B. Reagents:
2 cups flour
2 cups water
½ tsp yeast
C. Procedure:
1. Place flour, water, and yeast into a large non reactive bowl. Mix together and loosely cover with plastic wrap.
2. Allow to sit out overnight or about 12 hours. Make sure the bowl is large enough to
contain the mixture as it ferments.
3. To replenish and feed your sourdough start, remove one cup of sourdough start and
replenish with equal parts of flour and water.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
I added all of the ingredients into my large, red, plastic bowl (which is required as opposed to a copper bowl...explanation to follow) and covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit out on the counter overnight.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
Certain recipes call for nonreactive bowls (or other cookware) because many foods—especially salty or acidic ones—react with untreated surfaces such as iron, copper, and aluminum. When the foods react, the metals dissolve, and the foods pick up a metallic taste. High levels of these elements can be toxic when consumed. So to prevent this a plastic bowl was used.
Sourdough is a dough that contains lactobacillus culture. Sourdough starter is made with a small amount of old dough saved from a prior batch, and is sometimes called mother dough or chef. This small amount of old-dough starter contains the culture, and its weight is increased by additions of new dough and mixing or kneading followed by rest or leavening periods. A small amount of the resulting dough is then saved to use as old-dough starter for the next batch.[1] As long as this starter culture is fed flour and water weekly, it can stay at room temperature indefinitely. Rather than actually adding yeast to the recipe directly, the leavening agent is found in the starter.
A. Sourdough Brownies
B. Reagents:
1 cup melted butter
1 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 cup sourdough starter
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups sugar
¾ cup flour
1 tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
C. Procedure:
1. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and cocoa, and stir together well.
2. Add sourdough starter, vanilla, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, and nuts. Stir to combine all ingredients well.
3. Pour into a greased and floured cake pan, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
4. Allow to cool, frost with your favorite frosting and serve.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
This recipe was a fun one to make. It felt foreign to add the sourdough starter rather than adding baking soda or baking powder. The butter and cocoa were added together and mixed well to ensure that the cocoa was completely dissolved by the butter. It actually was very pretty and looked completely rich. All ingredients were added to the first mixture and placed in the pre-heated oven.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
I was very skeptical that these brownies were going to turn out the way that I had hoped becuase of the taste of the sourdough. I thought it was a strange ingredient to add to a sweet and yummy brownie but I went ahead with it anyway. I did make one mistake thought that I will never make again. When I transferred the batter into the pan I tapped it against the counter very hard and several times. This I thought was the proper thing to do to spread out the batter and to "get the air bubble out"! Are you serious? As I was explaining to Jen the theory behind what I was doing (she looked at me like I was nuts!)
I realized how silly I sounded and how I was not at all demonstrating my knowledge that I had just gained by preparing for this recipe.
The recipe is void from baking powder or baking soda which we are so versed in using in our recipes. We used yeast in bread but never have we used a sourdough which contains the yeast, to be our sole leavening agent. The air bubbles that are trapped in the flour, water and yeast mixture are released as carbon dioxide and trapped in the gluten structure of the recipe. This we have already learned. I think the purpose of us doing this recipe now is so that we may demonstrate our knowledge of the various ways that we can have an end result of fluffy and air packed structure.
I loved these brownies. There was a perfect combination of sweet and savory and an amazing fun flavor of the sourdough. Once again....yum.
A. Chocolate Eclairs
B. Reagents:
basic pate choux dough:
1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
pinch salt
6 eggs
C. Procedure:
1. In a large sauce pan, add water, salt, and butter. Bring to a boil and make sure butter has melted.
2. Add flour and mix together until a large ball forms.
3. Remove from heat, add one egg at a time, and incorporate completely. Continue adding
enough eggs to reach the desired consistency.
4. Pipe desired shape of éclairs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake in a 425-degree oven until golden brown.
6. Remove and allow to cool. Fill with pastry cream and dip in melted chocolate.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
For me, this recipe was a piece of cake (no pun intended). I have made eclairs so many times before that today was no different. The butter and water were melted and the salt was added to heat. Once the flour was added and stirring began a ball formed looking similar to a runny pie dough. Once removed from heat the eggs were added one at a time. This was important to do as otherwise the eggs would take over the recipe and be a soupy mess. The batter was spooned onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper placed to prevent sticking and baked for about 35 mintues.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
The key chemistry in this recipe is the addition of the flour to the butter/water/salt mixture and then the addition of the eggs. Eggs, eggs, eggs! They are so crucial to the foundation of baking and cooking. While the first few ingredients are important, the eggs are what provide the structure of the recipe. An eclair is meant to be fluffly and hollow in the middle and this can only be accomplished by the structure of the eggs. The purpose of adding the eggs one at a time is to keep them from over-taking the batter. They must be slowly incorporated to allow emulsification to occur. Eggs contribute three main ingredients: water, protein and fat. The eggs coagulate into a solid when heated which is what provides to the structure of the eclair. The egg yolk also contributes to the color and eggy flavor.
A. Pastry Cream
B. Reagents:
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tbsp vanilla
6 eggs light beaten
2 cups milk
C. Procedure:
1. In a large heat-proof bowl, add sugar and cornstarch and whisk together.
2. Add eggs and beat mixture together.
3. In a heavy-bottom sauce pan, add milk and vanilla, and bring to a boil.
4. Temper egg mixture and cook over low heat until mixture is thick; do not boil.
5. Strain pastry cream and cover with plastic wrap to prevent film from developing.
6. Pastry cream will set quite firm. To lighten pastry cream, simply fold some whipped
cream into the pastry cream.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
This was a fun recipe to do as it was slightly different than the puddings that we made before but much the same. Rather than adding the eggs one at a time, we were able to dump them all in at once. This made the recipe go by much faster. Once we added the heat the mixture slowly became thicker. We had to temper the eggs so that they did not scramble. No one wants chunky in their cream right? We cooked the mixture until it thickened but definitely before it began to boil and then removed it from the heat.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
Once again the eggs are playing the major role in the recipe not only for their structure but also lending a huge hand in flavor. While they provide a great base to creating the thick cream, the cornstarch also has a bit of the control as a thickening agent. Corn starch becomes a very important ingredient when it is added to hot water. The energy of the molecules when heat is added is sufficient to disrupt the weaker, amorphous regions of the granule. This permits hydrogen bonding between starch and water molecules. The granules then absorb water and swell up, therby putting greater and greater stress on the crystalline regions creating a thickening property and a very yummy cream for the inside of the pastry. Top with melted chocolate and YUM.
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