INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR IMPROVER
OUR IMPROVERS HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVELY TESTED AND ADAPTED FOR ALL TYPES OF HOME BREADMAKING INCLUDING BREAD MACHINES & TRADITIONAL METHODS
BUT AS ALL BREAD MACHINES DIFFER, YOU MAY FIND THAT YOUR DOUGH PROVES A BIT FASTER THAN USUAL THE FIRST TIME YOU USE THE IMPROVER - JUST CUT DOWN THE QUANTITY OF YEAST SLIGHTLY THE NEXT TIME YOU USE IT.
FOR BREAD MACHINES
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TO ADD IT TO YOUR REGULAR RECIPE AT THE RATE OF 1% (based on your flour weight) FOR ORDINARY BREAD, 2% FOR OTHER BREADS (brown, wholemeal etc) or 3% ROLLS, BUNS ETC.
e.g. 1% for 500g flour = 5g
HAND MADE DOUGH or KENWOOD TYPE MIXER USING A DOUGH HOOK
You can follow your usual recipe and just add the improver at the ratios listed above. But you only need to rest ( first prove) your dough for 10 minutes.
Sample Recipes
(JUST BREAK THE RECIPES DOWN TO A SUITABLE SIZE)
CRUSTY BREAD
Flour 2000g
Salt 35g
Improver 20g
Fat 20g
Yeast (Fresh) 60 g
Water + or - 1140g Dough temp approx 29c*
BROWN/ WHOLEMEAL TYPE BREAD
Flour 2000g
Salt 35g
Improver 40g
Fat 20g
Yeast (fresh) 70 g
Water + or - 1200g Dough temp approx 29c*
METHOD
1. Process the dough in your usual way.
2. Leave dough to rest for 10 minutes.
3. Scale to your usual sizes and mould to shape required and place in tins or on trays.
4. Place in a warm place and allow to double in size. (Tip- Place in a large plastic bag and inflate it by gently blowing in it, then sealing it) This will stop your bread ‘skinning’ up.
5. Ensure your oven is at the required temperature ready for baking. (A pan of boiling water in the bottom will make the air inside the oven humid; this helps with oven spring and gives a better crust)
6 Bake as normal
*Note: dough temperature is particularly important, to work out the required water temperature use the following formula: Double required dough temperature, minus the flour temp = the required water temp.
e.g.(Flour = 23c in this example) Dough temp 29 x 2 = 58 minus flour 23 = required water temp of 35c
IF YOU REQUIRE ANY FURTHER HELP/ADVICE or RECIPES PLEASE EMAIL US VIA EBAY
BASIC BREADMAKING INGREDIENTS
Bread can be simply made from four basic ingredients - Flour - Salt - Yeast - Water. Other ingredients are often added, mainly to give either the finished bread different characteristics or flavour, or to ‘improve’ its shelf life, texture or crust type or crust colour
FLOURS
White flours: Select a white flour with a good gluten forming protein (GFP) content. It is these proteins that form into gluten when water is added and the dough is worked. Gluten is essential in bread making as this allows the bread to rise by holding in the gas produced by yeast. Usually, the stronger the flour, the bolder and better shaped the loaf. A percentage of a weaker flour can be added to this flour to make a French type bread. If you do not like additives in your flours, you should buy strong, white, unbleached flour. This results in a slightly ‘greyer’ crumb depending on the bread making process used.
Wholemeal flours: These flours are made from the whole of the wheat grain; it contains all the bran (outer coats of the grain) and the wheat germ (a valuable source of vitamin E). Breads made from wholemeal flour obviously contain more fibre and have obvious dietary benefits, particularly from the fibre which helps to keep you regular helps to prevent diverticular disease. Loaves made with this flour are denser and feel heavier. They also usually take longer to rise because of the extra fibre in the flour.
Brown flours: This type of flour is made from about 85% of the wheat grain and it therefore produces a ‘lighter’ loaf than wholemeal.
Granary type: Malted grain flours: These flours are made from a mixture of wholemeal, white and often rye flours with added malted grains of wheat and or barley. (The bits in the flour) Because of the malted grains, bread made from these flours have a distinctive flavour. Adding a little white flour to the mixture will result in a bolder shaped loaf.
Rye flour: Rye cereal is the only other grain that contains GFP’s although it doesn’t have enough in sufficient quantity or quality to make the light loaf as we know it. Most rye breads are made with the addition of some wheat flour. The more wheat flour that is added, the less dense the loaf.
Spelt flour: Although this flour has a high protein content, the proteins do not form good gluten. Because of this a fast bake is needed if using a bread making machine. If making by traditional methods it is advisable to use an improver to cut out the initial bulk fermentation as there is a danger that the dough will rise and collapse.
