Where to Stick the Thermometer

Before using a food thermometer, read the manufacturer’s instructions.

The instructions should tell how far the thermometer must be inserted in a food to give an accurate reading. Most thermometers also come with instructions on how to recalibrate the thermometer.

If instructions are not available, check the stem of the thermometer for an indention, or "dimple" that shows how deep it must penetrate the meat to get an accurate reading.

Most digital thermometers will read the temperature in a small area of the tip.

Dial types must penetrate 2 to 3 inches into the food.

Most thermometers available will give an accurate reading within 2 to 4 °F. The reading will only be helpful, however, if the thermometer is placed in the proper location in the product.

If inserted incorrectly, or if the thermometer is placed in the wrong area, the reading will not accurately reflect the internal temperature of the product.

In general, the thermometer should be placed in the thickest part of the food away from bone, fat or gristle.

For whole poultry, insert in the inner thigh. When the food being cooked is irregularly shaped, such as may be the case with a beef roast, check the temperature in several places.

Remember: After each use, wash the stem of the meat thermometer thoroughly in hot, soapy water.

Checking the meat with a Thermometer

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When should the thermometer be inserted — at the beginning of the cooking time or the end?

Inserting the thermometer will be determined by the type, ovenproof or instant-read.

The important thing is to use a meat thermometer, no matter how the food is prepared — roasted, broiled, fried.

An ovenproof thermometer may be inserted into the food at the beginning of the cooking time and remain there throughout cooking.
The temperature indicator will rise slowly as the food cooks.

Instant-read thermometers are not designed to stay in the food during cooking.

If you are using an instant-read thermometer, pull the meat or poultry out of the oven far enough to insert the stem about 2 inches into the thickest part of the food but not touching bone. The temperatures should register in about 15 seconds.

Cooking Meat and Poultry

A Meat Thermometer Can Help:
Prevent foodborne illness;
Cook foods to a safe temperature;
Prevent overcooking; and hold hot, cooked foods safely.

Use a meat thermometer EVERY time you cook raw foods; reheat leftovers; and hold hot, cooked foods for serving.

Which type of themometer is the one for your needs?

There are several types of meat thermometers available at grocery, hardware or kitchen supply stores.

The type of thermometer determines when it should be inserted in the meat.

Make sure the thermometer you buy is designed for meat and poultry, not for candy or appliances.

Regular, Ovenproof Types: These go into the food at the beginning of the cooking time and can be read easily.

Instant-Read and Digital Types:

These are not intended to go in the food in the oven, but give you a quick reading when inserted into the cooked food, and can be read easily.

Pop-Up Types:

These are commonly found in poultry, but may be purchased for other types of meats.

Microwave-Safe Types:

These are especially designed only for microwave ovens.

Cooking Meat

The temperature at which different pathogenic bacteria are destroyed varies, as does the "doneness" temperature for different meat and poultry products.

A roast or steak that has never been pierced in any way during slaughter, processing or preparation and has reached an internal temperature of 145 °F is safe to eat.

A consumer looking for a visual sign of doneness might continue cooking it until it was overcooked and dry.

A consumer using a thermometer can feel reassured the food has reached a safe temperature.
Likewise, poultry should reach at least 160 °F throughout for safety.

At this temperature the meat has not reached a traditional "done" texture and color, and many consumers prefer to cook it longer to higher temperatures. (The red color of poultry does not change to the expected cooked color of white until temperatures are well above 160 °F.)

A thermometer should also be used to ensure that cooked foods are held at a safe temperature (below 40 °F or above 140 °F) until served.

Thermometer Cooking

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Using a thermometer is the only reliable way to ensure safety and to determine the "doneness" of most foods.

To be safe, a product must be cooked to an internal temperature high enough to destroy any harmful bacteria that may have been in the food.

Recent research has shown that color and texture changes are not reliable indicators to ensure that all bacteria have been destroyed.
For example, ground beef may turn brown before it has reached a temperature at which bacteria are destroyed.

A consumer preparing hamburger patties and depending on visual signs to determine safety by using the brown color as an indicator is taking a chance that pathogenic microorganisms may survive.

A hamburger cooked to 160 °F, regardless of color, is safe.

