August 24, 2012 - 6:19pm
Ingredient Functions
Hey guys,
I am adding a post to my blog about common ingredients and how they alter breads. It's in a draft stage and I plan on writing about everything from flour to dough conditioners for professional bakers.I have several books that I'm using for reference and would love to add as many details as possible. I'm postin the link so you guys can read things over and if you think you can add more depth or make suggestions on the writing than I'll edit.
http://www.allthingswheat.com/function-of-ingredients
The site isn't public yet. I'm hoping to get it up in the next week.
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Looks pretty good to me.
A few things to add of course: a section on "salt", also "fats & proteins".
You may want to change "water" to "water and other liquids". The liquids can be anything from milk to beer to chicken stock.
"Sugars" might be another section: aside from different sugars (white, brown, demerara, etc), there is barley malt syrup, molasses, honey, agave and maple syrups.
In "yeast" section you may also want to add something about "natural yeasts" for lack of a better term, meaning yeast captured from the environment. This would not only include yeasts & corresponding bacteria. Maybe "leavening" should be the title of the section. There is also salt-rising bread, which leverages a totally different bacteria. And don't forget about baking powder, also used for leavening.
Caught one typo:
haha. great call. For some reason it didnt upload the rest of it. Funny thing is, I think I talked about a lot of what you mentioned.
As for the liquids, I plan on going into talking about milk specifically and yogurts and things like that so I kept it pretty vague for just water. I like your idea of touching on different sugars. Thanks for the suggestions and catching the typo!
Great, I see the rest now. Looks good.
I was thinking about "Ash content", and you may want to mention ties to flavor. Generally, higher ash content should equate to earthier, nuttier, fuller flavor, where lower ash content means milder, neutral, transparent flavor. I think ash content will also be an incidator for differences in dough performance; less ash means a more refined flour (think cake flour, which is lowest ash, vs. whole wheat, which is highest ash).
Many salts weigh similarly but volume may vary. --is worth mentioning
Didn't think of ash content actually. great.
I'll add that to the salt section as well.
Perhaps, re your disclaimer, you intentionally left out osmotolerant yeast. Since many amateur bakers--especially TFL members and guests--bake breads that benefit from its use I suggest you add it. I use it in IDY form, I don't know if its available in fresh, or other forms.
David G