Sourdough Bread
Introduction
My husband suggested the quote. He loves bread and is using this paper as an excuse
to do “research”…stuff his ‘pie-hole’ with sourdough from the local restaurants. He also
taught me the ‘pie-hole’ idiom. He also took an afternoon off from work to go with me
to the Boudin Bakery in San Francisco. He says he’s doing all this for me. He likes
bread.
I think all my papers for PCI will start with a comparison between my habits in
Thailand and my current life in California. I love the bread here! Pastries in Thailand
are good but the breads can’t compare to here. And here they put bread on every dining
table. And it’s all I can do to resist eating through the basket before dinner arrives. And
then it’s steamed mussels and we need more bread!
Two of my Thai friends gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks after moving to the United States.
I’m sure that some of it is because of all the bread. I’m enjoying all the bread choices I
find in the farmers markets and grocery stores. The tough crust of the San Francisco
sourdough is one of my favorites.
Sourdough has a long history with the earliest evidence from 4000 B.C. in Egypt. I’ll try
not to spend too much time on just the last 150 years of San Francisco’s version.
2
What Is Sourdough?
Breads are foods prepared by baking, steaming, or frying dough consisting of at least
flour and water. Salt is present in most cases, and usually a leavening agent is used. A
leavening agent is a substance used in doughs and batters that causes them to rise.
Moisture, heat, or acidity will activate the leavening agent to produce gas (often carbon
dioxide) that becomes trapped as bubbles inside the dough. When a dough is baked, it
sets and the holes left by the gas bubbles remain. This results in lighter, fluffier bread.
Leavening agents include baking soda, baking powder, bakers yeast, sourdough starter,
steam, air, or pearlash (potassium carbonate). Baking soda, baking powder, and
pearlash react chemically in the dough to produce carbon dioxide gas. Steam and air
can be used to physically inject air or water into dough that will expand when heated to
form larger bubbles/pockets in dough. As for yeast…
Yeast is the most popular of leavening agents. Yeast is a one-celled fungus that feeds on
sugar and starch and produces carbon dioxide bubbles and alcohol. Baker’s yeast is a
specific strain of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) first described by Louis Pasteur in the
mid-1800’s. Baker’s yeast was isolated and manufactured because of its ability to
quickly produce large quantities of carbon dioxide that provided quick leavening.
“Sourdough starter” is a combination of wild yeast and bacteria living in a mixture of
flour and water. Wild yeasts thrive naturally in the air and soil, and on the surface of
grains, fruits and vegetables. The bacteria are certain strains of Lactobacillus that can
convert simple sugars into lactic and acetic acids, which are what give sourdough bread
its flavor. Wild yeast (Sacchraromyces exiges) belongs to the same family as baker’s
yeast but differs in one big way. Commercial baker’s yeast can’t survive in the acidic
environment produced by the lactobacillus - only natural wild yeast can live and thrive.
In sourdough starter, yeast and lactobacilli have a healthy relationship in which they do
not compete for the same food. As mentioned above, yeasts convert simple sugars
(lactose, fructose, glucose) into carbon dioxide and alcohol. The sourdough yeasts can’t
use the maltose but the lactobacteria can. The lactobacteria break down the maltose to
the other sugars and produce the lactic and acetic acids. The yeast may actually help
feed the lactobacilli since the bacteria will eat the dead yeast cells. Also, the lactobacilli
produce an acidic environment that the yeast like but which is not hospitable to other
organisms. Thus the acids in the culture act as a sort of antibiotic for protecting the
yeast. As a result, many sourdough bread varieties tend to be relatively resistant to
spoilage and mold.
Lactobacilli help bread rise, too. Like yeast they digest sugars and produce carbon
dioxide. A yeast cell produces much more carbon dioxide leavening gas than a
lactobacterium, but there are many more lactobacteria, a ratio of 100 to 1 being typical.
Sourdough bread is made by using a small amount of “starter” dough, which has the
yeast culture, and mixing it with new flour and water. The remainder of the starter
dough is saved to use as the starter next time. It is not uncommon to have a baker's
starter dough that has had years of history, from many hundreds of previous batches.
3
So as for our definition: sourdough is bread made from flour, water, and salt and
naturally leavened with a starter made from wild yeast and bacteria.
