F.A.Q.

Frequenty ask question

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WATER
Q. What kind of water must be used for dough?
A. It must be drinking water in other words it must have organoleptic, chemical and bacteriologist requirements according to the standards decided by the World Health Organisation.

Q. What are the characteristics of good water?
A. It must be clear, tasteless, colourless and if there is limestone on the faucet it is necessary to boil it for 10 minutes. It must be cooled and filtered before use

Q. How much water is necessary to obtain a good dough?
A. The flour determines the amount of water necessary to obtain a perfect dough.

Q . What problems can occur for the dough if the water is imperfect?
A. Water that is too hard considerably slackens the leavening of the dough whereas water that is too soft produces a dough too sticky and difficult to manipulate.

SALT
Q. What is the best salt for dough?
A. Surely marine salt

Q. Why is it the best?
A.It is the only one that is able to absorb humidity. Infact if we leave it near a humidity source it becomes a block.

Q. How much salt do we use for dough?
A. From 2 to 3% in regard to the weight of flour used or from 4 to 6% in regard to the weight of the water.

Q. When do we add salt to the dough?
A. Always at the end of mixing . It is never dissolved in the water together with yeast

YEAST
Q. What is yeast?
A. It is a living micro-organism that produces gases necessary to the fermentation of dough

Q. How many kinds of yeast do you know?
A. Leaven, (obtained combining flour and water several times until reaching a degree of acidity and of optimal rising strength); industrial yeast ( generally called yeast or barm, commercialized in cakes of different weights or in powder) Chemical yeast ( generally used in cake making, not suitable for bread-making

Q. How do you use it?
A. It must always be dissolved in water and never mixed with salt.

Q. How much do you use for dough?
A. For a room temperature of 20°-25° degrees about 2% in regards to 1litre of water or 1% in regard to 1 kg of flour.

Q. What is the difference between the leaven and the industrial yeast?
A. Leaven needs much more time for rising but gives more softness, more taste to dough. Industrial yeast allows for more rapidity and regularity in the rising processes but it doesn't have taste.

DOUGH
Q. When is dough perfect?
A. When it leaves the container of the kneading machine perfectly cleaned, it is not sticky and it is properly damp it is elastic and easy to shape.

Q. What is the best process to use in order to obtain a perfect dough?
A. Dissolve yeast in the water, add flour , once the consistence is reached add salt dissolved in a few tablespoons of water and finish adding flour. Wait until the dough is completely mixed

Q. How much time must dough rise?
A. Rising time depends on the technical aspects of the flour. A product obtained from the grinding of common wheat , many are the assortments of cultivated flour. Therefore the prepared product is the result of a blend of different kinds of wheat. It is necessary to know the flour's capacity to become bread in order to establish rising time

Q. Who is able to indicate the technical aspects of flour?
A. The firm producing flour normally has an analysis' laboratory which is able to establish all the technical parameters of flour.

Q. Will dough rise in the refrigerator?
A. From 0 to +2° C yeast does not reproduce. Dough exposed to the temperature between +1 and +5° C does not succeed in rising during the following 24 hours but the dough becomes more tasty and therefore matures.

Q. What is the ideal temperature for rising?
A. Between 20 and 25°C BAKING

Q. What is the ideal temperature of baking?
A. For an electric or gas oven = 320-350°C, for a wood oven = 400° C

Q. What is the difference between stone baking and pan baking
A. It is necessary to decrease or increase the temperature of the oven plate because the pan absorbs a lot of heat.

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