KitchenSavvy

Breadmaker Jewish Rye Bread

If you own an automatic breadmaker and are getting tired of the same old loaf with the paddle hole in the bottom, then you should try using it for something new.  I frequently use my bread maker as a mixer/proofer and then shape the loaf by hand to cook in the oven.

The following recipe is for Jewish-style rye bread, based rather loosely on the book Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads from Around the World by George Greenstein.  It reminds me of the caraway rye bread that my father used to like.  Somehow, when we were kids, Dad convinced my siblings and me that the best part of the bread was the heel - the crusty end of a loaf of bread.  Whenever there was a new loaf of bread, he would ask "Who want the end?"  Four voices would cry out, "I do, I do!"  Dad would make a big show of deciding who had yelled first, and then cut the end off the bread and hand it to one of us.  So, in honor of Dad ...

Breadmaker Jewish Rye Bread

This recipe is made to work with my Black & Decker B1630 Breadmaker, which can make loaves up to two pounds in size.  You may need to adjust it for your breadmaker.  The recipe has a starter, which is mixed and allowed to proof overnight, followed by making the actual dough.

Starter
Amount		Measure	Ingredient
1	¼	c	Rye Flour
1	⅓	c	Water
1		tsp	Active Dry Yeast
1		tsp	Caraway Seeds - optional
	¼	tsp	Onion Powder - optional
Dough
Amount		Measure	Ingredient
	⅓	c	Water
2		tsp	Salt
1		tsp	Caraway Seeds - optional
3	¼	c	White Flour
1		tsp	Active Dry Yeast

1. If using caraway seeds, start by grinding the teaspoon of caraway that goes into the starter mixture.  Following your breadmaker's instructions, add the ingredients for the starter.  As soon as mixing has completed, turn off the breadmaker, or unplug it.
2. Leave to proof at room temperature in the pan of the breadmaker overnight or up to 24 hours.  The longer it rests, the more sourdough flavor will develop.
3. Set the breadmaker to the dough setting and add the rest of the ingredients.  Allow to run through the entire dough setting.  If your machine doesn't have a dough setting, then just shut it off or unplug it after the dough is complete and has risen, but before it starts to cook, about 2 hours depending on your breadmaker.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, punch it down and then shape into a round or elongated loaf.  Place onto a baking sheet or, if you have a large enough pizza stone to hold the loaf, put the loaf onto a piece of parchment paper.  Cover loosely with a lightly floured cloth and let rise until nearly doubled.
5. Meanwhile heat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
6. When the bread is ready to cook, uncover the loaf, using a sharp knife or razor blade make a few slashes in the top and place it in the oven.  If you are using a pizza stone, use a peal to transfer the loaf on its parchment paper onto the stone.
7. Cook for about 40 minutes, until brown and the loaf makes a hollow thump when tapped on the bottom, or until an instant read thermometer reads 205°F (96°C).

Per Slice: 82 Calories; trace Fat (3.3% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 179mg Sodium

NOTES:

1. During the resting period the top of the breadmaker pan can be covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying.  Do not operate the breadmaker with the plastic wrap in place.
2. If you want a shiny crust, typical of some rye breads, make a solution of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to ½ cup of cold water.  Heat it in your microwave or on the stovetop, stirring occasionally, until it thickens.  Brush this solution onto the loaf just before slashing the top.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

A "Grate" Secret for Tender Biscuits

For years, I have heard of the technique of using frozen butter to make better biscuits.  It's one of those ideas that you say to yourself, "I'll have to try that some day," but somehow you just never get around to it.

By grating the frozen butter and then gently mixing it into the dry ingredients, you avoid having the butter soften to the point that it actually blends into the flour.  For light biscuits, you want flour and butter to be distinct, so that the flakes of butter melt and release steam into the dough, making it light and fluffy.  If the butter is melted into the flour during blending, this won't happen.  In addition, the shards of frozen butter trap some air due to their shape, which adds to the lightness of the finished product.

Recently Chef Michael Smith wrote an article for the Globe and Mail describing this technique.  Well, it finally was time.  This past weekend I made a beef stew, and decided to serve biscuits with it, using Chef Smith's technique.  To start though, I had to modify his recipe a bit because I had planned to make buttermilk biscuits.  Chef Smith's recipe called for plain milk.  To change the recipe, I had to replace some of the baking powder with baking soda to offset the acidity of the buttermilk.   The general rule is that you need about ½ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of buttermilk (see Baking Soda and Buttermilk).   A half teaspoon of baking soda will give the same rise as two teaspoons of baking powder.

