Maikng yeat breads lighter

[Scottintexas]

I love kolaches and found a recipe at Texas Monthly Magazine's food section on line for the real deal (can't post the link until I have posted here 4 more times). The problem is, mine come out too heavy, almost like biscuits. They don't have that light risen feel. In fact, I don't seem to be able to get any bread to be light. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I want to get this straight because I like to make holiday breads, like tea rings, that I can give to friends. I use fresh yeast and I dissolve it in luke warm water so I don't think I'm killing it.

Your input greatly appreciated.


PS: Sorry about the bad spelling. My fingers weren't working right.

[Mezzaluna]

I believe this is the link: Texas Monthly: Food and Recipes

[Scottintexas]

It is this one.

Featured in the Middle November 1998 edition of The Ranch
Rose Morkovsky Hauger and Ann Morkovsky Adams's Kolache Recipe

[siduri]

Hi Scottintexas
I learned to make light breads after using laurel's kitchen bread book. She has developed a way to make 100% whole wheat bread (whcih everyone says is impossible to make light) and it comes light and fluffy and just what you want. I applied the techniques to bread with white flour and it is amazing.

several things you shoudl keep in mind

1. the recipe you have could have some mistakes. You never know, some are typos, some are just because an author can make a recipe by eye, and then guess at the measurements.

2 sometimes the ingredients vary from place to place - the kind of flour, the kind of butter, etc.

3. that said, one trick that works amazingly well is that since butter or other fat that is melted and added with the liquid tends to make bread heavy, you need to keep it cool and then add it AFTER having kneaded the dough. When the dough is smooth and elastic, add COOL not warm butter, little slice at a time and knead it in (whether byu hand or by mixer dough hook). The gluten has already formed then and the butter is not absorbed into the flour, and actually seems to grease the gluten strands so they slide easier and rise. You can incorporate surprisingly large amounts of butter into the dough this way.

4. don;t "punch down" the dough at any point. Your whole purpose in life here is to preserve all the gluten strands intact. Gently pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl and press down.
5. fold the dough gently always towards inward - that is, when you make a ball to rise, you put the top side down on the floured board and pull the sides in folding them towards the center, THEN TURN IT BACK OVER so the same part is always on top. This preserves this outer gluten layer so the air won;t escape.

6. don;t over rise - forget time and forget doubling in bulk. Press a finger into the dough. If it leaves a hole it's done. If it fills in it's not. If it collapses all around the hole, you need to squash and re rise it, it's gone too far and will end up dry and cavernous inside

try these and probably your bread will be high and light

[Scottintexas]

Thank you very much for the input, Siduri. I hope I can make a batch this weekend. I have to go to Austin Saturday, but plan to come home and cook Sunday morning. Nothing would make me happier than to start a week with a few dozen Kolaches!

This particular recipe calls for oil, not butter, to be mixed with the other ingredients. Can I substitute the oil for butter or should I just look for another recipe?
Also, after "punching down" the dough (which I will not do) the dough is then divided into 2 dozen balls and left on a baking sheet for 10 minutes to proof. So there is no kneading involved. Should there be?

Finally, the measurement "a warm place" means what temperature. I keep my house at around 73 and the kitchen is usually 4 degrees higher. Is that a "warm place"?

[siduri]

I think you can use butter in place of the oil without any problem at all. I don;t know the effect of adding oil after kneading, if it gets absorbed or if it helps rise better. I don;t like oil in baking so i never use it.
You would not, in fact, knead after "punching down" the dough, you would want to handle it gently then.
The warm place is nto so important. Youir house seems pretty warm but if it's cold it just takes longer (and long rising actually improves flavor anyway)
just rise till the point where if you poke it with your finger it leaves a dent.

[panini]

Scott,
Your second rise will take longer then the 10 min. You really can't put a set amount of minutes on proofing or rising. That second rise should at least double or get to almost the final size. It will feel like you are destroying the rise when you poke and prod to get your filling in there but will recover in the oven. I'm thinking your second rise will take at least as long as the first.
hth's
pan

[siduri]

Originally Posted by panini

Scott,
Your second rise will take longer then the 10 min. You really can't put a set amount of minutes on proofing or rising. That second rise should at least double or get to almost the final size. It will feel like you are destroying the rise when you poke and prod to get your filling in there but will recover in the oven. I'm thinking your second rise will take at least as long as the first.
hth's
pan

Hi Panini,
my experience with breads is that the more times it rises the quicker it goes, because meanwhile the yeasts have been busy reproducing themselves and you have much more yeast power behind it.
If you let the last rise go too far, you might get dry cavernous breads - has happened to me too often! Of course small rolls are different. But in any case, it has always taken me less time for the last rise.

[Scottintexas]

Thanks! I did look and find a new recipe. I was hoping to try it this weekend but ran out of time before heading to work (I work out of town). So it'll have to wait until next weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

[panini]

Siduri,
I agree 100%.
This is more like a danish dough. The yeast gets encapsolated by the butter or oil. If you don't get the second proof you will get a bisquit like product.
With breads you will get a pretty good kick in the oven before the yeast dies.
I'm pretty sure this formula will call for a cooler oven like 350F.
Does this make sense? been on pain meds for a week now
pan

[Breton Beats]

Whether or not you can exchange butter for bread will depend on how hot you are baking (professionally we bake bread at 475+ and that is too hot for butter. At any temp butter will make your bread darker, and may contribute a bit of a nutty flavor to it (ie. brown butter.)

Just an opinion: if you are seriously interested in learning to bake bread i would look for a good book that addresses the subject. While I cannot vouch for the particular periodical magazine recipes are known for being unreliable and often mashed together with very little professional analysis.

Happy Baking.