Beard on Bread (2 page)

While I have used
all-purpose flour extensively in testing recipes for this book, it is not the best flour to use for making breads. The choicest kind is the
hard-wheat flour used by professional bakers, and if you have a cooperative bakery in your neighborhood you might ask if you can buy some. You can also buy hard-wheat flours from some health food stores or by mail order—some made from North Dakota hard wheat, some from Texas hard wheat. Any of them will make a beautiful, firm-crumbed bread, a bread that will elicit compliments from practically everyone who tastes it.

There is no standardization of flours from one brand to another or from one part of the country to another to help the breadmaker produce uniform loaves of bread, although at one time General Mills offered an all-purpose flour that was considered to be standard throughout the country. I am afraid that this is no longer the case, so one can safely say there are no two flours on the market that really react alike.

As I will mention many times throughout this book, it is almost impossible to give an exact amount of flour for each recipe because of the difference in the characteristics of flour, as well as variations in the atmosphere. Therefore when a recipe calls for kneading in extra flour, you may require more than I suggest. If this happens, do not be alarmed. Go ahead, add flour, and try to achieve a dough that has a good consistency. Eventually your hands will learn when you have reached the right amount of flour and the right degree of kneading.

If you become a serious breadmaker, you will want to play with various
special flours, like graham or
barley flour. There are also
meals and components of the grain you can use, but these are strictly
additives; they cannot be used alone to make bread, since they do not react to yeast and must therefore be combined with wheat flour. The veteran breadmaker is always on the lookout for special flours and additives, and if you search your city or countryside you may discover some new varieties for yourself.

Meals are coarsely ground grains, a number of which are used extensively in breadmaking. The best known of these is
oatmeal, also known as steel-cut oatmeal, and rolled oats—that is, oats that are rolled into a very coarse meal, giving them an entirely different texture from the whole grain.

Barley meal, which is a coarsely ground version of the whole kernel of barley, is called for in a few recipes. Barley flour, a finer milling of the kernel, is used in combination with wheat flour in some breads.

Whole-wheat flour is different in texture from
whole-meal flour or
whole-wheat meal; the latter two are much more coarsely ground and contain rough bits of
bran and crushed kernels.

Rye meal should be differentiated from
rye flour in much the same way; it is coarse, rough, and bakes into a more crunchy loaf.

Bran is found in whole-wheat flour and whole-wheat meal and is also sold by itself. It is very coarse and has little to offer save its texture.

Graham flour is a ground whole-wheat grain that includes the bran. It was developed by Dr. Sylvester Graham.

Gluten is the protein component of grain. Gluten flour has had practically all starch removed and is used widely in diatetic breads.

The wheat germ is the sprouting section of the seed and is often removed from flours because it contains fat, which limits the keeping qualities of bread. But it is full of nutrients and today it is available separately and is much used as a cereal, as an additive to breads, and as animal food.

Whole-wheat kernels or
whole-wheat berries are the whole kernels of wheat, which contain the bran, the germ, the gluten—everything. Some people like it whole in breads to add texture (it must be cooked first); it can also be eaten as a cereal, or you can grind it to use as a meal.

Cracked wheat is coarsely ground whole wheat, which is commonly used as a cereal; it adds a crunchy taste and nutty flavor to breads.

Buckwheat was originally known as beechwheat because of its triangular seed. It is native to Russia and was brought to Europe during the Crusades. It is used principally for buckwheat cakes, for blini, and sometimes as a cereal. Buckwheat can be ground—in fact, it is one of the few grains that can be ground in a blender.

Stone-ground flour is flour that has been milled by stone rollers, which are very often propelled by water power. Many people feel that this method of grinding produces a more nutritious and honest flour than modern milled flour. It is apt to be coarser and heavier, and you will find that you need to use about double the amount of
yeast when you are making bread with stone-ground flour.

Hard-wheat flour is usually made from spring wheat, particularly that from the West, Middle West, and Southwest, and notably from Deaf-smith County in Texas. Hard-wheat flours are noted for their mineral content and for making firm, rather elastic breads. In England it is called “strong flour.”

Soft-wheat flour in this country comes mostly from the Midwest and is noted for its smoothness, which is an asset in making pastries and cakes.

Soybean flour is finely ground soybeans; it may be added to other flours in baking. It is an enrichment rather than a flour, and has a low fat content.

