Gaby
In earlier times, a skilled homemaker was known for her ability to bake good bread and pies. Mastering that craft requires knowing different types of dough and the small details in recipes. Here are some time-tested tricks from our grandmothers for making delicious baked goods.
Getting Dough to Rise
The foundation of tasty pies is fluffy dough. To help it rise, sift the flour first: this aerates it and removes any impurities. To speed up rising, warm the flour in the oven for about five minutes. Add salt to the flour for yeast dough only after the sponge has fermented. Too much sugar slows yeast fermentation and gives less fluffy results. Sweet doughs also tend to brown faster.
Fresh yeast often has a faint alcoholic smell, which is a sign of activity. Test yeast ahead of time by dusting a small portion of the sponge with flour and watching it for about half an hour; if cracks form on the surface, the yeast is stale.
Knead dough using ingredients at room temperature rather than straight from the fridge: chilled ingredients slow the rise. The liquid for yeast dough should be about 30 °C to 35 °C; at lower or higher temperatures the yeast will lose activity. Knead with dry hands and work with flour and yeast in a draft-free area to avoid a tough crust.
Some bakers say adding softened fat—about the texture of sour cream—at the end of kneading or during folding helps fermentation. Others prefer adding unmelted butter to yeast or sweet dough, since melted butter can affect the dough’s structure. More fat and less liquid tend to produce crumblier baked goods.
Pies made from yeast dough that hasn’t risen properly bake poorly. Before baking, let the dough rest in a warm place. Typically three hours is enough. But don’t let the dough or sponge ferment too long, or their quality will suffer. If the dough rises before you’re ready to bake it, cover it with a damp paper towel.
Baking Traditions
To keep baked goods from drying out and to preserve fluffiness, older recipes often added semolina to the dough. For bread, pies, pancakes, or fritters, add 1 tablespoon of semolina for every 1/2 liter of liquid. This trick doesn’t work well for shortcrust, puff, choux, or dumpling dough.
Milk-based pies are usually tastier, more aromatic, and more visually appealing (golden brown with a shiny crust). For a glossy finish on closed pies, brush them before baking with milk, melted butter, oil, sugar water, egg yolks, or beaten whole egg. For decoration, sprinkle yeast dough pies with powdered sugar, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, or even a little coarse salt.
The flavor improves if you add 1/2 cup of mineral water to the dough in addition to the milk. You can soften regular water by neutralizing 1 teaspoon of baking soda with lemon juice or vinegar. Such baked goods will stay fresh and fluffy into the next day.
Use egg yolks (not the whites) in dough to get tender, crumbly results. Buns and pies will stay soft longer if you add diluted potato starch to the dough. Before adding raisins to dough, toss them in flour. If you add too much baking soda, the pie may darken and develop an unpleasant odor.
Roll sheet-pie dough as thinly as possible to enhance the filling’s flavor. A rolling pin wrapped in a cloth napkin helps with very thin dough. If the dough is sticky, place parchment paper on top while rolling. To keep the bottom from getting soggy and sticking to the pan, sprinkle the dough with a little starch before adding the filling.
To prevent the filling from drying out, bake pies at medium temperature. Tall pies should be baked at low heat so they cook evenly. To separate a pie from the pan, use thread instead of a spatula. Remove shortcrust pastry from the mold after it cools. Let any pie cool before serving; avoid cutting it while it’s hot. If you must cut it hot, heat the knife in boiling water and dry it before slicing.
The Perfect Loaf
Bread is the cornerstone of baking, so many recipes start with homemade bread. Grandma’s bread doesn’t take much hands-on effort, but it does require time for the sponge to rise. Dough rises because yeast releases gas and gluten proteins form a network that traps the bubbles. That process can’t be rushed: a classic recipe can take over four hours, and the quality differs from loaves made with faster, “accelerated” methods.
Kneading the Dough
For a fluffy loaf, you’ll need about 750 grams of high-grade wheat flour, warm water or milk (30 °C), a yeast starter, salt, and any spices you like. In the sifted, warmed flour, add fine salt, mix, and make a well for the yeast. Pour the yeast starter into the well and mix until you have a rough, lumpy mass.
Kneading the Dough
Turn the dough onto a floured countertop and begin kneading: hold the dough with one hand while stretching it with the other, adding flour or water as needed. The dough should be firm but not stiff. Continue to stretch and fold for about fifteen minutes until the dough reaches the right consistency. In many cultures, the regular physical work of kneading dough has traditional value—for example, in Georgia women often work with dough daily. If you prefer, use a mixer to make the job easier.
Rising the Dough
Place the kneaded dough in a dry bowl and cover it with a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out. Let it sit in a warm spot for about two hours. You can tell the dough has risen when a press leaves an imprint that doesn’t immediately spring back. Bread usually tastes better if the dough rises more than once. For even crumb porosity, let it rise slowly at least twice: halve the yeast or chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight. The dough will also rise more slowly if you use bran or coarsely ground flours (corn, oat, etc.). You can freeze the dough and bake from it later.
