im trying to get some bread going but my active yeast isnt blooming. i dont know what im doing wrong but i seem to have this problem alot. i dont have a thermometer to test the temp of water but ive tried very hot to lukewarm, even a new brand this time. i usually throw the yeast in, then water, then salt and or sugar. any suggestions?? thanks alot.

So I took my Biga out of the fridge after an overnight stay and this is what greeted me. A very thin, but very dark film on top. The light area is where I scraped some of it off to show the difference between normal coloration and the dark film.

Has anyone seen something like this before? I'm assuming some sort of sterilization procedure is in order.

Biga recipe (Reinhart whole-wheat challah biga):

227g flour

1g yeast

113g H2O

1 egg

4 egg yolks

OK I'm in pondering mode... 

Apart from fermentation time (and the indirect effects that this has on acidity levels, breakdown of starches etc.), I can't think of any other reasons why dough temperature should affect the quality of bread. 

I'm particularly interested to learn if dough temperature has a direct effect on gluten...do higher temperatures favour elasticity or extensibility? 

Perhaps dough temperature affects enzyme activity...and therefore protease....hence the elasticity/extensibility....

Perhaps certain amylases are more efficient at higher temperatures and therefore different sugars are available...important for sourdough since lactobaciili metabolise sugars differently to yeast...?

Do particular flours have specific 'ideal' dough temperatures...and if so, why? It's all a mystery to me!

As always, any information and help is much appreciated.

Thanks

FP

Hey there everybody. Well about a month ago I asked for some advice in creating a 'Peasant Loaf', more specifically a Kalamata loaf, and I had lots of great suggestions and recipes. Anyways, this is what I came up with and it's derived mostly from the recipe AnnieT posted in the original thread (Dan Lepard's recipe), a recipe Bob (Oldcampcook) sent me, and my rustic white recipe that Eric (ehanner) blogged about not too long ago. Thanks so much everyone; I'll try to post the recipe as a PDF here so as not to clog up this thread too much.
Oh, and for you technical types, this is a description of the sequence pics below from left to right and top to bottom:
fold at 1 hour; fold at 2 hours
shaping; just placed in bannetons
after proofing for 80 minutes; scoring before baking
They were baked on the parchment/pan for 20 minutes, then removed w/ a peel and baked on the oven rack (with a pan below to catch any drips) for 15 minutes

-Mark

kalamata sequence

loaf

crumb

have been working on developing my baking skills for some time but one thing beats me. the texture of my loaf never seems to come out even and smooth like the pros do. have tried kneading recommended times and even adding oil and monitoring temp as well as good preheat at times with improvised baking stone. but eish !!

Hi! I first logged onto this site and entered hops for yeast making and a comment came up that said "my mother used to make yeast with hops and I have the recipe". By the time I logged in (as a new member) I couldn't find the comment again. She also said she had a hard time finding hops. I have a source of hops but need the recipe. Let's trade!

Victoria Morton

A very nice person gave me a recipe which I will try. Does anyone know how to make cake yeast? When I was a kid I would buy a cake of Fleischmann's yeast and eat it rather than candy. I am now in the health and nutrition business and know why I craved it. It isn't available anymore but I sure would like to make it again!

Victoria 

I try to stay in touch with the supply side of anything I'm interested in so all the unsettling talk about grain shortages has made me more interested. One of the baking industry magazines I like has an interesting lead story that all of us should find interesting. I won't paraphrase but if you want to know a little about what will be happening to flour prices check HERE.

