Are you a professional sourdough baker? Do you know someone who is in the business? Colorado State University is looking for input to help researchers understand more about sourdough and gluten sensitivity. They have a 10-minute survey to gather information. In order to participate, you must be 18 years of age and an owner or operator of a bakery that produces sourdough products.
Bread dough Photo: Colorado State University Extension
To save time during the holidays, or any time of year, prepare yeast dough ahead of time and freeze into dough balls for rolls to bake later. The trick is using a dough with extra yeast because slow freezing can damage yeast.
According to Fleischmann’s Yeast, it is best to use dough recipes developed for freezing. These recipes are high in yeast and sugar and low in salt. It is recommended to use bread flour to help maintain bread structure. After preparing and kneading the dough, shape into rolls or flatten into a disk and wrap airtight. The dough can be frozen up to four weeks. When ready to use, thaw at room temperature or slowly in the refrigerator. Once thawed, shape, let rise, and bake as directed.
The virtual National Festival of Breads competition has selected the finalists. Now it’s time for you to vote for your favorite!
The adult division has three categories including savory rolls, sweet bread/rolls, and traditional breads. The youth division has two categories including sweet rolls and a creative bread shape.
Voting will happen from May 14-25, 2021 for the People’s Choice Award. Go to the National Festival of Breads website to view the recipes and vote for your favorite. A virtual “Best of Breads” Champion and other awards will be announced on June 9, 2021 at 3:00pm.
Hey Kansas 4-Her’s! This is for you! The Kansas 4-H Wheat Expo is a celebration of wheat! This year’s event is planned for August 11, 2021 at the Butler Community Building in El Dorado, KS.
One of the many contests to participate in is the baking contest. Start practicing now to enter in three divisions, yeast rolls, cookies and muffins. Wheat flour must be the major ingredient.
This Expo includes tours to local attractions, and contests in photography, educational posters, cleaned wheat, and two bin run wheat categories. Cloverbuds are also encouraged to participate.
More details and information will be available soon on the Kansas 4-H website.
Bread dough Photo: Colorado State University Extension
Do you like the texture of bread or rolls that are pillow soft? An old bread technique has gained new popularity using an Asian yeast bread method called tangzhong. So what is this method?
Tangzhong, originally popularized in Japan and Taiwan, cooks a small amount of flour and liquid to make a thick slurry, then it is combined with the rest of the ingredients. This slurry helps pre-gelatinize the starch in flour so it can hold more moisture. This also creates a structure to hold that moisture through the entire breadmaking process. The dough is easier to knead. The dough rises more and the texture will be moister, softer and stay fresher longer.
Can you convert your own recipes to add tangzhong? It may work for some recipes, but not for others. This is especially true for recipes such as a crusty baguette or chewy bagel. Some tips to try this with your favorite basic bread recipe can be found on the King Arthur Flour website.
When making yeast bread, sometimes the dough just needs a little boost. One method to do that is adding a dough conditioner or dough improver.
These ingredients look like flour, but are not. They help improve gluten development to give higher volume and finer texture. Commercial bakeries use them because of the automated equipment which can be hard on bread dough. They are also added to frozen dough to withstand the damage ice crystals impart on gluten structure. Using dough conditioners can shorten mixing time and speed up fermentation.
Examples of dough conditioners include vital wheat gluten, amylase enzymes, ascorbic acid, and emulsifiers.
Now this is a celebration I can wrap my head around! I consider raisin bread comfort food and have made it often to give as gifts. The aroma of this bread just says comfort!
There are many variations of raisin bread, which typically has cinnamon as an added punch of flavor. Some recipes have raisins in the dough, some have the raisins just in the swirl. The cinnamon can also be used either way. But to truly get that punch of flavor, the spiral with the cinnamon and raisins can hit the spot.
Raisins are little sponges. When baked in bread, they tend to soak up moisture from the dough, making the finished bread dough dry. Soak the raisins in water first to make them plump and juicy, but not mushy.
A cinnamon filling can make a pretty swirl when shaping the loaves. Resist using too much butter as that can cause the swirl to separate and then the bread slices will lose their shape. Add a tablespoon of flour to help prevent this from happening.
If you like the flavor of sourdough bread but don’t want to wait for a sourdough starter to develop, there’s good news!
Red Star® has made a new Instant Sourdough yeast to replace regular yeast in any recipe to give it sourdough flavor. The yeast actually contains a starter culture (Lactobacillus) and rye flour to take the place of a sourdough starter. Simply blend the yeast with the dry ingredients and use liquids at a temperature of 120-130°F. Bread recipes with four cups of flour can use one packet of this yeast.
When making yeast dough, when should you stop kneading? Try the windowpane test!
When dough forms, it will be rough and shaggy. As kneading continues, it gets smoother. Pull out a piece of dough and work it with your fingers as thin as possible. It should be almost translucent. The dough should stretch, but not pull apart. If the dough pulls apart and tears easily, it is not kneaded enough. If it holds together, and when stretched and held up to light, the light should shine through.
Source: Understanding Baking, 3rd edition, Joseph Amendola and Nicole Rees
