Thursday, March 4, 2010

High Rise


Just today I received an email from a friend who was really pleased with how well her dough had risen. I would say, beware of those high rises. They are often an indication of too much flour in proportion to water in the dough. Yes, a stiff dough might help you to achieve a "high rise," but you may be sacrificing a porous crumb with those big mouse holes. On the other hand, if you're making a sandwich bread, then probably you don't want the mouse holes or sandwich ingredients will fall through. In this case, your high rise dough might be just fine.
The French know how to have it both ways. A baguette is great for sandwiches even though it has big mouse holes. When you slice a baguette lengthwise for a sandwich, it is the outer crust that keeps everything in place.