Cooking Meat

Cooking Meat Safely

USE A MEAT THERMOMETER

One of the critical factors in controlling bacteria in food is controlling temperature.

Pathogenic microorganisms grow very slowly at low temperatures multiply rapidly in mid-range temperatures, and are killed at high temperatures.

For safety, food must be cooked thoroughly.

It is essential to use a thermometer when cooking meat to take the guesswork out of cooking and to assure that a safe temperature has been reached to destroy harmful bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli .

chemicals and additives in bread

Have you ever read the ingredients label on a commercially mass produced loaf of bread?

How many can you recognize, let alone pronounce?

Many of the chemicals and additives used in commercial food have been proven toxic and carcinogenic, or at the very least, unhealthy.

Commercial breads have minimal nutritional value—despite their healthy/natural-sounding names.

Do not judge a bread by its title.

Rustic Grains

The Return of Rustic Grains


Rustic bread grains have become more popular as well.
They are increasingly being combined with wheat and rye in multigrain breads.

In addition, they are being used individually to make bread for people who are allergic to wheat and rye.

Artisan Baking

D i d Y o u K n o w ?

The tradition of Challah and other kosher, yeast-leavened breads can be traced back to the Ancient Hebrew belief that breads leavened with sourdoughs were impure due to the fermentation.

Artisan Baking
Over the past two decades, the interest level in healthy, organic, traditional foods has increased dramatically in the US. Like meat, fruits and vegetables, commercially produced bread has come under scrutiny.

In response, traditional European bakeries have been launched in the US with considerable success.

These bakeries use traditional ingredients, techniques and equipment, such as whole meal grains, sourdough leavening, manual dough preparation and stone-hearth baking to produce a wide range of healthy breads.


D i d Y o u K n o w ?

In Ancient Egypt, bread was used as a form of currency.

baking bread

The Mill, the Bake House and the Bakery

As discussed before, leavened bread, unlike porridge and flat cakes, was usually prepared outside of the family home.

The process of making bread required equipment and specialized skills beyond the reach of the average household.

Interestingly, bread was not, as a rule, prepared in bakeries.

Until well into the Middle Ages, bakeries (establishments that sold and distributed bread) were generally kept separate from bake houses (facilities that baked bread).

The principal reasons for this tradition were highly practical in nature: fire prevention, logistics and cost management.
Like most structures, private homes and bakeries were made of highly flammable materials.

Large bread-baking ovens were serious fire hazards.
To protect life and property, bake houses were located away from inhabited areas.

They were often constructed near rivers.
This practice had two main benefits. Water was ready at hand for putting out fires, preparing doughs and cleaning purposes. In addition, bake houses were frequently located next to water-powered mills where flour was produced.

This reduced the time and expense of transporting flour.
Ovens and related baking equipment were also expensive.

Bake houses were often owned by wealthy feudal lords or businessmen.
They allowed the bakery owners of the region to use their facilities in a communal fashion on a fee-basis or in exchange for provision of bread.

This widespread practice made the cost of producing bread much lower for the individual bakery owners

The Staple of the Table

Leavened bread became the staple food, particularly of the masses, though flat cakes and porridges in particular were still widely consumed.

Workers took hunks of bread into the field to sustain themselves throughout the day.

At the table, thick slices of bread known as trenchers were served with a variety of dishes, often forming the centerpiece or base of a meal.

Long before John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, made his famous innovation of adding a second slice on top in the 1700s, bread was commonly served as a base for meats and sauces.

Certain soups and stews were poured on top of bread placed inside a bowl or dish.

Rome and Beyond

Greek settlements in Gaul predated Roman control of the area.

The Greeks brought the tradition of beer making to Gaul, as well as their baking techniques.

Bakers in Gaul began using beer yeast to improve the rising action of certain breads.

Greek bakers dominated the bread trade in Rome.

They established a strict guild system for their craft in Rome, extending a tradition that dated back to 800 BC in Greece.

Through the expansion of the Roman Empire, Greek baking traditions influenced a vast area of the world, especially Western Europe.

In time, France would assume the leadership position in the craft of making bread (as well as wine) formerly held by Greece.

Greek Innovations

Culinary historians credit the Greeks for developing bread baking into an art.

Proper front-loaded bread ovens originated in Ancient Greece.

