February 9, 2012 - 5:31am
What happens if I use Milk instead of Water for bread?
I make my bread using the No Knead method.
What would happen if I would subsutite Whole Milk instead of using the water it calls for?
Thanks.
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What happens if I use Milk instead of Water for bread?
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You would enrich the dough with milk proteins and fat. You will need a bit more milk than the amount of water required (because of the milk solids). The dough will be softer, the crumb less open. You will have to bake it at lower temperatures than a lean bread.
In other words, your bread will be more like a sandwich bread.
Karin
There is some disagreement on this issue, because people get varying results. Those few who have cited Science (with a capital S!) say that the enzymes can serve to break down/otherwise prevent the formation of gluten, leaving you with a loaf that is...less than impressive. There is a lot of advice to scald the milk first, which breaks down enzymes.
There are those who argue that modern milk pasteurization methods do this for us, in addition to eliminating many of the potential health benefits (not to mention potential illnesses) from milk.
Personally, I use powdered milk and avoid the whole thing. It tastes just like normal milk when it's in baked goods, however horrible it may be on its own.
I almost always sub in buttermilk when water (or milk) is called for, either in part or in toto. That subtle tang generally rounds the flavor quite well, although it does soften the crumb a bit. Be aware, though, that heating cultured buttermilk in the microwave to get it to the desired temperature for instant yeast will separate it. It's a bit startling to see, but nothing to worry about for your bread. And yes, you do need to up the amount a wee bit. I've not been able to get my hands on actual buttermilk, thin on the ground here in VA's close-in (read 'cow-deprived') DC suburbs, so I don't yet know what happens with the good stuff. Alas.
I know this is an old thread, I just started baking bread myself. But if you want good buttermilk, just by a quart of heavy whipping cream and dump it in your stand mixer with the whisk. It takes a while, it will turn into whip cream, then what looks like buttercream frosting, then grainy mashed potatoes. At that point, I switch out the whisk for the beater and continue. Stopping every so often to dump out the buttermilk. When done you should have approximately 1 pint of buttermilk, and one pint of fresh butter. I wring out the butter to remove as much buttermilk as I can. Hope this helps with the lack of buttermilk.
This is kind of fun to try once or twice. But today's "buttermilk" isn't much like this product. And even before cultured buttermilk, the liquid product would be left to sour for a few days. After all, you mostly want it to be acidic to work with baking soda, etc.
Fun fact about US buttermilk. It's usually labeled "low fat". That's because the original buttermilk, left over from making butter as described above, is automatically low fat because most of the fat is left in the butter. The US requirements for a food labeled "buttermilk" require that it have a similarly low fat content. The "low fat" labeling is a marketing thing. It's "full fat" buttermilk, if you can find any, that is a different product.
I don't know about any other countries, though.
I just posted on another thread about some buttermilk. I use full fat buttermilk available in my local grocery. It is labeled Bulgarian style and is cultured with yogurt. It is thicker than low fat and I find it more flavorful.
I almost always sub in buttermilk when water, or milk, is called for, either in part or in toto. That subtle tang generally rounds the flavor quite well, although it does soften the crumb a bit. Be aware, though, that heating cultured buttermilk in the microwave to get it to the desired temperature for instant yeast will separate it. It's a bit startling to see, but nothing to worry about for your bread. And yes, you do need to up the amount a wee bit. I've not been able to get my hands on actual buttermilk, so I don't yet know what happens with the good stuff. Alas.
I use a bread maker most of the time and always use milk instead of water; it makes a much nicer loaf, and I find, a lighter one