Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
On 12/9/07 10:52 AM, Dora Smith wrote: But I also was very skimpy with how much flour I kneaded in; my dough was outright mushy. Last year that seemed to cause my sister's loaves to come out better. My sister says that softer dough makes better bread, but she had been kneading in as much flour as humanly possible. I find that kettle-baked bread needs stiffer dough than oven-baked bread, presumably because it's steamed a bit. Not to mention that the kettle-baked dough has to support itself, while the oven-baked dough goes into a loaf pan. Kettle baking is over for the season. I'd put a pot of bean soup on, if I could find ham hocks or smoked pork necks. (Good reason to make the expedition to Marsh.) I spray my oven-baked bread with a fine mist of water before baking, and it seems to improve it -- as does baking something else in the same oven at the same time. I was in some gimcrack store Saturday and saw an oil-spray bottle exactly like mine, with a different brand name printed on it. My bottle was totally useless for oil, because the oil oxidized in uncleanable channels and it quickly began to spit drops instead of spraying mist, but after running a little detergent through it to get out the oil, it sprayed water just fine, and I've been using my cheap oil-spray bottle as a laundry sprinkler, plant mister, and bread fogger for several years with no sign of failure. But it's nice to know that I can replace it if necessary. Would be nicer if I could remember what sort of gimcrack shop I was in, but it's likely to be in a different gimcrack shop by the time my current bottle gives up. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where the roads are slick and church was canceled. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
I made my Christmas bread yesterday. I used about 30% more yeast; one envelope of normal and one of fast rising. It didn't seem to rise much at all - until I put it in the oven. It came out with bread-like consistency,which is a new experience for Christmas bread. But I also was very skimpy with how much flour I kneaded in; my dough was outright mushy. Last year that seemed to cause my sister's loaves to come out better. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.17/1178 - Release Date: 12/8/2007 11:59 AM To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
On 12/5/07 2:12 AM, Avital wrote: Zapping for 10 seconds (and 10 seconds only) will also speed the rising. So will putting it into a warm oven. And starting with warm water. In the winter, I put rising dough in my gas oven, which has a pilot light. Sometimes I remember to also turn on the incandescent light bulb, which makes the oven almost too warm. In the summer, when I use the outdoor fireplace, I set the bake kettle outside, and often have to set it in the shade to keep the black kettle from getting too hot. It takes an oven hours to get back to ambient after being used, but not very long to get back to a temperature yeast can stand after being heated to just a tad too warm. Personally, I've stopped using commercial yeast. I've been baking solely with my homemade sourdough starter (just flour and water and whatever wild yeast is floating around), which I've had for about 5 years now. Now that you mention it, I'm baking often enough now that I could probably keep starter going. Having yeast in the fridge might tempt me into making raised pancakes too often, though. None of the starters I've seen captured wild yeast; they started with borrowed starter or commercial yeast. I suspect that flour and water left out in this climate would merely spoil. I read, recently, about an ancient bakery or brewery (I've forgotten which) that needed a new roof, and had a new building built over the old one for fear of disturbing the wild yeast. The bread itself is just flour, water, and salt. Because there's no fat, it does go stale slightly faster than loaves with fat, but it seems to keep almost forever! I think that that is what the granulated lecithin I put in is for. From http://www.correllconcepts.com/Encyclopizza/04_Dough_ingredients/04_dough_ingredients.htm There’s a broad spectrum of lipid chemicals — known as surfactants — which mesh with the gluten and starch of dough. They produce a firmer dough and cause a finer cell structure, a more tender crust and crumb, and a slowing of crumb firming, or staling. These chemicals are often sold under such headings as emulsifiers, crumb softeners, anti-staling agents, and dough conditioners. Some of the common ones are monoglycerides and diglycerides, *lecithin*, and polysorbate 60. [emphasis added] I've sometimes found forgotten half-loaves in the back of the fridge that were 3 weeks old and they were just fine. I freeze bread, or keep it at room temperature, but never refrigerate it; seems to go stale faster in the fridge. (Just like honey, that can be kept warm or frozen, but mustn't be chilled.) No doubt this reflects a difference in climate. Baked another loaf yesterday: stone-ground (while I waited) white-wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, granulated lecithin. Spouse sampled it and said that Bunny Bread is no longer his favorite. The loaf was left over -- about three-fourths of what I mixed up to make pizza for supper. Today I gave him canned soup. (That was because I started my morning bike ride late, so I started my afternoon nap late, so I started supper late.) But we had good bread with it. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where there's snow all over everything. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
Only with care. Too much and it tastes funny. At 5:09 PM -0600 12/5/07, Dora Smith wrote: One can use more yeast? Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: lace-chat@arachne.com Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 11:34 PM Subject: Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast On 12/3/07 3:41 PM, Sharon wrote: Instant yeast or fast yeast works just fine :) You use the same amount as you do with regular yeast but you don't have to dissolve it first..just mix it in with the flour etc. That's the way I've *always* used granulated yeast. Cake yeast, which is no longer available in supermarkets, must be dissolved in water first. Using more yeast will make the bread rise faster -- it rises faster the second time because there is more yeast in it. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.14/1171 - Release Date: 12/4/2007 7:31 PM To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- Martha Krieg [EMAIL PROTECTED] in Michigan To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
