Getting Started

Basic Bread Making:

Bread consists of 3 or 4 ingredients: flour, liquid, yeast and salt*. Maybe. This is if you aren’t making it from starters, sponges, bigas or pouges. I’ll go into those later, but for basic no nonsense bread dough, the recipe (assuming you are using either a stand mixer (like a KitchenAid) or a Cuisinart) is:

3 C bread flour**

2 ¼ t quick acting yeast

1-2 t sea salt (1 T kosher)

1 C very warm (115-130F) water***

Mix the flour, yeast and salt together.
Add the water.
If using a stand mixer (dough hook attached), set it on 2. If using a Cuisinart, use the metal blade (skip the plastic one, it’s pretty useless). Mix until it forms a ball. Press it with your finger and if it springs back, it’s ready. If it doesn’t, go a little longer. With a stand mixer it takes about 5 minutes. With a Cuisinart about 30-60 seconds.
Cover and let rest for 10 minutes (This allows the gluten to relax and re-align itself. This means that is won’t keep trying to return to its original state when you are trying to stretch it.)

This all changes a bit if you are using only a wooden spoon and your hands. The ingredients stay the same, but you start your mix with only :

2 C of bread flour plus 1 C for kneading

2 ¼ t quick acting yeast

1-2 t sea salt (1 T kosher)

1 C very warm (115-130F) water

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast and salt. Add the water and to the flour mixture and stir it together with the wooden spoon or with your hands.
Spread the remaining flour on a clean surface and put the mix from the bowl in the middle. Sprinkle some of the flour on top of the dough and start pulling the edge… and why am I telling you this…?! Go to Youtube.com and type in “How to knead bread dough by hand”.

*The salt strengthens the gluten. It also slows down the rising process which lets your bread develop a more complex and delicious flavor. But you don’t actually need it. There is a very famous Italian bread that is known for the fact that is saltless.

**Sometimes more, sometimes less. Depends on various factors such as type of flour, how old it is, how humid it is, what the ambient temperature is…

***Depends. Could be more, could be less. Depends on the flour.

Sour Dough Starters –vs—Sponges, Pouges and Bigas:

A sour dough starter is a cultured leaven that takes a while to make. In its simplest form it is simply equal parts water and flour. It is left out on the counter, uncovered or covered by a piece of cheese cloth (keeps the insects and dust out) to attract whatever “wild yeasts” are out there. If you want details in plain English for how this happens, I recommend the book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan. This is a process that can take up to 10 days. The recipe for sour dough starter in the bread section of this book is an adaptation of a method used by the founder of the La Brea Bakery in San Francisco. It’s from my memory of an article I read (God knows how many years ago), but it works and a lot sooner.

A sponge is a portion of the recipe allowed to have a head start. It is not divided, fed and kept alive(“reserved”) the way a sourdough starter is. The Chocolate-Cherry Bread is an example of a sponge. What using a sponge does is help develop a more complex flavor. (Well, it does more, but this is the simplest explanation.) A sponge can be only a few hours old, or several days.

A biga is a piece of dough reserved from a previous baking. It is worked into the next batch of bread dough. It helps with leavening and flavor development.

Chemistry –vs—Biology:

A friend of mine (she’s a science teacher—physics, biology, chemistry and agricultural science) once told me that Cake is chemistry and Bread is biology. What this means is that cake uses non-living leavens to rise—baking powder, baking soda and some kind of acid (sour milk, vinegar, yogurt…). You can get the rise from beaten eggs (air pockets and albumin structures). But, it is over all a chemical reaction to both itself and heat. (You REALLY don’t want to get me started…)

Bread, on the other hand is a biological construction. Yeast is a living thing. And not to put too fine a point on it, it is the waste products of these living creatures that make bread rise. (I’m trying to be delicate here.)

Creating a Steamy Oven:

The way that bakers get that crispy crust on their bread is through the use of steam. They have ovens that have steam jets that send steam into the hot oven during the first 10 minutes of baking. The closest we ordinary people can get to doing this is to create a steamy environment in the oven. There are many ways I’ve tried. None of them work very well, though. I’ve tried the melting ice cubes in a pan on the bottom method, the cold water into the hot pan method, the boiling water into the hot pan method, the spraying water into the oven with the spray bottle method and the spray water onto the bread directly method—all with varying degrees of success (or not). The only mostly successful way I’ve come across is the Cloche (or a cloche substitute—the Dutch Oven)

Bread Shapes, Pans and Cloches:

Bread dough is malleable. You can shape it just about any way you want. I could go into great detail here, but you should just get a good teaching cookbook such as The Joy of Cooking. It will tell you about how pans and cloches work. The section on yeast breads goes into great detail on all this stuff. Or go to youtube.com and type in “How to shape bread dough”. (Wow this just saved me a ton of typing and you a lot of reading and scratching your head in confusion.)