History
The history of sourdough is almost as old as bread itself. Wheat and wild grains were
probably first ground and mixed into some type of porridge for eating. Eventually this
would have been baked over a fire to form a flat dense cake of the earliest bread. This
probably lead to the discovery of sourdough bread. Sometimes these uncooked cakes
may have been contaminated with wild yeast in the air. The warm water/flour/yeast
mixture would have been an excellent starter - and a great bread if baked. The resulting
bread would have been lighter and tastier than the normal flat, hard cake. This “yeast
accident” would have happened a number of times followed by many experiments
before dependable leavened-bread baking would be established. Someone would also
eventually figure out how to save a portion of the starter for the next batch of bread.
Most histories of sourdough talk of its beginnings some 6000 years ago. The earliest
breads were unleavened but archaeological evidence shows the use of yeast as a
leavening agent at around 4000 B.C. in Egypt. It is interesting (to my husband) that this
is the same time associated with the beginning of brewing beer. The ability of yeast to
convert starches and sugars to carbon dioxide and alcohol is also known as
fermentation.
In the bread making process the yeast is given plenty of air and food. The yeast grows
fast and produces a lot of carbon dioxide. Only a little alcohol is formed. However,
when brewing beer in a fermentation vat, where there is almost no air but lots of food in
the form of sugar, the yeast cells perform differently. They give off less carbon dioxide
and concentrate on turning sugar into alcohol. The same species of yeast makes up both
baker’s and brewer's yeast. Beer leaven, known as barm, was popular for bread making
in Great Britain. Until the early 19th century British cookbooks included instructions for
brewing, as well as baking. Beer making was the only reliable source of baking yeast.
The main interest in brewing beer would be the alcohol part of the fermentation
process. Bread bakers would find the carbon dioxide gas more useful - for leavening -
any alcohol would be burned off during baking. The histories of the two industries
seem to have paralleled each other. Evidence of earlier beer brewing would probably
change the birth date of leavened/sourdough bread.
There is much written of the history of bread as a food staple in Egyptian history. A
5000 year-old, fully stocked bakery has been discovered. A 4000 year-old loaf of bread
was found in a mortuary temple. There are a number of ancient engravings and glyphs
showing workers harvesting wheat, grinding grains, and producing loaves. Leavened
and unleavened bread is referenced often in the Bible. The Israelites were forced to
leave Egypt so quickly they didn’t have time to properly leaven their bread.
From Egypt it seems that techniques in yeast fermentation spread to all countries
bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This resulted in improvements in clay ovens and the
introduction of the rotary mill in 1000 BC. These advances spread to other civilizations
including African, Asian, Indian and American cultures.
4
There are many historical references to bread, yeast leavening, and yeasted starters
throughout Europe. There doesn’t seem to be much said about the possibility of
leavened bread being developed independently in other parts of the world. Other
cultures were practicing some type of fermentation for making alcohol for thousands of
years. Why wasn’t there a parallel evolution of bread? Didn’t they have the necessary
grains such as wheat, barley, or rye? A quick search on the history of wheat says that it
was being cultivated in China by 2500 B.C. and in England by 2000 B.C. China had
wheat first. Maybe eastern Asia was too interested/distracted by rice to pursue much
with wheat…and bread?
Wild yeast starters and bread made from starters have been around for thousands of
years, but the term "sourdough" is pretty new. It is an American term that came into use
during the California Gold Rush days of the late 1800's.
Many California and Yukon miners obtained supplies in San Francisco before heading
into the mountains to search for gold. Over time, it was discovered that starters from
the San Francisco area produced bread with a unique and particularly sour taste. Thus
the starters and bread from that area became known as "sourdough". Later the term was
even applied to gold miners themselves. More recently the term has generalized across
the U.S. to mean simply a bread starter. (Note: The yeast and bacteria in the San
Francisco sourdough were not isolated by scientists until the 1970’s. The yeast was
identified as a variety of Saccharomyces exigus that was later named Candida milleri.
The dominant lactobacillus was a newly identified species and was suitably named
Lactobacillus sanfrancisco.)
The biggest event in recent sourdough history was probably in 1859 when Louis
Pasteur discovered how yeast works. He established that yeast was a living organism
and that only active living cells can cause fermentation. Scientists quickly learned how
to develop yeast cells that leavened faster and gave more reproducible/uniform results.
The new, refined yeasts could be mass-produced in active dry forms and in moist cakes.
Nine years after Pasteur’s discovery, Fleischmann’s Yeast was founded, and the modern
baking era was born.
The introduction of baker’s yeast allowed for mass production of uniform bread.
However, some of the unique flavors associated with sourdough breads were lost.
Refinements in flour (bleaching, blending, enriching) further increased bread
production as well as improved shelf life. This new bread began to resemble sourdough
(or any artisan breads) less and less.
