Answer: Starter
Wild yeasts are available in your flour. To make your starter, sometimes called a levain or poolish, you need to mix flour and water and leave to one side to allow to ferment. Periodically some of the mix is discarded and more flour and water added to 'feed' the yeast. The yeast feeds on the sugars and carbohydrates in the flour. As time goes on the starter becomes more active, creating bubbles of carbon dioxide that are going to help create the airy structure of your finished loaf.
It can take up to two weeks for a starter to become lively enough to use. Each feed should see it rise within the container then fall when it has used up the available food. Any type of flour can be used such as white bread flour, spelt, or rye flour, each imparting a different flavour. Once made, the starter is a hardy pet, which will live happily in the fridge till needed. Many sourdough aficionados name their starter. Mine is called Frank.
A starter can stay alive, given the right conditions, for ever. Some bakers claim they use starters that are decades old. Flavours develop with the age of the starter, becoming richer and more complex.
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On day one, take the starter from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. In the evening, add equal quantities of flour and water to the container and stir thoroughly. Cover and leave overnight.
From Quiz: Sourdough, A Well Bred Bread
Answer: Ethiopia
Eragrostis tef is the Latin name for the lovegrass that originates around the Horn of Africa. Its seeds are used to make teff flour, a staple in traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. Teff is an ancient grain that has been in use for thousands of years. Teff is gluten free but high in fiber. The government of Ethiopia regulates the export of raw teff in order to limit the amount of exploitation that may occur, as was seen with quinoa and the South American countries.
From Quiz: A Bouquet of Flours
Answer: Grass
Cereal grains come specifically from the grass family. These include wheat, barley and oats. Confusingly perhaps, the seed of the other families (except for the mint family) can be called 'grain', although the seed of the legume is more commonly called a pulse.
From Quiz: White or Wheat
Answer: Ciabatta
Ciabatta is an Italian white bread made with flour and yeast. It was created in 1982 and was called ciabatta, the literal translation of the Italian word for slipper, after its wide and elongated shape. Traditional ciabatta has a very crisp crust and a soft and porous centre. It is delicious cut into slices and used to dip in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It is used to make toasted or grilled sandwiches which are called "panini".
From Quiz: All You Knead is Loaf
Answer: Rye
Although many people with gluten sensitivity can tolerate rye better then wheat, it does contain gluten and so it is not recommended for gluten-free baking.
From Quiz: All About Gluten-free Baking and Cooking
Answer: Rye
Pumpernickel is made from a mixture of rye flour and rye berries. The slow cooked bread is made from a sourdough mixture, a rye mixture, yeast and a combination of acetic acid, citric acid or lactic acid.
From Quiz: The Great Pumpernickel Quiz!
Answer: Tsampa
This has been described as the most Tibetan of all dishes. Mixed with butter tea, dried yak cheese and sugar it is made into a dough called "pa". This is still a common meal in central Tibet and travellers carry the ingredients to mix up a batch of pa on the road.
From Quiz: Flour Power
Answer: Boule
Boule is sold in round, squashed balls. The French word "boulangerie" means a bread bakery. Boule is a simple type of bread to make and it can be made from any type of flour, but is most commonly white flour.
From Quiz: International Breads
Answer: Panettone
In 1919 a Milanese baker, Angelo Motta, created the dome-shaped bread that became popular around the world. Gioacchino Alemagna, another Milanese baker, adapted Motta's recipe several years later and his recipe is the one still used today. The word "panettone" comes from the Italian word "panetto" which means "small loaf cake."
From Quiz: Breaking Bread
Answer: Christmas
Oplateks are also known as Christmas wafers and consist of thin, rectangular shaped, unleavened wafers made using only wheat. They are regarded as an expression of the body of Christ. At the family meal on Christmas eve, the head of the family breaks the wafer and then passes it on to other members of the family while praying for their loved ones.
From Quiz: Another Bun in the Oven
Answer: Matzoh
Matzoh is unleavened flat bread made using wheat flour and water. Bread is unleavened when no raising agent is used during the preparation of the dough. Flatbrød is unleavened bread from Norway, bagel is made using yeasted dough and markook is a very thin yeasted flatbread used in the Levant.
From Quiz: Bread of Life
Answer: Buckwheat
Kev tells the class that buckwheat is worth including in the diet for a number of reasons. From strengthening the walls of the capillary vessels, it has also been shown to relieve some symptoms of Type 2 diabetes. For people who are allergic to wheat or gluten it makes a good wheat substitute, because it's actually related to rhubarb and sorrel and therefore a fruit seed.
From Quiz: A Grain of Truth
Answer: Afghanistan
In this dish, basmati or long-grain white rice is cooked in a meat stock which turns it a darker colour. It includes meat of some sort (lamb, beef or chicken), raisins and carrots. A typical presentation is a molded mound.
