April 21, 2010 - 2:31pm
Powdered Milk Question
I have seen powdered milk as an in gredient in a number of recipes and I am hoping someone can explain it's purpose. Why powdered milk? Why not just use milk? What does it add? Is it for flavor, texture...something else? I'm sure it's a silly question I just like to know WHY! :)
Thanks in advance!
Shannon
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Hi Shannon,
It's actually so much easier in a commercial bakery to use powder.
You can choose the level of enrichment in the formula: how much powder; what grade [full fat, semi skimmed, skimmed?]
Bakeries generally use a water meter to dispense liquid. This will dispense a given weight of water at a pre-programmed temperature. Milk is usually kept in the fridge. Supposing you need all milk at a temperature of 20*C, and you need 70kg of the stuff. That's a lot of milk to heat up in a pan!
Best wishes
Andy
I'm either out or low on regular milk. I prefer to use regular milk but in a pinch powdered is better than nothing for my everyday sandwich bread.
Hi
Do you think you could tell the difference in the finished product?
I don't think I could.
For a homebaker, fresh milk may be more convenient; for commercial bakers powdered is easier in a large formula. For all that, I use powdered, both home, in college, and commercially. Reason? That's the basis of all my recipes/formulae!
Surely that's the basis of choice?
Best wishes
Andy
I can tell a difference between the fresh milk and powdered. And yes I always scald my milk and use the heat of the scalded milk to melt my butter and dissolve my sugar and salt. I then add two or three cold eggs and 1/2 cup of cool water to the mix before I put the flour and yeast in to knead.
Hi BettyR
If you note that 5 posts below here, I agree that you would be able to tell the difference if the milk was scalded.
I had assumed, at this point in the discussion, that the original poster did not have scalded milk in mind!
Best wishes
Andy
Thanks for the great answers, Andy that makes great sense and it's something I had never considered. What prompted me to ask is that I have never had, seen, or used powdered milk and before I went out to buy some for just one or two recipes I just wanted to understand it better. I haven't really gotten the hang of the formula thing yet but I hope with time and practice I will get there. (math scares me a bit so after reading the articles about formulas I sort of retreated a bit and cowered in the corner! LOL just kidding but it does seem daunting)
So if a recipe called for powdered and I only had regular milk on hand would I just substitute the milk for the amount of water?
Thanks so much again for the answers! (I was always the pesky child that ask "Why mom?")
Shannon
Hi again
I guess you should add together the figure for water and the figure for dried milk powder in your recipe.
For commercial bakers, the added dimernsion of food safety is always a big deal. So cutting out the need for fresh milk is a bonus. Still don't think it's possible to tell the difference in a finished product whether milk powder or fresh milk has been usedBest wishes
Andy
Old bread recipes called for "scalded" milk -- why? to denature the milk proteins which effect the yeast and the amount of rise. If I use fresh milk I scald it. Powdered milks come in two forms. Most of what you find at your local market will be produce through a low temperature method. Commercial bakery powdered milk is produced through a high temperature method that has the same effect as scalding. You can purchase this type from King Arthur Flour's website. Some folks say that can't tell the difference I can in my "egg, butter, milk -- white bread".
Dave
I agree you would be able to tell the difference if you were using it as scalded milk
Andy
Hi
For a really detailed look at milk in bread, anybody interested should take a good look through this excellent thread.
Apologies to those who have already worked their way through it; see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12076/why-milk-powder-milk-bread-and-not-just-milk
Best wishes
Andy