Armed with these substitutions, I used the following recipe for my Biscuits:

               

Buttermilk Biscuits
2		cups	All-purpose flour
1	½	tsp	Baking Powder
	½	tsp	Baking Soda
	½	tsp	Salt
	¾	cup	Butter, frozen
7		fl. oz.	Buttermilk

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C).
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Measure and set aside the cold buttermilk.
4. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the frozen butter into shards.  Add the butter to the dry ingredients and then toss with a spoon just to blend, breaking up any clumps of butter that may have formed during the grating.  Do not over mix.
5. Pour in the buttermilk and stir in with a spoon, just until the ingredients pull together.  Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently, just a few turns, to bring it together into a single mass.  If necessary add a bit more buttermilk or some water.
6. Shape the dough into a rough circle and cut into wedges, or roll out and cut to any desired shape.
7. Transfer the biscuits to a baking sheet that has been lightly coated with cooking spray and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 8 to 12 biscuits.

If you want, you can brush the surface of the biscuits with milk to given a nicer finish when they are cooked.  Chef Smith suggests sprinkling them with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper before baking.

To make it easier to grate the butter without skinning your knuckles, start with a larger piece and mark the ¾ cup measure onto the block with a sharp knife.  Wrap the unused end in the paper the butter came in, and then grate down to the mark, holding the wrapped end.

This recipe uses regular, salted butter.  If you wish to use unsalted butter, increase the salt in the recipe by ¼ teaspoon.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Creaming Butter

So many cake and cookie recipes say to cream together the butter and sugar.  Why is this done and how do I do it right?

--Amber

To cream butter means to beat it together with the sugar in the recipe until it is light in color and no sugar crystals are visible.  With white sugar, the butter will take on a light yellow color, almost white.  If your recipe uses brown sugar, then the color will turn to a light tan.  While it is possible to cream butter by hand, it is much faster and more convenient to use an electric mixer.  The purpose of creaming is to incorporate air into the butter to help leaven the final product.  According to Corriher, creaming is perhaps the most important step in making good cakes.

Creaming also softens the butter and makes it easier to blend with the other ingredients.

To cream butter properly, start with cold butter.  While some recipes say to start with butter that has been allowed to soften until nearly room temperature, this runs the risk of having it become too warm during mixing.  T0 trap air bubbles, it has to remain below its melting point of 68°F (20°C).

I usually start with butter straight out of the fridge which I rough cut into small cubes, maybe about a quarters of an inch (2 cm) to a side.  Exact size doesn't matter.  Put the butter into the mixing bowl and blend at slow speed until it starts to soften, then add the sugar.  Beat for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the power and speed of your mixer.  As long as the butter remains cold enough, there is no risk to beating it for too long.

During beating, friction from the beater may warm the butter and it may start to melt.  If this happens, then put the mixing bowl and beaters into the fridge until the butter becomes firm again, about 15 to 30 minutes, and then pick up where you left off.

Remember during this step to stop occasionally and scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all of the butter is creamed, otherwise it may not blend completely with the other ingredients and could affect the quality of the final product.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Crystals in Honey

A few days ago I was planning to make cookies using a recipe that had honey in it.  When I went to measure the honey, it had large grains of something in it.  What were these, how did they happen and what can I do?

--Jamie

The granules that form in liquid honey are precipitated crystals of glucose.  Honey is a supersaturated liquid, meaning that there is more sugar in it than can stay dissolved at room temperatures.  Slowly glucose molecules separate out from the water.  As they do so, more glucose and some other sugars attach to the forming crystals, making them grow larger.  This is similar to what happens when you make rock candy.

Many factors affect the formation of sugar crystal including moisture content, temperature and even the kind of flowers that the bees visited in gathering nectar to make honey.  A friend who used to process honey complained about the difficulty in making a smooth honey from hives that had been visiting Sainfoin flowers.  Sainfoin  honey is very sensitive to how it is processed and will deposit crystals quite easily.

