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Anyone heard of this? A friend baked bread this past week and after making the dough, she stuck into it a bunch of matches (standing up, strike side up). She then covered the dough with towels and allowed it to rise. And rise it did!! According to her, the matches help the dough rise.
Anyone know why this is?
PS, it was whole wheat flour; and when putting in the matches, make sure to count how many you put in. You will need to find them afterwards…
SiDi™
The aeration or puncturing the skin of the dough allows the rise to occur faster. It can be done with wooden matches, toothpicks etc.
The ‘risers’ also keep the towels or plastic wrap from stocking to the dough and holding back the expansion.
Mmmmmm Challah with matches herring sounds yummy!
Goq – When are you and me gonna find our match?!?
SayIDidIt………
Try using some bamboo BBQ skewers (a pkg of 50 is about $1 in the supermarket). Cut to about 4-6 in lengths.
Puncturing the dough and not leaving the sticks in during the rise will cause the dough to seal up. In fact to help leave some airspace you can spray the sticks with veg oil (Pam type). Similarly you can use narrow diameter plastic drinking straws cut to 1/2 length.
FYI> The slashes you see on rye and other breads are made after the loaf is formed and risen to allow steam to escape during baking. If you slash before rising, it will just seal up during the rise (also know as proofing).
I rise my challah dough under a plastic disposable tablecloth. I grease the dough first, and it has NEVER stuck to anything.
oomis………….
Don’t know what kind of bread the OP was referring to, only mention is whole wheat flour.
I learned to bake in a commercial bakery back in 1976. We didn’t cover the dough balls, they went on boards on racks into proofing cabinets.
At home, after making and kneading the dough for bread and making the balls, I usually place them on a greased sheet pan and invert a large stainless steel mixing bowl over each ball. This allows for the dough to rise without touching or sticking to the cover.
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