The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 84

backdown,forcingittoreleaseapuffofflourthat’dgetall
overmyclothesandkitchen.Bakingwasachore.
Then I decided to invest in a couple of large, sealable,
wide-mouthedplastictubstostorebasicbakingpantryitems
such as flours and sugar. This allows me to quickly and
easily scoop up as much flour as I need without making a
mess.Thesedays,ImakemanymorepizzasthanIusedto.
All of the items in the charthere should be stored in a
cool, dry place, first transferred to a sealed container if
appropriate.

WHOLEWHEATVERSUS
REFINEDWHITEFLOUR

A

kernel of wheat is a pretty complicated thing,

butasfarascookingisconcerned,itcanbedivided
into three basic parts: the endosperm, the hull, and
the germ. Whole wheat flour is exactly what it
sounds like—the entire grain from the wheat plant,
ground up. Refined white flour contains only the
starchy,proteinaceoussectionsfromtheendosperm,
with all of the hull and germ removed.Why would
anyone want to do that? It’s all about gluten
formation.We’ll be talking quite a bit about gluten
inthisbook,butfornow,allyouneedtoknowisthat
gluten is the stretchy matrix of proteins that gives

doughs their flexibility. It’s formed when the
pro t e i nsgliadin
andglutenin, found in the
endosperm, are mixed together in the presence of
water.
White flour is excellent at developing gluten,
delivering breads that are fluffy, chewy, and well
risen.Whole wheat breads, on the other hand, tend
to be dense and relatively dry. This is because
ground-up sections of the hull and germ act sort of
like tiny razor blades, snipping through the
developing gluten and preventing individual strands
from growing too long. You can substitute whole
wheatfloursinrecipesifyou’dlike,butdon’texpect
togetthesamelight,well-risenbreadsyou’dachieve
withwhiteflour.

ITEM

HOWLONGWILLIT
KEEP?

Baking
Powder

6monthstoayear,
dependingonhumidity;
totestforactivity,place
ateaspooninabowland
addateaspoonofwater:

itshouldbubbleandfizz