On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1016

Preparing The Dough: Mixing and Kneading Mixing The first step in making bread is to mix the ingredients together The moment flour meets water, several processes begin Broken starch granules absorb water, and enzymes digest their exposed starch into sugars The yeast cells feed on the sugars, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol The glutenin proteins absorb some water and sprawl out into their elongated coils; the coils of neighboring molecules form many weak bonds with each other and thus form the first strands of gluten We see the dough take on a vaguely fibrous appearance, and feel it cohere to itself When it’s stirred with a spoon, the protein aggregates are drawn together into visible filaments and form what has been vividly described as a “shaggy mass.” At the same time, a number of substances in the flour cause breaks in and blocking of the end- to-end bonds of the gluten molecules, and so an initial shortening of the gluten chains As oxygen from the air and oxidizing compounds from the yeasts enter the dough, the breaking and blocking stop, and the gluten molecules begin to bond end-to-end and form long chains Mixing can be done by hand, in a stand mixer, or in a food processor The processor works in less than a minute, a fraction of the time required for hand or mixer kneading, and therefore offers the advantage of minimizing exposure to air and oxygen, an excess of which bleaches the remaining wheat pigments and alters flavor The high energy input heats the dough, which should be allowed to cool before fermentation Two-Stage Mixing: Autolysis An alternative to mixing all the dough ingredients at once is the autolyse or “autolysis” method championed by a ... works in less than a minute, a fraction of the time required for hand or mixer kneading, and therefore offers the advantage of minimizing exposure to air and oxygen, an excess of which bleaches the remaining wheat pigments and alters flavor...to-end bonds of the gluten molecules, and so an initial shortening of the gluten chains As oxygen from the air and oxidizing compounds from the yeasts enter the dough, the breaking and blocking stop, and the gluten molecules... from the yeasts enter the dough, the breaking and blocking stop, and the gluten molecules begin to bond end-to-end and form long chains Mixing can be done by hand, in a stand mixer, or in a food processor The processor works in less than a minute, a fraction of the