What is spring water?
What is spring water? Spring water is a popular form of bottled water. It comes from groundwater, which is water that exists underground in an aquifer that sits at or below the earth’s natural water table ( 1, 2, 3 ). As water naturally flows to the ground’s surface, it’s collected at the opening of a spring.
What does water do in bread dough?
When pouring in yeast from a packet as well as sugar and salt, water lets these ingredients disperse across the bread dough. They also dissolve amongst your ingredients thanks to water. Arguably, the biggest duty of water in bread dough is it allows for the development of gluten. Gluten, a wheat protein, acts as a binder for your bread ingredients.
Can you use spring water for baking bread?
Spring water comes from an aquifer and then flows to the earth, where it’s then bottled at the source. The natural minerals within the water are retained, so you should be safe to use spring water when baking bread. Above, we discussed filtered water.
What is the difference between spring water and purified water?
Spring water is naturally filtered underground. It’s collected from springs or boreholes. Meanwhile, purified water is any type of water that has undergone a controlled filtration and purification process to remove impurities and contaminants. The type you choose should largely depend on your personal preferences and what’s accessible to you.
What is Mellow Mushroom dough made of?
Our Dough. We source the best possible ingredients to create our signature Mellow dough. This means the finest variety of high protein, unbromated unbleached wheat flour, Appalachian spring water and no refined white sugar. We take pride in baking the best quality pizza dough for all our pies, pretzels, and calzones.
What type of water is best for pizza dough?
Hard water is more alkaline than soft water and can decrease yeast activity. For pizza baking, water with a pH of slightly lower than 7 is preferred. Pure water is also preferred in the pizza-making process. If water has a high chlorine contact, it can affect the culture of the dough.Jun 21, 2019
Is Mellow Mushroom dough vegan?
The new vegan menu specifies that “our pizza and calzone dough is vegan. Ask for no butter or Parmesan on your crust and substitute Daiya cheese for mozzarella.” Readers may note that the pretzels are made of the same dough as the pizzas and calzones. Diners should request no butter or Parmesan.Dec 17, 2014
Does water matter in pizza dough?
The presence of calcium and magnesium in hard water strengthens the gluten in the dough, making the finished product tougher and stronger. With very soft water, the dough tends to get soft and sticky.May 11, 2016
Does the water make NY pizza better?
"Water is the one main ingredient that has a huge effect on the taste of the crust," said Paul Errigo, an entrepreneur from New Jersey. Errigo's company makes a device called the New York WaterMaker, which he says can make any tap water mimic New York City's by adding in the right minerals and tweaking the pH balance.Mar 26, 2018
Can you use cold water to make pizza dough?
The takeaway: For pizza, pita, and other doughs that ferment in the refrigerator, make sure your ice water is truly icy: Mix equal volumes of ice and water and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before using.
Is the buffalo tofu at Mellow Mushroom vegan?
Yes!! You have plenty of vegan options at Mellow Mushroom to choose from–pizza, salads, hoagies and a hummus appetizer. They also offer vegan cheese, tofu and tempeh.
What brand vegan cheese does Mellow Mushroom use?
Daiya dairy-Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers has introduced a new Vegan Favorites menu featuring Daiya dairy-free vegan cheese and a gluten-free crust made with ancient grains.Feb 6, 2015
Does Mellow Mushroom use peanut oil?
For the record, it does NOT contain sesame seed or any peanut/tree nut oils and would have been safe.Aug 20, 2015
What makes NY pizza so good?
New York pizza uses deck ovens that cook at extremely high temperatures and are often decades old. The idea is that like a good cast-iron skillet, the oven absorbs the decades' worth of cheese and sauce vapor into its walls and then imparts it onto new pizzas that are cooked.Dec 6, 2016
Why are NYC bagels better?
According to popular mythology, the uniquely superb texture of the New York bagel has to do with New York City's water — specifically, its low concentrations of calcium and magnesium, which make it softer.May 21, 2015
Why is water important to dough?
Water serves as a solvent and dispersing agent (for salt, sugar, and yeast). Water is necessary for yeast fermentation and reproduction; softer doughs will ferment more quickly than dry doughs. Water is responsible for the consistency of bread dough.
Now you know what spring water is, we can look at how it is made
As spring water comes from large underground water basins, you probably think that it must be a little dirty. But that’s far from the case. Spring water actually undergoes one of the most incredible processes of natural filtration just to get to the surface.
When it surfaces, spring water is collected in a number of different ways
But if you’ve seen a spring before, you’ve probably noticed that they are usually pretty small. How do we collect so much drinking water from such a seemingly small source? Well there are a lot of methods for collecting spring water. But most of the time, water is extracted from the underground basin, or aquifer, itself.
