Modernist Bread Brochure | Breads | Mycotoxin

M O D E R N I S T MODERNIST B R E A D BREAD

Nathan Myhrvol My hrvold d and Francisco Migoya

MODERNIST BREAD ISBN 978-0-9827610-5-2 SRP $625 USD / $625 CAD / £425 GBP / €525 / $825 AUD

 ABOUT NATHAN MYHRVOLD THE COOKING LAB FOUNDER

Nathan Myhrvold, lead author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking  (2011), Modernist Cuisine at Home  (2012), The Photography of Modernist Cuisine  (2013), and Modern  (fall 2017), is a chef, photographer, ist Bread  (fall and scientist. Myhrvold founded the Modernist Cuisine team and led the development and production of all four books as well as the Modernist Cuisine Gallery in Las Vegas. In addition to his culinary and photographic pursuits, the former chief technology

officer of Microsoft is the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures. He is an avid inventor and prolific author in the fields of technology,paleontology,climatology,energy, bioterrorism, sm, and more. He holds several degrees, including a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics; master’s degrees in economics, geophysics, and space physics; a bachelor’s degree in mathematics; and a culinary diploma from École de Cuisine LaVarenne.

 ABOUT THE THE TEAM The Modernist Cuisine team is an interdisciplinary group in Bellevue, Washington, founded by Nathan Myhrvold. The team comprises scientists, research and development chefs, a full editorial and photography department, and sales and marketing staff—all dedicated to advancing the science of the culinary arts through creativity and experimentation.  They have published Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking (2011), Modernist Cuisine at Home  (2012), and The Photography of Modernist Cuisine  (2013), and produced The Photography of Modernist Cuisine: The Exhibition . In addition, The Cooking Lab has developed a spherification kit, gel kit, and the Modernist Cuisine™ Special Edition Baking Steel. Modernist Cuisine Gallery, located in Las Vegas, features the books and Nathan Myhrvold’s photography.

 ABOUT FRANCISCO FRANCISCO MIGOY MIGOYA THE COOKING LAB HEAD CHEF

Francisco Migoya is the co-author of  and leads the Modernist ModernistBread  and Cuisine culinary team as head chef. An innovative pastry chef, his most recent book, The Elements of Dessert (John Wiley & Sons, 2012), won a 2014 International Association of Culinary Professional Cookbook Award in the Professional Kitchens category. He has been recognized as a top U.S. pastry chef and chocolatier. Gremi de Pastisseria

de Barcelona awarded him the Medal of Master Artisan Pastry Chef (2013). Migoya owned Hudson Chocolates in New York and worked at both The French Laundry and Bouchon Bakery as executive pastry chef. Prior to joining the Modernist Cuisine team, Migoya was a professor at The Culinary Institute of America, where his areas of instruction included bread, viennoiserie, pastry, and culinary science.

 ABOUT THE COOKIN COOKING G LAB The Cooking Lab is Modernist Cuisine ’s in-house publishing division. In addition to publishing, The Cooking Lab provides consulting, R&D, and invention services to food companies and culinary equipment makers, both large and small. Their new research laboratory, operated by Intellectual Ventures, provides one of the best-equipped

kitchens in the world and includes access to a full set of machining, analytical, and computational facilities. Equipped with a state-of-the-art photography studio, the team uses groundbreaking photography techniques, including in-house SEM, micro, and macro imagery.

 ABOUT NATHAN MYHRVOLD THE COOKING LAB FOUNDER

Nathan Myhrvold, lead author of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking  (2011), Modernist Cuisine at Home  (2012), The Photography of Modernist Cuisine  (2013), and Modern  (fall 2017), is a chef, photographer, ist Bread  (fall and scientist. Myhrvold founded the Modernist Cuisine team and led the development and production of all four books as well as the Modernist Cuisine Gallery in Las Vegas. In addition to his culinary and photographic pursuits, the former chief technology

officer of Microsoft is the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures. He is an avid inventor and prolific author in the fields of technology,paleontology,climatology,energy, bioterrorism, sm, and more. He holds several degrees, including a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics; master’s degrees in economics, geophysics, and space physics; a bachelor’s degree in mathematics; and a culinary diploma from École de Cuisine LaVarenne.

 ABOUT THE THE TEAM The Modernist Cuisine team is an interdisciplinary group in Bellevue, Washington, founded by Nathan Myhrvold. The team comprises scientists, research and development chefs, a full editorial and photography department, and sales and marketing staff—all dedicated to advancing the science of the culinary arts through creativity and experimentation.  They have published Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking (2011), Modernist Cuisine at Home  (2012), and The Photography of Modernist Cuisine  (2013), and produced The Photography of Modernist Cuisine: The Exhibition . In addition, The Cooking Lab has developed a spherification kit, gel kit, and the Modernist Cuisine™ Special Edition Baking Steel. Modernist Cuisine Gallery, located in Las Vegas, features the books and Nathan Myhrvold’s photography.

 ABOUT FRANCISCO FRANCISCO MIGOY MIGOYA THE COOKING LAB HEAD CHEF

Francisco Migoya is the co-author of  and leads the Modernist ModernistBread  and Cuisine culinary team as head chef. An innovative pastry chef, his most recent book, The Elements of Dessert (John Wiley & Sons, 2012), won a 2014 International Association of Culinary Professional Cookbook Award in the Professional Kitchens category. He has been recognized as a top U.S. pastry chef and chocolatier. Gremi de Pastisseria

de Barcelona awarded him the Medal of Master Artisan Pastry Chef (2013). Migoya owned Hudson Chocolates in New York and worked at both The French Laundry and Bouchon Bakery as executive pastry chef. Prior to joining the Modernist Cuisine team, Migoya was a professor at The Culinary Institute of America, where his areas of instruction included bread, viennoiserie, pastry, and culinary science.

 ABOUT THE COOKIN COOKING G LAB The Cooking Lab is Modernist Cuisine ’s in-house publishing division. In addition to publishing, The Cooking Lab provides consulting, R&D, and invention services to food companies and culinary equipment makers, both large and small. Their new research laboratory, operated by Intellectual Ventures, provides one of the best-equipped

MODERNIST BREAD

kitchens in the world and includes access to a full set of machining, analytical, and computational facilities. Equipped with a state-of-the-art photography studio, the team uses groundbreaking photography techniques, including in-house SEM, micro, and macro imagery.

MODERNIST BREAD

FOREWORD BY CHAD ROBERTSON FOREWORD BY FRANCISCO MIGOYA MY CULINARY JOURNEY BY NATHAN MYHRVOLD STORY OF THIS BOOK ABOUT THE RECIPES

 Volume  Vo lume 1 History and Fundamentals CHAPTER 1: HISTORY

The Ancient World The Premodern Era The Industrial Age The Information Age The Future of Bread CHAPTER 2: MICROBIOLOGY FOR BAKERS

Spoilage and Fermentation Foodborne Illness Sources of Contamination Preventing Contamination CHAPTER 3: BREAD AND HEALTH

Dietary Systems

CHAPTER 7: GRAINS

 Amazing Grass  Wheat Other Grains The Life Cycle of Grain The Economics and Politics of Grain The Commodity System and Cheap Bread CHAPTER 8: FLOUR

Flour Milling  What is in F lour?  Wheat Flour s Rye Flours Other Flours and Powders CHAPTER 9: LEAVENING

 Yeast Sourdough Chemical Leaveners CHAPTER 10: FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENTS

Ingredient Classification Salt Sugars Fats and Oils Improving Dough

Medical Dietary Systems

Nonmedical Dietary Systems Nonmedical Gluten Intoleranc Intolerancee CHAPTER 4: HEAT AND ENERGY

The Nature of Heat and Temperature Energy, Power, and Efficiency  Heat in Motion CHAPTER 5: THE PHYSICS OF FOOD AND WATER

 Water Is Strange Stuf f  Freezing and Thawing  Vaporization and Condens ation  Water as a Solvent  Water Quality and Purity  FURTHER READING

 Volume  Vo lume 2 Ingredients CHAPTER 6: MAKING BREAD

The Basics of Bread Planning to Bake Bread Bread Making by the Book 

CHAPTER 11: INGREDIENT PREPARATION

Inclusions Grain and Seed Inclusions Flavored Liquids and Purees Fruits and Vegetables Meats and Cheeses Nuts and Sweets FURTHER READING

 Volume  Vo lume 3 Techniques and Equipment CHAPTER 12: FERMENTA FERMENTATION TION

Commercial Yeast Preferments Levain CHAPTER 13: MIXING

The Details of Mixing Machine Mixing Hand Mixing Bulk Fermentation

FOREWORD BY CHAD ROBERTSON FOREWORD BY FRANCISCO MIGOYA MY CULINARY JOURNEY BY NATHAN MYHRVOLD STORY OF THIS BOOK ABOUT THE RECIPES

 Volume  Vo lume 1 History and Fundamentals CHAPTER 1: HISTORY

The Ancient World The Premodern Era The Industrial Age The Information Age The Future of Bread CHAPTER 2: MICROBIOLOGY FOR BAKERS

Spoilage and Fermentation Foodborne Illness Sources of Contamination Preventing Contamination CHAPTER 3: BREAD AND HEALTH

Dietary Systems

CHAPTER 7: GRAINS

 Amazing Grass  Wheat Other Grains The Life Cycle of Grain The Economics and Politics of Grain The Commodity System and Cheap Bread CHAPTER 8: FLOUR

Flour Milling  What is in F lour?  Wheat Flour s Rye Flours Other Flours and Powders CHAPTER 9: LEAVENING

 Yeast Sourdough Chemical Leaveners CHAPTER 10: FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENTS

Ingredient Classification Salt Sugars Fats and Oils Improving Dough

Medical Dietary Systems

Nonmedical Dietary Systems Nonmedical Gluten Intoleranc Intolerancee CHAPTER 4: HEAT AND ENERGY

The Nature of Heat and Temperature Energy, Power, and Efficiency  Heat in Motion CHAPTER 5: THE PHYSICS OF FOOD AND WATER

 Water Is Strange Stuf f  Freezing and Thawing  Vaporization and Condens ation  Water as a Solvent  Water Quality and Purity  FURTHER READING

 Volume  Vo lume 2 Ingredients CHAPTER 6: MAKING BREAD

The Basics of Bread Planning to Bake Bread Bread Making by the Book 

CHAPTER 14: DIVIDING AND SHAPING

Dividing Shaping by Hand Braiding French Regional Breads

CHAPTER 11: INGREDIENT PREPARATION

Inclusions Grain and Seed Inclusions Flavored Liquids and Purees Fruits and Vegetables Meats and Cheeses Nuts and Sweets FURTHER READING

