General Information on Bread Making
Baking as a business or profession has never been confined to the making of bread alone -- that is to say, bread in everyday use. A baker we take to mean a person who bakes and prepares any farinaceous substance intended for human food. Therefore baking not only includes loaf-bread baking, biscuit baking, fancy-bread baking, but also pastry-making and confectionery. It is common for all these branches to be practiced by the same person, and it is therefore fitting that they should all be treated of in a work of this kind. This we intend doing under separate heads.
ESSENTIALS OF GOOD BREAD-MAKING
Two of the most essential things in bread-baking, in order to produce a full-flavored, showy, and sweet loaf, are good yeast and good flour. A good oven is also necessary. An oven, which is either too hot or too cold, will spoil what would otherwise be a good batch of bread: so great care should be used in order to have the oven of the proper heat. Pan bread, or bread baked in tins, need a greater heat than batch bread, as pan-bread dough is of a lighter nature than batch- bread dough, and consequently requires more heat to keep it up. I do not intend, however, going into the merits of different ovens, as I am not competent to do so. There are so many different kinds, and each baker, as a rule, seems to fancy what he has been most used to. For heating purposes, cinders have taken the place of coals and wood, and (I think) to the advantage of both master and journeyman. Cinders are cheaper for the master and cleaner for the workman.
GERMAN YEAST AND PARISIAN BARM
Yeasts, or barms, are of many varieties, but I purpose here to deal with only two kinds -- that commonly known as German yeast, which is mostly used in England, and Parisian barm, the kind most in use in Scotland.
A great point in working German yeast is to know when it is in proper condition, as it is very liable to go bad in very warm weather, or if kept in a very warm place. Care should be taken to keep it in a place as near a temperature of 56° to 60° Fahr. as possible. Should there be any suspicion that the yeast is not up to the mark, a simple and sure test is to get a clean cup or tumbler, half fill it with warm water of a temperature of 100°, put an ounce of loaf sugar in the water, and when dissolved add one ounce of yeast. The yeast will, of course, sink to the bottom, but if it is sound and in good condition it will rise to the top in two minutes. Should it take much longer than that, the less you have to do with it the better.
Parisian barm makes a nice showy loaf, but for flavor I prefer German yeast. To make Parisian barm 1 gallon of water is put into a pan at, say, 140° Fahr.; weigh 2 lbs. of crushed malt, put it into the water at the above temperature, cover it up for about three hours; one hour before you are going to make your barm, that is two hours since you put your malt to steep, put 3 gallons of water into a large pan, put it on the fire; when it boils, add 2 oz. of good fresh hops, well boil for twenty minutes; after which well strain the malt through a hair sieve. Put it into the barm tub and add as much flour as can be nicely stirred in with the barm-stick. Then put the boiling hop-water through a sieve on top of the malt water and flour and well stir it. It should be properly scalded. Some put the hops in a small linen bag made for the purpose and put it in the boiling water, squeezing it against the side of the pot before taking it out. Supposing it to be five o'clock in the afternoon, it may be put by with a couple of sacks over it till five o'clock next morning. Then "set the barn away" (as they say in Scotland), by adding to the above liquid half a gallon of the barn previously made.
After the old barn is added to the new, in a few hours a scum gathers on the top. This scum will either start at the side of the tub and work gradually to the other side, or I have seen it start in the middle and work itself slowly to the sides of the tub. When ready it should have a nice clear bell top. It takes from ten to twelve hours to work before it is ready.
By following this method one may always have good barn. Cleanliness is very essential for barn, and care should be taken that neither grease nor churned milk shall get near it. We need scarcely say that experience is required in this as in other things.
About the Author
Want to find out about baking terms and baking pork chops? Get tips from the Baking Ideas website.
any bread baking texture references?
Know of any good references on the
how and why of using certain procedures
and ingredients in bread baking?
I'm really on a quest to bake fluffy tough
bread....ie. rustic but not bricklike.
The best advice I have found
so far is at King Arthur Flour's
website.
Here ya Go:
http://www.homebaking.org/glossary/index.php
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