In the last 20 years there has been a remarkable, renewed interest in sourdough and
other artisan breads. My husband tells me he was raised on Wonder bread but he’s
quite happy to see the changes in breads available in our local grocery stores. He’s even
happier to have me learning how to bake my own bread.
5
Types of Sourdough
All references I checked talk about San Francisco sourdough bread. Many of them say
that San Francisco’s is the best sourdough in the world and the one by which all others
are compared. Like San Francisco, other regions of the world have their own signature
sourdough breads. Big differences in the sourdoughs come from the yeast cultures, the
type of flour (wheat, rye), and the addition of other ingredients in the recipes (eggs,
fruit, spices). It’s probably best to discuss these general ingredients to understand
different sourdoughs of the world.
Ed Wood is the author of several books on sourdough. He is also the founder of
Sourdough International, which sells a variety of wild yeast cultures from around the
world (San Francisco, Italy, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tasmania, France, etc.)
The cultures include combinations of wild yeast and lactobacteria that are typical of the
different regions. The yeast/bacteria combinations will create different leavening, as
well as flavor variations due to the type and level of acidity produced by the bacteria.
Using different wild yeast cultures also affects recipes by changing the amounts/types
of flour, water, and temperatures used in the starter and preparation for baking.
White, whole-wheat, rye, spelt, kamut, potato, and other specialty flours are used in some
of the world sourdough recipes that I read. The type of flour used in a recipe was
determined by the local region but also involved discussions about gluten. Two
proteins found in wheat flour, gliadin and glutenin form a stretchy substance called
gluten. The strength of the gluten is what holds in the carbon dioxide (from the
leavening) and helps determine the type of holes/lightness of the bread. This texture in
bread is known as crumb. If there is not enough gluten the bread does not rise well.
Bread flour is high protein flour which is also high gluten. All-purpose flour has less
gluten and cake flour even less. The low gluten in cake flours helps keep them soft – not
tough. Some flours contain less gluten (rye, oats, etc.) and others do not contain any
gluten (rice and soy). Whole-wheat flour does not have a lot of gluten because the
presence of the rest of the whole grain components (germ and bran) interfere with it.
If ‘other’ flours are used they are usually mixed with some bread flour to help form
more gluten. Also, for some flours like rye, different/special wild yeasts may be used in
the starters that are better at leavening (producing carbon dioxide). Bread made from
100% rye flour is always leavened with sourdough because it does not have enough
gluten to be used with baker’s yeast.
As for other bread ingredients – there seems to be quite a variety. Amish Friendship
Bread, is one of the more interesting recipes I found. It uses a sourdough starter that
includes sugar and milk, and also uses baking powder and baking soda. Cinnamon and
vanilla (or vanilla pudding) are added before baking. Some recipes call for chocolate
chips, raisins, or chopped fruit. The interesting part of the Amish Friendship Bread
recipe, is the tradition that you share not only the bread with your friends but also
enough starter and instructions for them to make their own…to share again.
6
Making Sourdough Bread
According to the “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” (see reference), all bread making goes
through 12 stages: Mise en Place, Mixing, Primary Fermentation, Punching Down,
Dividing, Rounding, Benching, Shaping, Proofing, Baking, Cooling, Storing and Eating.
I won’t try to summarize all of these here. I think most of my classmates have this book.
One of the big differences between making sourdough and other breads is the early step
of mixing. Sourdough bread requires the preparation of a starter before the mixing
process. The following is a description of the process for making a starter and preparing
it for the bread recipe.
The basic process for making a starter is mixing the culture (wild yeast and bacteria)
with flour and water then occasionally feeding it. You feed it by stirring it well and then
discarding about half of it and replacing the discarded amount with the same amount of
flour and water (or slightly more flour). After repeating this process for several days (2
to 10 days) the starter should get really bubbly and have a sour or beery smell. The
starter is done when it develops a bubbly froth. At this point it can be refrigerated and
the feeding reduced to once a week.
The usual procedure for using a sourdough starter is to maintain a large enough starter
that you will always have at least a cup or two more than you will ever need at one
time. If your typical recipe requires two cups of starter when you bake then you should
maintain your starter volume at three or four cups.
Several hours before making a bread dough, the sponge needs to be made. A "sponge"
is also known as “pre-ferment”, “poolish”, or “second-starter” and consists of a bowl of
warm, fermenting batter. Here are the directions for making a sponge.
