Authors: Zoe Francois,Jeff Hertzberg MD
Olive oil:
In our opinion, olive oil has one of the most delightful flavors in Western cooking: There is nothing like it (except maybe olives). It’s a cornerstone of the so-called Mediterranean diet, based on olive oil as a major fat source, abundant vegetables and grains, limited meat, and a bit of red wine (see
sidebar
). It’s also central to the flavors in many of our Mediterranean-inspired pizzas, flatbreads, and breadsticks. Olive oil has more monounsaturated fat than canola but much less omega-3 polyunsaturated fat. Don’t use olive oil for deep-frying—its smoking point is too low for that.
Saturated fats:
These are found mostly in animal products. They include unhealthy trans fats, are solid at room temperature, and are the unhealthiest fats of all. They tend to raise “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower “good” cholesterol (HDL). See the
Appendix
for more about saturated versus unsaturated fats in various ingredients. Butter substitutes and some margarines are an exception to the liquid/solid rule. They’re solid at room temperature, but they’re generally made with processed unsaturated and monounsaturated oils, plus butter flavorings that have been processed to get rid of some of the saturated fat. Check product labeling if your doctor has recommended that you avoid saturated fat.
One other area of confusion is product labeling that promotes a product as being cholesterol-free. Only animals produce cholesterol, so
all
vegetable oils are cholesterol-free. Beware of ads that promote cholesterol-free vegetable products in general. Preformed cholesterol in food is much less important to our blood cholesterol than the types of fats we eat (saturated, trans, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated), and whether our weight is under control. Butter is the only fat we use that has preformed cholesterol in it. We use it sparingly, and so should you. See our
table
in the Appendix for more information on fats, oils, and spreads that you might use in our breads.
Unsaturated fats:
Unsaturated fats like neutral-flavored canola oil and flavorful olive oil are among the healthiest options for enriching breads. They raise “good” cholesterol (HDL) and lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL). While safflower, peanut, corn, and blended oils are also heart-healthy, they tend to have stronger flavors. Canola works nicely as a neutral-flavored oil in our breads. And when you don’t need a neutral-flavored oil, nothing tastes like olive oil; we’d probably drink it if someone came up with an appropriate cocktail!
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF UNSATURATED FAT
Monounsaturated fat:
Olive oil is particularly high in monounsaturated fat.
Polyunsaturated fat:
Canola oil is high in polyunsaturated fat, and in particular, omega-3 polyunsaturated fat, which appears to have the most potent effect on improving cholesterol profile. It’s also quite high in monounsaturated fat, but not quite so high as olive oil.
Between olive oil and canola, there’s scant and conflicting health evidence to strongly favor one over the other. Healthwise, they’re both terrific, so we use whichever fits a recipe’s flavor best. All cooking oils contain 14 grams of fat per tablespoon (120 calories), so if you’re trying to lose weight, oil choice won’t have a major effect. Canola and olive oil promote heart health because they’re high in unsaturated fats (usually liquid at room temperature); unsaturated fats are considered to be the healthiest. Neither canola nor olive oil contains any “trans” fat, which is considered to be the unhealthiest fat of all.
Seeds and Nuts
We boost the nutrition of many of our breads by topping them with a mixture of healthy seeds, usually including sesame, flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy, and anise. They’ll stick to the bread best if you first paint the surface of the loaf with water before sprinkling them on the loaf.
