Keeping draughts off rising dough

[tombear]

My apologies if this has been mentioned before, possibly by me even....

If you have been having trouble getting your tinned loaves to rise before going into a dutch oven or similar despite it being plenty warm enough try slipping a hotel shower cap over the top to keep the draughts off.

This is the thing I mean

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100pcs-D...542893?hash=item3b0c4e84ed:g:-bsAAOSwawpXwP2I

But I just get the ones in little cardboard packets a couple at a time when herself has to stay in hotels for work.

Naturally you can't get them too close to a fire but then that wouldn't do for the yeast either. They can be reused several times, I dare say you can wash them if your so inclined, I just turn them inside and let them dry off.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm about to make hamburger buns to wrap around some free meat that I got.
I've always draped a sheet of some film cling-wrap over each pan or sheet of dough.
A little bit sticky and slow to pull off but it does the job.

It's so dry here that the dough would develop an ugly crust even before going into the oven.
The Tea-towel method was a disaster.

 

[Janne]

Tea towel works in dry environmrnt if you wet the dough surface by sprinkling water in it!

 

[Robson Valley]

Tombear's plan using the hotel shower caps is pretty much the equivalent to what I do but costs less.
I like the transparent film, I can watch. Using Tea towels means laundry and that means more work for me.

I know that there's 10,000 - 15,000 years of history in leavened breads.
I ranted and raved about the biochemistry in lectures for more than 30 years.
I still find the whole thing magically satisfying.

 

[KenThis]

I've had good results with pre dampened and scrunched up grease proof paper.
I find it doesn't stick as much as cling film and less laundry than tea towels.

 

[Toddy]

Neat idea, and portable.
At home, just put the bowl of dough into the microwave. It'll even take 10 second bursts to heat up very, very gently.
It's a closed, still, undisturbed place, and you can make it gently steamy quite easily with a mug of water beforehand.
Besides, it clears the worktop / table too

 

[Bionic]

Neat idea, and portable.
At home, just put the bowl of dough into the microwave. It'll even take 10 second bursts to heat up very, very gently.
It's a closed, still, undisturbed place, and you can make it gently steamy quite easily with a mug of water beforehand.
Besides, it clears the worktop / table too

That is ingenious, why have I never thought of that before. I’ve always been a clingfilm advocate but I’ll definitely be using the microwave next time (mental note to self...don’t automatically set the thing going for 4mins just because I’m in the habit with the baby bottle steriliser!!)

 

[Toddy]

Sorry Tom, thread de-rail. The shower cap is still a good idea, but I'm on a mission to obliterate the cling films and plastic waste.
I can't see it happening in my lifetime, but we used to manage without the blasted stuff, so it is do-able.
The microwave is just a handy space when you're trying to find room to work, then I realised just how useful it was for bread dough

There's an Irish fellow who teaches really superb artisanal breadmaking, and he reckons that the most useful thing for domestic breadmaking is the big pyrex casserole dish..the one that comes with it's lid. He says, "Away and raid y'r Mammy's kitchen, she'll have one somewhere! ". It's easy to knead in, the dough rises beautifully in it, the lid leaves room for it to rise well, and it bakes brilliantly in the oven too, especially if you leave the lid on to start with to create a steamy environment.

Toddy....fending off Son1 from hers

p.s.. Patrick Ryan is his name, the Irish bread maker. He's on youtube too.

 

[Macaroon]

That Patrick Ryan video is very good indeed, that's the way I bake my sourdough and the way all the families we knew did so too.

Works really well in camp, too, if you start it in the morning you've got good bread each day instead of the usual'gut concrete'.

 

[Toddy]

https://www.ilovecooking.ie/features/sourdough-bread-masterclass-with-patrick-ryan/

I'll leave it here for those who don't access things easily so they can copy the link.

 

[Robson Valley]

Another good plan. I will continue to use cling film in all of my yeast baking because I have figured out how to use it twice, not just once.
Using everything at least twice is my goal. My freezer is full of junk wooden shelves and junk cardboard boxes for food organization.
Sourdough? No, I tried and eventually concluded that I do not like the aftertaste at all.
Disappointing, even the gene bank registered San Francisco yeast/bacterial culture.

 

[Toddy]

I'm trying very hard to find a bread made without wheat, rye or barley that I can actually enjoy.
The one I make with oats and sourdough is about as close to something I want to eat as I have managed so far.
Slow sourdough rise seems to work best, though no getting away from it having a certain 'tang' to the flavour. It's not unpleasant, but then I like my own sauerkraut too.