 Volume  Vo lume 3 Techniques and Equipment CHAPTER 12: FERMENTA FERMENTATION TION

Commercial Yeast Preferments Levain CHAPTER 13: MIXING

The Details of Mixing Machine Mixing Hand Mixing Bulk Fermentation

CHAPTER 21: ENRICHED BREADS

Brioche Challah  White Sandw ich Bread CHAPTER 22: RYE BREADS

CHAPTER 15: FINAL PROOFING

Proofing Equipment Final Proofing Methods Calling Proof  Cold-Proofing Cold-Proofi ng Dough CHAPTER 16: SCORING AND FINISHING

Scoring Finishing

Farmer’s Bread High Ryes CHAPTER 23: WHOLE GRAIN BREADS

Breads Made From Whole Grains Bavarian Pumpernickel  Vollkornbrot FURTHER READING

CHAPTER 17: HOW BREAD BAKES

The Physics of Baking Ovens Deck Ovens Convection Ovens with Steam Convection Ovens without Steam Pizza Ovens Tandoor Ovens CHAPTER 18: BAKING

Transforming Dough Into Bread Baking In Professional Ovens Baking In Home Ovens Baking Without An Oven Parbaking Bread CHAPTER 19: COOLING AND SERVING

Cooling Staling and Spoilage Storing Slicing and Serving FURTHER READING

 Volume  Vo lume 4 Recipes I

 Volume  Vo lume 5 Recipes II CHAPTER 24: FLAT BREADS

Crackers Injera Dosa Inflated Breads Naan Focaccia Pizza CHAPTER 25: BAGELS, PRETZELS, AND BAO

Pretzels Bagels Bao CHAPTER 26: GLUTEN FREE BREADS

Gluten Free Ingredient Ingredientss CHAPTER 27: BREAD MACHINE BREADS

Lean Breads Enriched Breads Rye Breads  Whole Grain Breads FURTHER READING

CHAPTER 20: LEAN BREADS

French Lean Breads SourdoughBreads Country Style Breads  Ancient Breads  Whole Wheat Breads High Hydration Breads

GLOSSARIES OF CULINARY AND TECHNICAL TERMS SOURCES OF EQUIPMENT AND INGREDIENTS, REFERENCE TABLES THE MODERNIST CUISINE TEAM, CONTRIBUTORS, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, STEP-BY-STEP STEP-BY -STEP PROCEDURES AND BEST BETS TABLES, INDEX

CHAPTER 14: DIVIDING AND SHAPING

CHAPTER 21: ENRICHED BREADS

Dividing Shaping by Hand Braiding French Regional Breads

Brioche Challah  White Sandw ich Bread CHAPTER 22: RYE BREADS

CHAPTER 15: FINAL PROOFING

Farmer’s Bread High Ryes

Proofing Equipment Final Proofing Methods Calling Proof  Cold-Proofing Cold-Proofi ng Dough

CHAPTER 23: WHOLE GRAIN BREADS

Breads Made From Whole Grains Bavarian Pumpernickel  Vollkornbrot

CHAPTER 16: SCORING AND FINISHING

Scoring Finishing

FURTHER READING

CHAPTER 17: HOW BREAD BAKES

The Physics of Baking Ovens Deck Ovens Convection Ovens with Steam Convection Ovens without Steam Pizza Ovens Tandoor Ovens

 Volume  Vo lume 5 Recipes II CHAPTER 24: FLAT BREADS

Crackers Injera Dosa Inflated Breads Naan Focaccia Pizza

CHAPTER 18: BAKING

Transforming Dough Into Bread Baking In Professional Ovens Baking In Home Ovens Baking Without An Oven Parbaking Bread

CHAPTER 25: BAGELS, PRETZELS, AND BAO

Pretzels Bagels Bao

CHAPTER 19: COOLING AND SERVING

Cooling Staling and Spoilage Storing Slicing and Serving

CHAPTER 26: GLUTEN FREE BREADS

Gluten Free Ingredient Ingredientss CHAPTER 27: BREAD MACHINE BREADS

FURTHER READING

Lean Breads Enriched Breads Rye Breads  Whole Grain Breads

 Volume  Vo lume 4 Recipes I

FURTHER READING

CHAPTER 20: LEAN BREADS

French Lean Breads SourdoughBreads Country Style Breads  Ancient Breads  Whole Wheat Breads High Hydration Breads

GLOSSARIES OF CULINARY AND TECHNICAL TERMS SOURCES OF EQUIPMENT AND INGREDIENTS, REFERENCE TABLES THE MODERNIST CUISINE TEAM, CONTRIBUTORS, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, STEP-BY-STEP STEP-BY -STEP PROCEDURES AND BEST BETS TABLES, INDEX

THE STORY OF THIS BOOK   When I tell people what we’ve ve been working on since our last book, the reaction often goes something like this: “Did you say 2,500 pages? On bread?” I’ll concede that at first blush, 2,642 pages might seem a little over the top. But we’ve been here before. We got the same initial reaction  when we were working on our first book,  Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking , which ran an encyclopedic 2,438

pages. When it was released in 2011, people in the publishing industry told us that a nontraditional $625 cookbook would never sell.  Well, Modernist Cuisine broke a lot of rules.  And to my great relief, that worked. More More than 230,000 curious and passionate food lovers— from home cooks to renowned chefs to staff at educational institutions—decided that the book fit the right value equation. It won numerous major food writing awards and has been t ranslated

into nine lang uages. It’s fair to say say it has had a big impact on the culinary world. Now I am excited to introduce  Modernist Bread: The Art and Science . It’s just as disruptive, just as comprehensive, just as visually appealing, and just as thought-provoking as its older sibling. In the space of five volumes plus a kitchen manual, we tell the story of one of the world’s most important foods in new and different ways. Through this story, we hope to enlighten, delight, and inspire creativity in others who love not only bread but also the science, history, cultures, and personalities behind it.  Why focus on bread? Because Because it has so many of the things that we love in a topic. Bread may seem simple, but in fact it is highly technological and scientific—it’s actually a biotech product whose creation requires harnessing the power of microorganisms that ferment. Making bread is so technique-intensive that small variations in the method can make huge differences in the outcome. There is a tremendous amount of skill involved, to the point that bread making can  be daunting to home home bakers and professionals alike. During the baking process, bread’s simple ingredients go through such a mind-blowing transformation that the product that comes out of the oven bears almost no resemblance to the flour,  water, salt, and yeast that went in. That’s just cool. Focusing on bread has given us the opportunity to explore such wide-ranging scientific topics as the structure of gluten and the physics of ovens. It has given us a window into the minds of the inventors and innovators who have made, improved, and transformed this important staple over the course of thousands of years. Our focus on bread has also allowed us to look closely at the evolution of cultures through the lens of a single food that has spanned so much of human history:  bread was the primary source of calories for the ancient Greeks and Romans and the Western civilizations that followed. We also became intrigued  by the evolution of of our agricultural system. There is currently a lot of nationwide and g lobal concern about this system, after all, and wheat is at its center. As the grandson of a Minnesota wheat farmer,

I was determined to tell the story of the role that the underappreciated and underpaid farmers play in our agricultural system. Starting around the 1920s (but at an increasing pace throughout the 1960s), bread became an industrial product. Giant machines and factories were cranking out millions of loaves of  bland, precisely uniform sandwich bread, and people welcomed these snow-white loaves. By the 1970s, though, both bread lovers and bread bakers were beginning to rebel, eventually building  what is today called the artisanal bread movemovement (page 128). In the United States, the search for quality led to the breads of Europe—and in Europe, bakers turned to the past. The idea behind the artis anal bread movement  was a great one: bread bread lovers wanted to increase increase the variety, flavor, and quality of bread beyond the cheap industrial products that swa mped supermarket shelves. Going back to preindustrial  bread-baking practices and returning returning to smallscale methods historically used by village bakers seemed like just the thing to do. But it can’t possibly be true that all the best ideas in bread baking have al ready been discovered—creative bakers around the world have made some amazing new loaves. Science and technology are not the enemies of great bread. The laws of nature govern baking just like they govern everything else in the world. Knowing  which laws affect your bread helps; understanding technology helps, too.  When it began, the artisanal bread movement movement  was so liberating: it freed consumers consumers from insipid, machine-made white sandwich bread by giving them choices. But any belief system can become stagnant if it is closed to new ideas. This stagnancy is all the more troubling today, in a world in which bread is under attack from the gluten-free trend and the low-carb movement. Now more than ever, it’s vital to start unleashing the creative possibilities of bread. With all the excitement around today’s innovative, modern cuisine, it’s time to make bread more than just an afterthought. Why not have fun and explore what the latest science can add to the bread we know and love? At the risk of sounding dramatic, bread must innovate to survive and thrive.  We took an approach approach that is fiercely fiercely analytic

 but also deeply appreciative appreciative of the artistry and aesthetics of bread. We studied ex haustively (or at least until we were exhausted!). We researched ingredients and history, milling technologies and dough rheology, grain botany, bubble mechanics, and more. We talked to grain farmers, millers, food historians, statisticians, and every great  bread baker we could could find. Over time, we became even more convinced that our book could offer something fresh and new.  We believe the idea of Modernist bread—bread bread—bread that looks to the futu re, not the past—should be celebrated. In these pages, you’ll fi nd our contributions to what we hope will become a movement. This movement isn’t just about new recipes, though—it’s about the way we think of bread from the ground up. For each of our key recipes, we developed a traditional version and a Modernist version. You can follow only the traditional recipes and f ind much of value in th is book—or you can branch out into our Modernist recipes to explore new ideas. Better yet, use this book as a jumping-off point to make new kinds of breads that no one has tried  before. Whether you are a strict traditionalist or an avid Modernist, a home baker or an artisan  baker or a restaurant chef, chef, we hope that this book  will open your eyes to the possibilities of invention and encourage different ways of think ing about  bread. We believe this kind of disruption will even help change the economics of bread. (We’d like to see bread go the way of chocolate and wine, which are sold in a wide range of quality levels and price points.) In short, we believe t he golden age of bread isn’t some mythical past that we all should try to return to—the best days of bread are yet to come.

