Princess Cool White Mode D'emploi page 22

seeds. Wheat flour and wheatmeal also
contain a lot of gluten.
Wholewheat flour and wholewheat meal
Wholewheat flour is ground from whole,
untreated grains of wheat. It contains all
the bran and seeds from the wheat.
Wholewheat flour has, just like wheat flour,
a lot of gluten, but is heavier because of
the bran and seeds. As a result, the bread
will be more compact if it is made only
using wholewheat meal. Therefore, most
home bakers add some wheat flour.
Besides these types of flour and meal,
there are also many other types to keep
you busy to your heart's content, such as:
oatmeal, barley meal, buckwheat flour,
maize meal and rye flour.
Meal mixes
Most types of meal can be mixed together.
The combination of buckwheat flour/
oatmeal/wheat flour is a good example.
You could also try barley meal/wheat flour.
Various mixes can also be bought in
shops, such as cornmeal, six-grain meal,
nine-grain meal or ten-grain meal. These
mixes sometimes contain flour and/or a
bread improver.
All-in-one mixes
You can also buy mixes which contain all
the ingredients, except water. These all-in-
one mixes are easy and quick to use, but
are also more expensive.
Yeast
Yeast is required in order for the bread to
rise. You can buy fresh yeast (blocks) or
dried yeast (granules). The taste of fresh
yeast is slightly more pronounced than that
of dry yeast. There are various brands of
dry yeast and the effect they have varies
somewhat. The yeast that suits you the
best is a question of personal preference.
As a rule of thumb, you can say that you
need about half the weight of dry yeast
(also called instant yeast) compared to
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Breadmaker Cool White Article 152001
fresh yeast. The effect of the yeast can be
affected if the yeast comes into contact
with salt or fat. Salt dries out the yeast and
fat encloses the yeast cells, so that the
dough can no longer rise. It is, therefore,
important to ensure that the yeast, salt and
butter are not placed too close to each
other in the breadmaker.
Salt
Salt adds to the taste of the bread, but is
also important for the crust and for the
bread rising (although salt can also stop
the bread from rising if it comes into direct
contact with the yeast). Salt strengthens
the gluten construction which gives the
bread shape. Salt also ensures that the
bread does not rise out of the baking tin
and then sinks before it is well baked.
It is possible to bake low-sodium or salt-
free bread, but it will require varying the
ingredients.
Liquids
The most common liquid used to bake
bread is water, but you can also try using
milk or buttermilk. This influences the
taste, the rising and the bread structure.
The fats in full-fat milk have a positive
influence on the freshness and the lactose
in the milk stimulates the fermentative
power. Buttermilk produces a lighter bread
that remains fresh for longer.
Sugar
Sugar only makes a small contribution to
the rising process, but it determines the
taste of the bread. Instead of sugar, you
can also use honey, treacle or syrup. Do
not use any large granular sugar (hard
sugar) or sugar candy in the breadmaker.
This may damage the non-stick coating.
Do not use any artificial sweeteners,
because they are generally not good at
withstanding heat.
Fats
Fat is, in fact, a bread improver. You do not
necessarily need it, but the bread is much