1. Introduction
During my independent research this semester I focused primarily on three aspects of bread. I developed my bread-making skills, I became more familiar with the chemistry of the bread, and I learned about the history behind a variety of breads from around the world. Although I entered into this project intending only to learn about the first two, in the course of my reading I encountered a lot of useful information about the chemistry and it substantially improved my efforts. In this paper I will describe each of the breads that I made and discuss the history and chemistry relevant to that bread.
1.1. Background and Glossary
Before I begin, I’d like to provide a little background about bread terminology and measurements. A recipe is typically described by the percentage of each ingredient by mass compared to the mass of flour. For instance, a recipe which called for 48 g of [bbing4] water, 3 g of salt, and 100 g of flour would be written as 48% water, 3% salt, 100% flour. The weight of yeast is typically much too small to write proportionally, so it is given by volume. For most breads, 2 tsp of instant yeast is sufficient. Here is a glossary of some of the terms I’ll use in the paper.
· Crumb – The inside of the bread. Each kind of bread has a characteristic “crumb,” be it dense and tight or loose and satiny.
· Oven Spring – Leavened breads rise as they bake. This must be accounted for when placing bread in a loaf pan.
· Sponge – where the yeast is activated. This is a pre-ferment composed typically of warm water or milk and flour. It is more like a batter than a dough.
2. Breads Made
2.1. Croissants Cambo
Ambitiously, I decided to tackle Croissants Cambo first. These are not as flaky as the croissants usually found in French bakeries, but are much easier to make. I used the recipe from The Breads of France: How to Bake Them In Your Own Kitchen. Bernard Clayton learned the recipe in a Basque bakery in Cambo-les-Bains. Unlike a typical croissant, this recipe includes no sweetener – usually croissants are sweetened with malt syrup and sugar, so this results in a much more savory and less fluffy bread. Croissants are widely believed to have originated in Vienna or Budapest in the 1680’s after the siege by the Ottoman Empire. According to the legend, a baker working late near the city wall alerted city officials to suspicious noises which turned out to be Turks tunneling under the walls. The baker was allowed to be the sole producer of crescent shaped rolls reminiscent of the Ottoman flag (Larousse Gastronomique, Lang, 1988[bbing5] ). The rolls then presumably gained popularity as they spread across Europe, where they were adopted by the French. However, it turns out that croissants are a much more modern invention. Food called “croissants” is first mentioned in a French text from 1835, where they are described as a luxury bread. The first recipe which bears a resemblance to the modern croissant appears in Favre’s Dictionaire universel de cuisine, published in 1905. (Oxford Companion to Food) This recipe is a pastry made of crushed almonds and sugar – not at all similar to the flaky and buttery roll of today. The modern croissant is a very recent invention. [bbing6]
2.2. Tunisian Terabilesi
For my second bread, I tried Tunisian Terabilesi. This is a leavened loaf studded with olives, originating in Northern Africa. According to the authors of The World Religions Cookbook, the recipe dates from the time of the Roman Empire. There are several things that make this African bread distinctively Northern in origin. Firstly, the dough is made from wheat flour. Millet is the primary grain crop throughout most of southern Africa because of its hardiness and resistance to drought. Carthage was located in a fertile river delta, so wheat was far more common than in other parts of Africa. Secondly, the baking method is pretty close to the way bread was baked in Carthage. In this recipe, the bread is baked at 400°F for 50 minutes. In Carthage, bread would have been baked throughout the day in a covered clay oven which was open on one side. The long baking time and high oven temperature mimic these conditions. Leavened breads were common in the Carthaginian and Roman empires. Finally, the olives are historically correct. Although olives flourished in Tunisia, Carthage’s extensive trade networks meant that olives could have been imported from Greece or even the Iberian Peninsula. I was overall pretty pleased with the way this bread turned out. It had a nice crisp crust and a firm crumb. The olives could have been of higher quality, but this bread was still enjoyable to make.
