On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1030

Bakers make distinctive variations on the basic loaf bread from a variety of grains and other ingredients Here are brief descriptions of some of them Sourdough Breads Sourdough breads get their name from the fact that both the dough and bread are acid The acidity, along with other distinctive flavor components, is produced by bacteria that grow in the dough along with various yeasts The bacteria often include some of the same lactic acid bacteria that make milk into yogurt and buttermilk (p 44) The leavening for this kind of bread begins as a “wild” starter, a mixture of whatever microbes happened to be on the grain and in the air and other ingredients when flour was mixed with water The mixture of yeasts and bacteria is then perpetuated by saving a portion of the dough to leaven the next batch of bread The first breads probably resembled modern sourdoughs, and bread in much of the world is made with sourdough starters that give distinctive regional flavors The bacteria somehow delay starch retrogradation and staling, and the acids they produce make the bread resistant to spoilage microbes: so sourdough breads are especially flavorful and keep well Because browning reactions are slowed in acid conditions, sourdough breads tend to be lighter in color than straight yeast breads, and their flavor less toasty It isn’t easy to make good bread with sourdough cultures There are two reasons for this One is that the bacteria grow faster than the yeasts, almost always outnumber them by factors of a hundred or a thousand, and inhibit the yeasts’ gas production: so sourdoughs often don’t rise very well The other is that acid conditions and bacterial protein-digesting enzymes weaken the dough gluten, which makes it less elastic and the resulting bread more dense  ... the yeasts, almost always outnumber them by factors of a hundred or a thousand, and inhibit the yeasts’ gas production: so sourdoughs often don’t rise very well The other is that acid conditions and bacterial protein-digesting...modern sourdoughs, and bread in much of the world is made with sourdough starters that give distinctive regional flavors The bacteria somehow delay starch retrogradation and staling, and the acids they produce make the. .. tend to be lighter in color than straight yeast breads, and their flavor less toasty It isn’t easy to make good bread with sourdough cultures There are two reasons for this One is that the bacteria grow faster than the yeasts, almost always outnumber them by