The best way to avoid crystals is actually to store your honey at temperatures below 50°F (10°C), although this is not practical for home use as the fridge is considerably colder and makes honey too stiff to handle easily.  Temperatures above 50°F encourage crystallization.  At temperatures above 81°F (27°C), crystallization is avoided, but the heat causes the honey to degrade quickly.  Honey should kept in an airtight container at room temperatures, and used within a year or so.

To remove crystals that have formed, either place the container of honey in a bowl of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes or microwave it for about 30 seconds per cup.  Stir after heating to help dissolve crystals.  If necessary, repeat until the honey is smooth again.

Two things to keep in mind, though.  First, as noted above, when honey is heated over 81°F(27°C) it starts to degrade so repeatedly having to heat honey because new crystals have formed since the lat time you used it will decrease the quality and flavors of the honey.  If you find you are doing that, consider buying smaller quantities.

Second, your recipe likely calls for butter or perhaps shortening.  If you heat the honey to remove crystals and then go straight to making the cookies, the heat of the honey may melt the fat and dramatically affect the end result.  You should be sure to allow the honey to cool down completely before proceeding.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Making Gingerbread Cookies Chewy

'Tis the holiday season.  I really enjoy gingerbread cookies, but  every time I make them, my gingerbread turns out hard and flat.  I was wondering what makes a cookie chewy, but not necessarily soft?

--Lindsay

The first thing you need to check is whether the gingerbread recipe you are using is one intended to be used for making gingerbread houses.  Cookies tend to swell and round off during cooking.  Some gingerbread recipes used for making houses try to avoid this by using a drier dough and less leavening so that the pieces will fit together after they are baked.  That makes for a hard, flat cookie that isn't very good for eating.

Assuming that you have a recipe for cookies that are to be eaten, then here are some things you can try:

• If the recipe uses only white sugar and molasses, try replacing some of the white sugar with either brown sugar or honey.  Both brown sugar and honey are hygroscopic, meaning that they will absorb moisture from the air.  Your cookies may come out of the oven hard, but over a day or so they will become more chewy.
• When you add the dry ingredients to the wet, stir as little as possible to get all of the ingredients mixed.  Over stirring can build glutens which will make the dough tougher.
• If you are using all-purpose or bread flour, try substituting cake flour for some or all of it.  Cake flour absorbs less water per volume than all-purpose or bread flour, leaving a moister dough that will rise better and and a cookie that crumbles more easily.
• Finally, if the only fat used in the recipe is butter, try replacing some of that with vegetable shortening.  Different fats will react in different ways during baking.  Be careful though, because butter contains 16% to 18% of its weight in water, whereas shortening has none.  If you substitute 1 for 1, your dough will be drier, so you may need to add some water.  If your recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of butter, try using 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of shortening plus two teaspoons of water.

Some resources suggest that if you let the cookie cool longer on the pan before moving them to a rack they will end up more chewy.  I can't see the reason this would work, but it may be worth a try.  Just remember that because the pan is at oven temperature, it will continue to cook the underside of the cookies even after they come out of the oven, so they may end up too dark on their bottoms.

As always, when you fiddle with ingredients, you may need to try several combinations until you get the result you want.  Once you have a recipe you like, though, be sure to share it with KitchenSavvy readers.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Baking Soda or Baking Powder at Altitude

I live at 8500' and am now using gluten free recipes.  I usually double or triple the recipe and always wonder if I am suppose to double or triple (whichever I am doing) the baking soda or baking powder.  Can you give me some help with this?

--Vedina

It is not clear from your question whether the recipes you are using are already adjusted for cooking at altitude.  At sea level, there are about 14.7 pounds per square inch of atmosphere pressing down on whatever it is you are baking.  At 8,500 feet higher, there are only around 10.7 pounds per square inch.

Lets say you are baking a cake.  In order to get a good result, there is a balancing act going on, as is frequently the case in cooking.  In this case, what is happening is that the gases released by the baking soda or baking powder push against the atmospheric pressure to raise the cake just enough.  Because the atmospheric pressure is so much lower, less "lift" is needed to get the same rise on the cake.  At just the right point, you want to the cake to set, fixing the bubbles in place.  At sea level proteins, starches and glutens form a fixed matrix in the range of between about 185°F (85°C) and 200°F (93°C).