The Different Flours:

As anyone who has ever cooked in my kitchen knows, I have anywhere from 3-12 different flours on hand at all times. What I’m baking and how I want it to be flavored and textured is based on the type and the proportion of the flours I choose. But the basics are: Bread flour—a high protein flour made from winter wheat. Cake flour—a low protein flour made from spring wheat. All-purpose flour—made from a combination of winter and spring wheat. Now this is absolutely simplistic and doesn’t tell you much, so for future reference, if you use high protein bread flour for your cake, you’ll end up with a large hockey puck. If you use low protein cake flour for your bread, it will rise, but taste like crap—trust me on this. I once had to toss 3 loaves of bread because I wasn’t paying attention. All-purpose will work for both, but…it really is better to use the right tool for the right project if you can. All-purpose works best for cookies and muffins where you need both the tenderness of low protein flour and the strength of high protein flour. I will NOT discuss the relative merits of bleached –vs—unbleached, except to say that if you want a “white” white cake or bread then you must use bleached. There is no real difference in taste. (some in nutritional content) All cake flour is bleached.

When is Bread Done?

Take the bread out of the oven (and the pan if using one!) and lightly rap the bottom with your knuckles. You should hear a hollow thump. This is what all the books say to do and no it doesn’t always work. The “thump” is different with the different types of bread. And one man’s thump is another man’s thud. If you really want to know if your bread is done, use an insta-read thermometer. Bread is done when the internal temperature is between 180-190F. If you are using butter, eggs and sugar in your bread, then it needs to be about 200F. (Take your bread’s temperature from the bottom, unless you WANT a hole showing in the top.) If you want to develop your “thump reading” ability, start by taking the bread’s temperature and then rap its bottom. You will learn how to calibrate a thump without the extra step. Maybe.

Optimum Proofing Conditions:

Proofing is an old fashioned way of saying “proving” life. You proof yeast by putting it in warm water (105-115F) for about 5 minutes and see if it bubbles. Bubbles are “proof” of living yeast. Many bubbles—lots of life. Few bubbles or no bubbles—buy new yeast.

Proofing bread is simply waiting for it to rise. For some this is the final rise, for others it is all the rises—some bread takes 3 rises; for some, first rise is final rise. That said, if you set the conditions for proofing, your success rate will be higher. Bread likes to rise in warm, moist conditions. There are all sorts of methods for doing this. Your choice depends on how much trouble you want to go to. You could make a proofing box, by putting warm water in the bottom of a cooler, placing a rack above the level of the water, placing your covered dough in its bowl or final shape (pan or cooking sheet for free form loaves) on the rack and place the cooler lid back on. You will have to check it several times to make sure the heat isn’t above the 80F recommended for optimum rising (too high and the yeast dies; too cool and the yeast just laughs at you and goes back to sleep) You COULD do this, but why? Simply prepare your dough however the recipe says to, put it in an enclosed oven and put a pan of boiling water into the oven with next to, above or under it. Close the door. Walk away. This works just fine. If you have a problem with your bread rising, either it doesn’t rise enough or it doesn’t rise at all, check the viability of your yeast. (See the first paragraph of Optimum Proofing Conditions)

Measuring for Cakes—vs—Bread

You measure differently for bread and cakes only if you are measuring by volume. For the bread recipes in this book, you measure by volume with the “scoop and sweep” method. Simply scoop up the flour with the measuring cup and level the top by sweeping the top with a blade (knife or long spatula work fine). The problem with this method is that you won’t get exactly the same results each time. If you want to do that you will need to use a kitchen scale. I recommend you get one.

Liquids can also be measured by weight. If you choose volume, then use a liquids measuring cup. You will need to get down and look at the cup at eye level (on a level surface—holding it carefully doesn’t work) to check for an accurate measure. Using a scale solves this. You will have to start by accurately measuring by volume and then weighing the item by volume. Liquids are not created equal—1/4 c of water weighs in at 60(+/-) gm (2 oz) while ¼ c of eggs weighs in at 76gm (2.6 oz). (Yes, raw eggs are considered a liquid.) Write it down, ‘cuz you will forget.