2.3. Polish Onion Rolls
The Polish Onion Rolls were the first bread I made that failed. They didn’t rise at all, but this was actually a very informative experience for me. I noticed when I went to get the sponge after it had sat that it wasn’t very bubbly, but I was in a hurry so I pressed on. Once the dough was made and kneaded, it didn’t rise again, and when it was cut into rolls it still would not rise. I figured that oven spring would take care of the texture, so I didn’t go back and restart at any of these points. However, I later learned that yeast is a little particular about how it is activated. If there is too much salt in the sponge the yeast’s growth will be retarded. The liquid in which it is dissolved must be between 80° and 115°F. If it is cooler the yeast will not fully activate, no matter how much sugar is in the sponge, and if it is hotter than that the yeast will die. Yeast feeds on the starches in the bran and germ of whole grains as well as any sugar added to the pre-ferment. If the sponge has been kept warm but has not risen with 10-15 minutes, it is better to just start over with a fresh batch of yeast. This is an “enriched dough,” which means that the dough includes milk, eggs, butter, or oil. Such breads are richer and have creamier crumbs than regular lean breads. Onion rolls of this sort are very popular in bakeries in Poland, and have been since approximately World War II. They are a homey comfort food, and the sautéed onions and poppy seeds add to their rustic charm.
2.4. Lussekatter
Lussekatter were my first real attempt at a fancy bread. They are Swedish rolls prepared for St. Lucia’s Day festivities. Traditionally, the oldest girl in the family wakes up early, puts on a white dress, and serves the family coffee and buns in bed. The buns get their name from the two raisins pressed into the bun like little cat eyes. Lussekatter buns are made with raisins and dried currants soaked overnight in water or rum, allspice, cinnamon, saffron, and candied fruits. These ingredients are common to many Northern European fancy rolls, including the hot cross buns I made a few weeks later. In fact, it is these ingredients that make the roll fancy. Saffron has always been expensive and difficult to obtain. Fortunately, only a few of the crocus stamens are needed to impart a lovely yellow color to the dough, and a few more beyond that to give it a delicate flavor. I used less than a gram in this recipe. Candied fruits, typically orange rind, apricots, and lemon rind, add an exotic flavor. Citrus fruits were impossible to grow north of the Iberian Peninsula, were not cultivated there before 1150 AD, and spoil quickly,
2.5. Hot Cross Buns
I didn’t make hot cross buns until a few weeks after Easter, and I took a few liberties with the recipe. I got the recipe from Crust and Crumb, a book I bought over Spring Break, and was very impressed. Like Lussekatter, they are a fancy roll. They’re traditionally made in England the week after Easter and eaten toasted. In America, they are much doughier and sweeter and the cross is made with a powdered sugar frosting, but in England the cross is cut into the top of the bun before baking. As mentioned above, all the spices and fruits used in this bread were typically reserved for the very wealthy or festival occasions. I was not sure how to bake the buns, so I weighed out 2oz balls of dough, rolled them into buns, and placed them into baking pans about ½” apart. As they baked, the oven spring pushed them together, but because they had formed a crust before they touched they stayed easy to separate. Sweet breads have been known in Britain since the Roman occupation in the first century BCE. Complex recipes fell out of favor in post-Roman Britain until the medieval era, when elaborate sweet breads were common on feast days. The precise history of the hot cross bun in Britain is shrouded in mystery, but according to cooking author Elizabeth David, Protestant monarchs tried to outlaw them in the 1500’s. They were unsuccessful. This was not the first British bread I’d made, however.
2.6. Barley Beer Cakes
Early in the year, I made very primitive bread leavened with beer. The recipe mimics the results of grain ground by hand with barley flour and stone-ground wheat, but it’s still much lighter and far more pure than the flour that would have been used in this bread in 5000 BCE. The butter is probably also added to this recipe to appease modern tastes. Otherwise, it would have been rough and heavy. The liquid and the leavening both come from beer added to the dough. The cooking method is also pretty historically correct – the formed balls of dough are toasted on a hot cast iron skillet, mimicking the hot stones next to the hearth. My loaves turned out hard and flat. I suspect that if I had allowed the dough to rest before cooking, the yeasts in the beer would have been reactivated by the flour. I found that the loaf was also a little sour, so in later batches I stirred in some honey. This would have also helped the bread rise. Most of the information I have about primitive British bread is from a book published in 1973 (Food and Drink in Britain: From The Stone Age to the 19th Century, Wilson), so I am skeptical of its information on pre-medieval Britain.
