Bread Making Machine

Date:  Apr 15, 2015

I tag this under “Gadgets and Toys” that is because I am going to talk about the Bread Machine.

And this is one of my wife’s latest kitchen gadget.

This is a bread machine.  And you can see it can do a lot of wonders.  

It is Panasonic SD-P104 bread machine.

We live in a very advanced world right now, the food processing is so wonderfully advanced and some time you really don’t know what they put inside the bread if it is made from machines.

We usually buy a bread, and sometimes, they might put some preservatives.

They may be a lot of chemicals that they put in to make a bread that a normal person like me will not understand or will not find out.

There is a nice article about this, and I suggest you read it.

http://realfoodforager.com/why-i-never-eat-commercial-bread/  (I will cut and paste the article down at the below).

After you read it, then, you know why we have noodle making machine and why we have bread machine now.

Because I think it is safer to make your own bread.  :)

We make our own bread, we will be sure that all material does not contain too much of chemicals.  (of course you may ask, how about those raw materials?  Well, I don’t have an answer for that.. let’s assume those are good.)

Fortunately, while the food science is advancing, the kitchen cooking technology seems to be advanced too.

Previously we had an older generation of bread machine, but it does not make a good bread.  

But this one, make the bread we like.

Let’s check out the whole process of making a bread.

This is where we going to put all the raw ingredients.  Dump everything in here.  And you might want to use a digital weight machine to weigh all the ingredients.

1.  First, you need to decide what bread you want to make.  So, let’s make this Orange Bread.  So, to make orange bread, we need to select No: 7 baking method.  Take note of that “7” number.

2.  We need 200g of bread flour & 50g of rice flour.

Pour it in!

See… 200g of bread flour.  Baking bread or cake needs to be very precise.  :)  Then, place in 50g of rice flour.

3.  We need orange jam.  Since we don’t have it, let’s replace this with Korean Citron Tea.  (Those you use to mix with hot water and drink).  20g of it.

pour it in.  20g.

Just place it in will do.  You don’t have to mix it.

4.  20g of butter.

Just put in the butter.  No need to mix it.

5.  24g of brown sugar.  But since I don’t have it, we use the “三温糖"

三溫糖是黃砂糖的一種，為日本的特產，常用於日本料理，尤其是日式甜點。三溫糖是以製造白糖後的糖液所製，因此色澤偏黃，具有濃烈甜味。

6.  We need 6g of milk powder.  Interesting… I didn’t know we need milk powder to make bread.

Use the measuring spoon to measure 6g of milk powder.  Hey, that is the FREE milk powder they always put in the goodie bag given by the school.  hahaha

7.  5g of salt.  I used Snow Salt from Hokkaido.  You can use any salt.

8.  We need 170ml of cold  water.  OK cold water means 5 degree temperature water.  

What we do is put ice in the water, let the water cool down for a while, throw away the ice, and add in the water to make up 170ml.

 

You need cold water so that the yeast can do its job.

Pour it in.

9.  Yeap!  We are done.  Place the whole pot into the bread machine.  Remember, NO NEED TO MIX anything.

10.  Remember, don’t need to mix it.

11.  You can cover it.  And then, open the secret hatch.  :)

12.  We need 4.2g of yeast.

Use the measuring spoon to measure 4.2g of yeast.

In the older model of the bread machine, they mix the yeast into the flour and water.  But the result is inconsistent.  Some times the yeast did not do their job in the older machine.  For this new bread machine, there is a compartment for you to place the yeast.  and later the yeast will dropped onto the flour and water and the machine will do the magic to mix them and let them rest.

13.  We are going to use some imagination here… Let’s put in some wild berries.  (not in the recipe).

See that grey compartment beside the yeast compartment?  That’s where you going to put the wold berries.  Organic berries.

Place as much you like.

14.  OK.  We are making #7 bread, the rice flour bread.  So, you will need 2.5 hours to bake the bread.

So to make our bread, we need 2.5 hours.  It will show in multiple colors to tell you the process of making the bread.  

15.  Select #7, and press Raisin button.  Because you want to tell the bread machine that you have raisin/berries in the compartment, don’t forget to drop them into the bread.

You also select light crust.  So that the skin of the bread is thin crust.

Once select those, press START.

16.  It tells you the bread will be ready by 11.11pm.  That is about 2.5 hours after I press START.

OK.  Good news, you  don’t have to do anything after this.  Let the bread machine do the wonder.

17.  It is almost ready.  When it ended, it will show the word “End”. 

18.  Look at the bread.  Isn’t it gorgeous.

Isn’t it pretty?

It’s very hot.

Walaaa…. This is our bread.  Very fresh.

Since it is still hot, let it rest for about 10-20min.

Look at the berries.

Look at the berries.

After it cool down, you may cut the bread.

Look at the berries.  It is mix in the bread.

Since we bought this new bread machine, we almost everyday making our own bread. 

I just tasted this.  It has an orange hint, and the berries are all over the bread that delivers the sweetness.  And the bread is just fantastic.

This is the bread yesterday.  Carrot bread.  You see those red red color thing on the bread, those are carrots.

You also have the recipe in English.

Plain bread.

And you place some cheese, with salmon and cucumber and lettuce.  It can be a delicious breakfast.

So, it is easy to bake your own bread.  It is healthy.  And it is tasty too.

 

Here are the article I mentioned just now.  Read it and you will have some ideas what I am talking about.