Take your starter out of the fridge. Pour a couple cups of it into a bowl and return the
rest (after feeding) to the refrigerator. Add a cup of warm water and a cup of flour to
the bowl. The amount of water and flour will differ between recipes and will affect the
final taste. Stir the sponge well and set it in a warm place for several hours. This is the
same process as with making the starter. When the sponge is bubbly throughout, has a
white froth, and smells a little sour, it’s ready. The time for making the sponge may
vary from a few hours to overnight.
Finally the dough is made by adding the rest of the ingredients and kneading, shaping
and allowing the final rise before baking. The final rise is also called “proofing”. Some
breads are cut or “scored” just before baking to allow some of the gas in the bread to
escape and to control the final shape of the loaf.
Recipes for sourdough bread involve variations in the 12 steps mentioned above from
“The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”. Since the “Eating” step is my husband’s favorite he’s
a little disappointed that I haven’t tried making any San Francisco sourdough. We
bought some little yellow packets of “Goldrush” starter yeast from a gift shop across the
street from Boudin Bakery. I’ve just mixed the starter and am waiting for it to bubble.
References
The Professional Pastry Chef
Chef Bo Friberg
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN 0-471-35925-4
Understanding Baking - The Art and Science of Baking
Joseph Amendola and Nicole Rees
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN 0-471-40546-9
Classic Sourdoughs – A Home Baker’s Handbook
Ed Wood
Ten Speed Press
ISBN 1-58008-344-7
The Bread Baker’s Apprentice – Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread
Peter Reinart
10 Speed Press
ISBN 1-58008-268-8
The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making
Christine Ingram & Jennie Shapter
Hermes House
ISBN 1-84309-141-0
http://www.boudinbakery.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/bethsbread/WhatisSourdough.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm
http://www.breadworld.com/sciencehistory/science.asp
http://egullet.com/imgs/egci/sourdough/science.html
BAGUETTES
What most people today would call a French type of chewy white bread with a crisp crust is really what the French call a baguette, which the translation is “small rod”/stick. In English we call it a French stick or a French loaf. People who are learning French sometimes are surprised that baguette refers to many kinds of stick-like objects, including baguette magique (“wand”) and baguettes chinoises (“chopsticks”).
“Baguette loaves are long, thin, and crusty, usually weighing between 10 ounces to 1 pound.” A standard baguette is 5 to 6 centimeters wide and 3 or 4 centimeters tall, but can be up to a meter in length. Shorter baguettes are sometime used for sandwiches and these sandwich sized loafs are sometimes known as demi-baguettes. They can be sliced and served with food such as pate or cheeses. “As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate.” Baguettes are known for their very crispy crusts.
This type of bread is seen closely connected to France and especially Paris. Even though they are by far not the only kind of French bread, they are, however, available around the world. But, it should be known that in France not all long loaves are baguettes (for ex. A standard thicker stain is a pain and a thinner load as a ficelle). Also, the food laws of France are strict, and define bread as a product containing only the following four ingredients: h2o, flour, yeast and salt. If you add any other ingredients to the basic recipe requires a different name for the final product.
The French government recently codified into law a specific type of baguette, the “baguette de tradition”, which can only be made using the original, pre-modern methods. This classification was because of the tireless efforts of historian Steven Kaplan, who specializes in the history of French bread from 1700-1770. Kaplan asked the French to reject the modern baguette – when he put down calling it a “tasteless, odorless monstrosity” – in favor of the richer original. The key, Kaplan’s research suggested, is the 18th century practice of allowing yeast to develop overnight, which puts the modern baguette to shame. The French have enthusiastically adopted Kaplan’s recommendations, and he was knighted two times, by a grateful French government. When in france if the better was kneaded and baked on the seller’s premises, it is called pain maison (homemade bread) and if it is labeled de tradition francaise (traditional French), this means that no additives were used and the dough was never frozen; however, it may be baked in one location or another.
Do not wrap French bread in plastic or anything that inhibits air movement. A brown bag is best, and to reheat, sprinkle bag or bread with water and place in a 400* (210*C) oven for 10 mins.
“It’s maddening, but real French bread eludes home bakers. Americans don’t have the same flour, the same yeast, the wood-fired brick ovens. After many false starts, we’ve found a superb imposter that promises a craggy crust, a pungent crumb that blend into a thoroughly seductive scent. We found, too, that the secret ingredient is beating. So, rev up your tennis muscles (or latch on to a left-end tackle), because you’ll have to give ten minutes of your most active beating to the dough, and 8 to 10 minutes of enthusiastic kneading. The first beating is important to provide airy texture, so don’t cut corners. The long rising lets it expand lazily, so don’t hurry it; the slower the rising, the finer the texture. The steam in the oven while baking is the other “must,” because it insures “French crust.”