From Quiz: First, you take the pilaf
Answer: maize
While the English speakers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand may refer to the plant simply as "corn," most everyone else in the world might be confused by such a word, since "corn" usually is a generic term for any grain whatsoever. Anyway, maize or corn is a tall plant, often growing several feet high, and has been domesticated since prehistoric times when the indigenous people of Mesoamerica (parts of Mexico and Central America) did so. Europeans travelling to the New World were smitten with maize, and many settlers of the New World began to grow it as a staple crop. Today, maize is the most widely grown domesticated grain throughout all of the Americas. The term "maize" is a derivative of the Taino word "maiz." The Taino people lived in the Caribbean, particularly in the Bahamas and the Antilles. To make cornmeal, the grain of the maize or corn plant is dried and then ground either into a fine, a medium, or a coarse consistency. However, never are the grains ground as finely as those used to make wheat flour. In some places of the world, such as in the United Kingdom, cornmeal is referred to as polenta.
From Quiz: Got a Hankerin' for Some Cornbread?
Answer: Naan
In India and Pakistan, the "tandoor" oven is used to bake bread as well as other foods, such as skewered meat. The Arabic name "tanoor" refers to the same kind of oven.
From Quiz: Knead-to-Dough Basis
Answer: Challah
The delicious challah is present at many Jewish observances, Passover notably excepted due to the ban on bread. Challah is parve, meaning it contains neither dairy nor meat, so it can be combined with any other food without contradicting kosher laws.
From Quiz: Anti-Atkins Diet
Answer: A maize maze
Corn, or maize, is an "amaizing" product. Not only can it be used as a food, certain parts of it can also be utilised in some alternative medicines, and other parts can be used in the manufacture of various chemical products such as plastics and glues. It is also being increasingly used as a fuel additive or replacement in some areas, different strands of it are used as ornamental garden plants, and, beginning in Pennsylvania in 1993, it is now used to create fast growing mazes as tourist attractions. You'll be all forlorn in a maze of corn.
From Quiz: A Grainy Problem
Answer: onion
This dish takes nearly 16 hours to bake and contains beef, onions, leeks, groats that have been soaked, and beef stock. Groats pudding or hogs pudding, is made with pork, oats and black pepper.
From Quiz: Amber Waves of Grain
Answer: Ciabatta
Ciabatta is often cooked in a woodfire oven and has a crisp crust, with a soft and 'airy' texture.
From Quiz: Breads of the World
Answer: Snowflake (or Butterfly) and Mushroom
The irregular shaped pieces of popcorn sold in theaters and popped at home are called 'snowflake' or 'butterfly' because they produce large kernels and have lots of openings for toppings such as butter. A rounder 'mushroom' kernel is suitable for the candy confections like popcorn balls where pieces are easier to pack into a solid shape and are not as easily crushed. The round popcorn found in 'Cracker Jack', for example, is of the 'mushroom' variety.
From Quiz: Pop(corn) Quiz! America's #1 munchie!
Answer: challah
For certain celebrations - weddings, festivals, religious holidays - challah is sometimes formed into different shapes. Rolls, buns, braids and spirals are all fairly common - as is sprinkling the bread with poppy seeds or sesame seeds before baking.
The traditional bread for the Jewish Sabbath, two challah loaves are served during each of the three Sabbath meals. The two loaves represent the double manna which is said to have fallen from heaven while the Israelites were in the wilderness. Challah bread is sweet, rich and tender with a fine crumb.
From Quiz: I Knead Some Bread
Answer: England
Fried bread is typically quartered white bread, often fried in bacon dripping. It is a tasty part of a common, full English breakfast. The term "fried bread" in England can also refer to French toast. Even in that case it would qualify for our fried dough quiz!
From Quiz: Let's Fry Some Dough!
Answer: Yeast
Yeast is the most commonly used leavening agent used in bread baking. It typically comes as dry yeast, cake yeast or instant yeast that is dissolved in warm water or other liquid, depending on your recipe.
From Quiz: BREAD - Ten Things you Knead to Know
Answer: It is the abbreviation for tablespoon
Most measuring spoon sets come with 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon (abbreviated tsp), and 1 tablespoon (abbreviated Tbsp or tbsp). It takes 3 teaspoons plus a drip or 2 to equal 1 tablespoon.
From Quiz: Bread - Ten Things You "Knead" To Know
Answer: boule
This is my favorite bread shape because it is so easy to form. The name comes from the French word for "ball". This shape makes a wonderful bread bowl for soups or dips.
From Quiz: Loafing Around
Answer: Flour
The definition of bread is a baked dough of flour and water with other optional ingredients. Unleavened bread does not contain yeast, and you don't have to put salt or sugar in the recipe but it does help!
From Quiz: The World of Bread
Answer: Eight thousand years
Rice is one of the oldest foods known to mankind. Dr Zong Yongquiang, of Durham University in England, excavated a Neolithic site called Kuahuqiao in eastern China. Here, he found evidence of rice cultivation going back almost eight thousand years. (Information for this question came from "The Independent" newspaper, 28/9/07).
From Quiz: Rice!
