CONCEPT 40: TIME BUILDS FLAVOR IN BREADS Flashcards
Why do breads from artisan bakers taste so good?
The key is time. Stretching the bread making process over two days isn’t any more work but it can yield fantastic bread with much better flavor.
After mixing and kneading dough comes fermentation, also known as ______ _______.
First rise.
Is fermentation arguably the oldest of cooking techniques?
Yes
What is the last rise called (after 1st and 2nd)?
Oven spring, which last until all the yeast is killed.
Fermentation of dough is much like what?
Slowly blowing up a balloon.
What happens if fermentation occurs too quickly in a warm room?
Yeast can produce an excess of sour-smelling volatile acids.
What two techniques are used to prevent dough from proofing too quickly in a warm environment?
Pre-ferments and cool fermentation.
What is pre-ferments?
Often known as sponges or starters, are often made before the bread dough itself is even put together.
What is a sponge? How is it used?
Yeast, water and flour are mixed together and left to ferment for a few hours. The sponge is then combined with more water and flour and any other ingredients in the recipe for the final dough. This dough is then kneaded and left to sit for its first rise.
What is a starter? How is it used?
Consists of a portion of dough saved from the last time bread was made. Classic example is sourdough starter. To begin the bread-making process with a starter, the baker adds water and flour to the starter and then lets the mixture sit and ferment.
Do bakers use the whole starter and sponge for baking?
No, whereas the sponge is added in its entirety to the ingredients for the final dough, a small portion of the starter is put back in the crock (in the refrigerator) and saved for the next round of baking.
Why are pre-ferments great for recipes with minimal ingredients? Explain.
They boost the flavor in bread dramatically. With a lengthy rest, long carbohydrate chains, starches and other polysaccharides that have little taste break down into a multitude of sugars, acids and alcohol with lots of flavor.
What is cool fermentation?
It’s all about temperature and why it’s recommended that you let dough rise overnight in the refrigerator. It takes longer than on the counter, but there are many positive effects.
Positive effects of cool fermentation.
First, it reduces the size of gas bubbles that are created as the dough rises (the larger the bubbles in a dough prior to baking the more open and puffy it will be). Second it creates a more flavorful dough.
Why does cool fermentation create a more flavorful dough?
Because at lower temperatures yeast produces less carbon dioxide and more of the initial side products of fermentation: flavorful sugars, alcohol and acids.
Two roles yeast plays in dough.
Providing leavening and flavor.
TEST KITCHEN: YEASTED WAFFLES LEFT IN A REFRIGERATOR TO FERMENT AND ON THE COUNTER. RESPIROMETER WITH TEST TUBE AND BALLON MEASURED CARBONE DIOXIDE LEVELS.
In 3 hours the room temp batter had produced enough carbon dioxide to inflate the balloon, indicating healthy yeast activity. After 18 hours, the batter was spent and no longer produced carbon dioxide, causing the balloon to deflate. Refrigerated batter produced carbon dioxide at a very slow and steady rate. Even after 18 hours, the batter was still producing enough to partially fill the balloon.
Takeaway from test kitchen experiment.
Room temp yeast leavens quickly. However, the yeast was spent and no longer produced flavor after 18 hours. Cool fermentation takes longer and, because of its journey, provides much more flavor.
Wrapped with an extra layer of aluminum foil, how long can bread be kept in the freezer?
1 month
What is a sponge in Italian?
Biga
A standard no-knead dough develops structure gradually because the individual gluten clusters are slow to combine in larger units. But gently turning the dough accomplishes what three things?
It brings the wheat proteins into close proximity with one another, keeping the process going at maximum clip; it aerates the dough, replenishing oxygen that the yeast consume during fermentation; and it elongates and redistributes the bubbles.
What replicates the effect of kneading?
A high proportion of water to flour and a long resting process let the natural enzymes in the wheat replicate the effect of kneading.
Is olive oil a key ingredient in acacia?
Yes
What happens if olive oil is added straight to focaccia dough? Explain.
It can turn bread dense and cake-like because, just as with short-bread, fat “shortens” the dough by blocking gluten’s ability to form continuous networks.
