Baking Essentials--Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Cream of Tartar, and Yeast

Last month, I posted some recipe substitutes for baking powder, mostly because baking powder is a baking essential and because "everyone says" baking powder has a short shelf life.  After three hours of intense research this morning, I'm pretty happy to report "everyone" is only half-right. 

Baking powder.  The DIY substitutes posted last month make a single-acting baking powder replacement--the to-be-baked goods must be baked immediately.

Almost all commercially produced baking powder sold in stores today is double-acting, meaning some gases are created when the ingredients are first mixed, and the rest are activated by heat in the oven, giving you more time to get your goods in the oven. Unfortunately, this baking powder has a short shelf-life.  Once it's opened.  Upon opening, you have about six months to use it before it starts losing efficacy.  And you can't tell whether it's good by looking at it, so you have to test it if you don't want to risk a failure.

Test whether your baking powder is still good by putting a teaspoon of baking powder into small cup of hot water.  If it bubbles vigorously, the baking powder is still good and usable, no matter what the date on the can says.  Baking powder does not go bad in the sense of becoming toxic or dangerous to eat; it just loses its potency to make baked goods rise.  

Hopefully, you noticed the words in italics above, because that is key here.  Most manufacturers claim a shelf life of two years from the date of manufacture unopened, or six months after opening.  Lots of good folks on the internet asserted otherwise.  After much searching, I finally came across the results of a Brigham Young University study showing that biscuits made using baking powder from a 29-year old can were virtually indistinguishable from biscuits made using baking powder that had just recently been purchased from the store.  For the longest shelf-life possible, keep your baking powder cool, dry, and dark.  Do not store it in the refrigerator.  Feel free to stock up; store it in a plastic bucket and keep it cool.

Baking soda.  The shelf-life is basically the same as for baking powder; the manufacturer says two years after manufacture, or six months after opening.  The test for baking soda efficacy is to add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to 2 tablespoons white vinegar.  If the mixture immediately starts vigorously fizzing, the baking soda is still good.  If kept cool, dry, and dark, like in plastic buckets, it has an indefinite shelf life.  Like baking powder, it does not go bad or become unsafe to eat; it just slowly loses potency.  However, it will still be perfectly good for cleaning purposes and absorbing odors.

Cream of tartar.  Just like baking soda and baking powder, it does not spoil or go bad, as long as it is kept cool, dark, and dry.  If you feel the need to test it, put 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in water with a pinch of baking soda (that you know is good).  If it foams, it's good.  Manufacturers suggest shelf life of 4 years from manufacture date.

Yeast.  I know I can make everlasting yeast; I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Life is busy, you know.  This post has already taken me 1.5 hours more than I normally allot each morning for writing.  I've got other things to do.  Anyway, despite what the packages may say, those one-pound bricks of yeast in the mylar bags store perfectly well in the happy cool, dry, dark place for an awesome 7-8 years on the shelf, or 10 years in the freezer. I'm thrilled.

The test for whether your yeast is good is just as easy as the others, though it takes a few more minutes.  Add 1 teaspoon sugar to 1/4 cup warm water (100 degrees) in a 1/2 cup or larger measuring cup.  Stir in 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast and let stand 10 minutes.  If the mixture foams to the 1/2 cup mark, the yeast is good.

Links to related posts:
DIY Baking Powder  
Alternative Medicine--Cream of Tartar

For more information:
https://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/howdoi/essentials
https://www.thoughtco.com/baking-powder-shelf-life-607360
https://www.thespruceeats.com/the-shelf-life-of-pantry-foods-1389305
https://www.clabbergirl.com/retailers/rumford/
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865574479/Tips-for-storing-leavening-and-salt.html
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=facpub

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

06.19.21

Basic Food Storage--Whole Wheat Bread

Bread is the staff of life.  It is not a doorstop.

Unfortunately, most people produce more doorstops than loaves in the beginning, and then they stop, because one only needs so many doorstops in the house.

Being able to make a nice loaf of bread is one of the most valuable skills to acquire now, and to start now.  It really takes a lot of practice.  Once you've made a few nice loaves and then you start churning out doorstops again, you want to know why.  That only comes with practice.  Sure, Youtubes can help, but it's better to get a true feel for the dough yourself.

So let's jump right in with the recipe.  Instructions, explanations, and tips will be included below.  And if you have any questions, please ask!

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

2 1/4 cups warm water (about 100 degrees)
1 1/2 tablespoons fast-rising yeast
pinch sugar
1 tablespoon dough enhancer, optional (recipe to be posted tomorrow)
1/2 cup gluten flour
7-8 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup dry milk
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs
1 tablespoon salt

Put the warm water, yeast, sugar, dough enhancer, gluten flour, and 1-2 cups of whole wheat flour in your mixing bowl and combine well.  (This is sometimes called a "sponge.")  Let this mixture proof for 15-30 minutes.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.   Continue adding flour, if necessary, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Oil your hands and the counter where you will be kneading the dough, re-oiling as necessary.  Do not use flour to prevent sticking, as this may make your bread unnecessarily dry.  Knead for 8-10 minutes, until dough is nice and smooth.  Cover with plastic or a damp cloth and let rise.