Shaping the Dough
To shape a round loaf, tuck the edges of the dough toward the center, flip it seam-side down, and smooth it into a ball by hand. Cover the ball with a towel and let it rise again. When it has doubled in size (about forty minutes), sprinkle the surface with sesame seeds and score diagonal slashes with a knife. To delay crust formation and keep the bread fluffy, place a wide heatproof bowl of hot water on the bottom of the oven.
Baking the Dough
Preheat the oven to its highest temperature. Put the dough on a baking sheet and create steam in the oven by splashing a little water or keeping a bowl of water inside. After fifteen minutes, remove the water, reduce the temperature to 200 °C, and bake another ten minutes. Tap the bottom of the loaf when you take it out: a hollow sound means it’s done. If the sound is dull, bake for another five minutes. Let the bread cool for several hours—many bakers leave the loaf in the oven overnight to cool. Top the bread with sesame or poppy seeds, oats, semolina, or bran for decoration.
With Yeast or Without?
When baking bread and pies, fresh pressed yeast is usually dissolved in warm water and used immediately. Dry yeast is dissolved in water and left 15 minutes to absorb the liquid before stirring into the other ingredients. Instant yeast requires no proofing and can be mixed directly with the flour. Some bakers prefer yeast-free methods—like sourdough—often adding onions or herbs to boost the flavor.
To make a yeast-free starter, soak equal parts barley and wheat—1/2 cup of each—in water for a day, then drain and cover them with a damp cloth.
After a few days the grains will begin to sprout (usually on the third or fourth day). Grind the sprouted grains, then add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of rye flour. Simmer the mixture for about an hour, stirring constantly. When it dries a bit, add 1/2 cup of water. The starter will ferment over the course of a week depending on room temperature—anywhere from two to seven days.
When the starter smells like kvass, transfer it to a deep bowl, add 1/2 liter of water and 500 grams of flour (the dough should be soft), plus 1 tablespoon each of oil, salt, and sugar. Dough made with this starter rises more slowly than yeast dough and needs about three hours to rest. Bake the homemade bread at 160–180 °C. Near the end of baking, brush the loaf with raw egg white mixed with a little sugar and sprinkle with caraway or coriander seeds.
Baking Soda or Baking Powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are not the same, though baking powder contains baking soda and in some recipes they can be used in place of one another. When substituting baking powder for baking soda, you’ll generally need about three times as much baking powder as soda for the same leavening. In other cases the amounts are the same—what matters is whether the dough contains acidic ingredients.
Baking soda is simply sodium bicarbonate, while baking powder combines soda with acids and a drying agent like flour. Mixing baking soda with powdered citric acid makes a homemade substitute for baking powder. Both soda and powder help dough brown during baking, so soda works well in many cookie recipes. Baking powder—because it already contains acid—is useful when a recipe doesn’t include fermented dairy products, such as when baking with water or milk.
If the dough contains acidic ingredients, baking soda can often replace baking powder in equal amounts. When there are no acidic ingredients, baking soda can leave a noticeable flavor, so neutralize it properly. Besides citric acid and lemon juice, 9% vinegar works too. For satisfactory results, use about seven drops of vinegar for every teaspoon of baking soda.
Popular Recipes
Baked goods can be made with or without baking soda or baking powder. The first example below uses baking soda; the second does not.
“Quick” Pie
For the dough: 200 g flour, 2 eggs, 150 g yogurt or sour cream, 100 g grated cheese, 150 g mayonnaise, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
For the filling: 2 eggs, 50 g grated cheese, a bunch of green onions or ramps, 2 tablespoons butter.
For the topping: 2 tablespoons each grated cheese and sesame seeds.
Mix the flour with the yogurt, mayonnaise, and baking soda. Beat in the eggs, then add the cheese, nutmeg, and salt. Stir and pour half the batter into a greased and floured mold.
For the filling, chop the hard-boiled eggs and sauté the onions or ramps in butter. Season with salt and mix with the grated cheese. Spread the filling over the batter and pour the remaining batter on top.
Bake for half an hour in an oven preheated to 180 °C. At the end of baking, sprinkle with sesame seeds and grated cheese and leave the pie in the oven briefly so the cheese melts.
Apple Charlotte
Ingredients: 150 g flour, 150 g sugar, 4 eggs, 2 apples, 1 slice of lemon (for sprinkling the apples), butter or oil (for greasing the mold).
Wash and dry the apples, core them, and cut into pieces (leave the skin on if it is thin). Slice the apples thinly, sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning, and set aside.
In another bowl, crack the eggs and beat them with a mixer until frothy while gradually adding the sugar. Sift in the flour and fold it in from top to bottom until the batter is smooth.
Grease the baking dish with butter or oil and dust with flour. Pour half the batter into the dish, layer the apple slices on top, then pour the remaining batter over the apples.
Bake the charlotte for forty minutes in a 180 °C oven. Do not open the oven door during baking to avoid collapse. The charlotte is done when the top is light brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
These days, many people who avoid food substitutes prefer homemade products and turn to the practical wisdom of older generations. Baking and cooking are crafts that reward knowledge and proper preparation.
