Discussions about different ingredients, where to procure them, etc.
I'm missing a malty flavor in my bread.
I've been using brown sugar, which is fine for the dough...but, I'm not sure about flavor.
I used non-diastatic malt in last weekend's bake and I couldn't really taste a malt flavor.
Its been suggested that I try barley malt syrup or molasses...but I'm concerned about cost.
If you were picking a sweenter to really enhance the maltiness of your bread...which would you choose?
I figured out that the malt I'd been using was actually NON-diastatic.
So for my pretzels, I changed that to 1 tsp diastatic in 540 grams of flour.
I also changed my beer from a stout to an IPA.
The dough was COMPLETELY different.
It rose dramatically faster with large air pockets. The resulting pretzel was VERY soft and was missing its "chew."
I need to fix this to bring back my chew!
Should I:
1. Remove the diastatic.
2. Shorten the rise times.
3. Reduce the amount of yeast???
4. Other
I have seen a lot of discussion on here and other baking forums about using deactivated yeast as a reducing agent. I realize that overdoing a reducing agent and liquefy my dough, but I can't see anyone recommending a usage level. Can anyone tell me how they've used deactivated yeast so I have a point of reference? If not, I guess I'll just start experimenting and post my results later!
I'm adding beer to my pretzels and I just can't get the taste or smell to come through. I don't know why! No water...just beer. The color is fantastic. They taste great...but there isn't a distinct "beer" taste. I've tried Guinness and a pale ale.
Any tips on how to bring that flavor out??
I also tried (on half of the pretzels above) to use "spent grain." Nope....couldn't taste it at ALL.
I recently bought some diastatic malt powder to make soft bread pretzels. In my usual fashion I bought too much. Does anyone else have any recipes/ideas on how to use this up
Ian
I'm sure this question has been asked a hundred times. I have just bought T65 white flour by accident (I'm in France from UK originally so no idea of the american correspondance!) and I want to use it to make bread. I usually use T110 or higher. Will this be possible or is it really just not good enough?
So, I've been meaning to ask about this - ever since we've moved up here and Floyd's been bringing home this new flour to bake with, on the back of the package there's a "tip" about using lemon juice in your yeast breads.
"To give your yeast breads superior lightness and volume simply add your own natural dough improver ... natural lemon juice ... to your favourite yeast bread recipe 1 tbsp for every 4-5 cups flour."
If I'm making a yeast bread without wheat, for example half oat flour and half millet four (a random choice), what percentage vital wheat gluten is needed? Also, would a different percentage be used if I was making a quick bread with baking powder?
I'm also wondering if vital wheat gluten will give a better texture and/or flavor compared to the witches brew of xanthan and other gums, gelatins, and hydrocollodials used in gluten free recipes.
I recently bought and tried Mahlab-from Penzey's spices :
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysmahlab.html
It is a small cherry pit and comes whole in the jar. I have a mortar and pestle and it is not difficult to crush to a somewhat oily powder. It only takes about a half teaspoon of these to flavor 5 c flour (2 loaves).
Hi everyone,
I'm ready to try out some recipes from "Inside the Jewish Bakery" by Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg. The trouble is that several of the ones I want to try call for "dark rye flour." The introduction to the book specifies that in the context of European Jewish bakers, this meant the remnants of the whole rye berry after the white rye (endosperm) was milled out, making it not just unrefined but the opposite of unrefined.
