The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 84

back down, forcing it to release a puff of flour that’d get all over my clothes and kitchen Baking was a chore Then I decided to invest in a couple of large, sealable, wide-mouthed plastic tubs to store basic baking pantry items such as flours and sugar This allows me to quickly and easily scoop up as much flour as I need without making a mess These days, I make many more pizzas than I used to All of the items in the chart here should be stored in a cool, dry place, first transferred to a sealed container if appropriate WHOLE WHEAT VERSUS REFINED WHITE FLOUR A kernel of wheat is a pretty complicated thing, but as far as cooking is concerned, it can be divided into three basic parts: the endosperm, the hull, and the germ Whole wheat flour is exactly what it sounds like—the entire grain from the wheat plant, ground up Refined white flour contains only the starchy, proteinaceous sections from the endosperm, with all of the hull and germ removed Why would anyone want to that? It’s all about gluten formation We’ll be talking quite a bit about gluten in this book, but for now, all you need to know is that gluten is the stretchy matrix of proteins that gives doughs their flexibility It’s formed when the pro t e i ns gliadin and glutenin, found in the endosperm, are mixed together in the presence of water White flour is excellent at developing gluten, delivering breads that are fluffy, chewy, and well risen Whole wheat breads, on the other hand, tend to be dense and relatively dry This is because ground-up sections of the hull and germ act sort of like tiny razor blades, snipping through the developing gluten and preventing individual strands from growing too long You can substitute whole wheat flours in recipes if you’d like, but don’t expect to get the same light, well-risen breads you’d achieve with white flour ITEM HOW LONG WILL IT KEEP? Baking Powder 6 months to a year, depending on humidity; to test for activity, place a teaspoon in a bowl and add a teaspoon of water: it should bubble and fizz ...doughs their flexibility It’s formed when the pro t e i ns gliadin and glutenin, found in the endosperm, are mixed together in the presence of water White flour is... wheat breads, on the other hand, tend to be dense and relatively dry This is because ground-up sections of the hull and germ act sort of like tiny razor blades, snipping through the developing... too long You can substitute whole wheat flours in recipes if you’d like, but don’t expect to get the same light, well-risen breads you’d achieve with white flour ITEM HOW LONG WILL IT KEEP? Baking