Chausiubao
Senior Cook
A couple weeks back, I was experimenting with certain recipes, and one of them was a recipe for Poor Man's Brioche. It had a high butter content (to me), and i had never done any bread baking with that much butter before. After I kneaded it in, I noticed that it was really light and soft. Then later when the bread was done, the inside of the bread ( the crumb?) was also really soft and fluffy.
Also, just recently I made the french country bread, Pain de Campagne, using whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, yeast, salt, and water. I decided to experiment and see if it was eggs or butter that made the brioche so fluffy, so i added in a 1/4 C. of Butter. So my recipe was...
Firm Preferment:
1 C. All Purpose Flour
1 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tsp. Instant Yeast
3/4 C. Water
Dough:
3 C. Preferment
2 C. All Purpose Flour
3/4 C. Water
1 Tsp. Yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 C. Butter
I mixed up the preferment, and let it ferment in the 'fridge overnight, then i let it warm up. I mixed the water, salt, yeast, and flour together, and then added the preferment to that, and kneaded the butter into it. Then i kneaded it for an additional 10 min, let it ferment until it doubled in size, and shaped it into 8 pieces. These pieces proofed until they too doubled in size, and the whole tray of dough was baked at 500 degrees for 20 min.
And lo and behold, the bread was quite soft, light and fluffy.
So it would appear that butter makes bread lighter and softer. But does anybody know why?
Also, just recently I made the french country bread, Pain de Campagne, using whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, yeast, salt, and water. I decided to experiment and see if it was eggs or butter that made the brioche so fluffy, so i added in a 1/4 C. of Butter. So my recipe was...
Firm Preferment:
1 C. All Purpose Flour
1 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tsp. Instant Yeast
3/4 C. Water
Dough:
3 C. Preferment
2 C. All Purpose Flour
3/4 C. Water
1 Tsp. Yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 C. Butter
I mixed up the preferment, and let it ferment in the 'fridge overnight, then i let it warm up. I mixed the water, salt, yeast, and flour together, and then added the preferment to that, and kneaded the butter into it. Then i kneaded it for an additional 10 min, let it ferment until it doubled in size, and shaped it into 8 pieces. These pieces proofed until they too doubled in size, and the whole tray of dough was baked at 500 degrees for 20 min.
And lo and behold, the bread was quite soft, light and fluffy.
So it would appear that butter makes bread lighter and softer. But does anybody know why?