High Altitude Bread Making - Summit County, Colorado
High Altitude Bread Making, Summit County, ColoradoSummit County is a high and dry area with constant changes in barometric pressure that will have an impact on how yeasted bread kneads, rises, and bakes. |
High Altitude Bread Making, Summit County, CO
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High Altitude Bread MakingSummit County is a high and dry area with constant changes in barometric pressure that will have an impact on how yeasted bread kneads, rises, and bakes. If you plan on making some excellent tasting and great looking bread at high altitude, I suggest following a few rules of thumb to guarantee perfection the very first time. Flour: Your best bet is to choose the finest quality flour, preferably organic, when making bread at high altitude. Look for unbleached, unbrominated flour that has at least 12 grams of protein. This amount of protein will give you the right amount of gluten to form an elastic dough. Whole grain flours (typically lower in protein) should be used in combination with good quality white flour. Liquid: The dry climate of Summit County must be compensated for dehydrated ingredients. The drier the environment, the drier the flour will be. It is essential to add additional liquid to compensate for the dry climate. This can be anything that pours or melts during baking. For example pureed fruit, butter, or cheese can all be considered liquid. The more liquid in a bread (to a certain point) the more interesting, complex and varied the crumb and crust. Whole wheat and other "dark" flours require more liquid than white flour. Yeast: When yeast feeds on the carbohydrates in the flour, sugar and other ingredients in your dough, the by-product is carbon dioxide. When this carbon dioxide expands in the dough it forms air pockets in the dough and makes the bread rise. The longer and slower this process is, the more complex and sophisticated the taste and texture of the finished bread. The decreased air pressure found at high altitude means that there is less air pressure pushing back against these air pockets, so the bread rises higher and more rapidly than it should. Typically, the dough will rise way up, then collapse during the baking process since the structure of the bread cannot support the volume of dough. Decreasing the amount of yeast by 1/3 to 1/2 will certainly help. Use the best quality instant active yeast. Also, allow the dough to have an additional long, slow rise before it is formed and baked. If you are using a bread machine, program for manual and remove the dough after the final cycle. Then the dough can be formed and given a final rise before baking. If you have a programmable machine you can place the dough back in the bread pan, program for "Final Rise" and then "Bake". Sugar: When making sweet breads it is advisable to cut back on sweeteners (including honey, molasses and maple syrup, as well as dried fruits such as raisins) which tenderize the gluten structure and can result in the center of the loaf collapsing. Use l/3 less than the amount specified in the recipe. Salt: Salt acts as a yeast retardant. Do not bake bread at high altitude without it. Oven temperature: At altitudes higher than 3500 feet reduce oven temperature by 25°, but keep the baking time the same. Bread is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 190 -200° (use an instant read thermometer). Try to prevent over baking, as this will contribute to dryness. |
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Summit County Information: SummitColorado.com ©2008
info@summitcolorado.com
106 N. French Street
Breckenridge, Colorado 80424