Anise seeds:
Anise seeds have the flavor of licorice. Like other seeds, they occasionally turn rancid, so taste a few if your jar is older than a year. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Caraway seeds:
These are so central to the flavor of many rye breads that a lot of people think that caraway is actually the flavor of the rye grain. It’s not, but for us, something does seem to be missing in unseeded rye bread. The only problem you can run into with caraway seeds (or any other) is that the oil inside the seed can go rancid if they are very old. Taste a few if your jar is older than a year. Otherwise use whatever brand or bulk source you like. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Flaxseeds:
These little brown beauties are slightly larger than a sesame seed and pack lots of omega-3 fatty acids, lignans (which may have anticancer properties), manganese, fiber, protein, and other nutrients our bodies need. They seem to protect against everything from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure to even hot flashes. We use them whole to top loaves, but the nutrients are more readily absorbed by the body when they are ground into a powder, so that’s how they’re used in the dough mixtures. Buy ground flaxseed in small amounts—because of its high oil content it tends to become rancid more quickly than other flours. If your flaxseed breads have an unpleasant fishy taste, you know you used rancid flax. You can also buy whole seeds and grind them in a spice or coffee grinder.
Two other points: the Flax Council of Canada (Canada is the world’s largest producer of flax) says:
1. Ground flaxseed can be stored for 30 days in a cool place in an airtight, opaque container, while whole seeds can be kept at room temperature for up to a year. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
2. Despite older references that suggest high heat can break down flax’s nutrients, more recent studies have shown that it can be heated to high temperatures without damage.
Nuts:
Store nuts in the freezer so that the oils will not go rancid. Buy them either natural or blanched.
Poppy seeds:
Poppy seeds are used in Western, Middle Eastern, and Asian cuisines. They, like other seeds, occasionally turn rancid. Taste a few if your jar is older than a year. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Pumpkin seeds (
pepitas
):
Buy the dark green pre husked seeds, which are the most nutritious part of the pumpkin. They are rich in minerals, protein, and monounsaturated fat. You can’t eat the husk, so don’t try to use seeds straight out of a pie pumpkin! Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Sesame seeds:
Not only do they have a wonderful nutty flavor, but these tiny seeds are full of nutrients. They are a good source of calcium, iron, vitamin B
1
, zinc, and fiber. Black sesame seeds have a stronger flavor than white ones. Try both and see what you think. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Sunflower seeds:
These seeds are a great source of vitamins E and B
1
, along with a host of minerals. You can use roasted or raw sunflower seeds in a dough, but if you’re using them on a top crust, use the raw seeds or they will burn at temperatures higher than 375°F. Freeze them if you are storing them longer than 3 months.
Other Flavorings
Caramel coloring:
Caramel color powder is actually a natural ingredient made by overheating sugar until it almost burns. It’s crucial for pumpernickel breads, in which it provides more than just color—it imparts a bitterness that really complements the wheat and rye flavors in pumpernickel bread. The easiest way to use it is to buy the powder from a baking specialty store or from King Arthur Flour (see
Sources for Bread-Baking Products
), but if you can’t easily get it, you can make your own. What you make will be a liquid that is added to recipes; you should decrease liquid ingredients in the recipe to account for the extra you are adding in the form of caramel. Put 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon water into a small saucepan. Melt the sugar over a low flame, then increase the heat to medium-high, cover, and bring it to a boil for 2 minutes. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to boil it, uncovered, until the mixture becomes very dark. Be careful that it does not burn. Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool partially. Very carefully, add ¼ cup of boiling water to the pan (it may sputter and water may jump out of the pan, so wear gloves and keep your face away from it). Dissolve the caramelized sugar and cool it to room temperature. Use about ¼ cup of this mixture in place of commercial caramel color powder in our Bavarian-Style Whole Grain Pumpernickel Bread recipe; decrease the water in the recipe by ¼ cup to account for the difference between liquid caramel and powdered caramel color.
Chocolate:
Some of our enriched breads call for chocolate, either cocoa powder, bar chocolate, or chunks. You will notice an improvement in flavor and recipe performance if you use the highest quality chocolate available. For bittersweet bar chocolate, Valrhona is our favorite, but Callebaut, Scharffen Berger, Lindt, Perugina, Ghirardelli, and other premium brands also work quite well. Our favorite unsweetened cocoa powder is Valrhona, but Droste’s, Ghirardelli, and other premium brands also give good results. In our recipes, it doesn’t matter if the cocoa powder is Dutch-processed (alkali-treated) or not: The question of Dutch-process is only important for baked goods risen with baking soda or baking powder. Yeast doesn’t seem to care. If premium chocolates are unavailable, try the recipes with your favorite supermarket brands. The premium stuff is not an absolute requirement by any means.
