Process for Making Straight Dough.
Heat the liquid to the required temperature, then dissolve the yeast in a portion of the liquid, then, when the yeast is dissolved, add it to the rest of the liquid; then add the salt and dissolve it; then add the fats and sugar; then add the flour. (As above mentioned for uniform results it is best to weigh the flour, sugar, salt and fats.) After the flour has been added, work it into a smooth dough.
Weighing and Measuring Ingredients Used in Baking.
By Professor E. W. Habermaas.
All solids used in baking should be weighed, and all liquids should be measured accurately. Varied results and failures in baking are very often due to inaccurate weighing and measuring of ingredients. If your recipe calls for a pound of sugar, don’t use 1¼ pounds instead. Or if a recipe calls for 1 gallon of milk, don’t use ⅞ gallon instead. The author has often seen bakers use 1¼ pounds of some ingredient when 1 pound was what should have been used. Many bakers are exceptionally careless about measuring the liquids, such as milk and water. They will dip a quart or pint measure into a can of milk or into a bucket of water and draw it out on a slant, thus causing a portion of the liquid to run out. Often as much as one-fourth of a pint of milk will run out of the measure, still they will count that a full measure. This may seem a trifle, but when measuring a number of quarts or pints, it ceases to be a trifling matter but becomes a matter of vital importance. For example, you are about to make a dough of four quarts of milk or water, and you measure the milk or water as above shown. After having added the flour and you are making the dough, you will find that the dough is too stiff. This is based on the fact that you use a given quantity of flour to every quart of milk or water used, as should be the case, if you expect uniform results. You have the correct amount of flour, but not enough milk or water. Then again, the yield of such a dough would be less than it should be. Most bakers do not weigh the flour for their dough. Where this is the case, flour is usually added until the dough is of the proper consistency. So in that case the fact that the baker had not measured the liquid accurately would not necessitate getting too stiff a dough, because he has not a given quantity of flour to work in but adds it until the dough is of the proper consistency, but the yield will be less because there is less dough.
I do not approve of this method of making doughs, because the results are not uniform, and it requires more time to make the dough, because you are compelled to add more flour occasionally to get the proper consistency. Whereas, when you have the exact amount of flour and add it at once, you can proceed with dough without interruption. Then again, when you weigh the flour for your dough, you always have uniform results.
The flour, sugar, malt extract, salt and fats (if any) should be weighed, and the milk or water measured or weighed for every batch of dough, no matter how large or how small, if you would have uniform results.
One of the “hit or miss” methods prevalent in most shops is that bakers measure the water and weigh the salt, and guess at the rest. Fats, sugar and flour are seldom weighed. What are the consequences? Sometimes they have a stiff dough, sometimes a soft dough, and sometimes a medium dough. Sometimes the dough comes up too fast and sometimes too slow, owing to the consistency of the dough. Then, again, they never get the same number of loaves out of the same size batch. If the dough is too stiff, they get more than the required number, and if the dough is too soft they get less than the required number out of the batch.
In large shops such methods would not be tolerated, then why should they be tolerated in small shops? Thousands of dollars could be saved monthly in bakeshops if more accurate methods were adopted.
When using a very strong flour you can use a little more yeast than ordinarily without fear of mincing the dough, because strong flour can stand more proof; but unless absolutely necessary, don’t use any more yeast than is required under ordinary conditions. During the summer months it is well to use more salt than during cold weather, because salt acts as a governor—it holds the dough in check and keeps it sweet.
Too much yeast creates an over-abundance of gas, and if the dough is not tough enough to withstand the pressure of the gas, it tears and allows the gas to escape; the dough then falls and loses its vitality. If this dough were “made up” into loaves, and when baked were cut in two, it would be seen that the texture would be very coarse; it would be a mass of holes, and the taste would betray a trace of lactic fermentation. This bread would not be fit to eat. Don’t allow your doughs to get too old. If a dough gets too old it loses its vitality, and when baked it will have a coarse texture and will have a sour taste. Test your doughs as follows: When the dough has set about one hour, jam your hand into it; if it begins to fall it is ready to take; if it does not fall, allow it to set about one-half hour, then try it again. A dough may be taken before it falls, but I would not advise you to make a practice of doing that. I have made a batch of bread and had it baked and out of the oven in three hours. I set the sponge at 9.30 a. m., made the dough at 10.30 a. m., and had the bread baked at 1 p. m. This bread had a very fine, smooth texture, and had a very sweet taste. I advocate taking doughs as soon as they are ready, if you want a nice, smooth texture and a sweet taste to your bread; and trust that it is your aim to produce such a loaf.
The third process in the art of bread making is pushing or “punching” the dough down.