[Sca-cooks] Period Recipe Fail.

[Terry Decker]

> Bear commented:
> <<< Actually, I'm at about 1,000 ft. most of the time.  When I'm in the
> Outlands, I'm at around 4,500 feet.  The difference in baking at those 
> two
> altitudes is interesting. >>>
>
> In what ways do you find your baking affected by altitude changes?
>

Both yeast and chemical leavens need to be reduced.  When I baked Boletinos 
Artos for Cailte's Roman feast, I had to decrease the yeast from 1 scant 
Tablespoon (roughly 2 1/2 teaspoons or one packet) to half a teaspoon.  I 
was also using a very active yeast, so I had to use even less than would 
normally be expected.

Under perfect conditions, every 250 feet up to about 3500 reduces the 
boiling point by approximately .5 degrees F.  The reduction tapers off 
slightly above that, but you can use the .5 degree figure for practical 
purposes (the gradient of change is almost linear) up to about 30,000.  This 
means one needs to add some water to the recipe to retain moisture in the 
bread during baking above 3,000 feet.  You will need to adjust a bread 
recipe about every 3,000 foot increment.   At 3000 ft., the boiling point is 
206.2 F, 6,000 feet, 200.6 F and at 10,000 feet 193.2 F.  At 10,000 feet, I 
expect to increase the liquid by roughly 10%.  And you remind me that I want 
to ask Mistress Katherine about running a test batch on Friday evening to 
see how I will need to modify the recipe.

Cakes are even more critical at altitude.  For those, one needs to reduce 
leaven, increase tougheners (flour, eggs), reduce softeners (eggs, 
shortening) and increase liquids.  It is a very tricky dance, for which I 
have the dance card which tells me the percentages of increase and reduction 
for various altitudes.

> <<<  Baking manchet at 10,000 feet will be interesting. >>>
>
> Is manchet more or less affected by atmosphere change than other breads?
>

No.  All high altitude baking is tricky.  10,000 feet is outside of most 
people's experience, certainly mine.

> Are there parts of Europe where people routinely live and bake at,  that 
> are near 10,000 feet in altitude?
>

Yes, but it is mostly summer farm baking in high altitude pasturage.  I know 
of no commercial bakery at those altitudes.

> I'm pretty sure that baking in a pressure cooker yields a totally 
> different bread...
>
> Stefan

Pressure cookers are not recommended for baking.  They produce steam to a 
degree that would be bad for the bread.  The also increase the internal 
pressure (essentially uncontroled except for a safety valve), increase the 
boiling point to retain moisture in the food and produce an accelerated 
cooking.  What you want for baking is a sealed oven pressurized to one 
atmosphere.

Bear