Natural Sweeteners
These sweeteners have trace amounts of plant nutrients (refined white sugar has none). But they still spike blood sugar levels and contain lots of calories. For diabetics or anyone on a weight-loss program, these should be used in moderation. Like salt, sugars help to hold moisture in the bread and keep bread from getting stale—salt and sugar are hygroscopic (water-attracting).
Agave syrup:
Agave syrup (sometimes labeled “agave nectar”) tastes the tiniest bit like tequila, and no wonder. The agave plant is the source of the fermentable juice that makes the world’s best tequila, and agave syrup is the concentrated sweetener made from that juice. It provides a smooth and distinct flavor in
Mesquite Bread
, and is available from natural food co-ops and by Web or mail order from Native Seeds/SEARCH (see
Sources for Bread-Baking Products
). You can substitute it for honey or maple syrup if you prefer the flavor in recipes calling for those natural sweeteners.
Barley malt:
Made from sprouted barley, it is very dark, sweet with malt sugar, and quite thick. It adds a beery, yeasty flavor to bread. Barley malt is the main ingredient in beer, and malt sugar is one of the best sugars for feeding yeast.
Brown sugar and raw sugar:
Like white sugar, these less refined sugars are made from sugarcane or sugar beets, but they retain trace amounts of the nutrition found in molasses. They impart a caramel flavor as well. Raw sugars are most commonly found as demerara, muscovado, and turbinado and have a larger grain than regular brown sugar.
Honey:
This is the sweetener we call for most frequently in the book, produced by busy bees the world over from naturally occurring sugars in the nectar of flowers that they visit. Honey’s flavor is determined by the type of plant nectar the honeybee collects. Some honeys have very intense flavor, such as buckwheat honey, while others are quite mild, like clover honey. We’ve had nice results with all kinds of honey, so experiment with different types and see which you prefer.
Maple syrup:
The most commonly found maple syrup is Grade A, which is lightest in color and mildest in flavor. Many consider it the more desirable grade, but we actually prefer to use Grade B, which is made later in the production season and has a darker color, stronger flavor, and more of the minerals magnesium and zinc. It is great for baking because the flavor stands up to the other ingredients, but either Grade A or B will work nicely.
Molasses:
Molasses is an unrefined sweetener derived from sugarcane. Blackstrap molasses is the product of three boilings of the sugarcane, and so it concentrates the nutrients. Its iron, magnesium, calcium, copper, potassium, and vitamin B
6
content makes it one of the most nutrient-rich sweeteners, more so than molasses that isn’t labeled as blackstrap. It is used in the recipes to add color and a deep, rich flavor. Unsulphured molasses has the best flavor.
Dairy Products
Cheese:
We add a number of different cheeses to our doughs. They are not only a great source of flavor, but also add protein and calcium to the bread. Many cheeses are high in saturated fat, so eat them in moderation.
Milk:
The addition of milk to bread dough adds not only a slight sweetness, but also protein. And lactose (milk sugar) helps to keep the loaf fresher longer. Too much milk in dough, however, can have an adverse effect on the rising power of your loaf. With our whole grain breads we can’t afford to lose any rise! In
CookWise,
food scientist Shirley O. Corriher suggests scalding the milk first, which helps to eliminate the problem. We don’t call for it in the recipes, but if your dough is dense it is worth a try.
Yogurt:
Plain yogurt, either whole milk, low fat, or non fat, contains lactic acid, which helps to promote strong gluten development. It also acts as a preservative to prevent baked bread from going stale so quickly. It adds a lovely tangy flavor to the bread and is a great source of protein, calcium, and zinc.