Thursday, January 30, 2014

ALL ABOUT BREAD DOUGH ..

ALL ABOUT BREAD DOUGH ..
If you’re using active dry yeast in your recipe then it will require to dissolve it in lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar.
When after 10 - 15 minutes it has bubbled up and becomes creamy
it means the yeast is alive.
If all the dough ingredients have been mixed together, it’s time to knead them that will help develop the dough’s gluten. Is a ratio of 60% flour to 40% liquid usually a good ratio for a bread dough? 
Now What’s gluten? 
Strands of protein which and when developed become very elastic. This elastic gluten is what allows bread dough to stretch as it rises.
Always remember when the dough rises it needs to be kept moist; or else, a skin forms on its surface, making it harder for it to rise. So best is a ' Plastic wrap'. Use a big size plastic bag. 
The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is when it looks soft and bloated. Here soft means when you get your finger mark 
on the dough when lightly pressed.
If you want light, fluffy bread, the dough should rise until it is puffy. 
In that case let the dough double or more in volume. 
Is it better of make bread with wet dough or stiff dough? 
Gluten forms more easily in better hydrated dough. A stiff dough requires more kneading to form gluten. But a stiff dough is harder to knead. Lots of kneading is a must so be patient. If your dough is too stiff, it rises poorly, so softer is better. Then maybe soft dough tend to rise better. 
Best tips ever . . .
1 Breads if made from a cake or all-purpose flour generally have low gluten and protein contents, so your dough may rise and then collapse. Another reason for the dough to rise and then collapse is too high ratio of water to flour.
2 Salt is an essential ingredient for developing the gluten proteins that will give a smooth elastic dough, but too much will kill the yeast. So only add the required amount but add it to the flour, not the water, at the beginning.
3 Mix the dough well and leave it for 10 minutes before kneading. After kneading leave the dough until it has risen by a half. Then, after shaping, bake the loaf when it has risen by a half to two-thirds, not double. 
Proofing is the time that the shaped loaf spends just sitting and waiting for the oven. 
Oven spring is the sudden expansion of gasses within the pores of the loaf that occurs upon contact with the hot oven air.

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