how to work with yeast
Source of Recipe
Culinary expert Colleen Miner
Recipe Introduction
The most important thing to understand when cooking breads is how yeast works. First, it must be mixed with water that is the appropriate temperature. To make sure that the water is the ideal temperature, try using an instant-read thermometer . Remember the old saying, "Good for the baby, good for the bread."
List of Ingredients
Yeast is a living thing and it must be fed to keep it alive. If the yeast is not alive, the bread will fall. To feed the yeast, simply add one tablespoon sugar.
When the sugar is added, the yeast should bubble and grow. This is called "proofing."
The next thing to know about is flour. There are many different types--two examples are winter wheat and spring wheat.
If you bake a lot, be sure to keep two types of white flour on hand, one with high gluten content for bread and one with low gluten content for cakes, cookies and quick breads.
If you don't have time to wait for your bread to rise, set the dough in the refrigerator. A long, cool rise develops texture and flavor.
You can make the crisper bread by creating steam in the oven. To do this, place a dish of water in the oven. Another option is to spritz water into the oven during the baking process. Commercial bread companies do this in their ovens, but the steam vents are built in to the ovens.
Recipe
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