Understanding Baking - homechoice Casa HCBM-01D Instruction Manual

Understanding baking

The information below provides a better understanding of the importance each ingredient
plays in the baking process.
Ingredients
All-purpose flour/plain flour
All-purpose flour is a blend of refined hard and soft wheat flours especially suitable for
baking cake. This type of flour should be used for recipes in the cake/quick bread section.
Strong white flour/bread flour
Bread flour is high in gluten/protein that has been treated with conditioners that give
the resulting dough a greater ability to be kneaded. Strong plain flour or bread flour is
recommended for use with this bread maker.
Wholewheat flour/wholemeal flour
This variety is milled from the entire wheat kernel which contains the bran and germ, making
it heavier and richer in nutrients than white flour. Bread made with this flour is usually smaller
and heavier than white loaves. To make the bread lighter, wholewheat/wholemeal flour can
be mixed with bread flour or strong plain flour to produce a light-textured bread.
Self-raising flour
Self-raising flour contains baking powder, and is used for baking cakes.
Bran
Bran (unprocessed) and wheat germ are the coarse outer portions of wheat or rye grains
separated from flour by sifting. Bran is often introduced to bread recipes in small quantities
for added nutritional value, heartiness and flavour. Bran can also be used to enhance the
texture of bread.
Oatmeal
Oatmeal comes from rolled or steel-cut oats. Oatmeal is used primarily to enhance flavour
and texture.
Yeasts (active dry yeast)
Yeast produces gas (carbon dioxide) which is needed to make bread rise. In order for this
process to take place, the yeast needs to interact with sugar and flour carbohydrates.
Fast acting granular yeast is used in all recipes calling for yeast in this manual. Fresh or
compressed cake yeast is not recommended as it produces poor results. Store yeast
according to the manufacturer's instructions. Often, bread fails to rise as a result of stale or
inactive yeast. Use the following method to test the freshness of yeast:
1 Place half a cup of lukewarm water into a small bowl or cup.
2 Stir 1 teaspoon of sugar into the water then sprinkle 2 teaspoons of yeast over the
surface of the water.
3 Place the bowl or cup in a warm area and allow to sit undisturbed for the 10 minutes.
4 The mixture should foam and produce a strong yeast aroma. If this does not happen,
discard the mixture and start again with another packet of dried yeast. For best
results, store yeast in a refrigerator as the fungus in the yeast will be killed at higher
temperatures.
12
140624 Casa Bread maker IM_2019.indd 12 2019/05/02 12:01