Lesson 2 Lean Doughs Continued, Whole Wheat, and Sourdough Starters.

Today we continued reviewing basic ingredients in baking:

YEAST.

Yeast is another basic component of baking recipes. Is a microscopic one celled organism that belongs to the fungi family. We used for baking because it ferments helping the development of gluten and flavor of our baked products.

The yeast feeds on sugar and needs to stay alive, oxygen, food, water or moisture and warm temperature.

Yeast dies at 140F.

The Yeast is available in three forms:

Fresh yeast or also called compressed yeast, is moist and perishable and is preferred by professional bakers. It is usually purchased in 1 lb. cakes.

Active Dry Yeast.- Is a dry, granular form of yeast. Active Dry yeast must be rehidrated 4 times its weight of warm water before use.

Instant Dry Yeast.- Is also a dry granular form of yeast but it does not have to be dissolved in water before use. It can be added in its dry form because it absorbs water much more quickly than regular dry yeast. It also produces more gas than regular dry yeast, lo less of it is needed.

Conversion of Yeast Chart

1 oz of Fresh Yeast= 1/2oz of Dry Active Yeast=1/3 oz of Instant Yeast.

SALT

There are two types of salt popcorn salt is fine and Kosher Salt wich is coarse salt.

Is used in baking because it enhances the flavor, strengthens gluten and makes it more strechable.

Allows gluten to hold more water and CO2. Slows down fermentation, kills yeast if salt is applied directly to it and it should be 2% of the formula.

SUGAR

It also gives flavor and sweetness. It aides in color and the caramelization of crusts, it is used also as a preservative because it retains moisture, and it also serves as food for the yeast. It works as a creaming agent for fats and a Foaming agent for eggs.

There are different types of sugar:

Crystal Sugar: Looks like little crystals.

Granulated Sugar: Is the common white sugar.

Powder Sugar.- Confectioners sugar

10x Brown Sugar.- Is sugar that it has been browned 10 times by adding molases.

FATS

Adds moisture and richness, increase keeping qualities, aids in flavor and assist leavening when used in creaming, flakiness to puff pastry and similar products.

SHORTENINGS.- Any fat acts as a shortening in baking because it shortens gluten strands and tenderizes the product. However, we usually use the word shortening to mean any group of solid fats, usually white and tasteless, that are specially formulated for baking.

STARCHES.- Are used for thickening, most common are corn starch, waxy maize and instant starches.

LIQUIDS.- Water, Milk, Cream, Eggs.

Eggs in particular have different functions in baking which are: Giving structure, emulsification of fats, leavening, shortening action, moisture, flavor, nutritional value and color.

LEAVENERS
There are three types of leaveners:

1. Organic/Biological- living organism
-Yeast (leavener) is a living organism that feeds and expels CO2 (leavening
agent) and alcohol to provide us with the leavening in our breads.
2. Mechanical/Physical- machine or man made
-Incorporating air through mechanical or hand movement methods. Examples of
this would be whipping air into eggs, egg yolks and egg whites (leaveners). This
would also entail the folding we do when making puff pastry. Steam is the result
but it is referred to as an agent.
3. Chemical- chemical reaction of CO2 (leavening agent) being expelled
a. Baking powder is double acting (leavener). It reacts to both moisture and
heat. Baking powder can be made with 2 parts baking acid such as cream
of tartar to 1 part baking soda and a small amount of cornstarch to absorb
the moisture.
b. Baking soda is single acting (leavener). It reacts only to acid or acidic
moisture. You could use sour cream, buttermilk, lemon juice, cocoa
powder, etc. Anything with a high acid content would induce the chemical
action desired.
*If you want to see the physical effects of baking soda, sprinkle some lemon juice over
some baking soda in a cup and watch what happens.
**When you see both baking powder and baking soda in a recipe it is usually to make
sure that you get enough leavening out of your product, especially when making a
particularly heavy muffin or bread batter.

IN BAKING WE HAVE 12 STEPS

1.- Scaling Ingredients.- All ingredients must be weighed accurately, the only items that may be measured by voluem are water, milk and eggs.

2.- Mixing the ingredients.- We mix to combine the ingredients into a dough and to distribute the yeast.

3.- Bulk Fermentation.- Is the process by which yeast acts on the sugars and starches in the dough to produce carbon dioxide gas and alcohol.

4.- Punching.- Is a method for deflating the dough that expels carbon dioxide, resdistributes the yeast for further growth, relaxes the gluten, and equalizes the temperature throughout the dough.

5.- Portioning.- Is to divide the dough into pieces of uniform weight according to the product that we are making.

6.- Rounding.- Is to shape the pieces of dough into smooth round balls. This procedure forms a kind of skin by stretching the gluten on the outside fo the dough into a smooth layer.

7.- Benching.- Is to allow the portions to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. This relaxes the gluten to make shaping the dough easier.

8.- Shapping.- Is to form the dough into loaves or rolls and place it in baking sheets.

9.- Proofing.- Is a continuation of the process of yeast fermentation, which increases the volume of the shaped dough.

