the dough. The next time you can compensate by using cooler water. Except for the cup or so for dissolving the yeast, lower the temperature of the liquids by almost twice as much as your machine warmed the dough. For example, if your machine heats the dough by 10F, you'll want to use water that is 20F cooler than you would otherwise.

Refrigerating Dough Beyond all this, you can also r.e.t.a.r.d your dough by putting it in the refrigerator during one of its rises. We have never had very good luck with bread when it has spent more than one rise in the cold but there are several possibilities that do work nicely for us.

In general, whenever you keep dough in the refrigerator, seal its container to prevent it from absorbing stray flavors. Since the dough needs to cool evenly, and later will have to come to room temperature before you use it, help keep the yeast action as even as possible by forming the dough into a flat disc rather than a ball before you put it in the refrigerator. Raisins and such have a tendency to become winey, by the way, and their limit in the refrigerator is about one day.

SOME OPTIONS.

Knead up a normal recipe, using cold liquid (except for dissolving the yeast). Refrigerate for a day or two or three, deflating the dough from time to time if it rises. When you want to make a loaf or rolls, take out what you need and let the dough warm through. If it has risen once or more in the cold, and you have punched it down, the dough may be ripe by now, and ready to shape; or, it may require another rising period: gauge that by the feel of the dough. Shape, proof, and bake as usual.

A dough that has risen in the normal way one time can go into the refrigerator afterward, to have its second rise there. Deflate the dough, divide it in two for loaves, or into smaller parts if you will be making rolls. Press into discs not more than an inch thick. Place in a flat baking dish or some such container, and cover securely. When you are ready to resume, put the dough in a warm place, covered, until it has softened, warmed through, and fully risen. Round the dough, let it rest, and shape as usual. For the final proof, keep the loaf only just a little warmer than the dough. If the dough is still cool, and is proofed in a very warm place, there will be a dense core in the loaf when it is baked.

A normal warm dough can have its final rise in the refrigerator, surprisingly: it will take about three hours, depending on how warm the dough is, and how quickly your refrigerator can chill it. This is tricky, but the bread can be baked after about three hours, when it is fully risen, or as late as the next day if if your refrigerator is cold enough to prevent the loaf from overproofing. The cold loaf, fully risen, can go directly into a hot oven. It will probably need a little more baking. Watch carefully and test for doneness. (See your refrigerator is cold enough to prevent the loaf from overproofing. The cold loaf, fully risen, can go directly into a hot oven. It will probably need a little more baking. Watch carefully and test for doneness. (See this page this page.) These are mostly daredevil schemes, but you can make them work with a little experimentation. An even more radical suggestion we've heard is freezing dough, but after some research and experimentation, we don't really recommend that for home bakers.

Sponge Doughs Sponge doughs were probably invented by old-time professional bakers who were tired of never getting home from work, and wanted to have a chance at a night's sleep before they had to get up to start the bread for the breakfast customers. Before leaving in the evening, the baker would mix up a portion of the dough for the first of the next morning's bakings. It would ferment overnight, giving him a head start on the day. Such a prefermented portion of a larger dough is called a sponge.

The need to make bread quickly without sacrificing the good nutrition, flavor, and keeping quality of longer-rising dough is no doubt even nowadays the most frequent impetus to follow the sponge pattern. But there are other good reasons for making sponges, too.

A sponge sponge is part of the dough that is mixed up and allowed to ferment ahead of time. is part of the dough that is mixed up and allowed to ferment ahead of time.

A sponge dough sponge dough is bread dough that is made from a sponge. is bread dough that is made from a sponge.

A straight dough straight dough is one that has been mixed using all the ingredients from the start. is one that has been mixed using all the ingredients from the start.

FLEXIBLE TIMINGS.