The Greeks created a wide variety of doughs, loaf shapes and styles of serving bread with other foods.
Baking developed as a trade and profession as bread increasingly was prepared outside of the family home by specially trained workers to be sold to the public.

The Greeks also pioneered sweetbreads, fritters, puddings, cheesecakes, pastries, and even wedding cakes.

Often prepared in symbolic shapes, these products were originally served during special occasions and ceremonies.

By 300 AD, the Greeks had developed over seventy different kinds of bread.

The first true breads

The first true breads were probably developed in the Mediterranean area and Middle East around 2500 BC when fermented doughs (sourdoughs) were added to flour to make flat cakes rise when baked.

Like many innovations, sourdough leavening probably came about by accident.

An early improvement on baking bread on top of coals or griddles was the addition of a clay bell-shaped dome that enveloped the baking dough.

This insulation technique improved the rising action and cooked the dough more evenly.
Baking molds and ovens further refined this process.

The Ancient Egyptians baked breads in stacked molds placed in an oven.

The Assyrians used a different approach all together:

They placed doughs in heated earthen pots that were sealed and buried in the ground.

The First Foods Made from Grains

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Wheat and barely have been discovered at Jericho (in modern Jordan), the oldest known site of human civilization, which dates back to 10,000 BC.

However, millennia would pass before bread was developed as we know it today.

Whole or cracked grains were first eaten raw or after being dried, like modern seeds and nuts.

The direct predecessors of bread were porridges (grains mixed and cooked with water) and flat cakes (doughs baked directly on coals, or on heated stones and tiles).

Various forms of porridge or mush are still eaten daily by a large percentage of the earth's population.

Ancestors of early flat cakes are still common today in the form of crepes, pita, rice cakes, papadum, fritters, nan, pancakes, tamales, and, of course, pizza.

The Twin Births of Cultivation and Civilization

The development of grain cultivation is closely linked to the cultural history of humankind.

Indeed the original meaning of the word culture is cultivation.
As we all recall from our history classes, humans lived as wandering hunter-gatherers for eons.

The first civilizations arose as humans developed agriculture and animal husbandry.

These monumental innovations enabled humans to live in permanent settlements because they provided adequate food production to sustain life in a fixed location.

Since the dawn of civilization grain products have formed the base of the human diet.

Starch

Starch, a carbohydrate that makes up about 70% of flour by weight, also gets in on the act.

When starch granules are attacked by enzymes present in flour, they release the sugars that yeast feeds on.

Starch also reinforces gluten and absorbs water during baking, helping the gluten to contain the pockets of gas produced by the yeast.

Sometimes, a baker will let the dough rise several times, allowing the gluten to develop more completely and the yeast to add more of its flavors.

When the dough is finally cooked—either in an oven, over a fire, or in a steamer, depending on what kind of bread you’re baking—the yeast inside it continues feeding, and the pockets of gas in the dough continue to expand.

As the temperature of the cooking dough rises, the yeast eventually dies, the gluten hardens, and the dough solidifies. Et voilà! Bread!

Leavening agents

Leavening agents would just be bubbling brews without something to contain them.

Here’s where flour comes in.
There are lots of different types of flour used in bread, but the most commonly used in raised bread is wheat flour.

This is because wheat flour contains two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, which, when combined with water, form gluten.

As you knead the dough, the gluten becomes more and more stretchy.

This gum-like substance fills with thousands of gas bubbles as the yeast goes to work during rising.

Yeast

Yeast, on the other hand, is a live, single-celled fungus.

There are about 160 species of yeast, and many of them live all around us.

However, most people are familiar with yeast in its mass-produced form:
the beige granules that come in little paper packets.

This organism lies dormant until it comes into contact with warm water.

Once reactivated, yeast begins feeding on the sugars in flour, and releases the carbon dioxide that makes bread rise (although at a much slower rate than baking powder or soda).

Yeast also adds many of the distinctive flavors and aromas we associate with bread.

Baking powder

Baking powder or baking soda work quickly, relying on chemical reactions between acidic and alkaline compounds to produce the carbon dioxide necessary to inflate dough or batter (more on this later).

Baking powder and baking soda are used to leaven baked goods that have a delicate structure, ones that rise quickly as carbon dioxide is produced, such as quick breads like cornbread and biscuits.