[Sca-cooks] scalding milk

Alexandria Doyle garbaholic at gmail.com
Thu May 31 08:23:04 PDT 2007


What about in bread or sweet yeast dough type receipts from ye old
family heirloom cookbook?

Use to do it all the time because the recipe said so... now it's a
step I skip, or shorten to warming the milk so it's not ice cold...

alex

> >
> > Good Morning!
> >  My Protogete is making bread pudding from an ancient family heirloom
> > cookbook recipe,  and the instructions tell her to scald the
> > milk.   She  wants to know  "WHY?"

>
> There are some potential benefits, depending on circumstances. If
> you're using unhomogenized milk, it's less likely to curdle under
> high heat if you scald it first. In this case I assume it has to do
> with the mechanics of custard-making, tempering egg yolks to prevent
> curdling, get a smoother custard, etc. Kind of like the difference
> between a cheesecake baked in a water bath versus one without it.
> Some people claim it's not essential, but many can detect a
> difference and think it's better to do it.
>
> In the case of a bread pudding I'd do it; the overall baking time is
> less, and you're less likely to get watery curdy masses around the
> edges while waiting for the middle to be cooked through.
>
> Adamantius
-- 
I can handle anything that life throws at me.
I may not be able to handle it well, or correctly, or gracefully, or
with finesse, or expediently
-- but I will handle it.



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