THE STORY OF THIS BOOK   When I tell people what we’ve ve been working on since our last book, the reaction often goes something like this: “Did you say 2,500 pages? On bread?” I’ll concede that at first blush, 2,642 pages might seem a little over the top. But we’ve been here before. We got the same initial reaction  when we were working on our first book,  Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking , which ran an encyclopedic 2,438

pages. When it was released in 2011, people in the publishing industry told us that a nontraditional $625 cookbook would never sell.  Well, Modernist Cuisine broke a lot of rules.  And to my great relief, that worked. More More than 230,000 curious and passionate food lovers— from home cooks to renowned chefs to staff at educational institutions—decided that the book fit the right value equation. It won numerous major food writing awards and has been t ranslated

I was determined to tell the story of the role that the underappreciated and underpaid farmers play in our agricultural system. Starting around the 1920s (but at an increasing pace throughout the 1960s), bread became an industrial product. Giant machines and factories were cranking out millions of loaves of  bland, precisely uniform sandwich bread, and people welcomed these snow-white loaves. By the 1970s, though, both bread lovers and bread bakers were beginning to rebel, eventually building  what is today called the artisanal bread movemovement (page 128). In the United States, the search for quality led to the breads of Europe—and in Europe, bakers turned to the past. The idea behind the artis anal bread movement  was a great one: bread bread lovers wanted to increase increase the variety, flavor, and quality of bread beyond the cheap industrial products that swa mped supermarket shelves. Going back to preindustrial  bread-baking practices and returning returning to smallscale methods historically used by village bakers seemed like just the thing to do. But it can’t possibly be true that all the best ideas in bread baking have al ready been discovered—creative bakers around the world have made some amazing new loaves. Science and technology are not the enemies of great bread. The laws of nature govern baking just like they govern everything else in the world. Knowing  which laws affect your bread helps; understanding technology helps, too.  When it began, the artisanal bread movement movement  was so liberating: it freed consumers consumers from insipid, machine-made white sandwich bread by giving them choices. But any belief system can become stagnant if it is closed to new ideas. This stagnancy is all the more troubling today, in a world in which bread is under attack from the gluten-free trend and the low-carb movement. Now more than ever, it’s vital to start unleashing the creative possibilities of bread. With all the excitement around today’s innovative, modern cuisine, it’s time to make bread more than just an afterthought. Why not have fun and explore what the latest science can add to the bread we know and love? At the risk of sounding dramatic, bread must innovate to survive and thrive.  We took an approach approach that is fiercely fiercely analytic

into nine lang uages. It’s fair to say say it has had a big impact on the culinary world. Now I am excited to introduce  Modernist Bread: The Art and Science . It’s just as disruptive, just as comprehensive, just as visually appealing, and just as thought-provoking as its older sibling. In the space of five volumes plus a kitchen manual, we tell the story of one of the world’s most important foods in new and different ways. Through this story, we hope to enlighten, delight, and inspire creativity in others who love not only bread but also the science, history, cultures, and personalities behind it.  Why focus on bread? Because Because it has so many of the things that we love in a topic. Bread may seem simple, but in fact it is highly technological and scientific—it’s actually a biotech product whose creation requires harnessing the power of microorganisms that ferment. Making bread is so technique-intensive that small variations in the method can make huge differences in the outcome. There is a tremendous amount of skill involved, to the point that bread making can  be daunting to home home bakers and professionals alike. During the baking process, bread’s simple ingredients go through such a mind-blowing transformation that the product that comes out of the oven bears almost no resemblance to the flour,  water, salt, and yeast that went in. That’s just cool. Focusing on bread has given us the opportunity to explore such wide-ranging scientific topics as the structure of gluten and the physics of ovens. It has given us a window into the minds of the inventors and innovators who have made, improved, and transformed this important staple over the course of thousands of years. Our focus on bread has also allowed us to look closely at the evolution of cultures through the lens of a single food that has spanned so much of human history:  bread was the primary source of calories for the ancient Greeks and Romans and the Western civilizations that followed. We also became intrigued  by the evolution of of our agricultural system. There is currently a lot of nationwide and g lobal concern about this system, after all, and wheat is at its center. As the grandson of a Minnesota wheat farmer,

 A LOOK INSIDE INSIDE MODERNIST MODERNIST BREAD We spent over 4 years looking at bread from every angle. We devised experiments to test the limits of techniques, develop new recipes, investigate bakery lore, find the best ingredients and tools, and understand the science of bread making. We traveled around the world to speak to bakers, chefs, farmers, scientists, and historians and go behind the scenes at mills, ingredient companies, museums, and even the Svalbard seed bank in Norway—tasting bread at every stop along the way. And, of course, we baked tons of bread. Literally. Here’s a small sample of some of the discoveries, techniques, recipes, and discussions you’ll find in the five volumes of Modernist Bread .

Historical Stuff  Marking (and Marketing) Bread with Stamps Bread Through the Ages A Long History of No-Knead Bread

Roman Bread Stamps

New Techniques Our Rye Flour Revelation The Uses of Cold Proofing in a Wine Fridge Best Damn Gluten-free Bagel High Bubble Count Pizza Dough Shaping Very Wet Doughs Canned Breads Dough CPR

Canned bread

Debunking Does Pure Water Make for Better Bread? Weird Stuff in Starters Which is Better: Fresh or Aged Flour? Are Whole Grains Healthier for You?

Discoveries 100% Rye Bread

The Largest Loaf Bread is Lighter Than Whipped Cream How Much Payload Can Dough Hold? SuperchargedYeast

Inside Look Crumbs for the Farmer The Great Autolyse Debate The Evolution of a Sourdough Fats: How High Can You Go?

 but also deeply appreciative appreciative of the artistry and aesthetics of bread. We studied ex haustively (or at least until we were exhausted!). We researched ingredients and history, milling technologies and dough rheology, grain botany, bubble mechanics, and more. We talked to grain farmers, millers, food historians, statisticians, and every great  bread baker we could could find. Over time, we became even more convinced that our book could offer something fresh and new.  We believe the idea of Modernist bread—bread bread—bread that looks to the futu re, not the past—should be celebrated. In these pages, you’ll fi nd our contributions to what we hope will become a movement. This movement isn’t just about new recipes, though—it’s about the way we think of bread from the ground up. For each of our key recipes, we developed a traditional version and a Modernist version. You can follow only the traditional recipes and f ind much of value in th is book—or you can branch out into our Modernist recipes to explore new ideas. Better yet, use this book as a jumping-off point to make new kinds of breads that no one has tried  before. Whether you are a strict traditionalist or an avid Modernist, a home baker or an artisan  baker or a restaurant chef, chef, we hope that this book  will open your eyes to the possibilities of invention and encourage different ways of think ing about  bread. We believe this kind of disruption will even help change the economics of bread. (We’d like to see bread go the way of chocolate and wine, which are sold in a wide range of quality levels and price points.) In short, we believe t he golden age of bread isn’t some mythical past that we all should try to return to—the best days of bread are yet to come.

 A LOOK INSIDE INSIDE MODERNIST MODERNIST BREAD We spent over 4 years looking at bread from every angle. We devised experiments to test the limits of techniques, develop new recipes, investigate bakery lore, find the best ingredients and tools, and understand the science of bread making. We traveled around the world to speak to bakers, chefs, farmers, scientists, and historians and go behind the scenes at mills, ingredient companies, museums, and even the Svalbard seed bank in Norway—tasting bread at every stop along the way. And, of course, we baked tons of bread. Literally. Here’s a small sample of some of the discoveries, techniques, recipes, and discussions you’ll find in the five volumes of Modernist Bread .

Historical Stuff  Marking (and Marketing) Bread with Stamps Bread Through the Ages A Long History of No-Knead Bread

Roman Bread Stamps

New Techniques Our Rye Flour Revelation The Uses of Cold Proofing in a Wine Fridge Best Damn Gluten-free Bagel High Bubble Count Pizza Dough Shaping Very Wet Doughs Canned Breads Dough CPR

Canned bread

Debunking Does Pure Water Make for Better Bread? Weird Stuff in Starters Which is Better: Fresh or Aged Flour? Are Whole Grains Healthier for You?

Discoveries The Largest Loaf Bread is Lighter Than Whipped Cream How Much Payload Can Dough Hold? SuperchargedYeast

100% Rye Bread

Inside Look Crumbs for the Farmer The Great Autolyse Debate The Evolution of a Sourdough Fats: How High Can You Go?

   m    r   y     F   r  o   s    t  o   o     H    i

1

BREAD THROUGH THE AGES When we read history books, we’re often learning about the big events of the past. But the more mundane facts of ordinary life aren’t always recorded. Some ancient and premodern recipes have been preserved, but not many. So what was the bread like? We researched paintings through the ages and from around the world in order to find out what they looked like in the past. A few artists, like Pieter Brueghel the Elder and his son, also named Pieter, painted scenes of ordinary people. Others focused on royal scenes, so it’s reasonable to assume we’re

15th century

looking at fancy breads, some of which appear to be enriched. Still, the bread forms in all these works look very familiar. Even the practice of serving bread swaddled in a napkin dates back centuries. At medieval banquets, the server carried the lord’s bread and knife to the table in a decoratively folded napkin called a portpayne, or portpain. That way the bread would not touch the server’s hands. There’s also a long Jewish tradition of wrapping a piece of matzo in a cloth and hiding it. Some say the wrapped afikomen symbolizes the way the Jews carried their unleavened bread as they left Egypt.

17th century

�� 1601 • Italy

16th century

�� 1630 • France

�� 1640 • Netherlands

�� 1620 • Spain

�� 1635 • Netherlands

� 16th century • Belgium

� 1467 • Belgium

1460

�

1475 • Spain

�

1500

� 1530 • Belgium

� 1590 • Italy

� 1564 • Netherlands

1525 • Italy

1550

1560

� 1585 • Belgium

1570

1580

� 1594 • Italy

�� 16th century • Netherlands

�� 1615 • Belgium

1590

1600

�� 1606 • Italy

1610

1620

�� 1606 • Belgium

�� 1618 • Spain

1630

1640

�� 1625 • Italy

   m    r   y     F   r  o   s    t  o   o     H    i

1

BREAD THROUGH THE AGES When we read history books, we’re often learning about the big events of the past. But the more mundane facts of ordinary life aren’t always recorded. Some ancient and premodern recipes have been preserved, but not many. So what was the bread like? We researched paintings through the ages and from around the world in order to find out what they looked like in the past. A few artists, like Pieter Brueghel the Elder and his son, also named Pieter, painted scenes of ordinary people. Others focused on royal scenes, so it’s reasonable to assume we’re

15th century

looking at fancy breads, some of which appear to be enriched. Still, the bread forms in all these works look very familiar. Even the practice of serving bread swaddled in a napkin dates back centuries. At medieval banquets, the server carried the lord’s bread and knife to the table in a decoratively folded napkin called a portpayne, or portpain. That way the bread would not touch the server’s hands. There’s also a long Jewish tradition of wrapping a piece of matzo in a cloth and hiding it. Some say the wrapped afikomen symbolizes the way the Jews carried their unleavened bread as they left Egypt.

