Blog
Hydration: Why You Need to Get it Right
Hydration is a part of the mixing process that you MUST get right. No matter what you’re mixing—doughs, batters, or anything in between—there needs to be a way of making dry ingredients interact with wet ingredients. True, the level of hydration you’re aiming for is...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast S1E11 Cleaning Up Your Label and Baking Organically
There’s no question about it: consumers want a cleaner and simpler label. Although many chemicals have GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) status from the FDA, people want them out of bread. But don’t worry bakers! There are...
Why are there Different Amounts of Gluten in Flour?
All flours have the same amounts of gluten, right? Wrong. The level of gluten varies greatly between different types of flour. You can tell how much gluten is in your flour by looking at how much protein is in your flour. How do you do this? All flour mills produce...
Is Artisan Bread Healthier than Manufactured Bread?
Is artisan bread really healthier than plain white bread? The use of bleached flour and the addition of dough conditioners, emulsifiers, and mold inhibitors are seen as unhealthy and blamed for our modern health issues. As...
How Sweet it Is: An Emulsifier for Your Cakes!
Let’s face it. You can’t use the same products across the board. If you’re making sweet baked goods, you’re going to want an emulsifier that reacts in the best way possible for your product. What’s a good one for that? PGMEs...
Is Staling Due to Moisture Loss Over the Shelf Life of Bread?
Staling is a major problem in the baking industry. Staled bread and cakes have undesirable qualities, like a dry, crumbly interior and a loss of flavor. Many plant personnels insist that moisture loss during storage is the main factor contributing to crumbliness of...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast S1E10 Sourdough: Changing Our Taste in America
Could sourdough be the lean, clean savior of the bread industry? Dr. Lin Carson thinks so. Along with Dave Dahl, she addresses what many bakeries may be experiencing: as delicious and popular as sourdough is, it can be a headache! Between time, scheduling, need for...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast S1E9 Shelf Life: Making Your Bread Go Further
Ah, shelf life: one of the most important, yet challenging aspects of baking. Dr. Lin Carson and Dave Dahl dive into the two sides of the shelf-life coin: inhibiting mold and fighting staling. Lin suggests using ingredients like sugar or honey to make bread softer...
Can Gluten-free Taste Good?
Of course it can! We all know someone (or a few someone’s) who don't eat gluten. Whether it’s from sensitivity, celiac disease, or personal choice, there’s no denying that there is a growing market for gluten-free products. If you’re a baker, the question is probably...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast S1E8: Sprouts and Sprouting
Pitching a Loaf is on the road! Today’s episode comes to you from the Johnson and Wales International Bread Symposium. Dr. Lin Carson and co-host, David Deblauwe of Puratos, bring on founder Peter Reinhart to learn just why the world needs an academic platform to...
Function and Fun: It is Cake After All!
Maybe it is just clever marketing, but I would eat a superfood infused cake for breakfast IF it tasted good, texturally resembled cake and delivered super health benefits. What are the realities of making a functional super food...
The Importance of Gluten Hydration
Gluten thrives on hydration. While dough is in the mixer, water molecules are binding to the polar sites on the gluten proteins. When these proteins have enough water, they provide elastic and extensible properties. In other words, the better hydrated gluten is, the...
Are Researchers Buttering Us Up?
The news recently announced research that proclaimed, Butter is back! For those of us who work and live in the world of baked goods, laminated doughs, and bread this is fantastic news. The researchers conducted a systematic review of 9 data bases from inception to...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast: S1E7 Mold and How to Prevent it
Summer is coming. And for most of us bakers, that means more issues with mold. Further extending product shelf life is something we all strive for. But what’s the best and safest way? Dr. Lin Carson and Dave Dahl reveal some of the things they’ve done to keep mold at...
Pitching a Loaf Podcast: S1E6 Having Eyes in the Oven
Do you know what’s happening in your oven? You should, your bakery could be doing a lot better. That’s the lesson one baker shares with Dr. Lin Carson and David Deblauwe on today’s show. For years, their large-scale bakery had been experiencing 10-15% waste in bread...
