tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post5738865177246876210..comments2024-03-24T01:15:08.693+10:00Comments on The Old Foodie: Snow Bread.The Old Foodiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00766403052971301718noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post-45147649424855375502011-11-09T06:49:59.503+10:002011-11-09T06:49:59.503+10:00For tiny snow crystals to melt when the dough goes...For tiny snow crystals to melt when the dough goes in the oven would mean that the dough would have to be very cold during the mixing in, wouldnt it? I cant imagine it lasting long before it melted. None of the instructions indicate cold dough and quick handling. It does sound like an explanation tho'!The Old Foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00766403052971301718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post-66308956465826573482011-11-06T12:13:54.223+10:002011-11-06T12:13:54.223+10:00I assume the bread works because the snow is froze...I assume the bread works because the snow is frozen when it goes in the oven. As it melts it creates steam, which creates a pocket of air, unlike unfrozen water, which would simply melt into the dough. <br /><br />Butter works this way to create flaky pie crust. Chilled butter is essentially to keep the fat from melting into the dough. As the pie crust bakes, the butter melts and creates steam, which in turn creates little air pockets, making the crust light and flaky.<br /><br />And I assume "dry" snow is indicated because a heavy wet snow would melt into the dough before the bread was baked. <br /><br />Going to have to try this next time we get a nice, fluffy, dry snow!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post-48481858401656793832011-11-01T02:16:13.657+10:002011-11-01T02:16:13.657+10:00I have no erudite contribution to add to the discu...I have no erudite contribution to add to the discussion of Snow Bread. I am a skeptic, however, and in my forty years residency south of the Manitoba Canadian border, I have encountered no mention, plate, or basket of snow bread. <br /><br />My first hand experience with snow food comes from the coldest winters (not as frequent these days, thus bragging rights become scarce).<br /><br />Carefully stepping outside from a warm, humid kitchen with a boiling hot pan of syrup, proceeding quickly and directly to a clean snow bank, one has drizzled steaming syrup on squeeky, dry snow, the harsher the cold the better. The maple syrup seizes into a taffy-like consistency almost instantly. <br /><br />Properly dressed for survival at the lowest of temperatures, one then harvests the snow taffy from its sunken trail and most likely enjoys a little alfresco winter dessert.<br /><br />Highly recommended.sesannernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post-49183934385029029372011-10-31T06:07:13.690+10:002011-10-31T06:07:13.690+10:00Wow! Thanks Mike for that comprehensive review. I ...Wow! Thanks Mike for that comprehensive review. I considered the soda bread anaolgoy because of the 19th C writers discussion of the compressed air in the snow acting 'the part of the carbonic acid gas in either baking powder or yeast'.<br />But I am not a food scientist.<br />Thanks for reminding me too of Dorothy Hartleys snow pancakes!I knew I had seen snow used in some other recipe, but couldnt for the life of me remember where it was.The Old Foodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00766403052971301718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170237.post-64756550170030719072011-10-31T05:39:34.990+10:002011-10-31T05:39:34.990+10:00"Is snow bread simply a form of soda bread?&q..."Is snow bread simply a form of soda bread?"<br /><br />It's not that because you're not using soda.<br /><br />Presumably it's just a way of introducing voids in the cake since the batter would cook to a certain extent before the snow would melt. (This would be why it says to use a hot "quick" oven.)<br /><br />Dorothy Hartley (_Food in England_, 1954) mentions snow pancakes:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Food-England-Dorothy-Hartley/dp/1856054977/<br /><br />I guess it's the same idea. She says use an ordinary pancake batter and stir in a spoonful of fresh snow just before frying.<br /><br />Obviously, a pan- or griddle- cake cooks a lot faster than an oven-baked cake. So this, again, is "quick" cooking.<br /><br />I've never tried it. I guess crushed ice would work just as well. One could put some ice cubes in a plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin.<br /><br />It would be an interesting experiment. On the whole I think bread is better raised with a (long) yeast fermentation -- or even better leavened with sourdough. The latter is (mostly) a lactic fermentation (but there are also some wild yeasts present in sourdough cultures) as opposed to an alcoholic fermentation (which is what you get with yeast).<br /><br />Lactic-fermentation is good because it deals to some extent with "anti-nutrients" in the flour and makes the resulting bread more digestible. More here:<br /><br />http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid<br /><br />A fermentation with yeast will deal with the antinutrients to some extent -- as long as the fermentation is long enough. Traditionally, bread was given a long time to raise (which, of course, gave it a fuller flavour as well). The infamous Chorleywood Process (see, e.g., Wikipedia) invented by British food scientists in the 1960s is a much faster process and has largely taken over bread making on the industrial scale.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com