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Breadbuilder:
Ellen's Homemade Bread Dough Enhancer

This is really helpful for breadmachine bread doughs, but the commercial product costs about $16.00 a package! So I figured out how to make it at home. You have to store it air tight in a jar or ziplock to protect the ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is sold as "powdered vitamin C" in the vitamin department.

Use 1 tablespoon of doughbuilder per loaf, or a little more for low gluten breads. The ingredients in bold are essential.

Breadbuilder: Ellen's Bread Dough Enhancer

2

cups

vital wheat gluten

1

cup

potato starch or potato flakes

1

package

jelly pectin powder (Sure Jell)

1

cup

lecithin granules

3

tablespoons

powdered ascorbic acid

2

tablespoons

ginger powder

1

cup

non-instant powdered milk or whey powder (optional)

1/2

cup

diastatic malt powder

1

envelope

unflavored gelatin (optional)

Place all ingredients in a DRY blender, cover and blend until completely mixed. Package airtight in a ziplock or jar that you can measure from. Use 1-2 tablespoons per loaf, or a bit more if the recipe is low gluten (rye, corn, etc). Vegans will want to omit gelatin and whey.

Tender Crust:
Ellen's Homemade Yeast Dough Relaxer

Dough relaxer is popular for pizza crust, foccacia, etc. It acts by slightly disabling the gluten protein in the wheat. It is not recommended for yeast doughs made completely with whole wheat or other whole grain flours, or breads baked in a bread machine. If you are using a bread machine, you will get the best results by programming for MANUAL or DOUGH cycle, removing the dough after the final rise, shaping and baking it out of the machine. Dough with the Relaxer tends to overrise and then sink when baked in the machine's tall pan. The result is a sunken loaf.

Yeasted doughs will rise at a slower rate when made with Relaxer. They will have a big "oven spring" (the amount of rise the bread has just as it begins to bake). Take the oven spring into consideration and don't be tempted to allow the dough to overrise before baking.

The homemade dough relaxer is made from four all natural ingredients. High heat process non-fat dry milk tenderizes the dough, gives it a rich, soft crumb, makes it easy to roll and adds a calcium boost. Diastatic malt (made by slowly roasting barley over low heat) is a natural amylase - an enzyme that helps convert some of the starch in the flour into sugar, which is the food yeast likes the best. These enzymes become inactive as soonas the bread goes in the oven. The acid ingredients make the dough slightly acidic to activate the yeast, and the very small amount of baking powder helps to rise the bread by reacting with the acids. Commercial relaxers also have powdered L-cysteine to tenderize even further.

Here is a great link for troubleshooting pizza dough.

Tender Crust: Ellen's Bread Dough Relaxer

3

tablespoons

powdered ascorbic acid

2

tablespoons

double-acting baking powder

2

tablespoons

cream of tartar

1

cup

non-instant powdered buttermilk

1/2

cup

diastatic malt powder

Place all ingredients in a DRY blender, cover and blend until completely mixed. Package airtight in a ziplock or jar that you can measure from. Use 1-2 tablespoons per loaf, or a bit more if the recipe is made with bread flour.