I've
been experimented with my own bread recipes later and I keep having dough that
just won't rise. This can be a frustrating experience, especially after waiting
a few hours! After a lot of trial and error, I finally figured out what was
happening to my dough . . . or should I say what was not happening. I
discovered that water or moisture is a key ingredient to bread dough. Why you
ask? Well hang on to your hats ‘cause I'm gonna tell ya.
Cereal grains, such as wheat or rye,
are needed for yeast bread because of the gluten factor. You can read all
about gluten in Gluten Glue. Gluten is essential if you want dough
to rise. So what does water have to do with that?
Flour that will create gluten contains
the gluten forming proteins Gliadin and Glutenin. These proteins adsorb water,
about twice their weight in water! As they adsorb the water they become
activated and can then become linked together. When these two proteins link
they form gluten bonds.
As you knead or mix the dough, more and
more of the water logged Gliadin and Glutenin come together causing more and
more gluten to form. Eventually a large gluten network is established in the
dough.
If your dough does not have enough
water, the Gliadin and Glutenin will not adsorb the right amount causing their
bonds to be brittle and break apart easily, therefore no gluten will form. If
no gluten forms, there is nothing to trap the gases released from the yeast and
your dough will not rise.
REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE
Here is an example of dough that is too
dry. See how sharp the edges are and how crumbly the dough is. This dough was
also not very elastic.
So . . . the next time, I doubled the
water in the recipe and the dough was much easier to work with. I think it
could still use a little more moisture though.
No comments:
Post a Comment