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October
Issue |
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Blowing
up the bread
Very few of us ever think
of making bread. All we know
about bread is what we buy from
the supermarket or a baker’s
shop. Everything nicely sliced
up. Ready to eat.
Bread has air trapped in it.
This is why we can easily get
our teeth into it. Otherwise
we would be biting into a hard
lump.
The question is: How did the
air get into the bread?
The baker starts with dough,
which he makes by mixing flour
with water or milk, adding some
sugar or starch — sometimes
also salt — and putting
in some yeast.
Yeast is the most important part
of bread making. Without yeast,
we will only get flat bread.
Yeast makes the bread “blow
up”.
Yeast is made up of thousands
of tiny living microorganisms.
It gives out very small bubbles
of carbon dioxide gas when it
is kept warm, with sugar or starch
present. It is the gas which
makes the dough rise.
The baker kneads or beats the dough. He then allows the dough to rest by putting
it aside to let the yeast do its work.
Having the right temperature is important. If it is too cool, the yeast will
stop working. If too hot, the yeast will be destroyed.
Allowing the dough to rest is very important. This is because the gas takes time
to come out. When the dough becomes about double the size, it is time to put
it in the oven to bake.
Some people may think that we can make bread faster if we put in more yeast.
This is not so. If you put too much yeast, the dough will rise up bigger, but
the bread will simply have a lot of empty space. More yeast means more gas. It
does not mean faster release of gas.
So in addition to the ingredients like flour, sugar, water and yeast, a very
important requirement is TIME. The bread cannot be hurried.
Very often, our work is like baking bread.
Think about making bread again. We need the right equipment: pans, spoons, oven,
etc. We need the right ingredients: flour, sugar, starch, salt, water, milk,
eggs, yeast, etc. We need the right methods: how to knead, how to rest the dough,
how to bake, how to cool the bread down, even how to slice it.
Same thing for our work: have the right tools, use the right materials, learn
the right methods, pay attention to details, take the right actions, do everything
as quickly as you can, BUT, be patient for results if the results need time to
show. Make time. Give time. This does not mean we should not be fast. Be quick
with the things where we can hurry, and be patient with the things which need
time.
Hurry where you can. But wait where you must. Some things can be hurried, some
cannot — be wise to know the difference.
Lim
Siong Guan Head, Civil Service |
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