Bread Maker Machines – The Two Forgotten Ingredients for a perfect Loaf
| By John Ashley Stephens | Category: BlendersIn today's hectic world, many of us are victims of sacrificing high food quality for convenience. When it comes to bread, it shouldn't have to be. Breadmaker machines are one of the greatest inventions of the modern kitchen.
The bread maker machine is brilliant. it will make a loaf of bread in half the time it takes if you use the traditional methods. But there are some things they don't tell you in the recipe book. The Flour moisture content will vary depending on how old the flour is and the environment it is in. So no matter how you follow the recipe guide you will not get a perfect loaf every time. There is however two ingredients you can add that will give you a better chance of that perfect loaf.
wheat gluten protein: Not all of the flours have the same protein content. Bread flour has higher protein content than all-purpose flour and cake flour has even less. Bread flour cost more then all-purpose flour, but all-purpose flour works well for the production of bread, if you add gluten. Instead of buying different types of flour for every little thing they do, why not buy all-purpose flour and wheat gluten when making bread. It isn't expensive and you only used very little, about two teaspoons per bread, so that it will last for some time.
When adding wheat gluten to the bread maker machine i get the best result when i add it with the flour. The manufacturer recommends adding the water first before the flour. So once the flour is add i add wheat gluten this is so that the gluten can react with the flour and not before.
The secret ingredient is packaged dough conditioner. Various commercial bread improver's contain different ingredients - mostly a combination of wheat gluten, yeast and other chemicals such as ascorbic acid (a form of vitamin C), ammonium chloride, DATEM (an emulsifier), various salts of calcium, and sometimes soy.
It is a common problem with bread maker machines that have vertical pans to have a lighter crumb at the top of the loaf and a denser crumb at the bottom. Dough conditioners are here to help solve this problem by strengthening the texture and giving the bread a more consistent rise, leading to a more consistent crumb.
As with wheat gluten, you don't need much. A very tiny amount in fact. For a 1 and a 1/2 pound loaf, I find that a mere 1/4 teaspoon of dough conditioner is enough to give me the best results.
Whether it's wheat gluten or dough conditioner, you'll want to check the suggestions on the package for suggested amounts. With the dough conditioner, different brands will give you different results.
Learn more about Bread Maker Machines. Stop by John Ashley Stephens's site where you can find out all about Bread Makers and what it can do for you.
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