2.7. Bavarian Soft Pretzels
I decided to make soft Bavarian Pretzels because I wanted to make a bread which is blanched before baking, but I decided that bagels would take too long. I followed Alton Brown’s recipe but was too hasty in taking the pretzels out of the oven. The pretzels stuck to the waxed paper, so I decided to switch to parchment paper after this. I also discovered that it’s best not to skip dusting the cookie trays with something to help the bread release from the paper. I was really surprised by the way the texture of the crust changed when it was boiled for one minute on each side before baking. The exterior was shiny and chewy, not crusty. It was also much thinner than the crust of most breads I’ve made, and the interior was delightfully doughy. If I prepared pretzels again, I would invest in some pretzel salt. The kosher salt didn’t adhere very well and was harder to portion.
2.8. Buttermilk Biscuits
Buttermilk biscuits are a very democratic food. [bbing7] The ingredients are simple – flour, butter, salt, buttermilk, baking powder, and baking soda. Buttermilk is an economical use of curdled milk – it lends a tangy bite to the batter. Critical to the success of a biscuit is keeping the butter cold. Rolling and folding dough while the butter is cold creates hundreds of tiny layers of dough separated by very thin smears of butter. This keeps the biscuit flaky and light. If the butter is allowed to melt, it will incorporate into the dough and the layers will not be kept apart. This is why biscuits take so long – they must be refrigerated every so often to keep the butter solid. In a typical biscuit recipe, there is only one initial layer of butter. This one allows the baker to chop the butter into smaller pieces, so that layers are formed with fewer rolls. This requires some sacrifice in flakiness, but the biscuits are still delicious.
2.9. Lepinja
I made some Slovenian lepinja as a favor for Alex Jenko. He had a recipe from the internet, but it didn’t work out at all, so I made the recipe and edited it as I went. Lepinja is a flat leavened bread traditionally served with pepper sauce, lamb and beef sausages, rustic cheese, and sautéed onions. All of this can be easily made from local ingredients, making this a home-style bread. I made several changes to the recipe. Firstly, it didn’t specify the temperature of the milk from which the pre-ferment is made. I suspect that Alex hadn’t heated the milk to at least 80°, which means that the yeast wouldn’t have activated. Next, the recipe specified an incorrect proportion of flour to liquids. No matter how much Alex kneaded the dough, it stayed sticky. I added another 10-25% flour, so the dough become smooth and shiny after about 10 minutes of kneading. Alex’s kneading technique was counter-productive – he was tearing the dough instead of stretching and folding it. This was not helping the gluten strands develop or promoting fermentation, although it was certainly mixing the ingredients. I specified that the bowls in which the dough was left to rise should be oiled, which made it much easier to extract them. I also told him to let the dough double or triple both times the dough rose, which enhanced the flavor of the finished bread. I think that my experience and mistakes throughout the semester helped me to make this recipe successful.
2.10. Bao Bing
Since I hadn’t tried any bread from Asia, I made bao bing for my second to last week. These soft pancakes are used as wrappers for seasoned meats and vegetables. This bread is unique among those I made because of its preparation. The dough is formed by mixing boiling water with flour, which creates an earlobe like texture in the dough. The dough is rolled out to 1/8”, cut into circles, brushed with roasted sesame oil, and stacked with a second circle. The stack is rolled out to 1/16” and fried quickly in a hot wok brushed with roasted sesame oil. This bread is extremely quick and easy to make and is made of very inexpensive ingredients. It is extremely versatile, and can be rolled with nearly any kind of filling. It is also a good source of carbohydrates, which are important in a rural agricultural society.
2.11. Brioche
I decided to make brioche last because it was more involved than most of the other bread I’d made. Brioche is distinguished from other enriched breads by its extremely high butter content. “Poor man’s” brioche is typically 25% butter, while “rich man’s brioche” can be anywhere from 60-80% butter. This makes brioche a bread with an extremely flaky, buttery crust and a rich satiny crumb. Brioche is best when allowed to cool completely because it lets the butter in the crumb solidify. Brioche is also made in distinctive shapes. A brioche pan has a scalloped edge with a radius of about .5”, much larger than a tart pan, and high sides. The sides slope at about 35° from vertical. Brioches can come either in a large round loaf, or boule, or a bun with a round topknot. Both are baked in the brioche mold, giving them that elegant scalloped edge.