Answer: ring
The Yiddish word "beygl" translates to mean "ring". I also gave credit if you said "bracelet", as the German word "bougel" means bracelet and is also sometimes given credit as the origin of the word bagel. It does not take a whole lot of imagination to figure out why a bagel might be called either a ring or a bracelet. Further along, we will have a question asking why bagels have holes in them. Historically, bagels have had holes since they first have been recorded, however, the size of a bagel today is about six times bigger than the bagels made in the 1600s.
Ingredients for the water bath:
8 cups of water
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
From Quiz: The Baker's Dozen
Answer: Baker's percentages
Baker's percentages are not the same as normal percentages. They are useful to easily scale recipes up and down to keep the same ratios. It uses the weight of flour as 100% and the other ingredients are expressed as a percentage of the flour.
An example of how bakers percentages work out: To work with a kilogram (1kg) of flour as our base. The other ingredients being a percentage of this.
85% strong white flour = 850g
15% wholemeal flour = 150g
70% water = 700g
25% starter = 250g
2% salt = 20g
There are lots of sourdough recipes, changing the percentages and the types of flour, changes the texture, the shape, the taste and can change how long you need to prove for. That's what I think makes sourdough interesting.
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In the morning of day two, accurately weigh out the required amounts. Mix together the starter and water and then add the flour and salt. Cover and leave to one side for at least 30 minutes.
From Quiz: Sourdough, A Well Bred Bread
Answer: almond
Almond flour isn't really a milled flour, but rather finely ground almonds. When you mix it with honey you get marzipan, a malleable, moldable, and sweet almond paste. When making traditional French macarons, almond flour is the flour of choice, though I've seen other nut flours used in some special instances. Almond flour is gluten-free and also contains dietary fibers and other compounds that are often used as food additives.
From Quiz: A Bouquet of Flours
Answer: Self rising flour
Any good flour that is not self-rising will be fine when feeding your starter. While some web sites swear by rye flour, whole-wheat or bread flour, these are not always available and are not inexpensive. While unbleached flour is probably better than bleached, you should use what you can. The only rule is that the flour should not be self-rising. Everyone can keep and make sourdough!
From Quiz: The Dos and Don'ts of Sourdough
Answer: Bagel
Bagels are Jewish in origin and unlike most breads are traditionally boiled for a short time in water to set the crust before being baked in the oven. This produces a thin crust and an evenly aerated crumb. A lot of modern bagel producers use steam injected ovens rather than boiling the dough. A traditional topping used on bagels is lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese although a large variety of other topping may be used.
From Quiz: All You Knead is Loaf
Answer: Germany
Pumpernickel originated in the Westphalia region of Germany. Pumpernickel was first mentioned in print in 1450.
From Quiz: The Great Pumpernickel Quiz!
Answer: Brioche
Brioche is a sweet bread containing sugar and eggs that developed over the centuries in France, possibly from the "blessed bread" of the Church. The name seems to come from the old Norman word "brie" for a wooden roller.
From Quiz: Flour Power
Answer: Sandwiches
The muffuletta bread originated in Sicily as a cheaper alternative to focaccia. The muffuletta sandwich originated in New Orleans by Italian immigrants. The sandwich is made from the bread which has been stuffed with cold cuts, vegetables and seasonings. It was created because immigrants would often order these items and eat them separately, which proved difficult to carry and balance.
From Quiz: International Breads
Answer: Spring
Also known as the spring pancake, chun bing is eaten in the northern parts of the country on the day of lichun which marks the beginning of the spring season. The pancakes are wrapped around fresh vegetables and meat and the custom of then eating this food is called 'Bite the Spring' which invokes a good harvest.
From Quiz: Chef School
Answer: Lefse
Lefse is cooked on a griddle and spread with butter or lingonberry jam before being folded like crepes and served with lutefish. In U.S. states like Minnesota, where there is a high population of Norwegian-Americans, lefse will sometimes be filled with ham and eggs.
From Quiz: Breaking Bread
Answer: Red bean paste
Anpan is a type of sweet bread roll that is popular as a dessert in Japan. It was first made in the late nineteenth century when Kimura Yasubei was experimenting with recipes to make a bread better suited to Japanese tastes. Red bean paste made by mashing azuki beans and then adding sugar or honey is used as a filling in the anpan.
From Quiz: Another Bun in the Oven
Answer: Sweet corn
Mealie bread is a type of corn bread made with sweet corn rather than cornmeal. It can be either baked or steamed and is often eaten hot, with a coating of butter.
Sweet corn is a variety of maize which is harvested while the kernels (the little yellow bits) are still immature. The 'cob' is the central part of the ear of corn to which the kernels are attached. Corn on the cob is prepared by boiling or grilling the whole ear of corn and is often served up on a skewer so that the yellow kernels can be easily picked off the inedible 'cob'.
From Quiz: Yeast of Eden
Answer: Corn
Arepa is made using corn flour. It is traditional South American bread and as such only corn flour is used for its preparation. Arepas are shaped into small cakes and can be eaten with a variety of foods. The other three options are non-native grains to South America.
From Quiz: Bread of Life
