| Baking and Cooling: |
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Yeast breads bake in less time than quick breads. When the bottom of a loaf is tapped it will sound hollow when done. Tapping a loaf on top will also sound hollow. It is more difficult to hear a hollow sound when tapping heavy, dense bread. It is a good rule to time your loaves and jot it down for next time. An instant-read thermometer will show 200?F (93?C) when done. Remove from pans to racks quickly to avoid sogginess. |
| Batter Breads: |
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Ingredients are mixed together. Batter is too soft to knead. Usually one rising is all that is required. The crumb is more open-textured than kneaded bread. Very easy to make. |
| Bread Machine Bread: |
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These require the least amount of work. A good idea to save even more time is to make up several bags, each containing all of the dry ingredients (except yeast) used for your favorite loaf. Simply pour in wet ingredients, then the dry, then the yeast. Let the machine take over. The bread machine recipes in this book were tested in a Regal Kitchen Pro bread machine that makes 1 to 2 lb. (500 g to 1 kg) loaves. |
| Crusts and Glazes: |
| a) |
Before baking, brush tops with milk. It adds color and a tender crust. |
| b) |
Before baking, beat 1 egg white and 1 tbsp. (15 mL) water with fork. Brush tops. It will give bread a crisp crust. It will also help seeds to stick. It gives some shine to the tops. |
| c) |
Before baking, brush tops with water. It gives bread a crisp crust. It helps even more to spray with water one or more times during baking. |
| d) |
After baking, brush hot tops with softened butter or margarine. Crust will be shiny and soft. |
| e) |
To increase crust, remove bread from pans during the last five minutes of baking and place directly on oven racks to finish baking. |
| f) |
Before baking, beat one egg yolk and 2 tsp. (10 mL) water with fork. Brush tops. It will give a rich brown color. This may be done 10 minutes before removing from the oven if tops are not brown enough. |
| g) |
Loaves brushed with a beaten egg or egg white will hold seeds. |
| h) |
After baking, brush hot tops with 1 tbsp. (15 mL) granulated sugar dissolved in same amount of water. Crust will be crisp. |
| i) |
Do nothing and you will have a crispy crust. |
| Dough: |
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First the yeast is dissolved, then mixed with all ingredients. It is kneaded 8 to 10 minutes until smooth, shiny and elastic. It is covered and allowed to rise, punched down, panned and allowed to rise a second time before baking. Using instant yeast cuts down on the rising time. |
| Eggs: |
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Add nutrition and color, providing for a richer product. |
Fat: |
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Whether you use butter, margarine, cooking oil, shortening or lard it will give a more tender and moist product. It also improves keeping qualities. |
| Flour: |
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Wheat flour (all-purpose) contains hard wheat which contains gluten. This helps to hold the gas bubbles formed by the yeast which results in a lighter product. |
| Freezing: |
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All bread recipes in this book can be frozen. Cool thoroughly. Freeze in moisture-proof bags. Thaw while wrapped. For warm, freshened bread, wrap in foil and heat in 350?F (175?C) oven for 10 minutes or until warm. |
| Heavy Mixer: |
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Unless you enjoy the kneading part of breadmaking this is a wonderful kitchen appliance. About two minutes of machine kneading is equal to 8 to 10 minutes of kneading by hand. This is a must for arthritic cooks. |
| Kneading: |
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To knead dough by hand, place ball of dough on lightly floured surface. Dust your hands with flour. Push dough down to flatten a bit. Fold dough over towards you. Using the heels of your hands push down and away from you. Repeat five or six times. Give dough a quarter turn. Repeat. Use flour as needed if dough becomes sticky. You will know it has been kneaded long enough. It will be smooth and elastic (gummy). When you press dough with your finger, it will spring back. To knead by machine, follow machine's directions. Either way the resulting satiny mixture will produce nicely-textured bread and buns, although you will probably bake more often if you have a strong mixer. |
| Liquid Temperature: |
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100?F (38?C) is best for dissolving yeast granules, 80?F (27?C) for fresh yeast. 100?F (38?C) will feel nice and warm if you touch it with the inner side of your wrist. Hot water kills yeast. Take into consideration your bowl temperature. If for example you use a large cold bowl to dissolve yeast, the warm water will cool immediately, slowing yeast action. |
| Mixing: |
| |
After adding as much flour as the beater can handle, begin to mix in additional flour with a spoon. As dough is worked it will pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it is too difficult to work by hand, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Work additional flour into the dough as you knead it. Remember, less is best. As the dough begins to lose its stickiness, add flour about 1 tbsp. (15 mL) at a time. |
| Risen Enough: |
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When dough appears to have doubled in bulk, poke 2 fingertips into it. If the imprint remains, the dough has risen sufficiently. When testing the dough after it has risen in pans, carefully poke one fingertip in the end, not too far. Dent should remain. Touched lightly, the dough will feel full of air. Remove pans from oven to counter while oven reaches baking temperature. Remove cover and bake. |
| Rising: |
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A warm, draft-free place is important. Turn the oven on to the lowest setting for 30 seconds. Turn off heat. Turn oven light on. Place covered bowl of dough in oven. Close oven door. Dough will rise undisturbed. |
| Salt: |
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Salt acts as a control for yeast action. It also adds greatly to the flavor. |
| Shaping: |
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An egg-sized bun is a medium bun. If you have a scale, each piece of dough should weigh 2 oz. (56 g). Using a scale is a sure way to get evenly-sized buns. Flatten the piece of dough, draw all the edges together and place seam-side down on a greased pan. This will create a smooth, rounded top. To make hamburger buns, use dough the size of a tennis ball, 4 oz. (112 g). If you want buns with soft sides, place 1/2 inch (12 mm) apart. For separated buns place 2 to 2-1/2 inches (5 to 6 cm) apart. Bread may be simply shaped into a loaf and placed in pan. It may also be rolled out into a rectangle, rolled up from one end like a jelly roll and placed in pan. This method lends itself to sprinkling with cinnamon and raisins or any other flavor before rolling. |
| Sponge: |
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Yeast is dissolved and mixed with sugar and part of the flour. It is allowed to rise until bubbly and spongy-looking. The remaining ingredients are mixed in, then kneaded. There are 2 risings before baking. |
| Sugar: |
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Sugar acts as food for the yeast. It helps produce carbon dioxide. Sugar is also added for flavor, and helps browning. Honey and molasses may also be used to add flavor. |
| Water/Milk/Juices: |
| |
Liquids bind ingredients. Water gives a crispier crust. Milk gives a softer crumb. Milk is usually scalded and cooled although with pasteurization it is not always done but rather just warmed. |
| Yeast: |
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Active dry yeast and instant yeast (fast-rising or quick-rising) are granular and packaged in 1/4 oz. (8 g) envelopes or in bulk containers. One level tablespoon (15 mL) of bulk yeast is equivalent to one envelope of packaged yeast. Active dry or instant yeast keeps longer than fresh yeast cakes and may be interchanged. Active dry yeast is dissolved in a mixture of sugar and warm water. Instant yeast is simply added to the dry ingredients and is not dissolved before using. A cake of yeast does not require sugar when dissolving in 80?F (27?C) liquid.
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