3. Conclusions
During this self-study, I learned a lot about both the history of individual breads and the history of bread as a food product. It is the staple of diets in nearly every human society and varies substantially from country to country and season to season. I have gained much more appreciation for home made bread, and I’ll never look at mass-produced white bread the same way[bbing8] [bbing9] . Sharing homemade food with friends is extremely satisfying, and I enjoyed knowing that my friends looked forward to Thursday afternoons and fresh bread. I think that baking regularly is a habit I will maintain through most of my life, and I think it will be very enriching. I feel much more confident in my ability to accurately follow a recipe, even from a culture I am unfamiliar with, and this OSS has inspired me to keep learning new techniques and recipes.
4. Selected Recipes
4.1 Tunisian Terabilesi
1. Combine 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1 ½ tsp salt, 2 c lukewarm water until blended
2. Knead on floured surface until smooth.
3. Wrap dough in plastic and let rise 1 hour at room temperature.
4. To make glaze, combine water (I used 4 tbsp) and 1 tbsp flour in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Set aside to cool.
5. Knead dough again on floured surface.
6. Divide dough into two pieces and form into tight balls. Set on baking sheet (greased next time) and let rest 30 minutes.
7. With knife, make 4 cuts on top of each loaf and brush with cooled glaze. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. (I omitted sesame seeds, because I don’t like them.)
8. Bake at 400F for 50 minutes.
From The World Religions Cookbook.
4.2 Polish Onion Rolls
In a small bowl, mash 1/2 cake yeast with 1t. sugar, add 3/4c. lukewarm milk, and 1/2c. all-purpose flour, sifted.
Mix well, cover with cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
Sift 2 c. all-purpose flour into a large bowl, add yeast mixture, 3 T. cooking oil, 1 beaten egg, and 1/2-1 t. salt. Work into a smooth, glossy dough.
Cover with cloth and let rise until doubled (30-45 minutes).
Transfer to floured board, sprinkle with flour, and divide into 8 equal parts.
Between floured hands, roll each piece into ball, flatten with palm, and roll each into 1/4" thick circle. Place on greased baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2" between rolls.
Cover with cloth and let rise about 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel and thinly slice 4 onions and saute in 2T. fat (oil, butter oleo, or lard) to a pale golden hue. Add 1 T. water, cover, and simmer 1-2 min. or until liquid evaporates. Salt & pepper to taste and set aside to cool.
When rolls have doubled, use floured bottom of drinking glass to make a depression at center of each and fill depression with fried onions.
Brush parts of roll extending beyond onion filling with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppyseeds.
Bake in pre-heated oven (350F) about 20-30 minutes or until golden.
From The Polish Heritage Cookbook.
4.3 Blitz Buttermilk Biscuits
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, cold
1 ½ cups buttermilk, cold
1. Sift the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl.
2. Use a knife or pastry cutter to chop the butter into pieces approximately the size of a quarter. Toss them into the flour mixture and stir with your hands, lightly rubbing the flour and butter into each other. Be careful not to let your firngertips rub, as that will create heat and melt the butter. Work the dough just until the butter pieces are down to the diameter of dimes and are coated in the flour mixture.
3. Stir the buttermilk into the flour mixture just until all the ingredients are gathered and form a ball.
4. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll the dough in it. Dust the counter again and roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it forms a rectangle 3/4 inches thick. Using a pastry cutter or scraper, peel the dough up from the counter and fold it in thirds like a letter. Turn it 90° and flour the counter and the top of the dough again. Roll it again into a rectangle ¾ inches thick and fold it into thirds.
5. Transfer the dough to the lined pan. Cover it with plastic wrap or put the whole pan in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
6. Dust the counter again and roll out the dough with until it forms a rectangle 3/4 inches thick. Peel the dough up from the counter and fold it in thirds like a letter. Turn it 90° and flour the counter and the top of the dough again. Roll it once more into a rectangle ¾ inches thick and fold it into thirds.
7. Use a knife, pastry cutter, or pizza cutter to cut the dough into 2x2x2” triangles. Or, use a cookie cutter or drinking glass rim to cut the dough into rounds. (If using a cookie cutter or glass, make sure to cut the dough all the way to the cutting board before twisting.)
8. Place the cut biscuits about 1 inch apart on the same lined tray. Cover them again and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Refrigerating longer will develop the flavors.
