This lesson covers cookie dough, bread dough, and pastry dough which, when stripped down to basics, are all pretty similar, containing flour, water, and salt at the core.
Lessons Learned:
- A measured cup of flour can differ in weight by up to 50%! This makes it extra important to weigh each cup of flour with a kitchen scale.
- Working with dough encourages the strands of gluten (protein) to connect and elongate, creating a smooth dough and chewy product. Fat (such as butter) keeps these proteins separate, resulting in a crumbly, tender product.
- Ruhlman's basic proportions for a simple bread dough is 5 parts flour to 3 parts water, plus 0.5% weight of flour in yeast and 2% weight of flour in salt. Bread should be kneaded until smooth, elastic, and can be stretched until translucent in color. Be very careful not to over rise the dough which will result in poor texture.
- For pie dough, keep the fat as cold as possible when cutting it into the flour; these pockets of fat create flakiness within the dough. Use only enough water to bring the dough together and do not overwork the dough.
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