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You do not have to but you get the best results if you do. I will explain further …….
Bread rises through the action of yeast. Yeast multiplies once it is fed, watered, and kept warm. This gives off carbon dioxide gas as a bi-product of the above action. It is the carbon dioxide which makes the dough rise.
The protein (gluten) in flour develops once liquid is added to the flour and kneading takes place.
The action of mixing and kneading allows the chains of gluten to join together in long strands. The more gluten in the flour, the stronger the strands of chains become. Once the dough is elastic and smooth it is ready for the yeast to work its magic.
Carbon dioxide released from the yeast pushes up against the chains, which if strong enough, hold firm. This action takes place through the ‘proving’ part of bread making.
Once in the oven the active yeast action is halted through heat. The rise achieved in the proven bread dough remains fixed and you have beautifully risen bread.
If a general purpose flour is used which is much lower in gluten (protein), the carbon dioxide will break through the gluten chains during the proving process. The chains are not strong enough to withstand the pressure and the bread will be ‘dumpy’. It will still be a loaf of bread, just heavy!
Also take note, if a flour is used which has ‘bits’ in for example wholemeal, granary, etc, the gluten strands will again be weakened as the bits in the flour will inhibit the chains from forming long strands. Carbon dioxide will break through these shortened strands. That is why the ‘textured’ breads never rise as well as white bread.
Industrial producers add a chemical bread conditioner to their doughs. This will negate the effect and strengthen the gluten chains.
Simple. Weigh the 2, or 4 eggs in their shells first, then use this weight when measuring out the other ingredients.
Victoria Sponge is the simplest cake to make and is the base technique for quite a few other cakes.
Equal quantities of fat, flour, sugar, and egg make this lovely sponge cake. Far nicer to eat than the oil based ‘muffins’ which tend to be much heavier though they do keep longer.
When making the Victoria Sponge recipe there are several methods you can follow. The ‘all-in-one method is the simplest, but does not rise as well as the traditional way where one egg at a time is beaten into the cake mixture.
Absolutely. Puff Pastry uses equal weight fat to flour in the recipe. This link will take you to the relevant page for how to make it.
Savoury shortcrust pastry though tends to follow the 2:1 ratio, or half fat to flour. You can increase the fat level but it is not necessary.
Usually it is the ‘strength’ of the pastry which is required to hold a ‘wet’ pie filling. High fat content pastry is usually very soft and crumbly.
Sweet pastry on the other hand can be taken up to the ratio of 1:1, equal parts fat and flour. Butter would be the expected fat to use for flavour. When mixed in a special way the made dough must be chilled thoroughly before attempting to roll it out.
The fabulous Sable Pastry produced is wonderful to eat, buttery and crumbly, mmmmmm!
Yes you can and very easily. You do though require a food processor to simplify the process. More difficult without one as you need a pestle and mortar, and a strong arm!
Use any packet sugar you have. Load it into your food processor with the sharp blade attachment.
Set off the processor on high speed until the sugar resembles powder (icing sugar) .
I pulse it the last few times to make sure there are no clumps.
If the sugar is required for fine work then sift the ‘icing sugar’ first through a fine mesh nylon sieve before using the powdered sugar as per your recipe.