17th century

�� 1601 • Italy

16th century

�� 1630 • France

�� 1640 • Netherlands

�� 1620 • Spain

�� 1635 • Netherlands

� 16th century • Belgium

� 1467 • Belgium

�

1460

�

1475 • Spain

1500

� 1530 • Belgium

� 1590 • Italy

� 1564 • Netherlands

1525 • Italy

1550

1560

� 1585 • Belgium

1570

1580

�� 1615 • Belgium

1590

� 1594 • Italy

1600

1610

�� 1606 • Italy

Molds

Some kinds of mold fluoresce when illuminated by ultraviolet light.

Although fungicides have been effective at controlling wheat rusts, they can have damaging side effects in some ecosystems. Fungicides have been implicated as a contributing factor in bee colony collapse disorder, for example.

Ninety-nine times out of a hu ndred, when bread goes “bad” (not merely stale), mold is to blame. People are less tolerant of mold on food than they are of other kinds of m icrobial growth, for the simple reason that whereas viral and most bacterial contamination is invisible, mold is easy to see. And, in most cases, mold stinks—literally.  Although bakers typically see mold as an enemy, many foods—from Stilton, Roquefort, and Brie cheeses to soy sauce and citric acid—owe their existence to the transformative power of molds (see page 174). Molds are not a particular ta xonomic branch of the fungal fam ily tree; rather, they are one of the three main growth forms that fungi can take.  Any species of fungus that, at a particular stage in its life cycle, weaves its hyphae filaments into a fabric-like network (called a mycelium) is behaving as a mold. People often think of mold as an infestation that brings the shelf life of a fully prepared food— or, even more commonly, the leftovers of a meal— to an end. But molds play important roles at ever y stage of the food supply, starting in the field. Fungi cause nearly three-quarters of all crop diseases. They inflict annual losses on farmers tallied in the  billions of dollars. In wheat farming, periodic outout breaks of several forms of fungal infections known as rusts can wipe out part or nearly all a farm’s  yield. In recent years, rusts have damaged wheat wheat crops throughout Asia, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States. Farmers have  bred rust-resistant strains of wheat, but but the fungi have evolved new ways of attacking them. Fortunately, fungicides remain an effective, though expensive, way to halt rusts. Stinking smut, also known as bunt, has been the bane of wheat farmers for centuries. This disease, caused by fungi in the genus Tilletia, fills the kernels of the grain with black spores. As a thresher cuts the grain down during the harvest, the kernels burst, and black clouds of spores erupt and spread the disease across t he field. According to Don E. Mathre, emeritus professor in plant sciences and plant pathology at Montana State University in Bozeman, stinking smut singlehandedly compromised a fifth of the wheat crop in Washington State in the early 20th century. The clouds of spores were so thick around the

1630

�� 1606 • Belgium

1640

�� 1625 • Italy

�� 1618 • Spain

�� 16th century • Netherlands

   m   o   g    y     F   r  o    b    i  o    l   e   r   s    r   c  o    a    k     M    i    F  o   r    B

1620

2 horse-drawn combines that sparks of static electricity from the equipment set off ex plosions— more than 160 in 1915 alone. The invention of effective fungicides in the 1970s brought the disease under control in high-income nations, but the disease persists in regions where farmers cannot afford to treat their seeds. Other grains commonly used in baking are also  vulnerable to fungal disease as they grow. Oats, rice, and corn are all susceptible to various kinds of smut and to stunting diseases caused by molds that destroy their roots or rot their stalks. SPOILED B EFORE  B AKING

Between harvest and milling, grain is typically stored in silos or warehouses, where fungi get another shot at it. Once the plant matter is dead, a different set of molds—the saprophytes—can set in and start to break it down. The economic losses caused by spoilage are signif icant and are one factor in the fluctuating prices of grains. But some grain molds can also pose a food- safety problem for bakers because, under certain conditions, they produce poisons called mycotoxins. More than 200 kinds of mycotoxins have been identified so far, and they contaminate a quarter of food crops globally, according to estimates by the Food and  Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ons. The most dangerous of these compounds are aflatoxins , which are made by the common  yellow-green molds Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. In high doses, aflatoxin B 1 can cause liver damage and immune problems. Aflatoxins are also among the most potent carcinogens yet identified, at least in lab animals. In the United States, the toxins most frequently ruin corn, nut, and peanut crops after harvest. A robust testing system ensures that foods containing unsafe amounts of mycotoxins are thrown out, but losses are so frequent and severe in warmer climates that  Aspergillus effectively dictates where in the United States these crops can and cannot be grown economically. Unfortunately, there is no practical method  yet for reliably protecting crops against contamicontamination by  Aspergillus molds, which are virtually ubiquitous. For wheat, barley, and rye, the main threat is scab, a head blight produced by Fusarium graminearum and other species in this genus. In addition to reducing crop yields due to the disease, this

mold can produce toxins known as trichothecenes. One of these, called  vomitoxin, is just as unpleasant as it sounds. Ingesting a large amount of the toxin, which is also known as deoxynivalenol, or DON, causes the rapid onset of gastrointestinal distress and illness, headache, dizziness, and fever.  As with aflatoxins, scrupulous screeni ng of grain supplies has largely prevented human illness from these mycotoxins in Europe and North A merica, though the blight has claimed w heat crops from North Dakota to North Carolina. In addition, outbreaks have occurred in Asia and Africa. Several species of Aspergillus molds produce ochratoxins when they infect corn, barley, wheat, oat, or rye. Ochratoxin A—secreted by species including A. niger , the same mold used to make citric acid—is known to cause k idney damage and poses a cancer risk. Penicillium molds, which are usually thought of as helpful or innocuous (they are used, for example, to make penicillin and blue cheeses), are another source of ochratoxins. And  both Aspergillus and Penicillium molds also secrete

citrinin , a mycotoxin linked to kidney disease.

Fortunately, ochratoxins and citrinin appear to be quite rare in grains produced in the United States. Unfortunately, mycotoxins are remarkably heat resistant, and most can retain t heir poisonous eff ects ev en when cook ed to 121^ 121^ / 250|—  well above the peak internal temperature in a fully  baked loaf of bread. bread. So the best protection protection against them is to buy flour and grains from reputable,  well-managed vendors who comply comply with all government regulations on grain handling, storage, and testing. The rules are designed to ensure that contaminants remain below levels established as safe for human consumption. BREAD G ONE  B AD

Mold does terrible things to the f lavor of breads, and that’s no doubt one of the main reasons that people generally don’t get sick from eating moldy  bread—bread gone gone bad is pretty easy to to avoid. It helps, too, that few molds are able to infect healt hy people. Some do, of course: most adults

A galaxy of spores erupts from moldy bread when it is given a gentle tap. Molds get around by producing tiny spores that waft through the air. The spores produced by Puccinia graminis, graminis, which causes black stem rust in wheat, can drift on the winds for more than 3,000 km / 1,860 mi, carrying the disease from the Deep South of the United States all the way through the Midwest and up to Canada. Spore collectors mounted on airplanes have shown that airborne fungi are able to cross oceans, drifting on the winds from one continent to another.

The waterborne fungus Phytophthorainfestans caused the Irish potato blight of 1845–1847 that— exacerbated by unconscionable mismanagement on the part of the government—led to famine and a diaspora that together halved the population of Ireland (see page 110). Plasmopara viticola, viticola, a fungus that causes grapevine downy mildew, wiped out the vineyards of Europe in the 1870s.

   m   o   g    y     F   r  o    b    i  o    l   e   r   s   o    a    k    r   c     M    i    F  o   r    B

Molds

Some kinds of mold fluoresce when illuminated by ultraviolet light.

Although fungicides have been effective at controlling wheat rusts, they can have damaging side effects in some ecosystems. Fungicides have been implicated as a contributing factor in bee colony collapse disorder, for example.

Ninety-nine times out of a hu ndred, when bread goes “bad” (not merely stale), mold is to blame. People are less tolerant of mold on food than they are of other kinds of m icrobial growth, for the simple reason that whereas viral and most bacterial contamination is invisible, mold is easy to see. And, in most cases, mold stinks—literally.  Although bakers typically see mold as an enemy, many foods—from Stilton, Roquefort, and Brie cheeses to soy sauce and citric acid—owe their existence to the transformative power of molds (see page 174). Molds are not a particular ta xonomic branch of the fungal fam ily tree; rather, they are one of the three main growth forms that fungi can take.  Any species of fungus that, at a particular stage in its life cycle, weaves its hyphae filaments into a fabric-like network (called a mycelium) is behaving as a mold. People often think of mold as an infestation that brings the shelf life of a fully prepared food— or, even more commonly, the leftovers of a meal— to an end. But molds play important roles at ever y stage of the food supply, starting in the field. Fungi cause nearly three-quarters of all crop diseases. They inflict annual losses on farmers tallied in the  billions of dollars. In wheat farming, periodic outout breaks of several forms of fungal infections known as rusts can wipe out part or nearly all a farm’s  yield. In recent years, rusts have damaged wheat wheat crops throughout Asia, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States. Farmers have  bred rust-resistant strains of wheat, but but the fungi have evolved new ways of attacking them. Fortunately, fungicides remain an effective, though expensive, way to halt rusts. Stinking smut, also known as bunt, has been the bane of wheat farmers for centuries. This disease, caused by fungi in the genus Tilletia, fills the kernels of the grain with black spores. As a thresher cuts the grain down during the harvest, the kernels burst, and black clouds of spores erupt and spread the disease across t he field. According to Don E. Mathre, emeritus professor in plant sciences and plant pathology at Montana State University in Bozeman, stinking smut singlehandedly compromised a fifth of the wheat crop in Washington State in the early 20th century. The clouds of spores were so thick around the

2 horse-drawn combines that sparks of static electricity from the equipment set off ex plosions— more than 160 in 1915 alone. The invention of effective fungicides in the 1970s brought the disease under control in high-income nations, but the disease persists in regions where farmers cannot afford to treat their seeds. Other grains commonly used in baking are also  vulnerable to fungal disease as they grow. Oats, rice, and corn are all susceptible to various kinds of smut and to stunting diseases caused by molds that destroy their roots or rot their stalks. SPOILED B EFORE  B AKING

