Now that yourdough has been mixed it’s time to prove your bread. First, you need to find a container in which your dough can comfortably double in size without billowing over the top. This may well be the mixing bowl you started off with, but give it a quick wipe first and dry with a tea towel.
Step 2 - Flouring Or Oiling The Surface
Now, you can either flour the surface of the dough, or oil it. Oiling is slightly better than flouring, as it makes an airtight coating, which prevents the dough from drying out. It also enables you to oil the container, which makes it easier to turn the dough out later. (Don’t oil the container if you have floured the dough as you will just make oily flour lumps.)
Step 3 - Covering The Dough
Whichever you decide, put the dough into the container and cover it. We find the simplest way is to put the container in a bin liner and tuck the opening underneath. This makes a lovely environment for your dough – a little humidity from the fermentation process and a little extra warmth from the bag (black absorbs and radiates heat). Covering the bowl with cling film would be nearly as good, though a little more wasteful, as you can't reuse it.
Step 4 - The First Rise
Now you need to leave your dough to rise in a warm place. A pleasantly heated kitchen is ideal, but proofing bread in a slightly cold kitchen is still fine – the dough will just take longer to rise. An airing cupboard, with the boiler going, is likely to be too warm. On top of the Aga is too warm. For a really slow overnight rise, you could put the covered dough in the fridge, but you will rarely want to (unless you are making brioche).
Step 5 - Doubling In Size
During this period of rising, the gluten should be stretched by the activity of the yeast to the limit of its elasticity, at which point the dough will have roughly doubled in size. Beyond this, the dough noticeably loses its structure and elasticity; it will start to look flaccid and a bit holey. This is not a disaster, but the dough will be a little weaker for it.
Step 6 - Knocking Back The Dough
Once the dough has risen sufficiently, uncover and tip it out on to a slightly floured work surface. Gently press into the dough with your fingertips and squash it all over until it is roughly the size you started with. A common term for this is ‘knocking back’.
Step 7 - The Second Rise
You can now leave your dough to rise a second time, following the same spinning and shaping process as before, in order to further mature and improve it. You can even repeat the rising and deflating process three, four maybe five times, Each time you’ll notice the dough becoming more satiny and pillow like. You cannot do this indefinitely though. Eventually there will be no sugars left for the yeast to feed on, and you need it to have enough oomph for the final prove before baking.
The process is pretty straightforward. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with cling film or a damp tea towel. If your kitchen is warm, you can let the dough rise on your counter. But if your kitchen is cool, place the covered bowl of dough over a pan of warm to hot water and leave it on your counter.
How to tell if bread is proofed?
To check that the dough is proofed and ready to bake, gently press it with your knuckle or finger. If the dough immediately springs back, it needs longer. If it springs back slowly, leaving a small indent, the dough is ready to bake.
How to tell if bread is over proved?
Over proofing occurs when the dough has been proofed for too long and all the air bubbles have burst. If you poke your dough and it doesn't bounce back at all, you've over proofed it.
Can I use my oven as a proving oven?
Yes! In order to proof bread in an oven, a glass baking dish should be placed on the bottom rack and filled with boiling water. The dough should then be stored on the centre or top rack and the door should be closed. The steam and warmth generated by the boiling water will provide the dough in a warm, steamy environment, which is ideal for a successful rise.
1. Se taie rinichi jumătăţi pe lungime. Cu un cuţit îndepărtăm nervurile şi partea albă din interior.
Tăiem rinichi în bucăţi de 2-3 cm. Îi spălăm bine în mai multe ape reci şi îi acoperim cu lapte rece sau otet pentru 1,5 – 2 ore pentru a înlătura mirosul înţepător.
Îi scoatem din lapte sau otet şi îi opărim 2 minute până îşi lasă spuma.
However, it’s naturally gluten-free, so it can serve as a wheat substitute in cooking and baking for people who are on a gluten-free diet.
Tapioca is a dried product and usually sold as white flour, flakes, or pearls.
SUMMARY
Tapioca is starch extracted from a tuber called cassava root. It’s usually sold as flour, flakes, or pearls.
How is it made?
Production varies by location but always involves squeezing starchy liquid out of ground cassava root.
Once the starchy liquid is out, the water is allowed to evaporate. When all the water has evaporated, a fine tapioca powder is left behind.
Next, the powder is processed into the preferred form, such as flakes or pearls.
Pearls are the most common form. They’re often used in bubble tea, puddings, and desserts and as a thickener in cooking.
Because they’re dehydrated, the flakes, sticks, and pearls must be soaked or boiled before consumption. They may double in size and become leathery, swollen, and translucent.