9. Preheat the oven to 500° F. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter or buttermilk. Place them in the oven and reduce the heat to 375°.
10. Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown all around. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes and serve while still warm.
From Crust and Crumb.
4.4 Homemade Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
From Good Eats: Pretzel Logic
4.5 Hot Cross Buns
Sponge
¾ cup unbleached bread flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
1. Stir together the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the buttermilk and mix until smooth. Cover the sponge with plastic wrap and ferment it in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until very bubbly.
2. Soak the dried fruit (below) in rum or vanilla extract while the sponge is developing.
Dough
4 1/3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 large eggs (cold)
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
Sponge from above
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup dark raisins
¼ cup rum or orange juice concentrate
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tbsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup chopped candied fruits
1 large egg for egg wash
Vegetable oil cooking spray
3. To make the dough, combine all the other dough ingredients, including allspice, and the sponge in a mixing bowl.
4. Knead the dough on a well-floured counter for 15 minutes, adding the fruit in the final three minutes.
5. Mist the dough with cooking spray, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise at 68-78° for 60 to 90 minutes or until it has grown by 1.5x.
6. Form the dough into 2oz rolls. Place the balls about ½ inch apart in a buttered baking pan. Cover and allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes at room temperature until the rolls are nearly doubled in size.
7. Position one of the oven racks 1/3 of the way up the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Stir together the yolk of one egg and 1 tbsp water. Brush the tops of the rolls with the egg wash.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes. While the buns bake, mix ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp hot water, and a few drops of lemon, orange, or almond extract in a plastic ziplock bag.
9. Once the buns have cooled on a rack for 2-5 minutes, cut of one corner of the plastic bag and drizzle the frosting over the buns in a cross shape.
Adapted from Crust and Crumb.
4.6 Lepinja
350 g white flour (350 g is a little bit more than 3/4 of one pound flour)
30 g fresh yeast
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs salt
8 oz warm water
Little milk (for yeast growing)
Place sugar, salt and yest into warm (not hot milk) in a bowl. Let stand for a few minutes and when yeast dissolves and grows, pour it in your flour. Add warm water knead your dough until it doesn't stick to your fingers.
Cover dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and put it in warm place (for instance near heaters). When your dough has doubled, knead it once again and let stand until it grows completely again. Then, you should knead it some more and sprinkle with some flour. Put it in the greased pan in which you plan to bake it, spread until it's about half inch thick and let stand in your baking pan for about half an hour in a warm place. Then, put it in your hot oven, which should be pre-heated to 400-420 F. Bake it until it's golden and put in a tooth pick and check if it's all baked thoroughly.
From Alex Jenko.
4.7 Brioche
Sponge
1 tsp. instant yeast
½ cup lukewarm milk (I used buttermilk)
1 cup unbleached bread flour
1. Stir the yeast into the milk in a mixing bowl. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to ferment in a warm place for 1-2 hours. The sponge will become very bubbly.
Dough
3 ½ cups unbleached bread flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 large eggs (cold) plus one more for egg wash
Sponge (above)
1 3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
Vegetable oil cooking spray (optional)
1 tbsp melted butter and 1 tsp flour for molds (optional)
2. Gradually combine the flour, eggs, salt, sugar, and sponge. Beat vigorously with a wooden or metal spoon for about 10 minutes to form a soft, wet dough. You can mix with hands for 5 minutes instead if you prefer.
3. Mist the top of the dough with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 5 hours. Although the dough will be firm enough to work in about 2 hours, a longer retardation is critical for proper flavor development.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge and shape it into loaves, rolls, or molded petites brioches à tête. Grease the molds or pan well with cooking spray or 1tbsp melted butter mixed with 1 tsp flour.
5. Mist the top of the dough with cooking spray, cover it with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.
6. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F for a large loaf, 400°F for smaller loaves or buns. Beat the remaining egg with ½ tsp water and brush it on the tops of the brioche, taking care not to let it drip down the sides of the molds. Bake 35-45 minutes for loaves, 20-30 minutes for small rolls until a deep rich gold.
7. Remove buns 2 minutes after the come out of the oven, taking care not to tear them.
8. Cool the brioche on a rack for 20-30 minutes before eating. The texture substantially improves when cooled.
From Crust and Crumb.
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