Bread Machines For Dummies by Glenna Vance, Tom Lacalamita Read Free Book Online

months to a year if you store them in airtight containers in a cool, dry place to preserve moisture, freshness, and baking quality. Do not store near heat. If you do not keep them in airtight containers, the relative humidity of the air will affect the flour’s moisture content. In humid conditions, the flour absorbs moisture; in arid conditions with low humidity or high temperature, the flour loses some of its natural moisture.
    Store whole-grain flours in airtight containers in the refrigerator or freezer. Whole grains contain oils that can turn rancid if not refrigerated. You can safely freeze whole-grain flours for a year. Be sure to freeze them in moisture-proof and vapor-proof containers designed for freezer use. We use heavy, self-sealing freezer bags.
    Allow flours to come to room temperature before placing them in your bread pan. Because the yeast needs a warm, moist dough to be active, cold flours make the yeast perform sluggishly, and your dough will not rise adequately.
    If you’re in a hurry and you have cold flour, try microwaving it by using the Automatic Defrost setting. Measure the amount you need, cover it with wax paper, and microwave for a few minutes; then stir the flour and continue to microwave. Repeat this process until the flour has the chill out of it but is not hot. Stirring the flour helps to eliminate hot spots.

Chapter 4
The Miracle of Yeast
In This Chapter
    Getting the basics on leavening
    Choosing which type of yeast to use
    Explaining factors that affect yeast activity
    Testing your yeast
    Using other leavening agents

    I n this chapter, we tell you everything you ever wanted to know about yeast — and why it’s important to be knowledgeable regarding different types of yeast. We talk about how to decide which yeast to use; whether the yeast should be active dry yeast, fast-acting yeast, or bread machine yeast; how much yeast to use; how to store it; what factors affect its ability to ferment; and how to tell whether it is still active. We even talk about other agents that make bread rise: baking soda and baking powder.
    A Feast of Yeast Facts
    Even though yeast cells exist all around us, you need a microscope to see them. Yeast is a tiny plant organism with only one cell, about the size of a human red blood cell. It may be hard for you to believe that this microorganism actually causes bread dough to rise, but it’s true. Yeast breaks down sugar into carbon dioxide gas. In bread dough, the gases form bubbles, which honeycomb the mass of dough and puff it out until it rises.
    Louis Pasteur, the father of modern microbiology, discovered how yeast works and labeled this natural process fermentation; it happens when vintners make wine, when brewers make beer, and when you make bread in your bread machine.

    Yeast reproduction
    Did you know that yeast is both asexual and bisexual? That’s right. Those little one-celled plants (fungi) will divide and multiply or get together, so to speak, and multiply. They aren’t fussy as long as they have food (sugar to ferment), are warm and moist and have plenty of oxygen. Their reproduction is called
budding,
a process in which a protrusion grows out the side of the cell wall and then breaks off to form a separate daughter cell. Under ideal conditions, the yeast cell reproduces every two to three hours. In the manufacturing of yeast, they are fed molasses and nutrional supplements and given plenty of oxygen through an ariation process.
    Sometimes people ask if they can use baker’s yeast to make wine. We explain that baker’s yeast will ferment their fruit, but they may not end up with the flavor they had anticipated. Scientists have discovered that some strains of yeast enhance the flavor of fruits during the fermentation process much better than the active dry yeast normally used to make bread. And we don’t recommend using yeast intended for winemaking in your bread machine!
    We’ve heard people say, “Oh,