bread juice

[redbricknick]

Anyone ever heard of juice being used in lieu of water in bread? I want to use cucumber juice in the ancienne recipe, but am unsure if the yeast will feed on it.. Beet juice? When Mum makes pancakes, she uses orange juice instead of milk, and they're awesome..

[CanuckJim]

RB,

Never tried the substitution myself, but there is a baker in Toronto who uses water left over from wine making in his breads, and it seems to work if you fancy purple bread. My feeling is that there shouldn't be much of a downside, but I'd worry about very high acid juices affecting the rise. I'd start by cutting any juice 50/50 with water and go from there. Hey, after all, it's only one batch of bread. Give it a shot. I'd like to hear the results.

The yeast doesn't really feed on water; it feeds on the starches and sugars in the grain that must be hydrated for the process to begin. Flour itself has dormant yeast present in the dry state; add water and the rise begins. This is a small part of making your own sourdough starter.

Jim

[redbricknick]

So I made the cucumber bread.. Used the good ol' Ancienne recipe, substituting water with cucumber juice.. Actually it was more like 20 percent juice, seventy heavily infused cucumber water.. It was very subtle, but definitely noticeable.. The bread had a fresh taste. Yes, it was fresh bread, but it tasted fresher somehow.. I'm going to try again with more cucumber.. The ladies definitely loved it.. Sorry not to include photos of the hole structure, but i can assure you, it was magnificent.