Between harvest and milling, grain is typically stored in silos or warehouses, where fungi get another shot at it. Once the plant matter is dead, a different set of molds—the saprophytes—can set in and start to break it down. The economic losses caused by spoilage are signif icant and are one factor in the fluctuating prices of grains. But some grain molds can also pose a food- safety problem for bakers because, under certain conditions, they produce poisons called mycotoxins. More than 200 kinds of mycotoxins have been identified so far, and they contaminate a quarter of food crops globally, according to estimates by the Food and  Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ons. The most dangerous of these compounds are aflatoxins , which are made by the common  yellow-green molds Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. In high doses, aflatoxin B 1 can cause liver damage and immune problems. Aflatoxins are also among the most potent carcinogens yet identified, at least in lab animals. In the United States, the toxins most frequently ruin corn, nut, and peanut crops after harvest. A robust testing system ensures that foods containing unsafe amounts of mycotoxins are thrown out, but losses are so frequent and severe in warmer climates that  Aspergillus effectively dictates where in the United States these crops can and cannot be grown economically. Unfortunately, there is no practical method  yet for reliably protecting crops against contamicontamination by  Aspergillus molds, which are virtually ubiquitous. For wheat, barley, and rye, the main threat is scab, a head blight produced by Fusarium graminearum and other species in this genus. In addition to reducing crop yields due to the disease, this

mold can produce toxins known as trichothecenes. One of these, called  vomitoxin, is just as unpleasant as it sounds. Ingesting a large amount of the toxin, which is also known as deoxynivalenol, or DON, causes the rapid onset of gastrointestinal distress and illness, headache, dizziness, and fever.  As with aflatoxins, scrupulous screeni ng of grain supplies has largely prevented human illness from these mycotoxins in Europe and North A merica, though the blight has claimed w heat crops from North Dakota to North Carolina. In addition, outbreaks have occurred in Asia and Africa. Several species of Aspergillus molds produce ochratoxins when they infect corn, barley, wheat, oat, or rye. Ochratoxin A—secreted by species including A. niger , the same mold used to make citric acid—is known to cause k idney damage and poses a cancer risk. Penicillium molds, which are usually thought of as helpful or innocuous (they are used, for example, to make penicillin and blue cheeses), are another source of ochratoxins. And  both Aspergillus and Penicillium molds also secrete

citrinin , a mycotoxin linked to kidney disease.

Fortunately, ochratoxins and citrinin appear to be quite rare in grains produced in the United States. Unfortunately, mycotoxins are remarkably heat resistant, and most can retain t heir poisonous eff ects ev en when cook ed to 121^ 121^ / 250|—  well above the peak internal temperature in a fully  baked loaf of bread. bread. So the best protection protection against them is to buy flour and grains from reputable,  well-managed vendors who comply comply with all government regulations on grain handling, storage, and testing. The rules are designed to ensure that contaminants remain below levels established as safe for human consumption. BREAD G ONE  B AD

Mold does terrible things to the f lavor of breads, and that’s no doubt one of the main reasons that people generally don’t get sick from eating moldy  bread—bread gone gone bad is pretty easy to to avoid. It helps, too, that few molds are able to infect healt hy people. Some do, of course: most adults

A galaxy of spores erupts from moldy bread when it is given a gentle tap. Molds get around by producing tiny spores that waft through the air. The spores produced by Puccinia graminis, graminis, which causes black stem rust in wheat, can drift on the winds for more than 3,000 km / 1,860 mi, carrying the disease from the Deep South of the United States all the way through the Midwest and up to Canada. Spore collectors mounted on airplanes have shown that airborne fungi are able to cross oceans, drifting on the winds from one continent to another.

The waterborne fungus Phytophthorainfestans caused the Irish potato blight of 1845–1847 that— exacerbated by unconscionable mismanagement on the part of the government—led to famine and a diaspora that together halved the population of Ireland (see page 110). Plasmopara viticola, viticola, a fungus that causes grapevine downy mildew, wiped out the vineyards of Europe in the 1870s.

   m    d     F   r  o    t   a   n    y    a    g      H  e    E   n  e   r

EVEN BETTER WHEN BROWNED The best invention since sliced bread? Maybe not, but the modern toaster can sure make sliced breads taste better. Before Alan MacMasters invented the electric toaster in Scotland in the late 1890s—as one of the first uses of household electricity other than lighting, pre ceded only slightly by the electric kettle—unattended toasting had relied mostly on convective heating. Toasters for woodstoves tilted bread over a vented metal can; hot air pouring through the vents washed over the bread, browning it. But MacMasters’s idea of using a red-hot element, combined with the later addition by others of a pop-up spring and timer, transformed toasting into an exercise in irradiation. Greater convenience and reproducible results, however, came at a price: toast made by infrared heating is susceptible to a positive feedback effect, so it doesn’t brown as evenly as bread toasted by convection or conduction. For a practical guide to making perfect toast, see page 3·434. Inventors have patented ideas for appliances that could monitor how toasted the bread is by using ionizing sensors—much like those in smoke detectors—to detect some of the invisible particles that waft from the bread as it bakes. Those smart toasters might be able to adapt automatically to bread slices of different colors, thicknesses, moisture levels, and starting temperatures. But cost may be an obstacle: years after the patents were filed, even high-end toasters still lack a sense of smell.

Red-hot heating elements throw off a little red light—and far greater amounts of infrared radiation—when a strong electrical current passes through them. The wires, typically made of a nickel–chromium alloy known as nichrome, can reach temperatures above 1, 000^ / 1, 830|, well into the range where radiation dominates heat transfer. Because nearly all the toasting work is done by radiation, not hot air, toasters that have reflective interiors will be more efficient and toast the bread more evenly.

Gravity takes its share of the bread as crumbs inevitably fall to the bottom and, because of their high surface-tovolume ratio, soon char. Much of the appealing aroma of toasting bread typically comes as much from the crumbs stuck in the machine as from the slice. Burnt crumbs don’t smell so nice, however, so it’s a good idea to empty the tray frequently.

The steam that comes off bread as it toasts is invisible, but the hot water vapor often quickly condenses in the cooler kitchen air into visible wisps of fog. The surface of the slice must dry— which means the water in it must boil off into steam—before the bread can brown. As long as substantial moisture remains in the bread, the arriving heat goes into boiling that water rather than raising the temperature of the solid part. When the water is mostly gone, the temperature can climb into the range, around 150^ /300|, where browning gets going in earnest.

White bread turns toasty brown as its temperature rises above 130^ /265| or so, into the range where Maillard reactions—and also caramelization, for sweet breads—transform breads—transform sugars and proteins into an array of aromatic and increasingly dark compounds. The darker the shade, the less incoming radiation is reflected and the more the heat gets absorbed. This positive feedback mechanism, known in physics as the albedo effect, is one of the reasons that toasting is tricky: the transformation proceeds slowly until darkening begins, and then it accelerates, leaving a narrow window of time between too little toasted and too much.

Radiative toasting tends to darken bread unevenly compared with toast made conductively (on a griddle) or convectively by using hot air. Some parts of the bread inevitably contain more moisture than others, so they are slow to dry out and darken. And the toaster’s wire cage and support elements block some of the infrared rays, casting shadows that leave some spots on the slice slightly cooler than others. These small differences get amplified as the hottest spots darken and the toasting accelerates.

Controlling the degree of toasting is nearly impossible to do precisely with most toasters. There are simply too many variations among different breads—even different slices taken from the same loaf on different days will vary—to predict how the bread will respond to radiative heating. The color, cut, thickness, fat content, moisture content, starting temperature, and ambient humidity all affect the outcome.

4 2

   m    d     F   r  o    t   a   n    y    a    g      H  e    E   n  e   r The steam that comes off bread as it toasts is invisible, but the hot water vapor often quickly condenses in the cooler kitchen air into visible wisps of fog. The surface of the slice must dry— which means the water in it must boil off into steam—before the bread can brown. As long as substantial moisture remains in the bread, the arriving heat goes into boiling that water rather than raising the temperature of the solid part. When the water is mostly gone, the temperature can climb into the range, around 150^ /300|, where browning gets going in earnest.

EVEN BETTER WHEN BROWNED The best invention since sliced bread? Maybe not, but the modern toaster can sure make sliced breads taste better. Before Alan MacMasters invented the electric toaster in Scotland in the late 1890s—as one of the first uses of household electricity other than lighting, pre ceded only slightly by the electric kettle—unattended toasting had relied mostly on convective heating. Toasters for woodstoves tilted bread over a vented metal can; hot air pouring through the vents washed over the bread, browning it. But MacMasters’s idea of using a red-hot element, combined with the later addition by others of a pop-up spring and timer, transformed toasting into an exercise in irradiation. Greater convenience and reproducible results, however, came at a price: toast made by infrared heating is susceptible to a positive feedback effect, so it doesn’t brown as evenly as bread toasted by convection or conduction. For a practical guide to making perfect toast, see page 3·434.

4 2

White bread turns toasty brown as its temperature rises above 130^ /265| or so, into the range where Maillard reactions—and also caramelization, for sweet breads—transform breads—transform sugars and proteins into an array of aromatic and increasingly dark compounds. The darker the shade, the less incoming radiation is reflected and the more the heat gets absorbed. This positive feedback mechanism, known in physics as the albedo effect, is one of the reasons that toasting is tricky: the transformation proceeds slowly until darkening begins, and then it accelerates, leaving a narrow window of time between too little toasted and too much.

Radiative toasting tends to darken bread unevenly compared with toast made conductively (on a griddle) or convectively by using hot air. Some parts of the bread inevitably contain more moisture than others, so they are slow to dry out and darken. And the toaster’s wire cage and support elements block some of the infrared rays, casting shadows that leave some spots on the slice slightly cooler than others. These small differences get amplified as the hottest spots darken and the toasting accelerates.

Inventors have patented ideas for appliances that could monitor how toasted the bread is by using ionizing sensors—much like those in smoke detectors—to detect some of the invisible particles that waft from the bread as it bakes. Those smart toasters might be able to adapt automatically to bread slices of different colors, thicknesses, moisture levels, and starting temperatures. But cost may be an obstacle: years after the patents were filed, even high-end toasters still lack a sense of smell.

