Matt Goike asked how he can get a lighter whole grain bread. Matt you should
use Vital Wheat Gluten, not gluten flour. Add about 1 tbs. per cup of flour.
You can also try using granular lecithin with the gluten. Another suggestion
is to use 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar in your bread if the water is
hard. Lastly, try a higher percentage of whole wheat flour.
Diane Butts asked if you can put pizza dough into oiled Ziplocks.You can do
that and keep it in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days. Bring to room temp and
roll out.
Georgina Hansen asked for recipes using spelt. Here are some wheat free
sources for you Georgina. Easy Breadmaking for Special Diets, by Nicolette
Dumke
Adapt Books (Barnes and Noble also)
1877 Polk Ave.
Louisville, Colorado 80027
303-666-8253
"The Gluten-Free Gourmet" by Betty Hagman. It is published by Henry Holt. The
ISBN for your bookstore is 0-8050-1835-2. She has written a second book,
"More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet" by the same publisher.
Another resource, is "Going Against the Grain", by Phyllis Potts. Publisher
is Central Point Publishing and ISBN is 0-9630479-0-6.
Mark Stanley asked for companies that sell flour via mail. (besides King
Arthur) Bob's Red Mill 1-800-553-2258. Also Walnut Acres 1-800-433-3998.
CMatthew asked about yeast in bulk. Red Star has a bulk instant yeast at
Sam's Club. It comes in 1 pound packages or you can order directly from Red
Star. 1-800-445-4746. You can store the yeast in the freezer. By the way, the
instant yeast is a different strain of yeast. It's faster acting but has a
shorter life!!
Ellen Brakes asked about reducing the sugar in her recipes. Ellen you can
look for recipes with less sweetener..french breads for example use very
little. Try reducing the suger in your recipes but also reduce the salt.
Another idea is to use barley malt flour (diastatic malt) in place of sugar.
We have a whole section on it in our book The Bread Machine Magic Book of
Helpful Hints..but to summarize, start by adding 1/4 teaspoon at a time.
Increase each time by 1/4 teaspoon until you notice your dough developing
gummy spots, then cut back the quantity.
KKoluch asked about the shelf life of Better for Bread Flour. It's a 15
month shelf life. Freezing is OK Don't freeze for more than 1 month.
Angela Fox asked a few questions. Here are some answers Angela.
In using unsweetened applesauce, you can use it and reduce the liquid by the
amount of applesauce used. The applesauce can be frozen in 1 Tablespoon
amounts in ice cube trays for handy use.
Instant yeast is fast acting short lived...and not good for long risings or
multiple risings such as French, Italian or sourdough breads.
In using oats in a bread, it helps to add the oats first and then the liquid.
The oats will start absorbing the liquid right away and that will make it
easier to judge the dough ball as it's kneading.
We like the taste and texture of all-purpose flour and use it when we can,
particularly in dough recipes. Red Star recommends using 1/2 teaspoon instant
yeast per cup of flour.
1 cup all-purpose flour= 4.59 ounces
1 cup bread flour= 4.76 ounces
1 cup whole wheat flour = 4.51 ounces
These figures are from the people at Gold Medal flour.
To slash breads before rising, use a very sharp knife held at an angle
almost parallel to the counter. We have seen special cutters in kitchen
catalogues.
Here is our pita recipe. It has very little oil and is fun to make.
PEPPY'S PITA BREAD
1 1/2 POUND
1 1/8 cups water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast
1 POUND
3/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast
Place all ingredients in bread pan. Select dough setting.
Press start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured countertop or cutting board.
Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope.
FOR 1 1/2 POUND-With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces
FOR 1 POUND DOUGH-With a sharp knife, divide dough into 6 pieces
Roll each piece into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball
into a 6 or inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop;
Cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly
puffy.
Position oven rack in middle of oven;preheat to 500 degrees. Place
2 to 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven
rack; bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown
Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown
Paper bag or cover them with a damp towel until soft. Once the pitas
are softened, either cut in half or split open the top edge for half or
whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator
for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.
1 1/2 POUND YIELDS 8 PITAS
1 POUND YIELDS 6 PITAS
HINTS:
Don't give up the first time if not perfect. Here are tips:
1. The pitas puff up during baking, so avoid using too much flour
while rolling them out. Keep unrolled balls covered to avoid
them drying out.
2. Those that don't puff up perfectly during baking were probably
torn or creased in handling, so handle with care while rolling
and transferring from counter to cake rack.
3. Avoid overbaking, they will turn crisp and brittle.
Bread Machine Magic by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway
St. Martin's Press.
Re pizza problems, I like to heat a pizza stone in my oven at 500x for 1
hour. I have a non-stick pizza pan which has holes in it. I brush olive
oil on this pan, put my crust on it, and set it on the the stone. I prebake
that for 3-4 minutes. Then I quickly put on toppings and it all goes back
into the oven. Email me for my sauce recipe. I gave up on my peel a while ago
after I found that this method gave me the kind of pizza crust I wanted with
much less work and worry.
Ellen Brakes wanted to know why her recipe wasn't working. Just looking at
the recipe, Ellen, it seems that there is not enough bread flour. Try
reducing the oats and replacing it with bread flour.
If you need more information, please contact me at LoisCon@AOL.com. Thank
you. Lois Conway and Linda Rehberg co-authors of Bread Machine Magic and The
Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints.