William Penn Life, 2011 (46. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2011-07-01 / 7. szám
fhe Kit eh ^D* with Főszakdes Béla Artisan Breads Part 2 FÁRADJON BE A MAGYAR KONYHÁBA! In less than two months, the WPA 37th General Convention will take place at the Pittsburgh Marriott North in Cranberry Township, Pa. Association business and election of a Board of Directors highlight this Convention, along with the 125th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, Sept. 3, which precedes the Convention. If you wish to attend the 125th Anniversary Gala, call the Home Office to inquire about availability of tickets. An evening of fine food, music, dancing and fraternalism is planned. Chef Vilmos and I hope you will attend! Monthly Trivia: Who used the first natural yeast to produce bread and when ? The solution waits, as usual, at the end in The HK. Last month, we started with the basics of artisan bread making that included simple recipes. This month, we continue with complex techniques to produce some great bread. First, we need to define some terms and list ingredients that are required to produce better artisan breads. Complex artisan breads use starters as the leavening agent. These starters can be a poolish, or mother dough, that is pre-fermented before adding to your recipe. This poolish has the same ingredients as your recipe. A levain is starter dough that provides a tangy or sourdough taste to bread. The levain used can be a liquid or stiff dough added to the recipe. Starters work well but take time to ferment and culture properly. In all flour, there is an amount of wild natural yeast, with the wildest yeast occurring in organic flour. The wheat berry itself contains endosperm, embryo (also called germ) and bran (the indigestible outer portion or husk). Flour, which is processed from wheat berries, comes in various forms. Whole-wheat flour uses 100 percent of the wheat berry. White flour, most commonly used in baking, is milled then sifted to remove the germ and the bran. Wheat germ and bran are two by products from the wheat berry we consume. Flour that is unbleached and unbromated comes from organic wheat. Wheat flour is also classified by the growing season, either winter or spring. The color of the bran is either red or white. In addition, the hardness of the kernel is either hard or soft. For example, hard red spring wheat is great for making bread. Hard red winter is also great for bread and hard baked goods like pastry and pie crust. Soft red winter is excellent for cakes, biscuits, and muffins. Hard white spring is for bread and brewing. Soft white winter makes excellent pie crust and pastries. Artisan bakers prefer flour that absorbs and holds water, making for moister loaves. High-protein flour holds the most amount of water. Gluten, or protein, is the ingredient in the flour that reacts with yeast and gives your bread leavening power. Flour that is high in protein holds more water, making for a better loaf of bread. Hard red spring wheat has the most protein. Soft white winter wheat has the least protein and makes for excellent flour when making cakes. The best balance of protein in flour is between 11.3 and 12.2 percent, or all-purpose flour. Flour is milled one of two ways: stone ground, which crushes the wheat berry, better permitting more water absorption; or roller milled, which is faster but the final product may be 80 percent active, restricting water absorption. Ash content is the part of flour that holds the minerals. Stone grinding lets some bran and germ remain when milled and sifted. Roller milling by high-speed heat grinding strips out the bran, leaving fewer minerals and enzymes. Whenever you buy flour, try to buy stone ground. Baker supply stores and online websites are great sources for this product. Arrowhead Mills, Hodgson Mill and Bob's Red Mill are reputable suppliers of organic flours and grains for baking. If you have a gluten intolerance or an allergic reaction to wheat flour, these suppliers also offer non-wheat flours. Other flours available to use in your recipes are buckwheat, fine corn flour, rice flour and rye flour. When a recipe calls for grains or seeds, use completely unprocessed organic varieties. In order to make superior products, you need superior ingredients. By understanding the makeup of artisan bread recipes, you can produce better bread by manipulating and controlling the ingredients. Next month we will continue with our discussion of artisan breads, with some final tips and techniques on scaling and shaping your loaves. Try the recipes and have fun becoming advanced bread bakers. Have a great month! c/o' ßösza^ct&s ß/da The Hungarian Kitchen is a trademark of William S. Vasvary. 10 0 July 2011 ° William Penn Life
