The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

ingredients for brown crumb

master_wort's picture
master_wort

ingredients for brown crumb

What can I add (ingredients) to my bread so I can get a brown crumb (see inserted picture) for my bread. Of course should the bread be eatable :)

Few things that Ican think about is :

1)Brown syrup or similar. Since I only found white,dark,breadsyrup in the supermarket, so then I have to go to a bakery and ask.

2)Some spice, don't know which

Ford's picture
Ford

Try instant coffee or powdered cocoa to get the dark color.

chefcdp's picture
chefcdp

If it is just brown color that you seek, caramel coloring will do the trick. It is most often available as a liquid color, but King Arthur Flour at one time had it available as a powder.   The caramel coloring does not add any flavor.  Well, maybe a hint of bitter if you go all out for piano black.

 

Charles

master_wort's picture
master_wort

In the store can I bou dark molasses/bread molasses. Did the dark molasses gives a more dark crumb then the bread molasses? Both have a dark color. I think the dark molasses is sweeter, thats why they have bread molasses.

 

I will think about cofffee, cocoa and caramel coloring

The bread in the picture above is from the industry

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

Lots of people try to avoid the stuff. I would not go out of my way to add it into anything I was making.

master_wort's picture
master_wort

I dont think either I will use carmel coloring .....

balmagowry's picture
balmagowry

I just looked this up, and it seems to be specific to the "artificial chemical" (whatever THAT means) used commercially, i.e. 4-methylimidazole. I wonder whether it is equally true of the home-grown variety. I make my own burnt sugar (thank you, Joy of Cooking) and keep a jar of it on hand for darkening the occasional gravy - similarly, it'd be my go-to if I wanted a darker bread. Seems harmless enough. But I'm no scientist. Anyone here know?

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

I haven't studied it, but it is a byproduct of the carmelization itself, so it may be in the home-made stuff as well. In fact, it is possible that you need to take special steps to remove it. But I would treat it like anything else -- if you burn it, it is generally carcinogenic. But we brown/burn things quite frequently.  So I'd say occasional use is fine but would not make it part of my daily bread.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

problem if you listen to those who are afraid of their own shadow and use mega hyperbole to make their odd and weird points.  No carmelization means no browning of any kind in a skillet or on the grill or in the oven - total nonsense.  90% of all browning on bread or any other food is accomplished by caramelization with temperatures over 350F (what separates caramelization from the Maillard reaction). Brown food tastes good  - it is that simple. 

Pay no attemntion to caramel being bad for you - eat well instead.

balmagowry's picture
balmagowry

No way no how am I giving up the brown foods! If that's what all the fuss is about, I'll damn well take my chances. I'll also continue to eat my grilled meats charred on the outside and as rare as possible on the inside; I'll continue to eat my toast well-toasted and my gravy well-darkened; and as for caramel, pry it out of my cold dead hands if you can!

On the other hand I will happily dispense with 4Mel or whatever the chemical crap is; I don't like most soft drinks anyway, and I especially don't like the ones that taste like they came out of a test tube. I'll also pass on the kind of chocolate that is mostly made out of wax. Some brown foods taste better than others; I'll stick to the ones worth fighting for.

(ETA: @David Esq - I could swear I had read somewhere that there was a synthetic version of 4Mel and that that was what people were worried about in soft drinks and such - at any rate that as such it's distinct from the real caramel one can make by simply burning sugar. But I'm not a scientist and I don't even play one on TV, so I could be misremembering.)

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

I think the point is that when you carmelize sugar you are concentrating the the chemical that causes cancer in a way which theoretically at least, is problematic.  When Pepsico puts out a statement and says it is safe because the consumer consumes only 3/4 of a 16 ounce can a day, you have to wonder, why the heck they put it in the soda at all.  Especially if people are drinking it out of the can and can't see the color.

I personally avoid artificial colors and artificial flavors and even prefer to avoid natural flavor additives as well, unless I know they do not consist of beaver ass.

master_wort's picture
master_wort

In the breadecipe from the bread int he picture above they have add wort which gives a more dark color.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

dough darker but not dark-dark.  I remember Apple yeast water being good for a tawny brown.  Add some rye (a lot of it :)) and a slow bake and you'll be getting close.  Also adding toasted bread crumbs to the dough will darken it.  I'm not into colouring unnaturally but green and red make brown....   Malt (Amylase) <(it's the sugar)  will darken the crumb too if you paint it on the crust (decoration) and there's oxidation,  leave a freshly sliced dark bread out for ten minutes and it will also darken a wee bit.  

Extreme would be octopus or squid ink if going for black dark bread.   You can find all of these and more info in the site archive.  Just ask it...   How to darken bread crumb?   or  How to fake dark bread?   or   Dark Rye Recipe  or  Ink bread

mikes's picture
mikes

If you have one, stop by there and buy a pound of dark roasted grain. Steep it in some water.

Donkey_hot's picture
Donkey_hot

Altus and  non-diastatic malt would not only color your crumb but bring really great flavor...