BAKING BREADS TUTORIAL

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BAKING INGREDIENTS

**all articles are excerpts from the commercial breadmaking book. FLOUR - for breads, it should be the hard wheat flour, first class or in our local panaderia term, "Primera". The protein content varies from 12 -14 %. The higher the protein content is, the chewier the bread will be and the more water is absorbed. The amount of the protein should have a corresponding grade of its quality. Meaning, quantity and quality, not just quantity. I use Purefood's Emperor for my breads and if i cannot get one, my second choice is Wellington first class. My formula does not work with a lower quality flour so i will be helpless if i lose my supplier. You can use All Purpose flour if you cannot find Hard Wheat flour or Bread flour in your nearest supermarket, but do try to scour the market for a bag or two if you have the time. It is worth trying the hard wheat flour type for baking breads because it offers a whole new world of baking experience for you, from mixing to make-up to the quality of the finished product.
Bread flours have the tendency to give you larger sized breads compared to all purpose flour. If you want to sell loaves such as pullman or tasty, never use an inferior quality low protein type of hard wheat. Have you ever seen loaves that collapse on top? Some shrink on the sides and form waistlines, like a ribbon. This is the result of using poor quality flour, not enough protein to support the structure of the loaves so they collapse. Brands of flour i have tested in the US are All Trumps, Con Agra's, Pendleton, King Arthur, Gold Medal Better for Bread, White Rose, and Barry Farms. My favorite is Pendleton's which you can buy from Restaurant Depot. I have tried using non brand name flours from the Bulk Barn and other groceries which sell their own patented flours and they are all good. I would say though that it is still incomparable to the Emperor or Wellington back home. **UPDATE on Flour, i bought a 50 lb High Gluten 13.8% protein content sack of flour from www.honeyvillegrain.com and i am loving it! April 2012

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BAKING BREADS TUTORIAL

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YEAST - it could be instant yeast, or active dry yeast. Red star and SAF instant are very good brands for high end products, ensaimadas, brioche, cinnamon rolls etc., For pandesal, soft buns and other "istante" ( a term used by Filipinos to mean breads that are displayed on shelves or "istante, and cost very low and sometimes called "piso-piso" or one peso) varieties, use the cheaper brands such as Angel, Eagle, Diamond etc., Yeast is a microscopic fungus, it is a living thing and it multiplies at an enormous rate when given TLC, namely warmth, sugar as food, and moisture. Yeast activates when mixed with water and dies when too much heat is applied. Salt can also retard ( slow down) the action of yeast. If you are really intent in baking breads, take good care of your yeast. It is a very precious ingredient and its proper usage and handling should be the top priority of every would be baker. I encourage that you learn (i have about 100 or so pages of yeast articles) more about the yeast and its function, role and care. Active dry yeast should be bloomed or dissolved in water, from the tap (with a little sugar) because it will not dissolve during mixing. The yeast is the primary leavening for breads or yeast dough breads. Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leaveners for cakes and cookies.

A word of caution, it is true that upping or increasing your yeast speeds up the proofing process. However, i do not recommend this. I teach my students to rely on changing the method of mixing to speed up proofing than jacking up the level of yeast. For emergency purposes, it is fine to add extra yeast, say one of your customers badly needed a thousand pieces of rolls for a party or something.

SALT - acts as a flavoring ingredient and dough strengthener. If your dough is slack and lifeless, taste a piece of the dough, you might have forgotten to add some. A dough without salt will produce a darker dirty white crumb. Use iodized salt because it dissolves faster or kosher salt, sea salt for added flavor. You have no idea what a bread tastes like without salt. It is like biting into a piece of cotton in fact i would rather leave out or forget the sugar in my bread dough than leaving out the salt entirely. You can eat a bread without sugar (baguettes) but you cannot take a bite into a bread without salt. It just tastes awful. The range of salt usage is 1%-2% based on the Baker's %. SUGAR - average range of use is varied depending on the kind of dough you are making. For a lean dough, 2-4%, medium rich at 12-15%, sweet yeast dough at 16%-22%. Some bakers have a different category or range in terms of the level of sweetness in the dough so this is only a basis. Sometimes even at 16%, bakers do not categorized it as a sweet yeast dough. You can use white refined granulated sugar, brown sugar and washed sugar. Washed sugar is creamy light brown in color and is cheaper than white or refined sugar. Brown sugar is now used in making pandesal because it gives the crumb and crust a deeper golden brown color, the molasses in the sugar also adds flavor to the breads. The only time i use white sugar is when i make soft buns and pullman/tasty. All of the breads i make at home has brown sugar or washed sugar. Sugar contributes tenderness to the dough but using high levels can cause the dough to become tough and difficult to work with especially if you use dough rollers. There is just not enough water for the protein to use to develop its gluten, so be very careful when you tweak your formula. Most Filipinos just add sugar into everything they eat, while you can do this as long as your taste buds allow you to, in bread doughs, there is a limit to the amount of sugar you can use. FATS - could mean butter, shortening,and margarine. The bakery industry uses the tub margarine type, sold in large drums or buckets of 40 kilograms or 11 kilograms. It is flavored with vanilla and

