bread dough enhancer
Hi,
I have just made a white loaf using a bread dough enhancer (lecithin granules, vit c and ginger) and noticed that the bread was softer, rose higher and had a more tender crust. However I also noticed that its taste became more bland. In other words, with the incorporation of these ingredients, the bread seems to have lost some taste.
Does anyone have similar experience? I wonder whether I should add more sugar when I use dough enhancer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
CW
Thank you for your responses. My intent was to create a loaf with bakery-like quality. Using these ingredients was a way of experimentation. And no, I was not using a bread machine. I agree that it is more natural and thus healthier to bake without enhancers, however, I did not anticipate resentment against using the ingredients. And I apologize if I offended anyone by posing such question.
The only ingredients used in the mix were lecithin, vit c and ginger. Vit C is a nutrient, even if in supplementary form. Ginger seems to be the grounded form of a spice regularly used (by many) in cooking. So I would imagine that health concern must come from the use of lecithin. What are the health dangers in using this?
Please note that the posting was only meant to open discussion on past experience with using these ingredients. It is not an attempt to persuade anyone to use enhancers. Thanks again.
CW
I'm glad and grateful to see this wealth of information on this topic. I appreciate everyone's input. My conclusion is that substances with acetic acid, whether lemon juice, vit c, seem to tenderize the dough, but also reduce its flavour. Lecithin, also in egg yolks, seem to enhance the performance of yeast, but may be harmful to the body as there seems to be strict health regulation. The effects are consistent with what I observed from my own experimentation. Whether the benefits justify the costs is to each his own. On learning from you; however, I feel much less compelled on conducting further trials. As my goal was to produce bread with bakery-like quality, I found most insight from a point made that commercial bakeries use high energy dough mixers with powerful kneading functionality that give the dough that special texture and also a super fast processing time. Perhaps there would be no way for me to replicate such effects at home so maybe I should stop trying. I should have stated my purpose at the beginning and its good that it was questioned otherwise I would not have gotten such relevant information. Much thanks to all you bakers for your valuable information. I'll keep these points in mind in the future.
CW
I appreciate all the additional tidbits and advice, especially more info on ginger.
FYI, the "enhancer" I used in experiment was as follows:
* 1 cup lecithin granules
* 1 tablespoon fruit fresh (or vitamin C powder)
* 1 tablespoon ginger (ground)
Used in the proportion of about 1 Tbsp per 3 cups of flour.
Source: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/doras-bread-dough-enhancer-mix-aka-bread-dough-conditioner-395157 [1]
The information on the effects of different ingredients is very interesting. Regardless of stance on the use of any "enhancers", I think it is useful to know about the effects of their composition. If I had known more about these and where they came from, I could have used natural food products instead for example, replace lecithin with egg yolk, vit c with lemon juice, ginger powder with fresh ginger. Now, if those ingredients were substituted into the recipe, I wonder if it would still be considered an "enhanced" dough. Maybe the item and quantity used also play major role in each person's definition of a "dough enhancer" and an acceptable ingredient....some food for thought.
CW