Bread Machines For Dummies (13 page)

The opium poppy, from which the edible seeds are taken, first grew in Asia Minor and has been widely cultivated in Turkey, Iran, India, and China. The seeds are contained in one large seedpod in the center of the flower. If the unripe seedpod is cut open, opium oozes out. The ripe seeds, however, are harmless; they contain only the poppy seed oil. They better be harmless; we use a whole quarter of a cup in the Lemon Poppy Seed quick bread (Chapter 16), and umm, is it good.

If you have ever looked at fresh rosemary, it will not surprise you to learn that rosemary is an evergreen shrub. Rosemary's leaves appear like small pine needles on long, thin branches. Their fragrance is like pine and mint together. If you are using fresh rosemary in a bread dough, be sure to use kitchen scissors and cut them fairly fine before adding. Dried rosemary retains flavor and color, so it can be substituted for fresh. One half teaspoon dried rosemary is equal to 2 teaspoons of fresh.

Saffron is produced from the dried stigmas of the crocus plant. In many countries it is the highest-priced of spices and the highest-prized. It takes about an acre of land and 75,000 flowers to yield one pound of saffron. Each flower blooms for only about one week of the year, during which the stigmas must be handpicked and dried. Saffron is marketed in whole threads or ground into powder. It is advisable to buy threads rather than powder as unscrupulous saffron dealers have been known to dilute saffron by adding the similar- looking safflower, marigold petals, turmeric, or soaking the real threads in oil to add weight. Some like to gently toast them in a metal spoon over low heat before pounding them in a mortar. Our Saffron Bread recipe (Chapter 12) uses only 1/4 teaspoon of ground saffron. It is a beautiful golden loaf, with a golden brown crust.

Sesame seeds are rich in vitamins and minerals and high in fat, thus high in calories. The good news about the fat in sesame seed oil is that it's polyunsaturated — the good kind of fat.

Sesame seeds are greatly enhanced by a preliminary roasting in a skillet pan, over gentle heat, for two to three minutes.

Because of the high oil content in sesame seeds, it is best to store them in the refrigerator — especially in the summer — to prevent rancidity.

Grated lemon and orange peel is also called
zest.
When grating the peels of citrus fruits, remove only the top, colored layer, as the white pith beneath is bitter. You can use a regular grater for making zest or a small handy tool called a
zester,
which will remove the peel from citrus fruits in long strips for garnishing, or fine zest for flavoring, depending on the strokes you use when zesting.

Glenna uses a paring knife to trim thin layers of peel off in small pieces. She puts the strips in a coffee mill to grind into small pieces. She freezes any extra in small plastic bags. That way, when she's making a bread like the Banana Lemon Loaf, which only calls for a teaspoon of grated lemon peel, she can just crumble off 1 teaspoon from the frozen zest. Having zest in the freezer is a time-saver and a convenience.

There are a variety of dried fruits that taste great in bread. Dried cranberries, a fairly new dried fruit, are especially delicious in bread. We use them in the Cranberry Orange quick bread (Chapter 17) and the Peanut Butter and Jelly bread (Chapter 12). However, many dried fruits (dried apricots, for example) are treated with sulfites to help them retain their bright color when they are dried. Unfortunately, these sulfites inhibit yeast activity. When you are purchasing dried fruit for use in baking bread, be sure to read the label. If at all possible, buy dried fruit that does not list sulfur dioxide as a drying agent. We use mixed dried fruit in the Fall Treasures quick bread because quick breads use baking powder—not yeast—as a leavening agent. But, if you're using dried fruit and yeast together, always check to make sure that the fruit doesn't contain sulfites.

Cherries and Citrus Fruit Peel are candied in a thick combination of sugar and corn syrup and are used in holiday breads and as garnishes for decorating them. However, because dried fruit is lower in sugar and healthier for us than the candied fruit, we have used it in our recipe for Stollen bread (Chapter 14). For you traditionalists, we do give you the option of using the candied fruit.

If you are tempted to add more dried fruit or candied fruit than is listed in the recipe, you may end up with a dense-textured bread. While yeast do like sugar and they do ferment sugar, giving off gases, and causing the bread to rise, they also have a tendency to gorge themselves if there is too much sugar and then they get sluggish and don't work very hard. (Like people, maybe?) So the old adage, a little is good, a lot is not better holds true for adding sugar to yeast breads.

The almond tree is native to western India. Today it is widely grown in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. The trees also thrive in California, where commercial groves produce large annual crops of sweet almond nuts.

Sweet almonds have very little fat. Some people like to toast them for salad or garnishes, but use them untoasted as an ingredient in bread. You will find almonds in the Guglehupf recipe (Chapter 14).

Exotic and nutritious nuts from Hawaii, macadamias were the only appropriate nuts to use in the Hawaiian Honey bread (Chapter 14).

The pecan tree is a type of hickory that grows naturally in the Mississippi Valley region. Pecan orchards are planted throughout the Southern states as far north as Virginia. Georgia is the leading pecan-growing state.

The English walnut tree was brought to the United States from southern Europe. It is grown commercially in California and Oregon. Today, the United States leads the world in the production of walnuts. The thin-shelled nut tastes sweet, and has much nutritive value. It contains both fats and proteins.

The black walnut tree is native to North America and is primarily valued for its wood. It does have a delicious nut, more distinctive in flavor than the English walnut. We prefer the black walnut with its rich flavor for the Black Walnut Coffeecake; you can also use the English walnut.

Dehydrating (removing the water) vegetables, intensifies both their flavor and color. They are not commonly used in bread. We do like the color that the sun-dried tomatoes add to the Mediterranean Bread (Chapter 10). Dried onions is another vegetable that we use to bring out a subtle, well-blended onion taste in the Onion Dill Bread and the Risotta Bread (also in Chapter 10).

There is a World War II story about the comforting power of bread. (Although we have heard it from different sources, we have no documentation to prove this is absolutely a true tale.) It seems many orphans were gathered up by the Allied Forces, placed in camps, and given excellent care. Yet they had a difficult time sleeping.

Then a psychologist came up with the idea of giving them a piece of bread to hold in their hands while they slept. This proved to be a great solution, as the slice of bread reassured them that they would have food to eat the next day. Feeling secure about the morrow, they were able to have a restful night's sleep.

If your sleep is fitful or you have a hard time falling asleep, try setting up your bread machine with all the ingredients in a delicious morning bread recipe like Whole Wheat Oatmeal (Chapter 11), set the delay timer to have your bread ready to come out of your machine at your wake-up time. Try it. We think you'll find it's a simple answer to a restful night's sleep.

Never scoop the flour from the sack or canister with the measuring cup. This packs the flour and changes the measurement.

Never tap the side of the cup to shake it down so that you can get more flour into the measuring cup.

Never measure over the bread pan you are adding the ingredients to. Your hand can shake, or someone can bump you. At any rate, the chance of adding more than the correct amount is great.