For cakes the process is a little different. You will need to spoon your flour into the measuring cup. Which brings us to:

Terminology—Flour, sifted –vs—Sifted Flour:

In a recipe, where the modifier is changes the measurement. So, if you see flour, sifted, then you will need to measure the flour and then sift it. If you see sifted flour, then you sift the flour first, then you measure it. The difference in weight is astounding. Try it, it’s fun! This works for all recipes—onion, diced—measure, then dice. Diced onion—dice, then measure…this works for all recipes. Placement changes everything. (Or at least this).

Making Cake

Baking cake is so very, very different than baking bread. Bread is pretty forgiving. So long as you don’t screw up too much, you will get something tasty to eat. Cake is chemistry and in chemistry proportions are essential. You can make almost any kind of cake if you have the ratio on ingredients right (and the temperature—usually 350F). The basic ratio for cake recipes is:

Sugar should weigh the same or slightly more than the flour. (Weight, not volume)
Eggs should weigh almost as much or slightly more than fat.
Liquid ingredient (including the eggs) should weigh the same or more than the sugar.

Simple! However, if you are not this intrepid, go to this website for more details:

http://franksrecipes.net/baking_science/index.php/cakes.html

or get this cool app: http://ruhlman.com/2010/07/ratio-app-now-available-for-droid/ .

Label Reading

You need to know what you are eating. If you don’t read the label you will not be able to distinguish between good for you and crap. If a bread’s package says that it is “whole wheat”, then the first item in the ingredients list should be whole wheat. Remember bread only need 3 ingredients—flour, water and yeast. Everything else is extra. If you can’t understand what the ingredients are because (like most of us) you are not a chemist, then don’t get it. If it says FIBER, then check what kind of fiber it is. A lot of the “low calorie” whole wheat with extra fiber contains cellulose. Yes, you CAN eat a tree. But, many parts are indigestible. (For this reference, google Euell Gibbons). Whole Grain? Sure. Probably is, but many of the grains we eat have little to no fiber. Read the label!

Cocoa

Cocoa comes in several varieties. Sweetened is the stuff we usually by for instant chocolate milk or hot chocolate. For cooking, there are two: “Dutched” and Natural. Dutched means that the cocoa has been alkalized to remove some of the bitterness. Natural means it hasn’t. The two give the finished product different tastes and are usually not interchangeable. Nowadays, dutched usually goes by the nomenclature of “Special Dark”. (It’s called “dutched” because the guy who invented the process was Dutch. ( See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_process_chocolate if you want to know more.)

Room Temperature

If you want consistent results from your baking of cakes, cookies…most everything, then you will need to have your ingredients at room temperature. But, what does that mean? Room temperature in an air conditioned home is very different from one without it. For simplicity, room temperature means about 70F. This is the temperature that butter is soft, but not yet melting. You can soften frozen or refrigerated butter in the microwave—use 30% for 10 second bursts, until you can press your finger against the stick and the impression stays. To bring eggs to room temperature, very carefully place them in a bowl of warm (about 80F) water until they are no longer cold (maybe 3-5 minutes)

Vanilla Sugar

You can buy vanilla sugar. It is expensive, but you will save time if you want to skip making your own. How? Simple place a whole vanilla bean (spice section) into a cup or two of white sugar and wait a week. It’s lovely stuff. You can use it in coffee, tea, sweet baked goods…the longer the bean is in the sugar, the stronger the taste. Goodness with little effort. Yeah!

Lightly Beaten Eggs

This simply means that you have stirred the eggs enough that the yolk and the white are combined. You just don’t want the egg in two parts. Introduce the two and let them dance. A waltz, not a rhumba. Beaten, on the other hand, means whisk those suckers together until you can’t distinguish one from the other.

Sweeteners

White Sugar, brown sugar, extra fine, raw, natural, molasses, cane syrup, agave syrup, maple syrup, honey, powdered honey (wait, what?!) These and many others are all used to sweeten our food. In many of my recipes I call for honey powder or dehydrated honey. This is a cost effective sweetener. I use it when I want a more complex flavor than simply using regular sugar. It like white sugar, has a long shelf life and like brown sugar and white sugar, doesn’t change the solid/liquids ratio in baked goods. You will find it in the Asian section of the grocery store. You can substitute any of the liquid sweeteners for the dry sweeteners, but you must keep the ratio in mind. If you don’t, you can radically change the final results. Usually for the worse.

Prepping Meat

Bringing your meat to room temperature is the best way to make sure your results are consistent. How to do this without worrying (too much) about bacteria? Problem. If the temperature of your meat is between 41-140F for too long you can say hello to food poisoning. The best way I’ve found is to heat the oven to 170F degrees and put the food in for about 15-20 minutes. This gets it to room temperature (70F) range without actually cooking it (depends, however, on the thickness of the meat. But then you need to cook it immediately. Don’t let it sit on the counter for later. Always thaw your meat first! Do this either in the refrigerator (safest way) or in the microwave (which means you probably won’t have to do the oven trick). If you use the microwave, do not walk away. It is very easy to go quickly past thawed into cooked. It takes less time to cook when meat is at room temperature. You will get a better “crust”. And you will be less likely to “steam” the meat rather than, fry, sauté or broil.

Why Brine?

Cooking dries out your meat. You want your meat to be juicy and flavorful. Brining helps with that. Especially with those boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I could go into major details on this one, but just Google brining. You will find out everything you ever wanted to know and more. If that is too much work go to this website—simple and to the point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brining

Brining Recipe #1

1 Strip of fresh orange zest (colored part only, no white innards)

2 whole coriander seeds, crushed

2 cumin seeds, crushed

¼ whole cinnamon stick

3 whole black peppercorns

2 T brown sugar

2 T rice vinegar

¼ C kosher salt

1 C water

3 C cold water

Combine all the ingredients except for the cold water in a microwave safe container and place in the microwave. Heat until the water boils. Stir until the salt dissolves. Add the cold water.

Makes one quart of brine

This is enough brine to season 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (make sure you are using minimally processed chicken. –Check the label. Most chicken has been processed with flavor enhancers and brining it will make your chicken taste awful.

Brining Recipe #2

¼ C kosher salt

2 1/2 T honey powder

1 T dried rubbed sage

3 T lemon juice

3 strips of lemon zest (only the yellow, no white)

4 black peppercorns

1 c water

3 C cold water

Mix all the ingredients except for the 3 C cold water in a microwave safe container. Place in microwave and bring to a boil. Stir until the salt and honey are dissolved. Add the cold water.

Makes 1 quart of brine.

Youtube.com is Awesome

Use it. If you don’t know how to do something, it will show you.

Olive oil and Grape Seed oil and Peanut Oil, “Neutral” Oils, Ghee…Oh hell, the Fats!

Fat is essential. Fat carries the flavor. Fat ensures meats brown, rather than gray. But, there are so many varieties of fat. I will not go into them all. The important thing to know for stovetop cooking is the “smoking point”. The smoking point is the point where hot fat starts to smoke (just before it starts to flame and sets fire to your kitchen—don’t walk away from the stove!!!!!). Some oils, like canola, grapeseed and peanut have high smoking points. This makes them excellent for frying and sautéing. However, most of the time you want an oil that is considered “neutral”. This means it doesn’t alter the taste of your food. So vegetable (a mix of oils) and Canola (rapeseed oil) are usually your best bets. The other two mentioned have a “taste”. If you want that flavor, go for it. I will not judge you. You will know that the oil is hot enough when the surface starts to “shimmer”. It’s pretty. If it is bubbling and smoking, it is too hot. DO NOT SPRINKLE IT WITH WATER. YOU WILL JUST CAUSE THE OIL TO SPIT AT YOU AND IF YOU DON’T MOVE FAST ENOUGH, YOU WILL GET BURNED.

Olive oil comes in several varieties. Extra virgin olive oil usually has a strong taste and will flavor your food. It is a waste of money to cook with, because all the “good for you” stuff is destroyed by heat. If you want the flavor and want to cook with it, stick with just plain olive oil. Extra-lite (light, whatever) is a waste of money. Seed and nut oils, all have distinct flavors and are best added to the food after it is cooked. If you heat them, you will lose the nutritional value.

Ghee and clarified butter are pretty much the same thing and yet they are not. Butter has a low smoking point and it can go rancid quickly. Removing the milk solids changes both the smoking point (but not too much) and how well it will keep. You melt the butter for both of them. The difference is that clarified butter is melted slowly and ghee is brought to a boil. Once the butter is melted you remove the milk solids. Ghee can cooked until it begins to darken for extra flavor… Both of these are ways of preserving butter. Both are delicious.

Alton Brown’s Ghee Recipe

1 pound butter

Directions:

Place butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring butter to boil. This takes approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium. The butter will form a foam which will disappear. Ghee is done when a second foam forms on top of butter, and the butter turns golden. Approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Brown milk solids will be in bottom of pan. Gently pour into heatproof container through fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Store in airtight container being sure to keep free from moisture. Ghee does not need refrigeration and will keep in airtight container for up to 1 month.

You can find step by step instructions for clarifying butter at (you guessed it) youtube.com