10.- Baking.- during baking the dough rises due to the expansion of trapped gases due to the oven heat. The yeast is killed at 140F, the proteins coagulate and a crust is formed and browned in the outside.

11.- Cooling .- This step allows for the escape of excess of moisture and alcohol created during the fermentation.

12.- Storing.- The breads that will be served soon can be left on racks, but for longer storage they have to be kept in moisture proof bags to retard staling.

The Baking Processes

1.-Melting of Fats (90F to 130F)

2.-Formation & Expantion of Gases

3.- Killing of yeast and other microorganisms

4.- Coagulation of Proteins (140F to 185F)

5.- Gelatinization of Starches (105F to 200F)

6.- Escape of water vapor and other gases

7.- Crust formation and browning (300F)

What is Staling: Staling is the starch retrogradation which begins immediately after bread is removed from the oven.

The starch particles firm up, the moisture is lost, it cannot be stopped, if refrigerated the product it will speed up the stalling process.

Retrogradation can be slowed down by: Freezing, Adding moisture retainers to formula (fats and sugars), Protecting from air (wrap in plastic or cover with icing). It also can be partially reversed by placing bread back in the oven for a few minutes. (aka refreshing).

Today's production consisted of French bread called baguettes (small rod) and epi (Wheat sheaf or stalk), and of wheat rolls. Both types of bread are made with the straight dough method which consist of the following steps:

1.- Dissolve the yeast in the water

2.-Add the sugar to feed the yeast

3.-add some flour to form a barrier

4.- Add the rest of the ingredients, salt and fat to the mix

5.- Add the rest of the flour mix well and start kneading.

Instructor Demo:

• Whole Wheat Rolls

16 fl.oz. Milk, whole
¾ oz. Yeast, compressed
1 oz. Sugar, granulated (or other sweetener)
½ oz. Salt, kosher
1 oz. Shortening, high-ratio (or other fat)
8 oz. Whole Wheat Flour
~1 lb. Bread Flour
Honey Wash:
2 oz. Honey
2 oz. Water

• Shaping baguettes and Épi16 fl.oz. Water
1 oz. Yeast, compressed
½ oz. Sugar, granulated (optional)
½ oz. Salt, kosher
~1 ½ lb. Bread Flour

• Pizza dough8 fl.oz. Water
¼ oz Yeast, compressed
½ tsp. Sugar, granulated
1 oz. Oil, olive or vegetable
¼ oz. Salt, kosher
~14 oz. Bread Flour

• Feed white starter

Student Production:
• Whole Wheat Rolls – 12 each (2 oz rolls)
• Baguettes – 2 each (11 oz)
• Épi – 1 each (11 oz)
• Pizza dough
• Pizza sauce (class work)

Today my baguette and epi were good, I need to take care of properly slashing the dough to form nice cuts and allow for the gas to escape in the proper place. My epi had too deep cuts and that makes it almost broken.

DAY 2 HOMEWORK #1

Professor: Chef Knight
Student: Paola Gutierrez
Class: BKG110-GROUP A
Date: May 18, 2010

1.- Why is white wheat flour used in Rye breads? In whole white breads? Some bakeries in Europe produce a kind of pumpernickel bread with 100% Rye Flour. What would you expect its texture to be like?

White flour is used in Rye breads and in whole white breads to enhance its protein content and keep the balance of the fat content of the other flours that have more germ. It also enhances the flavor.
Pumpernickel is dark and coarse its texture is grainy.

2.- Describe how to distinguish bread, pastry and cake flours by touch and sight?
Bread flour feels coarse, if squeezed in the hands into a lump it will fall apart. Its color is creamy.
Cake flour is very smooth and fine. Stays in a lump and its color is white.
Pastry flour is smooth and fine, if squeezed in to a lump will also stay and its color is creamy.

3.- Why does white flour have better keeping qualities than whole wheat flour? Because it consists mostly of starch, it also contains protein, moisture, gums, fats, ash and pigments.
Wheat flour is made by grinding the entire wheat kernel including bran and germ. But germ contains a high fat content which can become rancid.

4.- What is the importance of aging in the production of flour? How is this accomplished in modern flour milling?
When the flour is aged for several months the oxygen in the air matures the proteins so they are stronger and more elastic, and it bleaches the color slightly.
In the modern process this is accomplished by using chemicals such as potassium bromate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and chlorine.

6.- List 4 functions of Sugars in Baked foods?
1.- Add sweetness and flavor
2.-Create tenderness and fineness of texture, partly by weakening the gluten structure
3.-They give crust color
4.-They increase keeping qualities by retaining moisture
5.- They act as creaming agents with fats and as foaming agents with eggs

11.- List 6 functions of eggs in baked goods?
1.-Structure.- Egg protein coagulates and gives structure to baked goods.
2.-Emulsifying of fats and liquids.- Eggs contain natural emulsifiers
3.-Leavening.- Beaten eggs incorporate air in tiny cells or bubbles
4.- Shortening Action.- The fat in egg yolks acts as shortening
5.- Moisture.-Eggs are mostly water
6.-Flavor
7.-Nutritional value
8.- Color- The yellow of the yolks give color to the baked goods.