Eric 

At the surfaces of proteins are amino acid residues that interact with water. The amino acids are referred to as hydrophilic amino acids and include arginine, lysine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid. At pH 7 the side chains of these amino acids carry charges—positive for arginine and lysine, negative for aspartic acid and glutamic acid. As the pH increases, lysine and arginine begin to lose their positive charge, and at pHs greater than about 12 they are mainly neutral. In contrast, as pH decreases, aspartic acid and glutamic acid begin to lose their negative charges, and at pHs less than 4 they are mainly neutral.
The surface of a protein has a net charge that depends on the number and identities of the charged amino acids, and on pH. At a specific pH the positive and negative charges will balance and the net charge will be zero. This pH is called the isoelectric point, and for most proteins it occurs in the pH range of 5.5 to 8. A protein has its lowest solubility at its isoelectric point. If there is a charge at the protein surface, the protein prefers to interact with water, rather than with other protein molecules. This charge makes it more soluble. Without a net charge, protein-protein interactions and precipitation are more likely.
The solubility of proteins in blood requires a pH in the range of 7.35 to 7.45. The bicarbonate–carbonic acid buffer system of blood (HCO3− + H+ ↔ H2CO3), in which the bicarbonate is in excess of the carbonic acid, helps to maintain the correct pH. Exhalation of carbon dioxide from the lungs causes some of the bicarbonate ions in blood to combine with protons, and this would raise the pH. However, because there is an excess of bicarbonate ions and protons, the loss of a small number of protons does not influence the pH significantly.
The proteins of protein mixtures can be separated using a technique known as isoelectric focusing. A mixture is placed in a polyacrylamide gel that has a pH gradient. An anode (positive electrode) and a cathode (negative electrode) are positioned at the low and high ends of the pH gradient, respectively. If a protein is located in the high pH region, it will be negatively charged and will move toward the anode. As the protein moves to a lower pH region, its surface charge will become less negative, and a pH region will be reached at which the protein net charge is zero (the isoelectric point). The protein will stop moving and, because different proteins have different isoelectric points, separation can be achieved.

I am a professional baker and pastry chef, having been in the industry for almost 40 years. For the last 25 plus I have been teaching at a secondary Career and Technical Education school.

 I have recently been asked by the director of our evening adult education program to teach some baking classes to non professionals. They are particularly interested in working with breads. I have taken many classes at SFBI, King Arthur, American Institute of Baking and many other places. Most of my experience lies in the commercial end of the industry. I typically do not bake at home.

 I now have to design a course for  the non professional, and I need some help. At this point I do not know if the class is going to be a single session, or for how long, or much other detail. Most of this will depend upon what I here from you.

 Does anyone have a curriculum, or ideas of what can be done. I know that I can teach the skills, but will have to adapt what I know to small batches, home style equipment and so on.

Any suggestion will be most helpful.

 Thank you

Carlton Brooks CEPC, CCE

Starch is the chief storage form of carbohydrate in plants and the most important source of carbohydrate in human nutrition. A starch molecule is a polysaccharide assembled from the simple sugar glucose; it can contain anywhere from five hundred to several hundred thousand glucose molecules joined by covalent bonds into a single structure. In addition to its importance in human nutrition, starch has many industrial applications: it is used in the manufacture of paper, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and biodegradable polymers, and it is an additive in foods.

Chemically, starch is composed of two different molecules, amylose and amylopectin. In amylose, the glucose molecules are linked in a "linear" fashion; however, the tetrahedral chemistry of carbon (and the bond angles that result from this chemistry) gives amylose an overall spiral shape. Amylopectin, on the other hand, has a linear arrangement of glucose molecules that includes, at regular intervals, a different kind of linkage between two adjacent glucoses. This different linkage results in the formation of a branched structure and an overall treelike shape for this molecule. Plant starch is typically 20 to 30 percent amylose and 70 to 80 percent amylopectin. The classic test for the presence of starch is reaction with iodine. If starch molecules are present in a substance, the addition of iodine yields a deep blue color, which results from I2 being trapped inside the spiral structures of amylose molecules.

Starch molecules are broken down by enzymes known as amylases. The digestibility of a specific starch is influenced by its physical form. In plants starch is present in microscopic granules, which impair the enzymatic digestion of starch molecules obtained from plants. Cooking starch-containing items results in the hydration of starch molecules and the swelling of starch granules, increasing the rate and enhancing the enzymatic breakdown of starch. Amylases also convert starch to glucose.