On Food and Cooking

dough gases (from small bubbles into the water phase, then back out into larger bubbles), and encourage ...

heat from above, the floor conducting heat directly into the loaves from beneath. As the dough he ...

hot. When these heat sources switch on during baking, the effective temperature temporarily rises well abov ...

expansion of the gas cells. As the steam condenses onto the dough surface, it forms a film of ...

and the hot air. If steam is present, it provides an initial blast of heat by condensing onto the cold ...

of the loaf reaches 155–180ºF/68–80ºC, the temperature range in which the gluten proteins form st ...

Bread dough before and after baking. As the dough heats up, starch granules absorb moisture from the ...

become fully set. The second condition can be verified indirectly by tapping on the bottom of the loaf. If th ...

As the temperature declines, the starch granules become firmer and so the loaf as a whole becomes easier to sli ...

the temperature, we now know, at which starch gelates. Staling is now understood to be a manifestation of starch ...

time and settle. A kind of settling and strengthening also takes place among the starch molecu ...

buttermilk (p. 50) and egg yolks are rich in emusifiers and have the same effect. It’s thought that these subs ...

Staling proceeds most rapidly at temperatures just above freezing, and very slowly below freezing. In ...

of potentially toxic molds, especially blue- green species of Aspergillus and Penicillium, gray-white Muco ...

Bread Flavor The incomparable flavor of simple wheat bread has three sources: the flavor of wheat flour, the p ...

Mass-Produced Breads The manufacture of commercial breads bears little resemblance to the process described above. Ordin ...

produced by flour and yeast enzymes in unbalanced amounts during intensive mixing and high-temperature proofing. ...

flour — that of wheat germ oil, along with the delicate hint of hazelnut aroma that comes from ...

Bakers make distinctive variations on the basic loaf bread from a variety of grains and other ingredients. ...

modern sourdoughs, and bread in much of the world is made with sourdough starters that give distinctive ...