a baking question

[ratcreature]

When I make Hefezopf (yeast plait? basically a braided, slightly sweet yeast bread with eggs, butter and milk) it turns out fairly tasty, but the dough texture is just not as nice as that of the bought kind. Mine is soft and overall decently fluffy, i.e. the dough rises more or less to the volume it should, but the holes are smaller and more uniform than the ideal, also the texture isn't quite right. It's hard to explain, but what I expect is that for example if I tore it, it ought to tear a bit in chewier strands rather than just crumbs, which I assume is a side effect of mine just having a small-hole texture?

I'm not sure what I need to do to correct the dough texture. The recipe I use is to mix 500g white flour with dry yeast, two tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt, then warm 250ml of milk, melt the butter (about 70g) in it, so both are lukewarm, mix that and two eggs (also taken out of the fridge for a little while) under the dry ingredients until a ball forms, then add maybe either a little flour or a little milk until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. Then I let it rise until the volume doubled, then I braid the dough and let it rise again for a short time in braid form (maybe 15 minutes or so), and then bake it with medium heat (about 175°C) for about 40 minutes. So, experienced bakers and food chemists, what do I need to do differently to make the dough texture more like it should be for this type of sweet bread?

Comments

[reginagiraffe]

I'm no expert, but it sounds like you need to activate the gluten a little more. I think that's what makes it stretchy rather than crumbly. Try kneading it more at either the original ball stage or after the first rising and then let it rise a second time.

[ratcreature]

Thanks, I'll try that. I may be too used to cake baking, but of course with cake you do not want to make it chewy, and that's probably why you only mix batter are short while.

[marinarusalka]

What kind of flour do you use? In the US we can get bread flour, which has a higher gluten content than regular white flour, and I think it's the gluten that makes the chewier bread.

Also, I agree with the above comment about kneading longer.

[ratcreature]

Uh, here flour is numbered in types, but I always thought that was only how much whole wheat vs white the flour is, not about gluten. I think there is some kind of DIN about remaining minerals. The whole wheat and partially whole wheat are more expensive, whereas the white flour is only 25¢/kg. So the one I by is type 405, for wheat there is also a 550, which is still pretty white, 1050, 1600, and 1700 which iirc whole grain without the germ bud. Looking at wikipedia it tells me 550 has more gluten than 405, so maybe that is what is sold as bread flour in the US?

[petra]

The Windowpane Test for how to tell if you need to keep kneading.

[ratcreature]

Oh, that sounds useful. I'll have to try that next time.

[shadowvalkyrie]

I only use one egg (but 100g of butter) for 500g of flour and only bake it 20-25 min, and it always comes out fluffy and tearing in strands! It only becomes more solid after being thawed -- I always bake with a kilo of flour (4 braids) and freeze it in chunks.

You could also try using off-brand yeast. It works a lot better for me than the expensive stuff ever did!

[ratcreature]

I guess if you make four from a kilo, it would only be half the size, so the shorter baking makes sense for that.

I don't think I ever used branded yeast (fwiw, my last try was with Penny's store brand), but I may try with only one egg (that would be cheaper too, I tend to buy organic eggs, out of failed-vegan guilt over eating them in the first place, so it's like 25¢ per egg). Also judging from other comments I probably need to knead the dough more.

[shadowvalkyrie]

No, the time is pretty much the same for two or four! They just fit on the sheet differently. (One diagonally, two next to each other, which I found more convenient, since I cut them up later, anyway. Do try to reduce the baking time a little, it might really help! The dough is done inside even if it's only golden, not brown on the outside!

[teneagles.livejournal.com]

Two thoughts:

1. Early addition of too much fat inhibits gluten production, which obviously makes for a less chewy texture -- and melted butter will soak into the flour, rather than coating it, which both inhibits gluten production *and* means you don't get steam pockets to create larger holes.

Try this -- make a well in the center of the flour; into the well add about 50ml of the warmed milk, the yeast, and 15 grams of the sugar. Sprinkle some flour loosely over the top of the yeast mixture, cover the bowl, and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients, making sure to use softened (room temperature) butter, not melted.

2. Are you kneading? It's essential to creating some chew (and is part of every hefezopf/challah recipe I've seen.) Mix the dough until it forms a smooth ball. After it's doubled (or more) in size, knead it and let it rise again before you divide and braid it.

[ratcreature]

I've tried similar to the first when using fresh yeast not dry (the packaging of the dry says this preliminary dough was not necessary) with only little difference, though that was still with melted butter, not merely softened.

I am kneading before the first rise, so I'm not just mixing the ingredients together, but possibly not kneading long enough. Neither of the three recipes for Hefezopf I've consulted asked for two rises before the braiding, but I could try that. Over in the comments on DW someone suggested a "window pane test" to see whether the dough was kneaded and stretchy enough.

[teneagles.livejournal.com]

Hm. I don't use dry yeast, so I can't speak to that, but adding the butter after giving the yeast a chance to get going is important, imo. The softened vs melted butter business is also very important (again, imo.)

For the second knead, I'm talking about a short knead, where you go at it relatively gently for 5 minutes, with the first knead not being a super-extended affair either. The other way to do it, as you say, is to knead it only once, for a good ten minutes at the beginning. I have no scientific reasoning; my grandmother always let it rise twice, so I do too, and it always turns out just how I like it (imagine that!)

[ratcreature]

I will experiment and try the suggestions next time! At least results of the less than perfect food chemistry are still quite edible.