Know your ingredients:
Understanding baking:
It is often said that cooking is an art
relying on the creativity of the chef while
baking bread is more of a science. This
means that the process of combining
flour, water and yeast results in a reaction
that produces bread. You have to remem-
ber that when the ingredients combine
with each other they produce a specific
result. Read the following information
carefully to gain a better understanding of
the importance each ingredient plays in
the bread making process.
Important note on flours:
Flours, while visibly similar, can be very
different by virtue of how they are grown,
milled, stored, etc.
You may find that you will have to experi-
ment with different brands of flour to help
you make that perfect loaf. Storage is
also very important. All types of flour
should be kept in an airtight container.
•
All purpose flour/plain flour:
All purpose flour is a blend of refined
hard and soft wheat flours specially
suited for making cakes. This type of
flour should be used for the recipes in
the “cake/quick bread section”.
•
Strong white flour/bread flour:
Bread flour is a high gluten/protein flour
that has been treated with condition-
ers that give dough a greater suitability
for kneading. Bread flour typically has
a higher gluten concentration than all
types of all purpose flour however,
depending on different milling
practices, this may vary. Strong plain
flour or bread flour are recommended
for use with this breadmaker.
•
Whole wheat flour/wholemeal flour:
Whole wheat flour/wholemeal flour is
milled from the entire wheat kernel
which contains the bran and germ and
makes it heavier and richer in nutrients
when compared to white flour. Breads
made with this flour are usually smaller
and heavier than white loaves. To over
come this whole wheat flour/wholemeal
flour can be mixed with Bread flour or
strong plain flour to produce a high
light textured bread.
•
Self-raising flour:
Self-raising flour contains unnecessary
leavening ingredients that will interfere
with bread and cake making. It is not
recommended for use.
•
Bran:
Bran (unprocessed) and Wheat Germ
are the coarse outer portions of the
wheat or rye grains separated from
flour by sifting or bolting. They are often
added in small quantities to bread for
nutritional enrichment, heartiness and
flavour. They are also used to enhance
the texture of bread.
•
Oatmeal:
Oatmeal comes from rolled or steel-cut
oats. They are used primarily to en-
hance flavour and texture.
Other ingredients:
•
Yeasts (active dry yeast)
Yeast through a fermentation process
produces gas (carbon dioxide) neces-
sary to make the bread rise. The yeast
must be able to feed on the sugar
and flour’s carbohydrates in order to
produce this gas. Fast action granular
yeast is used in all recipes that call for
yeast. There are basically three different
types of yeast available, fresh, tradi-
tional dry active and fast action. It is
recommended that fast action yeast be
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