Prima ABM 9 - Manual (Page 7)

page 7
Home Bakery
•••• INGREDIENTS 3
The most important part of the bread making process is the
wise selection of ingredients. You and your Prima Home Bakery
will produce outstanding results with the right ingredients. Just
apply this simple rule: Best ingredients - best results, poor
ingredients - poor results. For example; if good yeast, good
flour and cold water were thrown together and mixed in an old
bucket the mixture would still rise! Nothing the bread maker
does will prevent the dough from rising so if your loaf does not
rise it is most unlikely that the bread maker is to blame. It is
probably due to the ingredients. In order to save you time we
have included information on each major element used in the
making of bread which will enable you to obtain perfect results
first time every time. See the appendix at the end of this book
for a list of suppliers of quality ingredients.
•••• FLOUR 4
In bread making the most important element in the flour is the
protein called gluten, which is the natural agent that gives the
dough the ability to hold its shape and retain the carbon
dioxide produced by the yeast. The term ‘strong flour’ means
that it has a high gluten content. It has probably been milled
from hard wheat and is particularly suitable for bread making.
In the UK the taste and gluten content of flour varies with each
brand. At Prima we use Allinsons Strong White, Strong Brown
or Wholemeal flour for product testing because it gives
consistently good results. Other good brands are Sainsbury’s
own brand, Hovis bread machine flour or McDougals strong
white flour. Safeway’s own brand of bread flour is also quite
good. You may wish to approach your local mill for flour. If
you do, be sure to specify that you require a fine ground flour
with a high protein content if you want light well-risen loaves.
See the appendix at the end of this book for suppliers of good
quality flour.