What is Gluten Anyway?

I had a good laugh watching this clip from Jimmy Kimmel. Although avoiding gluten can be live-changing for some people, the wheat protein is overwhelmingly painted as a nutritional bad-guy.

To prove that people are buying into the hype, the show asked people if they followed a gluten-free diet and then what it was. Their answers were quite funny, and none of them defined gluten as the protein in wheat that gives bread its stretch and seitan its texture.

It comes along with the usual crass of late-night television which is too bad: It has the potential for a great anticipatory set. :)

FACS Olive Garden Soups Copycat Lab

I owe my survival during my college years to Olive Garden and their soup, salad, and breadsticks. It was a great place to work and I never grew tired of their food!

I often encourage my students to take their first foodservice job at a Darden restaurant. I know that they treat their young workers well and that my students will have an opportunity to be promoted. I have a student who started as an alley coordinator and will be moving into food prep and management!

Other than their great work environment, Olive Garden is most well known for their endless soup and breadsticks! Their variety of soup is perfect for our soup lab.

Students could choose what Olive Garden soup to make:

• Zuppa Toscana
• Pasta e Fagioli
• Minestrone

We had a unsweetened chocolate/broth cube mixup with the Minestrone, but the Zuppa and Fagioli were fantastic! And what would Olive Garden soup be without their infamous breadsticks? The recipe calls for the bread to rise for 45 minutes. My students mixed the dough one day, refrigerated it overnight, and baked them the next day with great success.

Mangia, mangia, mangia! 

Yeast Bread Activity with Modern Marvels: Bread

I like to show Modern Marvels: Bread to my Bakery students because it gives so much historical information on bread that I could never cover.  It also demonstrates sourdough and Challah, which we do not have time to make with our limited class time. 

There is a fine line between teachers using videos to enhance their lesson and using videos to replace their lesson.  As someone who watched Kindergarten Cop in elementary music and Field of Dreams in eighth grade health, I want to be sure that I stay on the right side of the line.

That's why I kept my students busy making bread while learning about bread.  Everything in this recipe is made in a heavy-duty gallon freezer bag which means minimal mess.  It is a good activity for classrooms with no real kitchens.  Bread could be baked in the cafeteria ovens.

If the $20 price tag for a new DVD is too much for your department to handle, I highly suggest using Amazon instant video. This episode of Modern Marvels: Bread cost just $1.99.  Instant video is super handy when you're watching TV and think I wish I had recorded this! This is exactly what my students should know! 

Modern Marvels: Bread

Bread-In-A-Bag

2:45 “First, sugar, yeast, and flour are mixed with water into a one thousand pound ball called a sponge.”

In a one gallon (heavy duty) Ziploc bag, mix:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Close bag and knead it with fingers until the ingredients are completely blended. Leave bag closed and let rest.

9:50 “Across the Kansas State Campus, in the Bakery Science Laboratory, scientists have devised dozens of tests to check the quality of flour.”

Add:

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Mix well.

Add enough flour to make a stiff dough, about 1 or 1-1/2 cups. Close the bag and knead it, adding more flour until dough no longer sticks to the bag. Leave bag closed and let rest.

20:15 “Wheat may be the basis for most bread, but corn is an American specialty.”

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place glass casserole with 4 C water on lowest rack in oven.

Spray baking sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface. Form dough into round ball, tucking seams underneath. Cut slashes in dough as demonstrated with the San Francisco sourdough. Cover with tea towel and allow to rise.

End of episode

Leaving water in place, bake bread on middle oven rack for 30 minutes or until done. Methods used to test doneness in the video include listening for crunch or tapping for a hollow sound.  A sure way is to see that internal temperature is at least 205 F with an instant-read thermometer.

Yeast Bread Vocabulary Quizlet

Woo hoo! Thanks to my awesome student volunteer, yeast bread vocabulary words are up on Quizlet for my students (and you!) to use!

The words correspond with Chapter 27: Yeast Breads and Rolls of Culinary Essentials by Glencoe, 2010.