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Ask the Baker Vol 2
(Questions answered by Dennis Weaver)

4/20/06

We use fresh-milled grains in much of our baking and would like to protect the nutrients from oxidation. Do you have any suggestions?

Yes, foods oxidize and lose food value in the process and may taste rancid. So it is important to retard oxidation and use foods while they are still fresh.

There are three enemies of dried foods that will accelerate oxidation: heat, light, and oxygen. Store your foods, including baking ingredients and mixes, in a cool dark place. Keep them in tightly closed containers.

Plastic and paper containers from the store only offer limited protection. Oxygen migrates through plastic. It’s called the oxygen transfer rate (OTR). Glass, Mylar, or foil is much, much better.

My husband has high cholesterol and needs to stay away from shortening and butter. Can I substitute canola oil in cookie and cake recipes?

Unfortunately, you’ll get different results with oil. Usually the butter or shortening is creamed with the sugar to create air cells in the fat. When heated, those cells expand and help leaven the product. You’ll also find that the spread is different with different fats.

There are plenty of recipes that call for oil. One of our favorites is ANZAC Biscuits which is really a good cookie recipe.

In our experience, it’s easier to substitute oil for other fats in muffin recipes than in most cake or cookie recipes.

I let the quick bread bake according to the directions but it still came out doughy in the middle. What did I do wrong?

Baking times are one of the most frustrating factors in baking. There are many factors that influence baking times: dough temperature (which is influenced by how long you let the electric mixer work), pan shape, pan construction and finish, how well air circulates in your oven, where the pan is placed, and more. You simply have to check for doneness, especially with a new recipe.

For quick breads, stick a toothpick or skewer in a crack that forms in the top of the bread. If done, it should come out clean.

When I was growing up, there was a neighborhood bakery that sold some very special fruit pies. They were great. They looked like they were made in a cake pan, not a pie pan. The dough was on the bottom and sides and was thick and sweet. It also had a lattice top which looked like it had a wash on it for it was a dark golden brown color. Can you help me make a pie like this?

The recipe was probably a proprietary tart recipe developed by the bakery. Judging by how well you liked the crust, I’m guessing that it was a butter-based crust, not shortening. And I’m sure that it had extra sugar in it. You can see how to make a buttery pie crust here.

For easy serving, use a nine-inch glass base springform pan. It will give you that straight-side look that you remember and will be easy to remove slices for serving without tearing your dessert. You can also use a tart pan. We have a tart and cake pan with fluted edges that would make an attractive dessert.

The lattice top was probably brushed with milk or butter and then coated in sugar. As sugar cooks, it caramelizes and turns brown.

4/13/06

My rolls come out crusty instead of nice and soft. The bottoms are especially hard. What can I do about that?

Unless you are over baking your rolls, they should be soft. Here are some suggestions:

Bake the rolls at 350 degrees to allow a slower bake.

As soon as the rolls come out of the oven, brush the tops with melted butter. The butter will soften the crusts.

Hard bottom crusts are a sign that the bottoms of the rolls are over baking. Try moving the rack higher in the oven. That will direct less heat to the bottom of the pan. You can also place one baking sheet on top of another to insulate the bottom of the rolls. This retards baking on the bottoms. But first try moving the pan further from the element; two pans sometimes insulates the rolls too much and it is hard to get the rolls thoroughly baked.

We recently bought a coffee shop and would like to make the cinnamon roll mix the night before and bake the rolls in the morning. Can we do this?

Without professional proofing equipment, it’s hard to do this. We worked with a bakery trying to do this same thing and never could get consistent results. It’s great to refrigerate dough but after you take it from the refrigerator, it slowly rises as it approaches room temperature. It’s hard to speed up that process and usually takes hours to rise.

We refrigerate dough regularly. It makes great tasting bread; the yeast produces more alcohol at lower temperatures. But it’s for making bread mid-day, not early in the morning.

Why does the bread in my bread machine sink in the middle?

It’s rising too fast. The top is starting to collapse before the baking sets the structure.

There are several things you can do to slow down the rise:

• yeast is very sensitive to temperature. Our mixes are designed for 80 degree water. Use a thermometer to make certain that your water temperature is accurate. If it is and the bread is still sinking, lower the temperature to 75 degrees.
• Check the dough ball. A dough that is too moist will rise too quickly. The dough ball should be soft and barely tacky, not pasty. It could be that your measuring cup is inaccurate (not uncommon) and you are adding too much water.
• Salt inhibits yeast. If all else fails, add one-fourth teaspoon salt.

Can I use your dough conditioner when I’m making yeast-risen doughnuts?

By all means, yes. The conditioner will lower the pH of the dough making a better environment for the yeast to grow with a lighter, better-textured product. It also conditions the gluten in the dough for a smoother, more extensible dough.