Tapioca flour is often mistaken for cassava flour, which is ground cassava root. However, tapioca is the starchy liquid that’s extracted from ground cassava root.
SUMMARY
Starchy liquid is squeezed out of ground cassava root. The water is allowed to evaporate, leaving behind the tapioca powder, which can then be made into flakes or pearls.
What is it used for?
Tapioca is a grain- and gluten-free product that has many uses:
Gluten- and grain-free bread. Tapioca flour can be used in bread recipes, although it’s often combined with other flours.
Flatbread. It’s often used to make flatbread in developing countries. With different toppings, it may be eaten as breakfast, dinner, or dessert.
Puddings and desserts. Its pearls are used to make puddings, desserts, snacks, or bubble tea.
Thickener. It can be used as a thickener for soups, sauces, and gravies. It’s cheap and has a neutral flavor and great thickening power.
Binding agent. It’s added to burgers, nuggets, and dough to improve texture and moisture content, trapping moisture in a gel-like form and preventing sogginess.
In addition to their use in cooking, the pearls have been used to starch clothing by being boiled with the clothes.
SUMMARY
Tapioca can be used instead of flour in baking and cooking. It’s also often used for making desserts, such as puddings and bubble tea.
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Nutritional value
Tapioca is almost pure starch, so it’s almost entirely made up of carbs.
It contains only minor amounts of protein, fat, and fiber.
Furthermore, it contains minor amounts of other nutrients. Most of them amount to less than 0.1% of the recommended daily amount in one serving (1Trusted Source, 3).
One cup of dry tapioca pearls contains 544 calories (3).
Due to its lack of protein and nutrients, tapioca is nutritionally inferior to most grains and flours (1Trusted Source).
In fact, tapioca can be considered a source of “empty” calories, since it provides energy but almost no essential nutrients.
SUMMARY
Tapioca is almost pure starch and contains only negligible amounts of protein and other nutrients.
Health benefits of tapioca
Tapioca doesn’t have many health benefits, but it is grain- and gluten-free.
In order to manage their symptoms, they need to follow a restricted diet.
Since tapioca is naturally free of grains and gluten, it may be a suitable replacement for wheat- or corn-based products.
For example, it can be used as flour in baking and cooking or as a thickener in soups or sauces.
However, you may want to combine it with other flours, such as almond flour or coconut flour, to increase the amount of nutrients.
What about resistant starch?
Resistant starch has been linked to a number of benefits for overall health. It feeds the friendly bacteria in your gut, thereby reducing inflammation and the number of harmful bacteria (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
Cassava root is a source of natural resistant starch. However, tapioca, a product obtained from cassava root, has a low content of natural resistant starch, likely because of processing (16, 17).
Research is lacking on the health benefits of chemically modified resistant starches versus natural resistant starches.
In addition, given the low nutrient content, it’s probably a better idea to get resistant starch from other foods instead, such as cooked and cooled potatoes or rice, legumes, and green bananas.
SUMMARY
Tapioca can replace wheat- or corn-based products. It also contains a small amount of resistant starch, which is linked to a number of health benefits.
Negative health effects
When processed properly, tapioca does not seem to have many negative health effects.
Most negative health effects come from consuming poorly processed cassava root.
Furthermore, tapioca may be unsuitable for people with diabetes since it’s almost pure carbs.
Improperly processed cassava products may cause poisoning
Cassava root naturally contains a toxic compound called linamarin. This is converted into hydrogen cyanide in your body and may cause cyanide poisoning.
In fact, there have been konzo epidemics in African countries relying on a diet of insufficiently processed bitter cassava, such as during wars or droughts (21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source).
However, there are a few ways to remove linamarin during processing and cooking.
Commercially produced tapioca generally doesn’t contain harmful levels of linamarin and is safe to consume.
Cassava allergy
There are not many documented cases of allergic reaction to cassava or tapioca.
However, people who are allergic to latex may experience allergic reactions due to cross-reactivity (23Trusted Source, 24Trusted Source).
That means your body mistakes compounds in cassava for allergens in latex, causing an allergic reaction.
This is also known as the latex-fruit syndrome (25Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Improperly processed cassava root can cause poisoning, but commercially produced products are safe. Allergic reactions to tapioca are rare.
Fortification for health purposes
Properly processed tapioca is safe to eat and cheap to buy. In fact, it’s a lifesaving staple in several developing countries.
However, people who base a large part of their diet on cassava and tapioca-based products may ultimately lack protein and nutrients (26Trusted Source).