Unless you reduce the amount of leavening appropriately, the cake will rise too high.  At the same time, because the boiling point of water is lower at altitude, the proteins, starches and glutens may not get as hot and therefore may take more time to form the structure of the cake.  The end result is that the cake will fall before it has set and some of the air bubbles will break, allowing larger bubbles to form.

In your case, because the boiling point of water at 8,500 feet is somewhere around 196°F (91°C) and since you are  using gluten free recipes, you have a double whammy of challenges.  First you will need to reduce the amount of baking soda or baking powder.  Shirley Corriher (Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed) suggests that it may need to be reduced by between 25% and 50%.  In other words, use 3/4 to 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe.  You might also reduce the sugar and fat slightly.

Then, because you are avoiding glutens and cooking at altitude, you need to rely on the starches and proteins to set the structure.  For this reason you will want to  and increase the egg content by as much as 15%.  For a cake using three eggs, you would need to add another half an egg.

Finally, Corriher suggest you might want to raise the oven temperature by 25°F (14°C) to promote faster setting and therefore a finer texture.  Even at that, you will likely find that the cake takes longer to cook that the recipe says.  Using a toothpick to check for doness will help avoid under cooking.

Even with the above guidelines, you will likely still need to trial and error until you get things working right.  If worst comes to worst, the Home Economics or Extension department of your local university may be able to provide some help.

If, on the other hand, your recipe has already been adjusted to work at high altitude, then doubling the amount of baking soda or baking powder will likely be fine.  See the posting on Scaling Recipes for additional details.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Making Muffin Batter Ahead of Time

Can you prepare muffin batter the night before, store in the refrigerator, and bake off the next morning?

--Brad

You can prepare muffin batter ahead of time.   I'm not sure I would want to leave a batter with whole, uncooked eggs too long, but you should be safe if you are using fresh eggs and you cook the batter within48 hours.

Because some  of the carbon dioxide bubbles that make the muffins rise when cooked will escape as the batter sits, they may be slightly denser than if they had been cooked immediately after the batter was mixed.

To use the batter, simply preheat the over as required for your recipe and then spoon the batter into muffin tins or cups and cook as usual.  Do not stir the batter, as this will force out more of the carbon dioxide bubbles.  If the batter has separated, gently fold the ingredients back together.  The muffins may take a couple of minutes longer to cook, since the batter starts out colder.

You can also freeze muffin batter in paper muffin cups for later use.  Fill the cups as you would normally, and then freeze them while still in the muffin pan to hold their shape, until solid.  Transfer them to a resealable plastic bag and keep frozen until you are ready to use them.  To use, preheat your oven, place as many muffins as you need into a muffin pan and cook.  They will take about five minutes longer than if they were being made fresh.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Baking and Freezing Cookies

My son is getting married in June.  He and his fiancée want me to make 200-300 4” Monster Cookies for the reception.   They have ordered M&M’s with their names on them.   Some of the M&M’s will be mixed into the dough.   When the cookies come out of the oven I plan to push the printed M&M’s into the hot cookies so they can be read and then freeze the cookies.

Do you have any advice regarding freezing dough balls to be baked at a later time, the best way to store baked cookies in the freezer, or thawing them so they will be best possible for the big day?    The cookies will be on the reception tables in individual organza sachet bags.   I’m afraid the bags will become greasy if the cookies are put into the bags too soon on the day of the wedding.   Any thoughts on this???

Thanks for any suggestions you can have.

--Pat

Well, the first suggestion that I have is for such an important day is to try any method you come up with beforehand so as to be sure that you are happy with the results.  It would be unfortunate to commit to a method that didn't work out.

For freezing the dough, rather than freezing it in balls, I would be inclined to freeze it in logs.  To do that, lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter, and then shape a rough log about the diameter of the balls you will be baking down one side, about an inch from the edge.  Roll the log up in the plastic wrap, and twist off the ends.  If you then hold onto the ends and roll the log back and forth on the counter, you will even out the shape.  Place the logs onto a cookie sheet or other surface to keep them even and freeze immediately.

Thaw the dough in your refrigerator for a day before baking.  If it is still a little stiff, it will be easier to handle.  Unwrap each log, slice it crosswise into individual portions, place them on the cookie sheet and bake them.

