13/06/2016
Today we used the process of bread making to learn about different types of dough and ingredients.
In particular, we focused on the effects of
- Salt
- Gluten and
- Yeast
SALT - NaCl
Salt is not one set thing. There are many types of salt that react differently and have different tastes and uses. The salts we looked at were:
- Maldon Salt
- Table Salt
- Rock Salt
- Sea Salt
- Iodised Salt
- Lo Salt
We also learnt about how salt affects the body and how much is needed by different ethnic groups and by people in different climates. For example:
- In hot places, you need more salt to replace the sodium lost when sweating.
- Some social groups have a higher tolerance for salt - Japanese people.
It is often used for structure - the example we looked at was in bread where salt makes bread less flabby and crumbly. It is usually added at a ratio of 1.5%-3% salt to flour ratio.
E.G. 300g flour = 4.5g-6g of salt.
We each made bread rolls using a different ratio of salt from 0% to 2.5%.
The difference between 0.5% was very noticeable.
0% is very dense and tasteless
1.5% is still quite dense but has a bit more taste to it.
2.5% is very bouncy and has a strong taste to it.
GLUTEN
Strong flour has a lot of gluten in it.
Gluten is formed from 2 proteins in flour. It is a stretchy substrate which allows bread to rise and give it structure.
GLUTENIN & GLYADIN = GLUTEN
We carried out an experiment to see how much gluten was in different types of flour. This also showed us how gluten works which was interesting to see. This would be a fun thing to do with a class as it is slightly messy and fun to do.
- You begin with 30g of flour - In my case, wholemeal.
- You then add tiny amounts of water until you get a dough and weigh it.
- You knead this for about 5 minutes to make the gluten become elastic.
- The dough becomes much less brittle during this process - this is the gluten beginning to work,
- Once the dough has been kneaded, you begin to wash out the starch to reveal the stringy fibrous structure of the gluten.
- Continue until you are only left with the gluten structure.
- This is a hands on way of teaching kids about different types of foods.
YEAST
There are 2 types of yeast:
- Easy Blend - just add it straight to the mixture
- Fast Acting - (has Vit C in it) Needs mixing in water before being added.
Yeast on it's own does not go off.
Fast-Acting yeast does go off.
Ideally you would use 1tsp for a loaf of bread but you can't really use too much - it will just taste different.
RISING DOUGH
Set the oven to a low heat like 80 degrees C and leave the door open.
Place the dough in and leave for around 10 minutes.
SMART FOOD
We also broached the subject of 'smart food'. The example used was SOYA FLOUR which is added to bread as an emulsifier which means that it stabalises the structure of the bread.
When bread goes stale, the moisture doesn't actually evaporate, it just re-crystallises in the starch.
Emulsifiers prevent bread from going stale. This is often used in shop bought bread to prolong its life.
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