==== EXTRACTED FROM http://realfoodforager.com/why-i-never-eat-commercial-bread/ =====

Why I Never Eat Commercial Bread

JANUARY 31, 2012 · 91 COMMENTS

 194 4125 34.9K

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Years ago, when I was still eating bread, I would roam the bread aisle of the super market looking for a loaf of whole grain bread that did not have so many additives, preservatives, dough conditioners and other toxic ingredients. Even then, I certainly knew that all the chemicals used in commercial baking were unhealthy for us. Now, with all the traditional wisdom I’ve learned from the Weston Price Foundation, I know that grains can be really toxic when they are not properly prepared by soaking, sprouting and/or sourdough leavening. Now, if I ate bread on a regular basis I would NEVER buy commercially produced bread. I’ll tell you why.

Up until the 1950s, bread had been made using sourdough leavening as the main technique, which would take up to a day to produce. This amount of time was necessary for the proper conditioning of the dough. With the advent of  bakery manufacturing facilities and mass-production of square (condensed) loaves of bread, the production time for bread had to be accelerated. It was discovered that the addition of certain chemicals and enzymes to the bread could shorten the process to two hours instead of the usual 12 to 24 hours.

Commercial bread manufacturers have no interest in nutrition. If they are using refined white flour it is fortified with synthetic vitamins which are poorly absorbed. If they are using whole grains, the vitamins and minerals are all bound up in the bran where it is unavailable unless it has been properly prepared. The marketing for these products is geared towards sale of the product, not the nutrient content.

That said, here is the ingredient label for a loaf of commercial bread that is trying to be “healthy”:

Emulsifiers

Mono & Di-glycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate (SSL), and Diacetyl Esters of Tartaric Acid (DATEM) are used to keep the dough uniform and strong and the air bubbles open.

Mono & Di-glycerides are considered softeners because they prevent the starch complexes from firming or going stale.

SSL and DATEM are dough strengtheners. These two chemicals interact with the proteins and prevent them from collapsing when other ingredients are added to the dough such as raisins, bran or nuts.

Lecithin aids in the emulsification of the fats in the bread which, in turn, makes a more consistent crumb. It also helps the bread remains softer by retaining more moisture and is a great binding agent. Of course, lecithin is derived from soy, so it is from genetically modified plants.

Dough Conditioners

Azodicarbonamide is used in the food industry as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent and improving agent. Azodicarbonamide actually relaxes the dough so that when it is divided in large-scale bakeries under pressure, it still retains a good character.  It has been known to cause allergic reactions in those sensitive to other azo compounds, such as food dyes. The consumption of azodicarbonamide may also heighten an allergic reaction to other ingredients in a food. The principal use of azodicarbonamide is in the production of foamed plastics as an additive.

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive has identified azodicarbonamide as a respiratory sensitizer (a possible cause of asthma) and has determined that these products should be labeled with the words “may cause sensitization by inhalation.” Do you really want to eat this?

It should be mentioned that ascorbic acid is also used as a dough conditioner to strengthen the gluten, but because it tightens the dough, it has a limited use, and is rarely used commercially.

Bromide is a dough conditioner found in most flours as potassium bromate. It replaced potassium iodate starting in the 1960’s because bakers claim it yields dependable results, and it makes the dough more elastic, which can stand up to bread hooks and other commercial baking tools.

Bromate is an endocrine disruptor that competes for the same receptors in the thyroid gland as iodine. Constant ingestion of bromate in your daily bread may eventually create a thyroid hormone imbalance because iodine is needed for thyroid hormone production. It is also implicated in many cancers.

The UK banned bromate in bread in 1990. 
Canada banned bromate in bread in 1994.

In 1999, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the FDA to prohibit the use of potassium bromate, charging that the FDA had known for years that bromate causes cancer in lab animals. It is still in use today, although some artisan bakeries will use unbromated flour.

Preservatives

Calcium propionate is probably the most common preservative in commercial breads. The propionic acid inhibits the growth of molds and other microorganisms. However, there has been some speculation that calcium propionate may induce autistic type actions in rats.

Propionic acid may appear as cultured wheat starch or cultured whey on a food label.

Bread Improvers

The two main reasons for the use of bread improvers are: to help produce gas, and to retain the gas inside the bread. This is done by including enzymes, such as amylases to act on the starch and proteases to act on the gluten. The protease enzyme strengthens the gluten, thereby giving the bread a better structure and retaining more of the gas produced.

Sourdough fermentation over a 24 hour period naturally produces these enzymes — they do not need to be added. Bread improvers aim to boost the amount of these enzymes artificially, thereby increasing the amount of fermentation early on in the bread production. This eliminates the need for a long fermentation and helps companies produce more in less time.

Hydrochloride and Sodium metabisulfate are used as gluten softening and clearing agents. Sodium metabisulfate had been singled out as being highly allergenic and is not used as much today.

Other Additives

Ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride and phosphates are used to provide nitrogen and/or food for the yeast. Monocalcium phosphate or calcium carbonate are used to compensate for soft water, which may yield soft, sticky dough.

High fructose corn syrup, or other artificial sweeteners may be part of the bread. The dangers of high fructose corn syrup is a topic for another post.

As you can see from the ingredient label, even a loaf of whole wheat bread has all kinds of additives: dough conditioners, artificial food for the yeast, and preservatives. In addition, it has soybean oil that is most likely genetically modified as most of the soybean crop in the U.S. is GM.

What is Missing

Importantly, with very few exceptions, food companies do not soak, sprout or sour the grains. Therefore the grains in all of these products are not properly prepared and are full of anti-nutrients. So even if it is whole grain — the nutrients are not available as they are bound up.

Don’t even bother reading bread labels — with very few exceptions, they all have some additives you would not need to use at home. Learn how to make your own bread and you will know that it is done correctly and with the very best ingredients.

 

- See more at: http://realfoodforager.com/why-i-never-eat-commercial-bread/#sthash.HXgQsNhM.dpuf