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can be used as an all purpose margarine, meaning you can mix it in the dough, use it for greasing and filling or even topping (pan de ciosa and rolls, commercial ensaimadas). Lard in the Philippines means shortening so when you buy shortening they will give you lard, and vice versa. Lard is rendered beef fat so maybe the Spaniards used this type of fat when they made their breads a long time ago, and the word got stuck. Shortening and margarine are both from hydrogenated vegetable oil, yes, you are right, trans fat. Here in New York, food establishments are no longer allowed to use trans fat in their baked products. Butter is from cow's milk so if you are trying to avoid trans fat, use butter instead. You can also use olive oil when making baguettes ( i use it when i make my soy breads). FATS create a softer finished product. This is the reason why baguettes harden fast, they have no fat at all. If you are wondering why Pandesal from Mang Baste dries faster than Mang Kanor's, then maybe Mang Baste does not use or barely uses any type of fat in his Pandesal. This could be one of the reasons, not always, but could be. Ensaimadas can go as high as 40% butter, Pandesal plays at a mid range of 8-10%, while a Pizza Crust has 2% to none.

(from top right, shortening, baker's margarine, anchor butter, table margarine)

MILK Powder - a balance use of milk will produce breads with larger volume, it contributes flavor and color to the breads as well. It also creates a softer product but only if used in small amounts, too much milk will do the opposite. In the Philippines, if you ask your supplier for NON-FAT milk powder, they will give you SKIMMED Milk, if you ask for Skimmed Milk, they will tell they do not have it, but they have non-fat milk. If you are very particular about the kind of milk you use in your recipes (you should be if you are already selling them), stick to a brand you like. You can buy dairy bake and pure gold, the high end type (Milk Boy) is also used for egg pies. You cannot reconstitute the low end milk powder to substitute liquid non fat milk, they simply will not dissolve well or they will taste chalky and "mapakla". They are not the same as Carnation Non fat milk. The average milk usage is around 2-4 %. EGGS - a very expensive ingredient, it contributes softness and extends the shelf life of any bread products. No eggs, no ensaimada. Eggs make ensaimadas golden brown in color with that delicate fluffy soft texture. Brioche is similar to our ensaimadas but we shape them into snails or coils, but the formula is almost the same, high in eggyolks and butter. A word of caution when baking breads with eggs, reduce the oven heat to avoid burning the crust. Just as sugar caramelizes, and the lactose in milk produces browning in breads, so does the eggyolk. I normally take 10-15 degrees off the temperature when my eggyolks are very high. If your pandesal recipe has no egg, adding just an egg in your next batch will produce a darker color. Same thing when you use margarine instead of shortening. The one with the margarine will have more color than the shortening based.

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BAKING BREADS TUTORIAL

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You can buy all your ingredients at Killion in quiapo or at Jubilee in cubao, 107 8th avenue. You can get "tingi" or small amounts of yeast, milk powder and shortening, margarine, chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc., For molds ( i use number 4 for cinnamon rolls and ensaimadas) and baking sheets, go to Divisoria and haggle, pretend you are buying bulk or if you have a Chinese friend ask her to come with you because most of my students tell me these store owners speak Chinese. Feel free to ask questions at sherqv17@gmail.com keep logging on for updates or go to my blogspot

Preparing the ingredients in one of my baking sessions. All ingredients are weighed down to the last gram.
PENUCHE PASTRIES 2007 MANILA/NEW YORK

http://www.breadmakinglessons.com/baking-ingredients.php

11/21/2013