When the kids were still at home and we had a surplus of eggs and milk, my wife made a bread with 2/3 unbleached white and 1/3 whole wheat, plus eggs and milk (Sally Lune recipe) that was a softer bread.
So maybe a mix of strong/hard and soft flour may be the answer? or not.
10
anonymous
11
anonymous
Crumbs, that's what I remember now.............you could not cut the cottage loaf without getting more crumbs, than from other English bread.
With normal Canadian bread there are hardly any crumbs.
12
vinnyd
My UK cookbooks (I'm thinking specifically of Elizabeth David on English bread and yeast cookery) talk about "strong flour" which seems to be about the same as US bread flour. Isn't that available in England any more? In the US now you can find gluten pretty easily for adding to all-purpose (plain) flour, or even to bread flour in moderation -- especially if you're using some other non-glutinous flour (rye, buckwheat, etc.).
Last weekend I made Ms. David's crumpets, baked (yes baked is the right word -- got into an arugment about this on the USA branch recently) on top of the stove in muffin rings, from a yeast batter. Her English muffins are similar but with a stiffer dough, not a batter, no rings required.
Some recipes for bliny (Russian pancakes, sometimes with buckwheat) use a yeast batter also. Good.
Danish pastry is an example of a sweet dough made with yeast. Scones and (US) biscuits and cornbread are examples of non-sweet breads made with baking soda or baking powder (which in its original, single-acting version was baking soda plus an acid -- cream of tartar -- and a stabilizer).
14
anonimo
There are a lot of factors involved in making a loaf that doesn't crumble when cut. Impossible to go into it here.
16
cogito
Anonimo, is this from wikipedia wrong, then?
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Bleached flour
Treated with flour bleaching agents to whiten it (freshly milled flour is yellowish) and to give it more gluten-producing potential. Oxidizing agents are usually employed, most commonly organic peroxides like acetone peroxide or benzoyl peroxide, nitrogen dioxide, or chlorine. A similar effect can be achieved by letting the flour slowly oxidize with oxygen in the air ("natural aging") for approximately 10 days; however, this process is more expensive due to the time required. [1]
<hr></blockquote>
Crumblier bread will result from untreated flour, I think, arbon.
17
anonimo
It's not "wrong" so much as a difference of baking style. Not all bakers agree with each other.
See: "A similar effect can be achieved by letting the flour slowly oxidize with oxygen in the air ("natural aging") for approximately 10 days; however, this process is more expensive due to the time required. [1] "
By the way, that defines "Unbleached flour".
If you want professional advice, sign up and pay for a baking course.
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