Remarks on the Recipes
1. Ingredients
Since each ingredient plays a specific role for the successful baking of the bread, the measuring is
just as important as the order in which the ingredients are added.
The most important ingredients like the liquid, flour, salt, sugar and yeast (either dry or fresh yeast
can be used) affect the successful outcome of the preparation of the dough and the bread. Always
use the right quantities in the right proportion.
Use lukewarm ingredients if the dough needs to be prepared immediately. If you wish to set the
program phase timing function, it is advisable to use cold ingredients to avoid that the yeast starts
to rise too early.
Margarine, butter and milk affect the flavor of the bread.
Sugar can be reduced by 20% to make the crust lighter and thinner without affection the
successful outcome of the baking. If you prefer a softer and lighter crust replace the sugar with
honey.
Gluten which is produced in the flour during the kneading provides for the structure of the bread.
The ideal flour mixture is composed of 40% wholemeal flour and 60% of white flour.
If you wish to add cereals grains, leave them to soak overnight. Reduce the quantity of flour and
the liquid (up to 1/5 less).
Leaven is indispensable with rye flour. It contains milk and acetobacteria that make the bread
lighter and ferment thoroughly. You can make your own leaven but it takes time. For this reason
concentrated leaven powder is used in the recipes below. The powder is sold in 15 g packets
(for 1 kg of flour). Follow the instructions given in the recipes (1/2, _or 1 packet). If less leaven that
requested is used the bread will crumble.
If leaven powders with a different concentration (100 g packet for 1kg of flour) are used, the
quantity of flour must be reduced by 80 kg for a 1 kg of flour.
Liquid leaven sold in bags is also available and it is suitable for use. Follow the doses specified on
the package. Fill the measuring beaker with the liquid leaven and top it up with the other liquid
ingredients in the right doses as specified in the recipe.
Wheat leaven which often comes dry improves the workability of the dough, the freshness and the
taste. It is milder that rye leaven.
Use either the BASIC or WHOLE WHEAT program when baking leavened bread.
Baking ferment can used to replace the leaven. The only difference is in the taste. It is fit to be
used in the bread baking machine.
Wheat bran is added to the dough if you want particularly light bread rich in roughage. Use one
tablespoon for 500 g of flour and increase the quantity of liquid by _ tablespoon.
Wheat gluten is a natural additive obtained from wheat proteins. It makes the bread lighter and
more voluminous. The bread falls in more rarely and it is more easily digestible. The effect can be
easily appreciated when baking wholemeal and other bakery products made of home-milled flour.
The black malt used in some recipes is dark-roasted barley malt. It is used to obtain a darker
bread crust and soft part (e.g. brown bread). Rye malt is also suitable but it is not as dark. You can
find this malt in whole food shops.
