Kamila Součková
14. 2. 2025
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4 minutes
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Those of you who set out on the journey of home preparation of bread have certainly experienced their own. I don’t know anyone who would do well for the first time. But over time, everyone has found the right grif using various experimentation and endless consultations with colleagues from work. We also come up with one verified tip.
The whole process, from the acquisition of a home bakery, to knead the dough to the baking itself, can become such a small nightmare for a while to prepare your own bread.
A friend came to me at the weekend and brought one of her creations. She said how each baking is different or its result. And it has been preparing a gluten -free bread at home for more than a year. While the bun she brought to me she complained that she failed to make her crust because she was anointed with butter and was not crunchy.
Just add vinegar! Few know this secret. Tip from a professional baker here on YouTube:
Source: YouTube
Better dough texture and the resulting taste
I understood that bread is a product of a number of complex chemical reactions that must be “tuned” correctly, which is easier to say than it does. But there is no right “miraculous” ingredient, a secret additive, or a particular technique to make the bread perfect. But you can improve taste, texture and durability. How to do it? The answer is vinegar.
What will vinegar in the dough cause?
Adding vinegar to the dough in small amounts weakens the gluten structure. This makes the bread fragile and will not need to chew it so much. To imagine something specific under it, try to recall a loaf of bread from Italy, if you had the honor of visiting this southern seaside part of Europe. “When you add vinegar to the dough, the protein bonds dissolve, the gluten structure is denatured. This creates more space for carbon dioxide bubbles and the loaf will not be so dense, ”describes Sheena Otto operating the popular bakery in Brooklin, USA. And he adds: “Vinegar also reacts with baking soda or yeast and creates even more bubbles, causing the dough to continue and fluffy”.
Experiment with different types of vinegar
So we will stay with the vinegar and look at its great qualities when you use it to prepare the dough. To achieve a neutral taste with a touch of softness so that the taste of bread is not over, it is great to use white distilled vinegar. You can also try flavored vinegar. The apple is a little sweet. The fruit AI balsamic is bolder, but no dištate against the taste. You can also try rice wine, bubble wine (sparkling wine) and even homemade fruit vinegar. In short, any vinegar gives the loaf its own taste. But beware of dosing, nothing should be exaggerated.
The Sheen Otto has good experience with no more than 5 % vinegar. But beware, if you browse the Internet, read IO additives with a 10 % vinegar, and here it is necessary to remember that such quantities are measured in bakery percent. So the ratio of additives to the total weight of the flour is expressed as a percentage. And flour always represents a percent.
It follows that if you read in the recipe for homemade bread, you need 500 grams of flour and at the same time want your vinegar to contain 5 percent of the entire component, you would add about 25 grams of vinegar. If you are confused about the calculation, it does not matter. Try to start with a small experiment and add one teaspoon of vinegar to one loaf. Even if you add such a tiny quantity, you will see that the texture of the bread will be more breathable and you will recognize it even to taste.
Not only will there be more bubbles and greater leavening, but vinegar will also cause faster bread. And there are two more pluses. Vinegar is a proven way to accelerate rising. When you add sour vinegar, the pH of the dough is reduced and this creates a more hospitable environment for the leaven. In this chemical process called fermentation, yeasts decompose carbohydrates to form carbon dioxide and ethanol. And it all manifests on lighter structure and taste of bread. Plus by adding vinegar, you can ensure a little longer durability, as the vinegar also works as a preservative.
Source: www.foodrepublic.com