Another don’t: Don’t let the six hours it takes from scratch to success scare you from trying (you can get in a set of tennis while it’s rising). Also, it’s a possible to bake bread in stages over 24 hours; check the section on making a sponge, page 51. This will produce a more typical loaf with holes.
P.S. French wives don’t bake. They leave it all to the boulanger. You can leave the work to the electric mixer in case your beating arm is in distraction; we’ve secluded the east directions.”
~currently, about 25 million baguettes are sold in France each day~
“…three different mixing methods to compare the results. Left is the most common method employed in bakeries. Middle is an "improved method" yielding nice results. Far right is the traditional method yielding the best flavor.” ~Unknown but from the website managed by Charles Waterfield (www.microfin.com/ bakingschool.htm)
Salt, a brief overview
The first written reference to salt is found in the Book of Job, recorded about 2,250 BC. There are 31 other references to salt in the Bible, the most familiar probably being the story of Lot’s wife who was turned into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed the angels and looked back at the wicked city of Sodom. The earliest use of salt dates to as early as 10,000 BC, shortly after the last Ice Age. Animals created paths to salt licks, and men followed seeking game and salt. Their trails became roads and beside the roads settlements grew. These settlements became cities and nations. Salt has greatly influenced the political and economic history of the world. Every civilization has had its salt lore - fascinating superstitions and legends that have been handed down, sometimes reverently and sometimes with tongue-in-cheek. The purifying quality of salt has made it a part of the rituals in some religious ceremonies. “He is not worth his salt”, is a common expression. It originated in ancient Greece where salt was traded for slaves. Roman soldiers were paid “salt money”, salarium argentums, from which we take our English word, “salary”. The widespread superstition that spilling salt brings bad luck is believed to have originated with the overturned saltcellar in front of Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper, an incident immortalized in Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting.
Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl), one of the most important items of diet for health. It is an essential constituent of secretions such as perspiration and tears, and it plays a major part in the regulation of fluids within the body. The reason why some people have permanently high blood pressure is not known but the mechanisms that regulate and stabilize blood pressure in the body are many and extremely complex. They are also very efficient: when people eat more salt than is required by the body, it is excreted in the urine and, if they eat less than the body needs, the kidneys conserve it. Those living in the tropics, and particularly in desert conditions, know well the value of salt. Too little is a serious threat to health. Deaths from sunstroke and dehydration are not usually caused by the loss of water but by the loss of salt. Hypertension is rare in primitive cultures out of contact with civilization, untouched by Western living stresses and eating little salt.
Why Iodize?
David Marine (1880-1976) is the "father" of iodized salt in the United States; fortifying salt pioneered the approach of adding nutrients to foods. As the result of research on endemic goiter and iodine deficiency by Marine and co-workers research, the Michigan State Medical Society, in 1924, launched a goiter prevention program using iodized salt. It was the first example of a designed "functional food." Medical science since has identified a far more serious threat than the cosmetic problem of goiter -- mental retardation. The "hidden hunger" of iodine deficiency causes a 10-15% reduction in a population's IQ capability, mental retardation and cretinism.
In the United States, salt producers cooperated with public health authorities and made both iodized and plain salt available to consumers at the same cost. Newspapers urged people to use iodized salt for the prevention of iodine deficiency. The Michigan program was highly successful and iodized salt use quickly spread throughout the country. Ultimately, household use of iodized salt eliminated iodine deficiency in the North America. In 1955, researchers reported that 75.8% of U.S. households used only iodized salt. The Salt Institute estimates that nearly 70% of the table salt sold in the United States is iodized.
Around the world, however, iodine deficiency remains a major health problem. The World Health Organization maintains a Global Database on Iodine Deficiency Disorders. While natural sea salt has little iodine, fortifying salt is an effective means of increasing dietary iodine and is, in fact, the consensus solution. Resources have been mobilized over the past decade. The "virtual elimination" of IDD was identified as the highest health priority for children at the 1990 World Summit for Children (described by the World Health Organization and UNICEF) and is the top service project of Kiwanis International.
The technology for iodizing or iodating salt is well known, readily available, and inexpensive. One particular problem is that some countries lack high quality salt manufacturing and packaging technologies. Some food manufacturers fear using iodized salt will interfere with the color or taste of their products and affect consumer acceptance; for the most part such concerns are insignificant.
Both potassium iodide and potassium iodate are used to add iodine to salt. Potassium iodate is preferred in some countries, particularly in tropical regions, because it is more stable than potassium iodide under hot, humid conditions. Loss of iodine from iodized salt produced and sold in the United States is not a concern because producers use moisture-proof packaging and add stabilizers; and storage conditions in the grocery distribution system are suitable. Table salt packaged and stored under proper conditions has an extended shelf life. Several countries, including France, Mexico and Switzerland, also add fluoride to table salt to prevent dental problems. Salt double fortified with iodine and iron is used in several other countries.
Methods of obtaining salt
There are four major types of acquiring salt: boiling, mining, “primitive”, and evaporation.
Brine is a saturation of salt within water. Also included in many natural types of brine are bacteria and algae, which often appears red, like blood. Boiling brine into usable salts required the burning of fuels (wood, peat, sea weed, whatever was available); the boiling evaporated excess liquids that the end result is sodium chloride along with a few impurities.
Mining is used to excavate salt deposits from the depths of the earth. With the rising and drying of bodies of salt water, over millions of years, has created massive deposits throughout the world. There is evidence of mining from early people as far back as 1300 BC.
“Primitive” methods of acquiring salt, still use today, is through the bleeding of animals (human blood is approximately 0.9% salt), drinking of urine as well as gathering of specific plants which hold concentrated levels of salt.
The evaporation method has been in use for thousands of years and is still the preferred method to date. Evaporation, also known as pan evaporation, is commonly used today, and you can travel to nearby Redwood City to witness saltpan flats on edges of the San Francisco Bay. Salt water is flooded into pans (shallow ponds) and let to sit for natural evaporation and crystallization of salt. At this point, the salt crystals are harvested and processed for sale.
Many types of salt
Pink, black, white, gray, red, kosher, large crystals, fine, rock, etc…. some of the many varieties that consumers are able to purchase. Do they really taste different? Yes, for most. Often salt is used to cut bitterness, intensify a flavor, and/or is mixed with sugar to bring out the saltiness. What makes for the different colors? Usually impurities and minerals from the local surroundings. If it is gray, it may contain a small amount of gypsum; red, the brine had bacteria, which gave it a “blood like” color, or even clay from the surrounding area; the Himalayan pink is rich in minerals from a primeval sea.
What is kosher salt? Different types of salt are created during the refining process. Most are ground into very fine grains, but a few types are left in a more natural form made of large, rocky crystals. Fine-grained salts include table salt, iodized salt, pickling salt, and popcorn salt. Rock salt and kosher salt are coarse-grained. Sea salt can be found in both fine and coarse forms. Kosher salt usually has no additives, and it has big crystals with large surface areas. This size and shape allows it to absorb more moisture than other forms of salt, and this makes kosher salt excellent for curing meats. That is essentially where the name comes from. The salt itself is not kosher, meaning it doesn't conform to Jewish food laws, but this salt is used to make meat kosher. The Jewish holy book, the Torah, prohibits consumption of any blood, which is why kosher meat must be slaughtered and prepared in a specific manner. A common way of removing the final traces of blood from meat is to soak and salt it. That's not the only use for kosher salt, however. The flavor is distinct from ordinary table salt, and some cooks prefer to use it in all their cooking. Like other coarse salts, kosher salt can be used in recipes that call for a salt crust. You can even use it to salt the edge of a margarita glass.
Salt…
Salt can be attributed to major shifts in the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history and prehistory.
Salt has been used as a form of currency, for trade, for flavoring, for life.
Salt is the ONLY rock that we eat.
Bibliography
AskYahoo.com
MortonSalt.com
Salt.org
Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky
Salt Institute, saltinstitute.org
Second-opinions.co.uk/salt-and-hypertension.html
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Isaiah 55
What defines hearth bread?
Hearth bread is a crusty, tasty loaf of bread, with simple ingredients (leaven, water, salt, and flour) in a perfect mixture that will rise in a very hot oven. There is no pan used in hearth baking, so the loaf will take on a more free-form appearance, though a loaf may be proofed in a basket or linen prior to baking. It will also rely on the heat of the oven to properly rise the yeasted loaf into a crunchy crust, chewy crumb product. If the oven is too cool, the gas in the dough will not produce enough spring, the water in the dough will not turn to steam, and the pressure will not increase in the dough; the loaf will be flat without well-formed gas cells.
Hearth ovens have been used for thousands of years, and in the United States are currently built mostly for historical interest as well as the wonderfully flavored and crusty loafs that they produce. In many parts of the world, however, hearths are used on a daily basis. Depending upon local sources of firewood, or other burnable resources (or lack thereof), a community may have one or two central hearths where all dough is baked for the whole community. The hearth ovens are built for the unique way that they bake; they shock the dough with a massive transfer of heat when the bread is first put in, and they preserve the dough’s moisture when the crust is first forming and the loaf is expanding. Realize that a variety of breads may be baked in a hearth oven, such as pita, pizza, sourdough, country breads, etc.
How does it look?
The crust of hearth bread has three distinctive colors. (At this point in the oral presentation, a hearth loaf will be shown so that these different colors can be visualized, as well as a tasting for the audience of a hearth bread.) The first color is a rich brown, which covers most of the bread. This is formed by the heat-driven chemical reactions; the crust is exposed to much higher temperatures than commercially manufactured loaves. Because the dough does not contain extra sugar, it is not prone to burning. Also, the hearth is so hot, the crust dries out more and strongly flavored chemicals form, adding the “bite” of flavor and brown color. The second color on the bread is the light tan, usually found within the slash of the loaf top, where the crust was not exposed as long to the heat. The third color on the loaf is dark brown, sometimes almost black, where the cleft of the slash has gotten more heat and almost started to burn.
The inside of the loaf (or crumb) will typically have large bubbles, that appear to stream away from the loaf bottom, which had direct heat from the hearth surface. (In the oral presentation, this will be pointed out with a slice of the bread.) Columns of the fermented dough as well as the bubbles maintain the internal structure of the bread. The crumb of the bread tends to feel dry, firm, and springy.
The Heat Process
There are three basic processes to get the heat into the bread to cook it: conduction, convection and radiation. All three of these processes are at work in a hearth oven at the same time. You would not get the same result if you only cooked in a microwave (radiation heat) or a rock (conduction heat). The conduction in a hearth oven is from the floor of the oven where the hot surface pushes up the moisture from the bottom of the loaf (see above, in How does it look?). The convection is an agent in the heating process as it takes heat from a hot object into a cold object. Convection currents are stirred when cold dough is placed into a hot oven, and the process repeats throughout the baking process as the loaf cooks through. The radiant heat surrounds the loaf from the walls of the hearth; it is not a direct heat source (meaning, the heat is not directly in physical contact with the loaf as it is in conduction). It is the radiant heat that is responsible for the crust formation.
(At this point in the oral report, I will talk about a cloche or “La Cloche”, a way for home bakers to achieve similar results of hearth bread from their home oven.)
Bake bread with your eyes open.
Eat it with your heart open and your eyes closed…
Bibliography
Botham.co.uk/bread
Breadsmithcleveland.com
The Bread Builders, Daniel Wing and Alan Scott
Foodtimeline.org
Geocities.com/NapaValley/6454/breads
Mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/breadmaking
Bagels
Hsiao-Ting Chu
BP102
Chef Mary
Oct. 21, 2005
What is the Bagel?
The bagel is a bread product traditionally made of yeasted wheat dough twisted into a small doughnut like shape, which is boiled in simmering water, and then baked. The bagel is the only bread product that is boiled before it is baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned, and sometimes crisp exterior.
Where is the Bagel Originally From?
The origin of the bagel is up for debate, although it seems to have taken an early foothold in Poland. The first printed mention occurs in Krakow, 1610, in a list of community regulations that stipulated that bagels are to be given as a gift to any women in expecting a child. The ring shape may have been seen as a symbol of life. Others support the theory that a Jewish baker from Vienna created a stirrup (or beugal) made out of dough to give to the King of Poland in 1683, in thanks for his help in defeating the Turks, and in honor of his great horsemanship. Other German variations of the word are: beigel, meaning ring, and bugel, meaning bracelet.
The doughnut-shaped roll quickly caught on, becoming a staple among Eastern Europeans. In Yiddish, they are called beygel; in Russian, boobliki; in Polish, obazanki.
Bagels remained a breakfast staple in Eastern Europe for the next two centuries. Immigrants in the 1880s brought the bagel to New York City. In 1907, the International Bagel Bakers Union was founded in New York City. Members of the this elitist group, which was only open to sons of union members, fiercely safeguarded the recipe for bagels, which were usually boiled in vats of boiling hot water before baking. Bagel makers traditionally worked in teams of four, with two men making the dough and shaping the bagels, one boiling them, and the fourth baking them.
Until the 1920s, other than a few cities with large Eastern European Jewish populations, bagels were rare in other parts of the United States. In 1920, Joseph & Isaac Breakstone marketed a new item called cream cheese. It became a big hit with the New York Jewish Community and became a standard spread for bagels.
Up until the 1960s, bagels were still considered an ethnic food until a man named Murray Lender came up with the idea to freeze bagels and sell them in supermarkets as a breakfast food. As he put it, his dream was to have a "bagel in every toaster." This brought them into the mainstream American diet and today they're eaten all over the United States, as either a breakfast food with some sort of spread or in a sandwich configuration.
What are the Bagel Types?
The two most popular styles of the traditional bagel in North America are the Montreal bagel and the New York bagel. The Montreal bagel contains malt and egg, but no salt. It is boiled in honey-sweetened water before baking in a wood oven. It is predominantly either of the black seed (poppy) or white seed (sesame) variety.
The New York bagel contains salt and malt, and is available in a wider variety of flavors It is also boiled prior to baking in a standard oven. The resulting New York bagel is puffy with a noticeable crust, while the Montreal bagel is smaller (though with a larger hole) chewier, and sweeter.
In addition to the plain bagel, variations feature seasoning on the outside, including sesame, garlic, poppy seed, onion, rye and the "everything" bagel, a mixture of all of the above. Other versions, which change the dough recipe, include cinnamon, raisin, pumpernickel, egg and sourdough. In New York City, green bagels made with food coloring are sometimes created in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
In the late 20th century, many bagel variations flourish, including those made with different types of dough, and those made with new, non-traditional foods and seasonings added to the dough.
Breakfast bagels, a softer, sweeter variety usually sold in fruity or sweet flavors (popular flavors include cherry, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon-raisin, and chocolate chip) are commonly sold by large supermarket chains. These are usually sold pre-sliced and are intended to be prepared in a toaster. Bagel chips are also another popular bagel variation. More recently, a few New York City bagel stores offer flagels, a flat bagel sprinkled with usual bagel toppings.
What is the Nutritional Value of the Bagel?
Bagels maybe popular due to the ease of eating, the greater degree of portability than toast, or the satisfying chewier texture than ordinary sandwich bread. Plain, they offer a non-sweet alternative to doughnuts. Their heartiness makes them more filling than a croissant, and without any type of topping (i.e. cream cheese, butter, or jelly), they are a reasonable 200 calories.
Description Quantity Energy
(calories) Carbs
(grams) Protein
(grams) Cholesterol
(milligrams) Weight
(grams) Fat
(grams) Saturated Fat (grams)
Egg 1 bagel 200 38 7 44 68 2 0.03
Plain 1 bagel 200 38 7 0 68 2 0.03
What Makes a Bagel Sandwich?
Today bagel sandwiches are quite common with sliced bagels substituting for two bread slices. Sliced bagels are often toasted. Spreads (traditionally known among Jewish people as schmeer) include cream cheese (including flavored cream cheeses such as chive or fruit-flavored), butter, peanut butter, jam, marmalade, apple butter, maple butter, hummus, or other spreads. Traditionally, bagel sandwiches filled with cream cheese, lox, tomato, and onion have been popular.
As a breakfast sandwich, plain or onion-flavored bagels are filled with eggs, cheese, ham, and other fillings. McDonald's created a line of bagel sandwiches for its breakfast menu. Key ingredients of a McDonald bagel sandwich include some form of egg, cheese, and meat combination sandwiched between bagel slices.
Another interesting and popular bagel sandwich is the pizza bagel. The bagel is sliced, topped with tomato sauce and cheese, and then toasted or re-baked.
How Do You Keep Bagels Fresh?
Bagels taste best fresh out of the oven. In order to preserve the freshness and taste of the bagel for consumption within the next five to seven days, allow them to cool in a paper bag and then store them in a refrigerator in a closed paper bag, which is wrapped tightly inside a larger, plastic bag.
To revive a refrigerated bagel to near fresh-baked status, you can slice the bagel in half and lightly moisten the surfaces with a small amount of cold water. Toast or bake the bagel until it is hot throughout and slightly crispy on the surfaces. Reheating in a microwave oven will not produce the same result as a regular oven or toaster.
Alternately, bagels can be frozen whole or in halves, then reheated in a toaster or oven. Place the room-temperature bagel in an airtight freezer bag and freeze. To thaw, moisten lightly with cool water and toast or bake. Bagels freeze well for up to six months.
References:
http://www.guru.net
http://kyky.essortment.com/bagelhistory_rmto.htm
http://nyc24.jrn.columbia.edu/2002/issue01/story02/page03.asp
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=bagel
http://www.bethlehembagels.com/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagel
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