When dough has doubled in volume, punch it down, and separate dough into three equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a rectangle, and then starting on the short side, roll it up and pinch ends together to seal.  Repeat with the other two pieces and place each log into a greased bread pan.  (For regular, sandwich-type loaves, you want 4x8" bread pans.)  Let rise until doubled in volume again.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the loaves reaches 190 degrees.  Remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes in the pans.  Then remove from pans to cooling racks and let cool completely.  Store in plastic bags when completely cooled and dry.


Simple, right?

Or not? 


Tips:

Practice, practice, practice.  It takes a lot of experience to make good bread consistently.  At least, it took me a lot of practice.  I've been making all my family's sandwich bread for ten years, and I'm still learning.

I start with water that is about 100 degrees.  Many bakers use water that is a bit warmer.  However, I have found that my Bosch mixer sometimes gets the dough really heated--so warm that it kills the yeast.  So I start with water that is a little cooler than most.  If I were kneading dough by hand, I'd start with warmer water.  (Yes, I know that I will be kneading by hand someday.  But right now my Bosch saves me a lot of time, and more importantly, it spares my thumbs and wrists from tendinitis that would otherwise afflict me.)

If you have never made bread before, or you are really out of practice, start with white flour and gradually substitute in wheat flour.  Or if you are not accustomed to whole wheat, start with white and gradually increase the amount of wheat flour.  White flour is more forgiving and just overall easier to learn with.  Get the overall process right and the kneading and windowpane test right first, and then gradually work in whole wheat flour.

Making bread is much more art than science. The amount of water and flour can vary widely depending on humidity and how you measure your flour--do you spoon it in and level off with a knife, or do you use the measuring cup to scoop the flour so it's a little more packed?



Measure the oil first, and then measure the honey.  This way the honey will slip right out of the previously oiled measuring cup.

Mix the dry milk powder into the flour so you don't get little clumps of dry milk.

I have substituted powdered eggs for fresh numerous times without any problem.

In my experience, the dough sticks more to metal than to plastic bowls.  If I am using a metal bowl, I allow for some stickiness of the dough to the bowl.  In all cases, it is better to have a dough that is too wet rather than too dry.

Once fully kneaded, your dough should be smooth and stretchy.  A really good test for this is the windowpane test.  Take a bit of dough, about the size of a walnut, and using your forefingers and thumbs, stretch it into a square.  Ideally, you should be able to stretch it very thin, definitely enough to see light through it, without breaking.  If you can do this, you are going to have some very nice bread. 


For optimal rising, place a pan of very hot water on the bottom rack of the oven, then place loaves on the center rack.  Close the oven and let loaves rise.  This creates a nice, warm, humid atmosphere for the loaves--the ideal conditions.

When it's time to bake, leave the loaves in the oven but remove the pan of water.  Set temperature to 350 degrees.   Now the timing will vary by oven.  How long it takes is not the issue--when the bread reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees, it is done, whether it takes 35 minutes or 45 minutes.  For me in my kitchen, with three loaves in the oven, I set the temperature for 350 degrees and the timer for 38 minutes, and my loaves are perfectly baked every time. 

For a soft bread crust, brush loaves with oil or butter after they are baked but still warm.

Do not bag loaves of bread until they are dry and completely cooled.  For best results, use actual bread bags. (I get mine at Pleasant Hill Grain.) Plastic wrap just doesn't work all that well.  And the bags can be re-used several times.  (Unless the bread has gotten moldy.  Then that bag gets tossed.)

This bread baked very well in a sun oven, but the crust was much lighter.  Crust color will not be an indication of doneness.  You will really want an instant-read thermometer for this.

Troubleshooting:

• Loaves raised well, were placed in the oven to bake, and then come out of the oven collapsed.
• Answer:  The loaves were allowed to rise too long--over-proofed.  Next time, put them in the oven a bit sooner.
• Loaves didn't rise well or at all.  
• Answer:  This could be attributed to a few different problems.  
• It could be due to poor yeast.  Try a different yeast.  If you did the initial proofing above with the "sponge," you should have had a very bubbly batter with a yeast-y smell.  If you didn't get that, it's most likely the yeast.  If that happened to me, I wouldn't even bother trying to make bread with that sponge.  Throw it out and start over.  
• The temperature was too high.  High temperatures will kill the yeast.  Make sure your water temperature is at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  An instant read thermometer will be your friend as you learn to make your bread.  Or your bread mixer may have gotten the dough too hot (rare, but it does happen).  Of course, this will not happen with hand-kneading.  
• It could be the wheat.  Experienced bread makers usually blame the wheat before blaming the yeast for a problem in rising.  If wheat was not properly stored, especially if stored at high temperatures, like in a garage or attic (or it could have happened during shipping), it just won't make good bread, no matter what.  (It also won't sprout.)  Do not throw the wheat away.  It will still work for making tortillas and cookies and cracked wheat cereal.

Links to related posts:
Wheat
Dry milk
Honey
Oil
Dough enhancer
Salt  

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

23 april 2021