Red-hot heating elements throw off a little red light—and far greater amounts of infrared radiation—when a strong electrical current passes through them. The wires, typically made of a nickel–chromium alloy known as nichrome, can reach temperatures above 1, 000^ / 1, 830|, well into the range where radiation dominates heat transfer. Because nearly all the toasting work is done by radiation, not hot air, toasters that have reflective interiors will be more efficient and toast the bread more evenly.

Controlling the degree of toasting is nearly impossible to do precisely with most toasters. There are simply too many variations among different breads—even different slices taken from the same loaf on different days will vary—to predict how the bread will respond to radiative heating. The color, cut, thickness, fat content, moisture content, starting temperature, and ambient humidity all affect the outcome.

Gravity takes its share of the bread as crumbs inevitably fall to the bottom and, because of their high surface-tovolume ratio, soon char. Much of the appealing aroma of toasting bread typically comes as much from the crumbs stuck in the machine as from the slice. Burnt crumbs don’t smell so nice, however, so it’s a good idea to empty the tray frequently.

   m     F   r  o   a    k    i   n   g    d     M    r  e   a     B

6 SURPRISING SCIENCE

Density Comparison

Bread Is Lighter Than Whipped Cream The heading above is surprising but true, and you can test it yourself: put 1 L of whipped cream on the left pan of a balance scale and a 1 L brioche on the right. The scale will tip to the left. The demonstration is hard to believe because it violates our expectation that a foam should be lighter than a solid. But bread is also a foam—it is just a  set  foam.   foam. The brioche’s crust is solid enough, but the crumb inside is mostly air. This simple comparison illustrates that the density of bread— that is, its mass divided by its volume—is less than that of almost any other kind of food. Ciabatta, baguette, brioche, sandwich bread, and other common yeast breads typically have a density of just 0.22–0.25 g/cm3. Whipped cream, by comparison, has a density of 0.49 g/cm 3. A liter of whipped cream thus weighs twice as much as a brioche of equal volume! Bread seems denser than it is in large part because its

mass is not evenly distributed: a crunchy baguette crust, which resists cutting and chewing, is 50%–100% more dense than the crumb. The crust is about as dense as pinewood (and whipped cream), whereas the density of the crumb is more like that of cork. But if the crust is as dense as whipped cream, why does crust feel heavier? The short answer is that the chemistry of these two foams differs. To bite through bread (a set foam), you have to tear apart strong chemical bonds among adjacent molecules. But to eat whipped cream (a colloidal foam), you merely have to push adjacent particles apart. Intuitively, you might expect that airier breads, such as a baguette, are less dense than loaves that have a tighter crumb, such as pumpernickel and other rye breads. And, in fact, that’s true, as the chart (at right) shows.

g/cm3 0

sea sponge, 0.02

0.1 sandwich bread, 0.23

French lean bread, 0.25

0.2

egg-white foam, 0.13 balsa wood, 0.15

0.3

cork, 0.21 0.4 pine charcoal, 0.35 steamed bun, 0.40

brioche, 0.27

0.5 Whipped cream has a reputation for being light and airy, but it’s about twice as dense as a brioche. To demonstrate this using a scale, we baked a loaf of brioche in a 1 L container and carefully shaved off the extra bits that rose above the lip. Meanwhile, we filled a 1 L acetate-lined container with whipped cream, froze it, and then gently peeled off the acetate.

0.6

apple, 0.46

proofed lean dough, 0.47 whipped cream, 0.49

0.7 100 Ă  rye, 0.58 0.8

red pine, 0.51 0.9 vollkornbrot ,

olive oil, 0.92

0.71

1.0

1.1 wheat kernel, 1.25 1.2 pumpernickel, 1.09

   m     F   r  o   a    k    i   n   g    d     M    r  e   a     B

6 SURPRISING SCIENCE

Density Comparison

Bread Is Lighter Than Whipped Cream The heading above is surprising but true, and you can test it yourself: put 1 L of whipped cream on the left pan of a balance scale and a 1 L brioche on the right. The scale will tip to the left. The demonstration is hard to believe because it violates our expectation that a foam should be lighter than a solid. But bread is also a foam—it is just a  set  foam.   foam. The brioche’s crust is solid enough, but the crumb inside is mostly air. This simple comparison illustrates that the density of bread— that is, its mass divided by its volume—is less than that of almost any other kind of food. Ciabatta, baguette, brioche, sandwich bread, and other common yeast breads typically have a density of just 0.22–0.25 g/cm3. Whipped cream, by comparison, has a density of 0.49 g/cm 3. A liter of whipped cream thus weighs twice as much as a brioche of equal volume! Bread seems denser than it is in large part because its

mass is not evenly distributed: a crunchy baguette crust, which resists cutting and chewing, is 50%–100% more dense than the crumb. The crust is about as dense as pinewood (and whipped cream), whereas the density of the crumb is more like that of cork. But if the crust is as dense as whipped cream, why does crust feel heavier? The short answer is that the chemistry of these two foams differs. To bite through bread (a set foam), you have to tear apart strong chemical bonds among adjacent molecules. But to eat whipped cream (a colloidal foam), you merely have to push adjacent particles apart. Intuitively, you might expect that airier breads, such as a baguette, are less dense than loaves that have a tighter crumb, such as pumpernickel and other rye breads. And, in fact, that’s true, as the chart (at right) shows.

g/cm3 0

sea sponge, 0.02

0.1 sandwich bread, 0.23

French lean bread, 0.25

0.2

egg-white foam, 0.13 balsa wood, 0.15

0.3

cork, 0.21 0.4 pine charcoal, 0.35 steamed bun, 0.40

brioche, 0.27

0.5 Whipped cream has a reputation for being light and airy, but it’s about twice as dense as a brioche. To demonstrate this using a scale, we baked a loaf of brioche in a 1 L container and carefully shaved off the extra bits that rose above the lip. Meanwhile, we filled a 1 L acetate-lined container with whipped cream, froze it, and then gently peeled off the acetate.

0.6

apple, 0.46

proofed lean dough, 0.47 whipped cream, 0.49

0.7 100 Ă  rye, 0.58 0.8

red pine, 0.51 0.9 vollkornbrot ,

0.71

1.0

olive oil, 0.92

1.1 wheat kernel, 1.25 1.2 pumpernickel, 1.09

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   m     F   r  o   r   a    i   n   s    G

7

THE HARVESTING PROCESS Farmers get just a few cents per pound of wheat that’s harvested, so they want to har vest economically. Combine Combine harvesters require large capital investments, but they’re essentially efficient rolling factories that harvest and thresh the

wheat. A combine can harvest 900 bushels of corn in a n hour. The rolling hills of the Palouse region of Washington state (pictured below) are prime wheat country, even though when you think of wheat, you’re more likely to think of the Midwest.

A combine harvester cuts the wheat and sucks it through a threshing mechanism that separates out the kernels and spits them into a holding tank while blowing the chaff out the back of the machine. Today, a combine operator needs less farm know-how

and more computer literacy. The job involves monitoring an onboard screen that does everything from tracking engine performance to verifying that the threshing mechanism is operating properly.

From the combine, the wheat is dumped into the grain cart. Some grain carts can hold as many as 2,000 bushels. The work of harvesting requires team effort. During harvest, enormous seed trucks are at the ready, waiting to be filled from the grain carts. They look like big, lumbering machines, but they get the job done—once they’re filled, they speed the grain to its destination.

Some farmers have local storage facilities where they can hold the grain until they can get the price they want. Others ship it directly to a local elevator, where it’s stored temporarily before being transported to a larger facility or a mill.

Companies are developing robotic technology for many aspects of farming. Farmers in Japan have used small radio-controlled crop-dusting helicopters for years.

   m     F   r  o   r   a    i   n   s    G

7

THE HARVESTING PROCESS Farmers get just a few cents per pound of wheat that’s harvested, so they want to har vest economically. Combine Combine harvesters require large capital investments, but they’re essentially efficient rolling factories that harvest and thresh the

wheat. A combine can harvest 900 bushels of corn in a n hour. The rolling hills of the Palouse region of Washington state (pictured below) are prime wheat country, even though when you think of wheat, you’re more likely to think of the Midwest.

A combine harvester cuts the wheat and sucks it through a threshing mechanism that separates out the kernels and spits them into a holding tank while blowing the chaff out the back of the machine. Today, a combine operator needs less farm know-how

and more computer literacy. The job involves monitoring an onboard screen that does everything from tracking engine performance to verifying that the threshing mechanism is operating properly.

From the combine, the wheat is dumped into the grain cart. Some grain carts can hold as many as 2,000 bushels. The work of harvesting requires team effort. During harvest, enormous seed trucks are at the ready, waiting to be filled from the grain carts. They look like big, lumbering machines, but they get the job done—once they’re filled, they speed the grain to its destination.

Some farmers have local storage facilities where they can hold the grain until they can get the price they want. Others ship it directly to a local elevator, where it’s stored temporarily before being transported to a larger facility or a mill.

Companies are developing robotic technology for many aspects of farming. Farmers in Japan have used small radio-controlled crop-dusting helicopters for years.

   m     F   r  o    l  o   u   r     F

WHEAT ANATOMY

8

WHAT IS FLOUR?

Wheat is a type of grass that grows in long stalks, with bristly heads. The bristly part is called the spike. It’s what helped the wild wheat plant propagate because the spike would break

apart, and its seeds would disperse with the wind. Spikes can also stick to the coats of animals, which would deliver them to new locations. And thus, wheat, like many grasses, spread.

Head

The awn is the slender strand that extends from the seed. It’s what gives wheat its hairy appearance.

Spike

two parts. You get the bran and germ when you buy wholegrain flour. The anatomy of the wheat kernel is discussed below.

Whole kernel: botanists call this the caryopsis; in grocery stores, it might be called a wheat berry, but here we call it a wheat kernel. When we talk about whole wheat flour, this is what we’re talking about—whole wheat kernels that are milled, often in separate streams; recombined; and then bagged up for sale, including the germ, bran, and endosperm. You’re getting the whole grain, with each of the three components in the same proportions as they were found in the farmer’s field.

Spikelet

Awn

Before we get into the process of milling, we’ll start with some basics. Grain is made of three main part s: germ, bran, and endosperm. The vast majority of flour on the market is made from the endosperm, which is softer and whiter than the other

Bran: during milling, the bran is removed from the whole grain. It can be sold separately, but it can also be mixed back in with the endosperm and germ to make whole wheat flour. The sharp edges of the bran, and its capacity for water absorption, are detrimental to loaf volume (see Why Does Bran Make Bread Dense?

2nd g lume

1st g lume

The glumes act as husks that protect the seed.

