The age of dough is the critical point in bread-making. How to tell the age of a dough is a question we have never seen satisfactorily answered. Most bakers tell intuitively, and this has required long experience. The color, texture, volume and flavor of the resulting bread are dependent almost entirely on the age of the dough.
The length of time of the first rising in a straight dough is a point many bakers do not consider. If the dough is too young, give more time on the first rising; if too old, shorten the time of the first rising. The age of a dough is governed to a considerable degree by the first rising.
A strong flour requires three risings by the ordinary methods of bread-making. There are processes used where the dough is punched at stated intervals. This, however, is used more successfully where very good control is had over the temperature and humidity.
Technically, a dough is ready when the yeast has reached the maximum of its energy. If the proper development of gluten and the maximum of energy of the yeast is not reached, a young dough is the result. A young dough will not spring in the oven, the texture will be coarse, the color will be yellow in varying degrees, and a generally poor loaf is received.
If the fermentation is carried too far, the yeast will have lost its vitality, other ferments will have started to develop. The loaf will have a tendency to fall in the oven. It will not spring in the oven, the texture will be coarse, the color dark and the wheat flavor lost, a sour odor will also be noticeable.
If the dough is fermented at too high a temperature, both young and old characteristics will be noticeable in the loaf.
Any improper handling of a dough, either by ingredients added, length of the period of fermentation, or wrong temperature, will give a dark, coarse and small loaf. The miller is usually blamed for these results, which in reality are not caused by the flour, but by the improper use of the ingredients and methods of handling.
The ingredients in bread-making that have a vital influence upon the finished bread, are: Flour, water, yeast, salt. It is always necessary to have these. Other ingredients act in the capacity of hastening fermentation, yeast foods, flavor, etc., to give a character or special flavor to bread.