Wcsjohn@aol.com wrote in last week's edition;
>"Subject: Using a Pasta machine to knead dough.
>Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 08:26:40 EST
>.......I've been wondering for some time if a pasta machine could be used
>to knead ordinary bread dough (I'd already used it successfully for Bagel
>dough) so, out with the chrome mangle."
Another use for a pasta machine in baking is to roll out Lavash, the paper
thin Armenian cracker. I made Peter Reinhart's Lavash recipe once using a
rolling pin to create the very thin dough sheets and that turned out to
require some real skill with the rolling pin to get an even thickness
("thinness"). If they are not evenly thin they won't bake evenly and the
thicker sections are tough to break and tougher to eat. This is the
ultimate window pane test. The entire sheet is a window pane. To take the
skill out of the process I used my hand-crank pasta machine on the second
try. By sizing the dough pieces and working through the pasta machine
numbers from thickest to thinnest and making sure that by the time I got to
the thinnest setting (#7 on mine) the dough was as wide as the machine
could handle, I could roll out 17" to 20" long window panes, 3 of which
fully utilized the area of a baking sheet. (The sides of the sheets were
occasionally a bit ragged but that only adds to the visual interest of the
finished cracker. You can even leave undulations in the ends of the sheets
to create visual interest, however don't allow the ends to fold onto
themselves.) I used various seeds as toppings so I coated the sheets of
dough with a watery egg-white glaze to help glue down the seeds and moisten
the dough for a short final rest. I then let the dough rest for a half
hour to restart the rising before baking. The result was a delicious
crackly cracker that broke easily into random shapes. Besides tasting
great they make an interesting display and conversation starter on the
cheese board.
Peter Reinhart's "Lavash Crackers", pg 178, Bread Baker's Apprentice (edited)
This is a short form of the recipe. I would urge finding a copy of BBA and
reading the entire procedure.
1 1/2 cup unbleached bread flour (I use KA bread flour; extra gluten is
helpful here)
1/2 tsp (.13 oz) table salt or equivalent sea salt
1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast (I use Active Dry Yeast per BBA pg 28.)
1 Tb honey
1 Tb vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water at room temp
toppings i.e., sesame and / or poppy seeds, coarse salt, seed mixtures
such as KA's "Baking Blend" which includes caraway, fennel, and other
strong flavored seeds often used to coat bread loaves. Reinhart even uses
paprika and cumin.
Mix and knead all of the ingredients except the toppings into a "firm"
dough, i.e., firmer than a baguette dough. Ferment for 90 minutes or until
doubled. (I put mine in the fridge overnight. It came out
doubled). Divide the dough into 6 to 8 pieces. It will take some fiddling
to size the pieces to create fully rolled out sheets that utilize your
cookies sheets or baking pans efficiently. Use the pasta machine method
discussed above (or use a rolling pin if you have the skill). Only roll
out as much as you can bake at once. If you bake on more than one tray in
your oven you may have to swap the trays once or twice during
baking. Apply a thin egg white glaze (water misting just doesn't work well
as a glue) and toppings, then let the dough rest for 1/2 hour. Bake at 350
F for 15 to 20 minutes. They are done when they have a generally uniform
brownish cast. The some of the dough will lift off the tray and bake to a
slightly different color than rest but if you started out thin enough they
will all be fully baked when they look brown on average. Since the
crackers are baked dry of moisture they can be left out for munching for a
week or more.