The caryopsis is the one-seeded one-seed ed fruit of the plant. Colloquially, it is often referred to as kernel, grain, or berry. Endosperm: pick up a bag of refined flour anywhere in the world, and you’re picking up a bag mostly filled with endosperm. That’s partly because grain itself is mostly endosperm. It’s also because the starchy endosperm creates the flour that appeals to consumers and bakers, so it’s the desired product of most mills. If you’re buying bread flour, enriched flour, high-gluten flour, or any kind of flour other than that labeled “whole wheat” or “high-extraction,” the endosperm is what you’re getting.

Caryopsis

Brush Leaf  Endosperm

Bran

Stalk

Germ: the germ is the embryo of the living grain. This part is often separated out in milling because the fat content in the germ makes the flour go rancid. Sometimes, it’s sold separately as wheat germ. Other times, it’s mixed back in with the rest of the flour to make whole wheat flour.

Germ Germ Palea (upper hull) Lemma (lowerhull)

Wheat’s germ is often processed separately from the rest of the grain ( left and in close-up at center ). ). The germ’s oil can also be extracted ( right right). ).

Endosperm

Wheat flour imaged by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

   m     F   r  o    l  o   u   r     F

WHEAT ANATOMY

8

WHAT IS FLOUR?

Wheat is a type of grass that grows in long stalks, with bristly heads. The bristly part is called the spike. It’s what helped the wild wheat plant propagate because the spike would break

apart, and its seeds would disperse with the wind. Spikes can also stick to the coats of animals, which would deliver them to new locations. And thus, wheat, like many grasses, spread.

Head

The awn is the slender strand that extends from the seed. It’s what gives wheat its hairy appearance.

Spike

two parts. You get the bran and germ when you buy wholegrain flour. The anatomy of the wheat kernel is discussed below.

Whole kernel: botanists call this the caryopsis; in grocery stores, it might be called a wheat berry, but here we call it a wheat kernel. When we talk about whole wheat flour, this is what we’re talking about—whole wheat kernels that are milled, often in separate streams; recombined; and then bagged up for sale, including the germ, bran, and endosperm. You’re getting the whole grain, with each of the three components in the same proportions as they were found in the farmer’s field.

Spikelet

Awn

Before we get into the process of milling, we’ll start with some basics. Grain is made of three main part s: germ, bran, and endosperm. The vast majority of flour on the market is made from the endosperm, which is softer and whiter than the other

Bran: during milling, the bran is removed from the whole grain. It can be sold separately, but it can also be mixed back in with the endosperm and germ to make whole wheat flour. The sharp edges of the bran, and its capacity for water absorption, are detrimental to loaf volume (see Why Does Bran Make Bread Dense?

2nd g lume

1st g lume

The glumes act as husks that protect the seed.

The caryopsis is the one-seeded one-seed ed fruit of the plant. Colloquially, it is often referred to as kernel, grain, or berry. Endosperm: pick up a bag of refined flour anywhere in the world, and you’re picking up a bag mostly filled with endosperm. That’s partly because grain itself is mostly endosperm. It’s also because the starchy endosperm creates the flour that appeals to consumers and bakers, so it’s the desired product of most mills. If you’re buying bread flour, enriched flour, high-gluten flour, or any kind of flour other than that labeled “whole wheat” or “high-extraction,” the endosperm is what you’re getting.

Caryopsis

Brush Leaf  Endosperm

Bran

Stalk

Germ: the germ is the embryo of the living grain. This part is often separated out in milling because the fat content in the germ makes the flour go rancid. Sometimes, it’s sold separately as wheat germ. Other times, it’s mixed back in with the rest of the flour to make whole wheat flour.

Germ Germ Palea (upper hull) Lemma (lowerhull)

Wheat’s germ is often processed separately from the rest of the grain ( left and in close-up at center ). ). The germ’s oil can also be extracted ( right right). ).

Endosperm

Wheat flour imaged by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

   m     F   r  o    i   x    i   n   g      M

13

STAND MIXER The stand mixer is a small version of a planetary mixer that can comfortably sit on any work sur face, occupying minimal space. We recommend these mixers for home use and small restaurant production. The pluses are clear: they’re comparatively economical; many small repair shops can fix broken part s if needed; and they can per form various functions besides mixing. Their manufacturers offer many attachments (sold separately) that can use the spinning motor to sheet pasta dough, grind meat, mill gr ains into flour, and chop vegetables; these attachments make the stand mixer a versatile tool. In addition to having the same mixing attachments as planetary mixers (hook, paddle, and whip), stand mixers have a broad range of speed options, from very slow to very fast. The downside is that the motors of these machines are often not powerf ul enough for some drier doughs, such as our bagel dough on page 322, and the dough capacity i s relatively limited. The latter limitation is acceptable if you’re making just enough dough to use at home, but it is a short coming for bakers interested in large batches. These mixers tend to move around the table as they mix, so keep an eye on them or they may fall. (Some crafty bakers place a jar-lid gripper or damp towel underneath them to keep them from moving too much. We use clamps or a bungee cord to solidly anchor them.)

A horizontal hub on some stand mixers adds an extra degree of versatility. Power from the motor shaft can be delivered directly through this port to juicers, pasta makers, graters, slicers, and other laborsaving gadgets. Although a mixer doesn’t spin as fast as a food processor, it can stand in for that appliance on many low-speed jobs.

A series of gears converts the horizontal rotation of the motor shaft into a combination of rotation and revolution around a vertical axis. This lower arrangement is called a planetary gear because the motion of the beater shaft resembles the rotation and orbit of a planet around its star.

The beater shaft is the business end of the mixer. Vertically spinning attachments such as a hook, paddle, or whisk fit onto this pin and lock in place against the raised button.

The more powerful the motor, the better. Motors are rated in watts (W) or horsepower (HP), with 1 HP = 746 W . But only about a third of the rated motor power actually makes it to the bowl. A 1.3 HP mixer, for example, typically delivers around 0.44 HP to the food. The rest of the power is lost to heat and the gearing system. As a result, the metal case surrounding the motor can get uncomfortably hot after the motor has run for a while.

A speed sensor monitors the motor shaft and transmits information about the rate of rotation to the control board.

A spring-loaded lever lifts the bowl and locks it into the proper position for mixing.

A hook can take much of the manual labor out of mixing to full gluten development. The hook works just fine on sticky doughs (although you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically). So the mixer can often complete mixing without adding flour, as you would have to do with hand mixing.

Flat Fl at be beate aterr (p (pad addl dle) e)

Flex Fl ex-ed -edge ge be beate aterr

Wire Wi re wh whis iskk

The paddle is useful when there is too little dough for a hook attachment to “catch” it, while the flex-edge beater scrapes the sides of the bowl. We sometimes start mixing with the paddle and then switch to the hook after obtaining a homogeneous mass. We also use the paddle for doughs that are made up of mostly rye flour. The wire whisk is used to whip air into mixtures, such as the meringue used to garnish the Tarte Tropezzienne on page 288.

The mixing bowl has a large dimple on the bottom to prevent food from getting stuck, unmixed, in the center as the stirring attachment makes its orbit. Clearances between the bowl and stirring utensil are typically quite close, so a dented bowl can cause problems. Steel bowls are not as robust as they might seem; a fall to the floor can easily ruin one. The Ankarsrum mixer is not very common, but we like it for our glutenfree breads in particular and for mixing other paste doughs such as 100  Ă  rye breads. It has one arm that performs the mixing and another that scrapes the bowl, making for a very efficient mix. Also, because the bowl itself is spinning, which translates to an open top unobstructed by the motor housing that most stand mixers have, the extra open space makes it easy to pour ingredients into the bowl.

   m     F   r  o    i   x    i   n   g      M

13

STAND MIXER The stand mixer is a small version of a planetary mixer that can comfortably sit on any work sur face, occupying minimal space. We recommend these mixers for home use and small restaurant production. The pluses are clear: they’re comparatively economical; many small repair shops can fix broken part s if needed; and they can per form various functions besides mixing. Their manufacturers offer many attachments (sold separately) that can use the spinning motor to sheet pasta dough, grind meat, mill gr ains into flour, and chop vegetables; these attachments make the stand mixer a versatile tool. In addition to having the same mixing attachments as planetary mixers (hook, paddle, and whip), stand mixers have a broad range of speed options, from very slow to very fast. The downside is that the motors of these machines are often not powerf ul enough for some drier doughs, such as our bagel dough on page 322, and the dough capacity i s relatively limited. The latter limitation is acceptable if you’re making just enough dough to use at home, but it is a short coming for bakers interested in large batches. These mixers tend to move around the table as they mix, so keep an eye on them or they may fall. (Some crafty bakers place a jar-lid gripper or damp towel underneath them to keep them from moving too much. We use clamps or a bungee cord to solidly anchor them.)

A horizontal hub on some stand mixers adds an extra degree of versatility. Power from the motor shaft can be delivered directly through this port to juicers, pasta makers, graters, slicers, and other laborsaving gadgets. Although a mixer doesn’t spin as fast as a food processor, it can stand in for that appliance on many low-speed jobs.

The more powerful the motor, the better. Motors are rated in watts (W) or horsepower (HP), with 1 HP = 746 W . But only about a third of the rated motor power actually makes it to the bowl. A 1.3 HP mixer, for example, typically delivers around 0.44 HP to the food. The rest of the power is lost to heat and the gearing system. As a result, the metal case surrounding the motor can get uncomfortably hot after the motor has run for a while.

A series of gears converts the horizontal rotation of the motor shaft into a combination of rotation and revolution around a vertical axis. This lower arrangement is called a planetary gear because the motion of the beater shaft resembles the rotation and orbit of a planet around its star.

A speed sensor monitors the motor shaft and transmits information about the rate of rotation to the control board.

The beater shaft is the business end of the mixer. Vertically spinning attachments such as a hook, paddle, or whisk fit onto this pin and lock in place against the raised button.

A spring-loaded lever lifts the bowl and locks it into the proper position for mixing.

A hook can take much of the manual labor out of mixing to full gluten development. The hook works just fine on sticky doughs (although you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically). So the mixer can often complete mixing without adding flour, as you would have to do with hand mixing.