To freeze the finished cookies, I would suggest putting them into large air tight freezer containers with individual layers separated by waxed or parchment paper.  Make sure they have cooled down completely to room temperature before freezing them.  Putting large amounts of anything warm into a freezer can heat the interior enough to cause spoilage in other foods.  They should keep well frozen for about a month.

Unfortunately, you are likely right about the organza bags getting greasy.  Your only choice is going to be to wrap the cookies in plastic wrap before putting them into the bags.  Assuming that the cookies will be placed at individual settings, you can wrap them frozen the day before, or the morning of, the wedding and deliver them to be set out.  By the time the reception happens, they should be thawed out.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Using Muffin Top Pans

I have a pan I think is called "muffin tops", which makes 6 muffins 1/2" deep and 3" wide.  What baking time, temperature and can I use any muffin or cake  mixture?

--Helen

You may recall the Seinfeld episode where Elaine suggests just selling the tops of muffins, but why are they the best part?  Because they are crunchy, and because of the Maillard reaction which occurs when proteins and sugars combine under heat.  The reaction creates complex, nutty flavors that just aren't found on the inside of a muffin.  By cooking shallow disks of batter, you increase the proportion of outside, which is crunchy and flavorful, to inside, which is soft and more bland.

A typical muffin top pan has either six or twelve shallow cups, each of which holds about the same amount of batter as the cup on a regular muffin tin.  Since yours is a six cup tin, you either need to half your recipe, make two batches, or buy a second six cup tin and bake them both at once.

You can use any of your favorite muffin recipes, including those made from muffin or cake mixes.   Just follow the instructions provided.  Because the batter is cooked in a thinner layer, heat can penetrate it more quickly so  muffin tops will cook quicker than regular muffins.  The time will be about half to three-quarters as long as for regular muffins.  As with any muffin or cake recipes, you can use a clean toothpick to test for doneness.  Insert the toothpick into the center of the muffin and pull it out again.  While some crumbs may stick to it, if the muffins are done, there shouldn't be any wet batter adhering to the toothpick.

For recipes with a lot of sugar, you may find that the muffin tops start to burn too quickly.  If that happens, reduce the oven temperature by 25°F to 50°F (15°C to 30°C).

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Dry, Instant and Compressed Yeast

I have a cinnamon roll recipe that calls for 7.5 lbs of high-gluten spring wheat bread flour along with 4.0 ounces of yeast. Since its an old recipe, I assume this is for compressed yeast.  This flour/yeast ratio is where I need your opinion.

Originally, I was using 4 ounces of dry yeast but the rolls literally swelled out of the pan so I knew something was wrong. I am going to try about 1 to 1.5 ounces of dry yeast on my next run. Does this sound logical?

-- Paul

Compressed yeast is fresh, moist yeast that is ready to use.  It hasn't been dehydrated like active dry or instant yeast.  Compressed yeast should be refrigerated until used.  It will keep for about two weeks, or it can be cut into usable portions if necessary, wrapped in plastic and frozen for three or four months.  Frozen compressed yeast should be allowed to thaw to room temperature before use.

The approximate substitutions between the three type of yeast are:

1 teaspoon of instant yeast = 1¼ teaspoon of dry yeast = 1 tablespoon of compressed yeast.

Reinhart (The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread) says that the typical ratio by weight of yeast to flour is 0.66% for instant yeast and 2% for compressed.  There is a lot of leeway in this estimate, though.

Looking at your recipe, you had 7.5 lbs (120 oz) of flour and 4 oz of yeast.  The weight of the yeast is therefore 4/120 = 3.33% of the weight of the flour.  Given that ratio, as you suspect, your recipe was likely originally intended to use compressed yeast.

When converting from compressed yeast to instant yeast, you want to use ⅓ of the weight of the compressed yeast and make up the difference, ⅔ of the weight of compressed yeast, in water.  For dry yeast, use about 7/16 of the weight of compressed yeast, but still add the same weight of water.  For your recipe, then, you would use 1¾ ounces of dry yeast and add an extra 2⅔ ounces of water to the recipe.  Because the ratio of yeast to flour in the original recipe was so high, your estimate of 1½ ounces of dry yeast would probably be good.  Just don't forget to add the extra water to keep the percent hydration about the same.  After you try these changes, you may still want to change the amounts of dry yeast and added water until you are happy with the recipe.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward