Materials:
Measuring cups
Whisk/spoon
Bowls
Loaf pan
Small amounts of shortening/flour for kneading and rising dough
Ingredients:
½ package (1/8 ounce or ¾ tsp) active dry yeast
Yeast is used to make the bread rise
1-⅛ cups warm water (110° to 115°)
Warm water activates the yeast
1-½ tablespoons sugar
Sugar is added for flavor
½ tablespoon salt
Salt is added for flavor (so the bread isn’t bland)
1 tablespoon olive oil
To keep bread from becoming stale too quickly; freshens and tenderizes bread
3-⅛ cups all-purpose flour
Flour is used for substance, the majority of the bread
Procedure:
In a bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water
Add sugar, salt, oil, and half of the flour (about 1-½ cups)
Beat/mix until smooth
Stir in remaining flour, ½ a cup at a time (last 1-⅝ cups); form soft dough
Flour a clean surface
Knead dough until smooth (approx. 5-7 minutes)
Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (approx. 30-45 minutes)
Punch dough down, turn on a floured surface, shape dough into loaf
Place in greased loaf pan
Bake at 375° Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped
Place loaves on wire rack to cool
Enjoy!
Recipe Reflection:
The bread overall was really good, but it did not turn out as we thought it would. When we mixed warm water with the yeast, we expected the yeast to be activated, but when we got our bread back, there were no holes in our bread. This was because the yeast was not activated. If we could do this lab again, we would mix our sugar in with the yeast and water mixture so the sugar can help activate the yeast and make more carbon dioxide.
Cellular Respiration:
Equation: glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + ATP
Where: In the mitochondria of the cells/yeast cells
Importance: Cellular respiration is important because the reaction that occurs causes bread to rise and gives it it’s soft, puffy texture and it’s holes
Where do plants fall into this (wheat in the bread): Plants, like wheat, that are used to make bread, can provide the glucose and oxygen needed for cellular respiration.
Anaerobic Respiration Vs. Aerobic Respiration:
Yeast vs. Humans: Yeast is a simple living being that functions practically the same way as human cells. Scientists have discovered that roughly half of the genes in yeast could be replaced by human cells.
Importance: Yeast respires and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Yeast used for leavening bread can either can be caught from the environment or produced commercially.
CO2 Cycle:
How does bread making fall into the CO2 cycle?: Humans eat bread and there is wheat involved in making the bread. The wheat is a plant, which does photosynthesis, and humans consume the bread, eating to live, and release CO2 back into the atmosphere.
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and the previous Bread Lab post is that you are fairly new to making bread. Is that impression correct?
The post suggests a focus on yeast growth. If that is the case, one of the factors for you to consider is time. Another factor is temperature. Within a certain temperature range, yeast will grow faster at the warm end of the range than it will at the cool end of the range. This will affect the amount of time needed for the yeast to increase both population and gas output. One thing to keep in mind is that there is no temperature at which yeast can instantaneously produce enough gas to inflate dough.
So, going back to steps 8, 9, and 10 of your process, you will note that there is no time for yeast growth and gas production to replace the gas that was driven from the dough during punching down and shaping. Instead, the dough was immediately placed in the oven. The reason the bread is dense, "no holes", is not because the yeast was insufficiently activated at the beginning of the process. It is dense because no time was allowed for the yeast to reinflate the dough before baking.
Further, the 30-45 minutes allowed for the bulk fermentation in step 7 was probably inadequate for the dough to double in volume, unless the dough and ambient temperatures were around 85F.
Here are some things that I think will help your further experimentation:
1. Spend some time reading up on basic breadmaking principles and processes. The first several chapters of Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread give a very good introduction, as one example. That will help you avoid some investigative dead ends and fruitless hypotheses.
2. Read up on some of the technical literature available about yeast growth. Pay particular attention to the effects of temperature on growth rates and how that affects time requirements.
3. Switch from volume-based measurements to weight-based measurements, preferably metric. Your ability to control the inputs will be much enhanced, as will the outcomes.
4. Keep at it! Everything you learn will be valuable.
Paul
I agree with Paul. I would say there are many areas of bread making you could do a little research on. The idea of sugar for flavor in bread is really a wonder bread approach to not actually having flavor.
I think you would find many of the bakers here can pull an enormous amount of flavor out with nothing more than flour, water, salt, and yeast.