Brown rice when milled produces a heavy, dark flour called
rice flour, which has a very rich flavor and gives a heavy character to anything to which it is added.

A number of leavening agents are used in breadmaking, but the most common is yeast, in either
compressed or
active dry form.

Compressed or fresh yeast, as it is sometimes called, is sold in cakes in three sizes—a little over one-half ounce, one ounce, and two ounces—and also in quarter-pound and one-pound packages. It can be kept in the refrigerator for about ten to fourteen days; it can also be frozen successfully, but it must be defrosted at room temperature and used immediately. If you buy a large package of yeast, it is wise to cut it into one-batch pieces and freeze them separately.

Active dry yeast has replaced compressed yeast in most parts of the country. It is most commonly available in individual packets, containing approximately a tablespoon, and it can also sometimes be found in four-ounce
jars. The yeast in a small package has the expiration date marked on the outside, but if you buy it in larger bulk in health food stores, the packages aren’t apt to be dated and you should
“proof”
the yeast before using
. If you buy yeast in larger quantities, measure 1 scant tablespoon to equal 1 package of active dry yeast or a half-ounce cake of
compressed yeast.

Active dry yeast should be dissolved in liquid at a temperature of about 100° to 115°, while compressed yeast should be dissolved in liquid that is no warmer than about 95°. These limits should be carefully observed. The first few times you make bread, you should take the temperature of the water with a thermometer, noting how warm it feels on your wrist when it is at the proper degree. After that you can gauge the temperature accurately enough just by the feel.

There is a new method being promoted today whereby dried yeast is simply blended with the other dry ingredients and then mixed with liquid that has been heated to as much as 120° to 130°. A lot of people like this method because it is so easy. Frankly, I find that while it may cut down your time, I prefer the old-fashioned way; perhaps the dough rises faster, but it is at the expense of the final flavor, it seems to me.

For yeast to become activated—that is, to release the gas that causes dough to rise—it must have something to feed on. Give it a little sugar and the yeast cells are encouraged to go to work; thus when a sweetener is called for in a bread recipe, it is not serving simply as a flavor. Granulated sugar is most often used, but molasses, brown sugar, and honey are also common sweeteners. Salt, on the other hand, is used to slow the action of yeast, as well as to bring out the flavor of the bread.

Sourdough and salt-rising starters are homemade leavening agents, both very unpredictable. You can get better results if you use yeast as well, and your bread will be lighter and have more flavor—but that is something you can decide for yourself.
Baking powder is another leavening agent; baking powder breads are extremely popular, and include many of the fruit and vegetable breads, such as zucchini bread and banana bread.
Baking soda is still another leavening agent, and is often used in breads containing fruit, to counteract the acid. It is also used along with yeast in recipes like English crumpets, to sweeten the batter. You will encounter all of these leavening agents during the course of this book.

Like other aspects of breadmaking, the time required for the
rising of dough is extremely variable, depending on such factors as warmth of the room, the temperature and humidity of the day, the character of the yeast, the flour, and the kneading. I feel that to give definite rising times for each recipe only tends to make the beginner more nervous, particularly if it takes a longer or a shorter time than I specify. So, instead, I have indicated how much the dough should grow in bulk, and illustrations will aid you.

Some heavy-duty
electric mixers, such as the Kitchen Aid and the Robot Coupe, come equipped with a
dough hook that transforms them into kneading machines. They are quick, they save muscle, and they are efficient. You can use an electric mixer from the very start, first, after the yeast is dissolved, to stir in the flour and the liquids, and then, with the aid of the dough hook, to do the kneading. After the first rising, the bread is punched down and returned to the mixer, which does the additional kneading. Naturally, the dough hook will do a faster, more thorough job than you can do by hand. It is best to consult the recipe book that accompanies your mixer for suggested kneading times, although the experienced breadmaker can soon judge for himself, and if there is a little less or a little more kneading done than required, it does not matter.

I have used the electric mixer a great deal, but never for the entire kneading procedure. I rather enjoy taking the dough from the mixer and finishing it off by hand. It seems to me that it gives the bread a better texture, but this may be my imagination. I have many friends who would not dream of kneading by hand any longer now that they have a dough hook. The choice is up to you. If you enjoy the relaxing exercise of kneading and breaking down the mixture into a smooth, elastic dough, then the machine will never make up for that pleasure. It is, however, a great innovation and an undeniable time saver.