M

 

[Janne]

I have tried sourdough too. Here, inside, we have AC. Sourdough starter turned funny, every time I tried. Outside it is too hot and humid.
I bought a ready sourdough starter in Norway.
Did not work that well.

Mum taught me her trick she learned from a pro bread maker.
Use only 1/4 of yeast, make dough with more liquid. Initial proving in kitchen about 30 minutes. Then place in fridge for 24 hours.
Then take out, let get to room temp, knead with more flour until desired consistency. Let rise a bit, bake in humid oven.

We do not use pure wheat, but wheat/rye 50/50 mix.
Liquid water and Kefir or Youghurt. A dash of oil.

We love bread!

 

[Janne]

I'm trying very hard to find a bread made without wheat, rye or barley that I can actually enjoy.
The one I make with oats and sourdough is about as close to something I want to eat as I have managed so far.
Slow sourdough rise seems to work best, though no getting away from it having a certain 'tang' to the flavour. It's not unpleasant, but then I like my own sauerkraut too.

M

You are an extremely unusual Brit!

Do you make your own sauerkraut?

Can you eat Buckwheat?

Delicious in both crepes ( unleavened) and pancakes ( the leavened thicker ones)
Also makes a tasty bread.

 

[Robson Valley]

Modern (industrial) bread in North America is made with an unusual process.
Yeast is used as a flavoring. Other chemicals are added to control the uniformity of bubble size.

Now, you begin with a ton (2,000lbs) of flour. Add water and mix at such a high speed that the dough is a foam.
Machines can scale that into pans and into a continuous oven before the foam falls.

I don't know if this could be attempted at home with something like corn four or pea flour.
Just whip a crazy foam, scale it and into a preheated oven with steam.

 

[Janne]

Would adding Coconut oil help with the 'foaming' ?

Me and Son are trying to do the True British Pork Pies this weekend, and as we can not get lard we will do one batch with Coconut Oil and one with Cisco.

 

[Macaroon]

I'm trying very hard to find a bread made without wheat, rye or barley that I can actually enjoy.
The one I make with oats and sourdough is about as close to something I want to eat as I have managed so far.
Slow sourdough rise seems to work best, though no getting away from it having a certain 'tang' to the flavour. It's not unpleasant, but then I like my own sauerkraut too.

M

It's worth giving Buckwheat a try if you can eat that, or a mixture of Buckwheat and Gram flour; they both taste exquisite but make a somewhat 'heavy' bread unles you really put a lot of time into your baking, especially the kneading of the dough. Prove once, knock back and really knead it thoroughly then allow it to prove again. I am not averse to a 'heavy' bread now and again but not on a regular basis. Keeps for ages, too.

I've used Coconut oil in bread quite a lot and have come to the conclusion that it has no beneficial effect at all apart from imparting a nice flavour; I like it with spicy food.

 

[Robson Valley]

Animal fats and plant oils are in conventional artisan breads to control gluten chain length.
Compare breads with pizza crusts with cakes and cookies to note the effects on texture.
Fat-free breads are the classic French breads.
Crisco is hydrogenated plant oils. Fake lard. You get molecular structure identical to animal fats.

I don't think that oils/fats would help with the foaming concept.
If anything. the oil should suppress bubble stability and the foam should fail more rapidly.
The essential part of the foam process is to get the dough scaled and into the oven before it flops.

Ever make tamales? You have to whip the solid fat to get enough air into it so that it will float.
Then you can build the fillings. About the texture and crumb of a cookie.

I have accidentally bought a large amount of corn flour (not corn starch, not corn meal.)
My Hamilton Beach mixers have the muscle maybe to foam some, one of these days.

 

[Janne]

The bread I make is the traditional central European Rye/wheat bread. Sometimes with other flours. Dense, slightly acidic
Only white bread I eat is Cuban, French bread. The standard (sliced) white bread - no thanks!

 

[Robson Valley]

I invented my own bread formula. I can make focaccia and fougasse, all kinds of crusty buns and baguettes with it.
I can dope it up with raisins and cinnamon, I can make cinnamon buns. Magic when it comes out of the oven.

Gisslen recommends no more than 25% by weight of additives like buckwheat, corn flour, multigrain.
I'll take his word for it, every time. There's more than 1,000 formulas in his book. Be prepared to bake by weight.
At the end of the text, there's a chapter on blown and spun sugar art. Just the basics are amazing.

Janne you don't like the common store breads as many of then are made exactly as I described =
It's a yeast-flavored flour and water foam. Not leavened bread at all. Me, neither.

Oddly, I developed my own pizza crust formula first. Bread came years later.
It's easy.