Flat Fl at be beate aterr (p (pad addl dle) e)

Flex Fl ex-ed -edge ge be beate aterr

Wire Wi re wh whis iskk

The mixing bowl has a large dimple on the bottom to prevent food from getting stuck, unmixed, in the center as the stirring attachment makes its orbit. Clearances between the bowl and stirring utensil are typically quite close, so a dented bowl can cause problems. Steel bowls are not as robust as they might seem; a fall to the floor can easily ruin one. The Ankarsrum mixer is not very common, but we like it for our glutenfree breads in particular and for mixing other paste doughs such as 100  Ă  rye breads. It has one arm that performs the mixing and another that scrapes the bowl, making for a very efficient mix. Also, because the bowl itself is spinning, which translates to an open top unobstructed by the motor housing that most stand mixers have, the extra open space makes it easy to pour ingredients into the bowl.

The paddle is useful when there is too little dough for a hook attachment to “catch” it, while the flex-edge beater scrapes the sides of the bowl. We sometimes start mixing with the paddle and then switch to the hook after obtaining a homogeneous mass. We also use the paddle for doughs that are made up of mostly rye flour. The wire whisk is used to whip air into mixtures, such as the meringue used to garnish the Tarte Tropezzienne on page 288.

   m    n   d     F   r  o    i   n   g    a   n   g     d     i     i     i   v     h   a   p     D     S

HOW TO Divide and Weigh Your Dough This is the most common method used by home bakers as well as professionals because it’s also the most economical in terms of equipment; it requires only a bench knife and a scale. As your output increases, the process of dividing and weighing dough takes more time, which means that precision and efficiency become all t he more important. We focus on dividing dough by hand in this particular section, but we discuss various machines used for dividing dough on page 139. We prefer to use a square or rectangular tub for storing dough because once the dough settles into the container, it will generally take the tub’s shape, unless it’s a st iff dough with low hydration. (Typically, a dough of 70% hydration or higher will settle into the shape of the tub.) For easier handling, we also suggest lightly oiling the inside

1

Decide beforehand about the type of loaves you’ll ultimately shape and bake—and about the number of loaves you can make in sync with the recipe.

2

Transfer the dough from the tub onto a lightly floured surface, handling it gently so that it retains the shape of its container.

3

Mentally assess how you’ll divide the dough as shown by the guidelines at right.

14

HOW TO Divide Dough for a Particular Shape of any storage container. When a settled dough is then turned out onto a lightly floured surface, it maintains the shape of its container. The square or rectangular shape also makes it easier to divide the dough into equal pieces. It is important for the dough to be relatively flat and uniformly thick—large variations in either aspect will make the dough hard to divide evenly. If the rect angle is uneven in thickness, fold it over onto itself. This is the best way of evening out the thickness of a dough. The part of the dough that is in contact with t he work surface is the smoothest (the most uniform). Keep this smooth side facing the worktable at all times until you are ready to preshape, at which time you will turn the dough over. You’ll want to work with a clean, sharp bench knife because it will cut your dough rather than tear it. Have your scale handy.

Beyond cutting your block of dough evenly, you should also decide what shape you’ll be forming it into. It helps to cut a preliminary form that will make it easier to shape the dough for a particular loaf. For

a

Ideally, the closer you can get to cutting square pieces of dough, the better off you’ll be for shaping round loaves.

example, if you want to shape round loaves (boules), divide your dough as illustrated in (a) rather than dividing it into long rectangles as illustrated in (b).

b

Cutting long, narrow shapes would not work well for making boules but is best for making long, narrow loaves such as ciabatta.

4 worry if the dough degasses when you cut through it; that’s not uncommon.)

Use your bench knife to cut cleanly through the dough, all the way to the work surface. (Don’t

c

5

Immediately weigh the cut piece of dough as you go to make sure it is the correct weight before cutting a new piece. Doing so can help reduce the number of hand movements and also make the process of dividing dough more efficient.

6 “harvest” from, or use it to make extra

Reserve one piece of dough that you can pieces of dough you can add to the main piece if needed. Don’t stack the extra pieces on top of each other on the main dough; spread them out.

For oval loaves (bâtards), you’ll want to cut the dough into short rectangles, as shown in (c).

7

Keep track of the order in which you cut and weigh all the pieces of dough. You’ll eventually want to shape each piece in the order that you cut it.

8 or tarp so that it doesn’t form a skin.

Cover your dough with a clean plastic bag

d

9 utes before you preshape it.

Let your dough rest, covered, for 10–15 min-

For rolls, divide the dough into long, even strips, as illustrated in (b). Then cut the long strips into small squares, as shown in (d). Rolls are typically small in terms of size and, therefore, weight. For baguettes, you will also need squares, albeit larger ones than those used for rolls.

   m    n   d     F   r  o    i   n   g    a   n   g     d     i     i    v     i     h   a   p     D     S

HOW TO Divide and Weigh Your Dough This is the most common method used by home bakers as well as professionals because it’s also the most economical in terms of equipment; it requires only a bench knife and a scale. As your output increases, the process of dividing and weighing dough takes more time, which means that precision and efficiency become all t he more important. We focus on dividing dough by hand in this particular section, but we discuss various machines used for dividing dough on page 139. We prefer to use a square or rectangular tub for storing dough because once the dough settles into the container, it will generally take the tub’s shape, unless it’s a st iff dough with low hydration. (Typically, a dough of 70% hydration or higher will settle into the shape of the tub.) For easier handling, we also suggest lightly oiling the inside

1

Decide beforehand about the type of loaves you’ll ultimately shape and bake—and about the number of loaves you can make in sync with the recipe.

2

Transfer the dough from the tub onto a lightly floured surface, handling it gently so that it retains the shape of its container.

3

Mentally assess how you’ll divide the dough as shown by the guidelines at right.

14

HOW TO Divide Dough for a Particular Shape of any storage container. When a settled dough is then turned out onto a lightly floured surface, it maintains the shape of its container. The square or rectangular shape also makes it easier to divide the dough into equal pieces. It is important for the dough to be relatively flat and uniformly thick—large variations in either aspect will make the dough hard to divide evenly. If the rect angle is uneven in thickness, fold it over onto itself. This is the best way of evening out the thickness of a dough. The part of the dough that is in contact with t he work surface is the smoothest (the most uniform). Keep this smooth side facing the worktable at all times until you are ready to preshape, at which time you will turn the dough over. You’ll want to work with a clean, sharp bench knife because it will cut your dough rather than tear it. Have your scale handy.

Beyond cutting your block of dough evenly, you should also decide what shape you’ll be forming it into. It helps to cut a preliminary form that will make it easier to shape the dough for a particular loaf. For

a

example, if you want to shape round loaves (boules), divide your dough as illustrated in (a) rather than dividing it into long rectangles as illustrated in (b).

b

Ideally, the closer you can get to cutting square pieces of dough, the better off you’ll be for shaping round loaves.

Cutting long, narrow shapes would not work well for making boules but is best for making long, narrow loaves such as ciabatta.

4 worry if the dough degasses when you cut through it; that’s not uncommon.)

Use your bench knife to cut cleanly through the dough, all the way to the work surface. (Don’t

c

5

Immediately weigh the cut piece of dough as you go to make sure it is the correct weight before cutting a new piece. Doing so can help reduce the number of hand movements and also make the process of dividing dough more efficient.

d

6 “harvest” from, or use it to make extra

Reserve one piece of dough that you can pieces of dough you can add to the main piece if needed. Don’t stack the extra pieces on top of each other on the main dough; spread them out.

For oval loaves (bâtards), you’ll want to cut the dough into short rectangles, as shown in (c).

7

Keep track of the order in which you cut and weigh all the pieces of dough. You’ll eventually want to shape each piece in the order that you cut it.

8

Cover your dough with a clean plastic bag or tarp so that it doesn’t form a skin.

9

Let your dough rest, covered, for 10–15 minutes before you preshape it.

For rolls, divide the dough into long, even strips, as illustrated in (b). Then cut the long strips into small squares, as shown in (d). Rolls are typically small in terms of size and, therefore, weight. For baguettes, you will also need squares, albeit larger ones than those used for rolls.

   m   o   f    i   n   g      F   r  o    P   r  o   o     l    a     F    i   n

HOW BUBBLES GROW IN DOUGH Mixing infuses thousands of tiny air bubbles into dough (see page 82). As the dough ferments and proofs, the bubbles expand. Each bubble behaves like a little gluten balloon that inflates as gases of several kinds seep into the interior and then expand in response to the gas pressure. The bubbles continue

to grow during the initial stages of baking; they are what power the oven spring that enlarges the loaf. The pressurized bread then sets from the outside in. While the crust forms, reinforcing the final shape of the loaf, the pressure in each bubble rises to the bursting point.

Wheat dough rises so effectively because it contains gluten. Gluten is an elastic, viscous aggregate composed of several different kinds of proteins, most notably glutenins and gliadins. The longer glutenin pieces link up to each other via disulfide bonds to form strong, stretchy polymers. These interlinked strands are among the largest protein

molecules yet identified. More compact gliadin proteins allow the dough to flow like a fluid. The ratio of gliadins to glutenins in the flour has significant impact on the handling and rising characteristics of the dough, but it varies from among varieties of wheat and is difficult to measure or control. Disulfide bond

Glutenin

Gas bubble

Gluten

Gliadin

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) gives a microscopic look at a stretched piece of French lean dough. Oval granules of starch (colored purple) are trapped within the gluten network. For more on the inner workings of the SEM, see Electrons Reveal More Details.

Gases Starch granule

CO2

O2 Ethanol (C2H 6O)

N2

H2 O

Ethanol

CO2

34

A blend of gases inflates each bubble during proofing. Just after mixing, the bubbles mainly contain humid air, which includes nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O 2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor (H2O). Fermenting yeast add ethanol (C 2H6O) and lots more CO2 to the mix. The heat of baking boils water into steam, drives dissolved gases out of solution, and causes all Wheat bread is more like bubble these gases to expand. wrap than like beer foam. Bubble wrap can support a lot of weight without popping because the plastic in the bubble walls is both str ong and stretchy. The same is true of gluten, as illustrated by the experiment shown above. After proofing 250 g / 9 oz loaves of dough, we put metal plates weighing up to 2 kg / 4.41 lb on the H2O loaves, baked them, and then measured the volumes of the resulting breads. Amazingly, the weights hardly made a dent! Even the loaf carrying 2 kg / 4.41 lb on top reached 60% of normal volume.

VOLUME 3: TECHNIQUES AND EQUIPMENT

Bubbles can grow large in wheat bread (left ( left), ), thanks to its high gluten content. Rye bread (center  ( center ) contains practically no gluten, so it traps less gas and has a correspondingly tighter crumb. And in gluten-free bread ( right right), ), other ingredients, such as hydrocolloids, are typically added to retain gas—but so far none can match the stretchiness of gluten.