One can use more yeast? Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: lace-chat@arachne.com Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 11:34 PM Subject: Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast On 12/3/07 3:41 PM, Sharon wrote: Instant yeast or fast yeast works just fine :) You use the same amount as you do with regular yeast but you don't have to dissolve it first..just mix it in with the flour etc. That's the way I've *always* used granulated yeast. Cake yeast, which is no longer available in supermarkets, must be dissolved in water first. Using more yeast will make the bread rise faster -- it rises faster the second time because there is more yeast in it. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.14/1171 - Release Date: 12/4/2007 7:31 PM To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
You will still have to wait around for the dough to rise ;) The fast yeast just skips the one step of dissolving the yeast. -- bye for now Bev near Sooke, BC where the temp is so up-and-down my sweaters are on springs (on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada) On Mon, 3 Dec 2007, Dora Smith wrote: Does fast yeast really rise faster, or just dissolve faster? My sister and I have a project planned on Saturday, and we don't like waiting all day for teh bread to rise. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
On 12/3/07 3:41 PM, Sharon wrote: Instant yeast or fast yeast works just fine :) You use the same amount as you do with regular yeast but you don't have to dissolve it first..just mix it in with the flour etc. That's the way I've *always* used granulated yeast. Cake yeast, which is no longer available in supermarkets, must be dissolved in water first. Using more yeast will make the bread rise faster -- it rises faster the second time because there is more yeast in it. If a recipe calls for one packet of yeast it's useful to know that a packet contains two and a quarter teaspoons. Quite useful -- and it may explain why my bread has been better since I started buying yeast in eight-ounce bags. I put just a teaspoon of yeast in a batch of bread (one cup of water and as much flour as it takes)and a somewhat rounded teaspoon for a double batch. (Yeast doesn't seem to scale linearly.) But of course there's another reason for someone who buys flour in fifty-pound bags to improve . . . Well, I've bought only one fifty-pound bag, at a mill that will be closed until spring. (I keep it in the deep freeze.) My red-wheat flour, available locally, I buy in five- and ten-pound sacks. I just hit on a neat trick. Last time I made pizza, instead of making a half-batch of dough, I made a double batch of whole-grain white-wheat dough (flour, semolina, yeast, salt, lecithin, and water), pinched off enough for a a pizza, and made the rest into a loaf. Easiest and neatest loaf-forming yet, perhaps because I had the greasy pizza pan to work on. It made splendid bread. And I just polished off the pizza as a midnight snack -- still yummy; white wheat rules. I don't know why they call it white wheat when it's beige. And red wheat is brown. Bread baking just suits my schedule: I stir the ingredients into a batter when I first get up, then add more flour and knead it just before my nap, when I wake up, it's ready to form into loaves or buns or pizza, and it comes out of the oven just when we sit down to supper. Cuts *away* down on the temptation to stuff on hot bread. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where our first proper covering of snow has fallen. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
On 12/5/07, Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Using more yeast will make the bread rise faster -- it rises faster the second time because there is more yeast in it. Zapping for 10 seconds (and 10 seconds only) will also speed the rising. So will putting it into a warm oven. Personally, I've stopped using commercial yeast. I've been baking solely with my homemade sourdough starter (just flour and water and whatever wild yeast is floating around), which I've had for about 5 years now. The bread itself is just flour, water, and salt. Because there's no fat, it does go stale slightly faster than loaves with fat, but it seems to keep almost forever! I've sometimes found forgotten half-loaves in the back of the fridge that were 3 weeks old and they were just fine. Avital To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] instant yeast
Instant yeast or fast yeast works just fine :) You use the same amount as you do with regular yeast but you don't have to dissolve it first..just mix it in with the flour etc. There's lots of web-sites from the yeast companies which have recipes. I found the web-sites helpful just to give me an idea how the stuff works so I could adapt my old recipes. If a recipe calls for one packet of yeast it's useful to know that a packet contains two and a quarter teaspoons. Have fun.. Sharon on Vancouver Island where we've just had over 40cm of snow and now the pineapple express is dumping up to 8 inches of rain :( To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
Does fast yeast really rise faster, or just dissolve faster? My sister and I have a project planned on Saturday, and we don't like waiting all day for teh bread to rise. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Sharon [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: lace-chat@arachne.com Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 2:41 PM Subject: [lace-chat] instant yeast Instant yeast or fast yeast works just fine :) You use the same amount as you do with regular yeast but you don't have to dissolve it first..just mix it in with the flour etc. There's lots of web-sites from the yeast companies which have recipes. I found the web-sites helpful just to give me an idea how the stuff works so I could adapt my old recipes. If a recipe calls for one packet of yeast it's useful to know that a packet contains two and a quarter teaspoons. Have fun.. Sharon on Vancouver Island where we've just had over 40cm of snow and now the pineapple express is dumping up to 8 inches of rain :( To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.13/1165 - Release Date: 12/2/2007 8:34 PM To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] instant yeast
It makes the dough rise much faster than traditional yeast. You still need to keep the dough in a warm place, but I have always found this fast yeast to be effective - as long as it hadn't passed its use-by-date Sue To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