Gluten free flours: Some people are unable to digest bread made from wheat based flours and require a ‘coeliac’ diet, which means avoiding all breads made from flours containing gluten. Gluten - free flours make a much denser ‘heavier’, closer textured and smaller loaf. The texture can be opened a little by increasing the amount of yeast slightly.
YEASTS: Yeast is available to the general public in three types. Fresh yeast that the baker uses - Dried yeast that needs activating ‘frothing’ before use - Fast acting dried yeast which is simply added to the dry ingredients of the mixture.
Yeast is a living organism that is capable of reproducing itself under the right conditions (food, warmth and moisture like in dough). Take away or deny yeast these conditions and it is likely to die. Yeasts work by ‘feeding’ on any sugars in the mixture and also by converting starch (in the flour), by enzymic process, into simple sugars to feed on. During this process yeast produces carbon dioxide gas (trapped by the gluten and makes the dough rise) and alcohol. Once all the sugars are used up the yeast will become ‘spent’ and the dough will not rise anymore. Temperature: As yeast is a living thing it requires a warm environment to make it work correctly. The temperature of dough is critical and depending on the process can vary from 24c to 30c. Doughs made using my improvers work best at a temperature of 29 to 30c.
Fresh yeast: This is usually only available to the general public via a friendly family baker. Fresh yeast should crumble easily when rubbed gently between the fingers and should be creamy brown in colour. It should be stored in a sealed container, in a cool dry place, often the refrigerator is used but it really requires to be stored at about 12c. It has a limited shelf life and should be used as soon as possible after purchase. As it gets older the yeast will form into a soft putty like substance when rubbed between the fingers and will start to go a darker brown in colour. Like us, the older it is, the less effective it is! Fresh yeast is used at the rate of 2 to 4%, based on flour, depending on the dough making process used and the product being made.
Dried yeast: This yeast is simply fresh yeast with the moisture taken out. This prolongs its shelf life, but it is less effective than fresh yeast. It has to be reconstituted by adding it to warm water, and sometimes adding a little sugar, and placing it in a warm place until it froths. For usage guidelines follow the instructions on the packet.
Fast acting yeast: This type of yeast is again a dried yeast, but it has other things added (mainly enzymes) before drying to make it fast acting. It is simply mixed in with the dry ingredients. Again, follow the instructions on the packet.
With both types of dried yeast you usually require about half the amount in a recipe as you would fresh yeast.
SALT: Salt gives many qualities to dough and bread.
1. It accentuates flavour - Bread made without salt tastes insipid.
2. It gives stability to the gluten in dough.
3. It has a controlling influence on fermentation.
4. It helps to retain moisture.
5. Because it controls fermentation it has an effect on crumb and crust colour.
Salt, is really essential for the making of good bread, provided it is used in the correct proportions. Usually this is between 1.5 and 1.8% based on flour.
One of the main reason we use salt in bread making is to give the finished bread flavour and to make it palatable.
The stability of the gluten is affected by the presence of salt. Doughs made without salt tend to be stickier and less manageable, the dough will not stand as ‘proud’ as one containing salt.
Salt controls fermentation, this can be seen by making doughs with varying levels of salt in. One with no salt will be almost uncontrollable, there will be a greater breakdown of sugars into gas, and because the gluten is weakened, the dough offers less resistance to gas expansion, leading to increased volume and a loose structure in the finished bread. Dough that has too much salt will retard the activity of yeast and there will be a more pronounced tightening of the gluten. Resulting in a smaller loaf.
Salt's effect on crust colour is caused by the amount of sugars left, by the yeast, in the dough, during and after baking. Too much salt in a dough will inhibit the yeast and leave more sugar in the dough resulting in a deeper crust colour. Too little salt in the dough will have the opposite effect.
WATER: Water is obviously essential to breadmaking.
1. It hydrates the insoluble proteins (GFP's) and forms gluten
2. It takes up the soluble substances, sugars, salt, soluble proteins.
3. It helps to disperse the yeast and all the other ingredients, helping to form an elastic dough.
4. It is used for controlling the final dough temperature.
5. The amount of water in a dough will determined by the water bearing quality of the flour. Wholemeals and brown flours conatin more fibre and soak up much more water.
6. The amount of water in a dough influences the speed of fermentation. A 'slack' dough ferments at a faster rate than a 'tight' dough.
Generally speaking the amount of water required in a dough then depends on the strength (gluten quality and content) in a flour, the amount of fibre present and the doughmaking process used. The range of water content being between 57 to 60% on average.
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