Spring water is very pure, but it is still treated before being bottled
Of course, even the purest spring water undergoes stringent filtration before it is bottled. You can think of this as the last line of defence. Even though aquifers are remarkably pure already, there is always the chance that some chemical impurities may pass through.
How Does Water Affect Bread?
Every bread dough recipe calls for water. Whether you use tap water or filtered water, hard or soft water though matters (keep reading for more on hard vs. soft water).
What Is the Best Water for Bread?
You never realized how important it is not to just use any water that’s handy when making bread dough. Now that you know better, you want to ensure that you choose only the best type of water for bread going forward.
The Effects of Hard Water and Soft Water on Bread Dough
Okay, so let’s dive deeper into hard water vs. soft water. You know already that water can be hard or soft depending on how many minerals it has as expressed in PPM.
How Do Common Types of Water Affect Bread?
Really, any potable water that’s not too soft nor too hard should be suitable for baking bread. That said, if you have the following types of water in your refrigerator or your kitchen, you’ll want to read this section before you bake bread with them.
Distilled Water
If you have a jug of distilled water at home, this H2O has been boiled until it becomes a vapor. Then, it undergoes condensation so it can turn into a liquid again. This is supposed to filter out water impurities.
Conclusion
Water is one of the key ingredients in your bread dough recipe. It may be readily available, but you want to put just as much focus on choosing the right type of water as you do when shopping for bread yeast.
What is oven spring?
During the start of baking, bread rapidly shoots up which is what we call oven spring. The rise can be as high as 30% on top of its original size. At the end of the rise, the outside perimeter hardens and develops into the crust.
What are the benefits of oven spring?
The rise in the oven forces the crust to stretch during baking. This widens the air bubbles in the crumb and makes the crust thinner. A thin crust hardens better than a thicker one. This is why a properly oven sprung bread has a crispy crust and a light crumb interior.
How does oven spring work?
The rise that occurs in the oven is created by the yeast in the bread. Yeast loves being warm and works rapidly as it gets hotter. Most doughs are proofed at a cooler temperature so the gluten and other fermentation benefits can form a strong dough structure. Bread is usually proofed at around 25C (77F) to 35C (95F).
When does oven spring happen?
Oven spring begins three minutes after the bread enters the oven and continues until the crust starts to harden. It typically lasts 10-15 minutes.
How to improve oven spring to make better bread
Follow these 7 steps to get the best oven spring in your bread. If you are completely new to baking, focus on the two points: The quality of the dough and The baking process. The others will improve with practice. If you are baking sourdough bread, I have a post devoted to sourdough oven spring that you might find useful.
2. How shaping is important to the oven spring of the bread
Shaping can impact how well your bread rises during proofing and in the oven. It should be shaped firm to hold shape so that it rises upwards instead of sideways. In some cases, a “lighter touch” will improve the texture and rise of your bread, but if you’re new to baking I recommend that you try to perfect a strong shaping method.
3. Get the proofing right
A common cause of weak oven spring is over-proofing the bread. You will usually get a larger oven spring if it’s slightly under proofed (see below for how to adapt the oven spring). The risk of under proofing is an uneven rise and the potential for rips appearing on the surface of the bread.
Does water really matter?
Well yes, and no. For those of us with great tap water, the subject doesn’t need tinkering. There may be some difference in the rate of fermentation and the possibility of a better flavour by changing water, but differences are often negligible. Changing the flour or fermentation technique will have a much greater effect.
How to remove chlorine from tap water
If you suspect that chlorinated water is holding your starter back the simplest thing you can do is smell it. If the water smells like chlorine, it probably contains a lot of chlorine, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t be used.
Using bottled water to feed a starter
If you can’t wait for chlorine to evaporate or suffer from a high or low mineral count in your water, bottled water is an obvious solution. The extra step makes it harder to find motivation just using bottled water is a sensible choice regardless of the expense.
Using water filtered water to feed a starter
Many of us have a water filter to make tap water more pure and healthy. If your water is particularly hard or chlorinated you’ll need a granular activated carbon filter. These are fitted to the mains supply (and expensive) so you won’t find that chlorine is removed from the Britta one you keep in the fridge.
Is hard water better than soft water for a sourdough starter?
It is best to use hard water to feed a starter as the minerals in the water will be broken down and consumed by the yeast or lactic acid bacteria. This provides a slower, yet higher rising starter which can be used to make better risen and more tasty bread.
Is spring water better than tap water for sourdough?
If using spring water you can be safe in the knowledge that it is chlorine-free. As chlorine can destroy healthy microorganisms and bacteria spring water can make better bread than tap water. Spring water also contains more minerals as the water passes through rocks before surfacing on the ground.
Using reverse osmosis water to make a sourdough
As the minerals and microorganisms are removed during the filtration process the water is very sterile. This isn’t great for making a culture of bacteria and yeasts, but we can add some minerals back in to boost it.
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