SC - Sugar, flour and Bread - answer is long

Thu May 22 07:45:18 PDT 1997

>I'd be curious to hear other people's knowledge on these questions.
>
>I tend to use raw sugar instead of refined white sugars when I cook.
>Is raw sugar now legal for purchase in the US? I attempted to buy some about
>12 years ago, having been given it for my coffee in a Covent Garden coffee bar.
>It turned out (or rather I was told by the US Sugar suppliers) that raw
>sugar was illegal to import or produce and sell in the US. I was told the
>sugar industry had a lock on sources (and a strong lobby), and wanted us to
>buy the expensive white purified sugars. I'd be thrilled to know if it is
>now available.
>
<snipped>
>
Raw sugar is now sold in most grocery store chains in my area of the midwest (Iowa). 
As is unbleached sugar. They are coming more into vogue as a "health food" thing.
I think the raw sugar just plain tastes good.  It's not sold in a bag, but in a box and 
is more expensive than regular processed sugar (go figure!)

I love its texture and flavor especially in the making of shortbread. 

In fact, I teach a class now and then (coming to the Interkingdom Cooking and Brewing 
Symposium in July in Ohio) where I cook about 12 kinds of shortbread for.  I 
use a basic recipe of 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup fat, 1/4 cup sweetner.  I vary the recipe one
ingrediant at a time. First recipe will be the basic against which to compare all others.

First recipe:	white bleached flour, butter, white sugar
2nd recipe: unbleached flour, butter, white sugar
3rd recipe: oat flour, butter, white sugar
4th recipe: rice flour, butter, white sugar
5th recipe: white flour, lard, white sugar
6th recipe: white flour, olive oil, white sugar
7th recipe: white flour, butter, honey
8th recipe: white flour, butter, raw sugar
9th recipe: white flour, butter, brown sugar
10th recipe: semolina flour, butter, white sugar
11th recipe: white flour, oleo, white sugar
12th recipe: white flour, diet oleo, white sugar

The purpose of the ingrediant substitutions is two fold:

	- learn about the characteristics each of the different ingrediants has. Such as the raw
	  sugar tastes better than the white sugar.  The diet oleo never sets up and should never	
	  be used for baking. The brown sugar tends to carmalize.

	- learn to think about what effect an ingrediant substitution might have on your recipe. 
	  Substituting lard for butter not only gives you a greasier texture, the finished product
	  tends to crumble and not hold together as well.

I also use this method to try out new ingrediants. Everytime I run across a new flour at the 
health food store or local grocery chain store, I buy it and run home to try it out in my basic
shortbread recipe.  This way, I discover lots about its basic flavor, texture, how it handles in 
a dough.  Then, I try making it as a simple bread recipe. Flour, water, salt, yeast.  This way I
determine its gluten content for myself. How much work (kneading) does it take to make a 
good bread?

Then, when I redact a recipe calling for flour, I determine the following things:
	- who am I baking this for? Nobleman (upper-class), merchant (middle-class), working-class.
	- what country?
	- what century?
	- what kinds of flour would they reasonably have had access to.

If it calls for fine manchet bread crumbs, I used the unbleached flour. If I want a more flavorful 
flour - I mix in a little oat or rye flour. 

On a personal note: I try to use the more "natural" foods whenever I can.  I don't like filling my
body with a bunch of chemicals or preservatives.

Kateryn de Develyn
debh at microware.com

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