ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Understanding Baking: How Yeast Works
Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste? Bread wouldn't be bread without yeast and yeast can't work without sugars. Yeast is alive-living organisms-and living organisms need food for fuel, in this case, simple sugars. But flour is mostly starch and table sugar (sucrose) is too complex for the yeast before fermentation. Amylase and invertase, enzymes present in the flour or created by the yeast, break down the starch molecules into sugars. Some of these simple sugar molecules become food for the yeast; others create the sweet flavor we find in a fine bread-even a French bread where there is no sugar added. As the yeast feeds on the sugar, it creates two digestive byproducts-alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what leavens the bread-carbon dioxide gases filter through the dough creating loft. The alcohol is evaporated in baking. The biological and chemical actions taking place as the bread ages and rises are called fermentation. Generally, a long, slow fermentation makes for better flavor, texture, and moisture retention. Many fine breads call for "retarding" or slowing down the growth of the yeast with refrigeration. If dough is refrigerated, the yeast grows more slowly. Fermentation still takes place as the amylase enzymes work within the dough and sugar is released albeit at a slower rate. When the dough is warmed and the growth of the yeast takes off, there is plenty of sugar present for the yeast and an excess of sugar to sweeten the bread. When yeast grows more slowly, we find the richer, fuller flavor of breads made with retarded dough. In the previous article, we discussed a focaccia that uses refrigeration to slow down the growth of the yeast and create the desired crumb and flavor. Is it a good bread without retarding? Yes, but retarding does give it desirable flavor overtones and a more open crumb. Read on for the printable version of How Yeast Works >> This article was taken from About Baking: Ingredients and How They Work and is available free for download. © 2004, The Prepared Pantry
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
6 Tips for Perfect Homemade Hard Candy There's nothing better than the juicy, flavorful hard candy from your local gourmet candy shop . . . unless you make it yourself, that is! Making perfect hard candy at home is easier than you think. You just need the right tools, a few simple ingredients, and your imagination. Once-A-Month-Cooking: How to Make Your Plan Work As one of the oldest children in a family of nine, I know that cooking for a crowd can almost be a full-time job. Once-a-month-cooking has been a lifesaver for our family. In the beginning though, when we first heard of cooking 30 meals in one day, it sounded rather impossible. It was not until we had tried it, though, that we found it is not only possible, but it can even be quite simple and fun! 10 Wide Open Tips For Food Safety In The Great Outdoors Hiking, camping, and boating are good activities for active people and families. However, if the food isn't handled correctly, food-borne illness can be an unwelcome souvenir. Is Cooked Food Really All That Good For Us? In nature all animals eat living foods as yielded up by Nature. Only humans cook their foods and only humans suffer widespread sicknesses and ailments. Those humans who eat mostly living foods are more alert, think clearer, sharper and more logically and become more active. Best of all, live food eaters become virtually sickness-free! Cake Baking Tip Guide Successful cake decorating is all about preparation. Baking and preparing your cake for decorating is a critical part of the total process. In this article, I'll share some expert tips for basic cake preparation to get your cake creation off to a fabulous start! These easy tips will ensure your cake decorating success. 10 Smoky Tips To BBQ Food Safely Cooking outdoors was once only a summer activity shared with family and friends. Now more than half of Americans say they are cooking outdoors year round. Use these simple guidelines for grilling food safely to prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying and causing food-borne illness. Chinese Cooking Technique: Deep Fry There are usually 2 ways of deep frying in Chinese cooking: Make-up or Mixing Methods for Muffins When muffins aren't perfect, the first reaction is to change the ingredients in the recipe. Rather than changing the recipe, try a different mixing method. Kitchenaid Stand Mixers ? A Kitchen Work Horse Kitchenaid stand mixers are very popular in today's kitchens and it is easy to see why. These stand mixers have stood the test of time and have shown themselves to be kitchen work horses. Ten Proven Tips to Buy the Best Meat Available Ten Proven Tips to buy the Best Meat Available How to Bake: How Long Should My Bread Rise? It depends. The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is not by time-though it helps to set the timer so you don't forget about your dough-but by look and feel. It will look soft and bloated. When you touch the dough, it will be soft and your finger will leave an indentation when lightly pressed against the dough. If it is not ripe, the dough will tend to slowly spring back. Wok this Way! (Part 4 of 5) Cleaning and Caring for Your Wok Non-stick woks do not require seasoning, and come with simple cleaning instructions from the manufacturers, while steel carbon and iron woks require seasoning. Cleaning a seasoned wok is a lot different than a non-stick wok, and this is what we will cover here. Is Your Cookware Poisoning You? For over 40 years scientists have known that the fumes from hot non-stick surfaces can kill pet birds such as canaries. So just how dangerous are they to you? Keeping and Wasps and Flies Away from your Barbecue It is one of life's oddities that we take a lot of trouble refrigerating meat, keeping food sealed and washing our hands before touching it, only to throw out the rule book when we have a barbecue. The meat is left out in the sun waiting it's turn to be cooked, exposed to the elements and there is no washbasin to be seen. Another oddity is that it is men that do most of the barbecue cooking: 7 out of 10 according to the American Dietetic Association (http://www.eatright.org) in a survey. They also found that only 44% of these men washed their hands when cooking at the barbecue. Shame on us men! Why is it that, more often then not, it is women who get to do the day-in, day-out drudgery cooking, while men suddenly muscle in for those special occasions? Is this right, or am I imagining it? Unique Cake Decorating With Flowers Flowers as a Cake Decoration, unique and easy to place on every one of your cake creations. Vegetarian Cooking - Three Basics For any of the many reasons people choose to eat vegetarian food - religion, politics, finances, or health - one thing in common is that everyone prefers food that tastes delicious and provides good nutrition. There are some basic techniques to vegetarian cooking which will accomplish that. Slimming Secrets From The Kitchen To get the svelte figure, start in the kitchen. Slimming down is about taking in less calories, while you burn more calories through exercise. The Perfect Omelet(te), How to Cook It Omelet(te)s ServSafe Food Program in Montana a Success Montana has a great program for restaurant employees. Each preparer of foods to the public must go through a special program where they learn at what temperatures food must be served and how to keep the place clean. It is through this program that MT ranks among the lowest in the country for food poisoning. E. coli bacteria is very unlikely in MT because as part of this program they learn all the other important food preparation rules. The signature program? It is called ServSafe. And each employee must complete this program. Substitutions for Commonly Called for Ingredients What should you do if you are in the middle of a recipe and realize you are out of an ingredient? You could send your child to the local convenience store for cream cheese and end up having to serve your caviar with Velveeta because to a 13 year old they are both soft cheeses. This really happened when my Mother sent me for cream cheese.
|
|
|
|
|
