SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Muggle Studies Lesson One {into the Kitchens!}

*PhoenixRising* · 06-09-2014, 11:31 PM

SPOILER!!: Student answers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

This was awesome.. and so far all Bay wanted to do was to eat the pizza.. why couldn't he just do that now.. *le sad face* Raising his hand "I think we add the salt for it attracts the water and keeps the dough moist?" he lowered his hand to think about it for a second and then kept his hand down for he didn't know the reason for the other question..

CAN HE JUST HAS THE PIZZA!!!!! he was so hungry now his stomach was growling very loud he was pretty sure anyone could hear it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

So, had Tag gotten that right? He hoped so. Yes? He'll just go with yes. Now the next question. He could either go for the salt or the flour, or both. Yes, both. "I think the salt is pretty much there for a seasoning ingredient type of way. The dough would taste pretty stale, like old bread, if it didn't have any?" He said.

Onto the flour question now. "I also think we add in a little flour at a time because if we add it all in at once into the dough mixture it would all clump together. You know, like when you put flour on a cutting board, it makes the ingredients spread out more evenly and from getting stuck together. Then it'd be extremely hard to take it apart. May need water or something and then you've pretty much ruined it all."

So, Tag was going with the 'flour spreads out the texture of the dough and keeps it from clumping together' answer. Mhm. Were the forty five minutes already up? Yes? No. We hope so.

Oh, yes, we saw that girlfriend, so Tag just gave her a small smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zander took out his quill and started taking down some quick notes. Except his messy workspace was definitely not helping the effort. The kid was getting flour all over his parchment... Eh, whatever. He'd just have to try to remember all of this stuff. Which was going to be difficult considering all the things Hadley just mentioned.

SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. GAH. Can't they just eat pizza now? Like order in or something? "If you add to much flour, wouldn't the dough be a lot harder to roll out and stuff?" Plus, that probably wouldn't make for a yummy pizza. Mhm. But really Zander had know idea what any of the ingredients would do to it. Pizza is pizza. And that's all Zander could think about. What? He's a growing boy okay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

It was time for another question from the Professor. Jasmine was eager to contribute to the conversation because her last answer apparently had not gone over to well. Taking a stab at the why do we add flour a little at a time question, she raised her hand.

"If we added the flour all at once, it would be more difficult to mix adequately. We'd be likely to end up with a big gloppy mess with little flour clumps throughout the dough."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Kace was listening to the professor move on. She asked an interesting question about the flour. She wondered what would happen if you put too much in? He smiled and raised his hand and said, "Professor I think if you put too much flour at once, it would be really hard to knead the dough or even mix the dough..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emms

Simon frowned when he heard that Candice was allergic to sugar. Aw, no! But quickly enough Professor Hadley had reassured her that they could make dough without sugar if it was a problem. Good, good, he thought as he copied down the next set of notes that Professor Hadley had written about sugar in his notebook.

After writing down those notes, he listened to her next set of questions.

Oh Merlin. Uh..

Why was there salt in pizza dough? Hmmm.. Perhaps it had something to do with the yeast and sugar stuff!? That could work. He raised his hand. "Would the salt affect the rate at which the yeast consumes the sugar? And if so, this could mean that the dough would have a more consistent fermentation," he said.

As for flour...

He didn't really know. So he took a guess. No harm every came with guessing, right? "With too much flour added, wouldn't the dough not rise enough?" If they had an increased concentration of flour would that affect the rate of fermentation? Simon blinked. He had no clue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Okay his sugar guess was right but now wait...why salt and why did they have to add flour a little at a time? Cris scratched his forehead as he listened to some of the others share their answers. He smiled proudly as Jasmine shared hers. That girl really did know a lot about cooking and baking stuff.

Cris decided to hazard another guess. What the heck right? They were here to learn. Raising his hand, Cris gave his answer.

"Professor, I think we add salt just for the flavoring, to give the crust some taste instead of just that chalky taste," Cris answered before pausing to think why flour was slowly added at a time.

"Um...and we add the flour slowly, so that it is mixed in well and the dough doesn't get all clumpy, you know with air bubbles and lumps of flour. I guess you want to give the yeast enough time to rise naturally?" Cris shrugged making an educated guess.

....and that was why he always stood aside to let his mother and sisters do the cooking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Honestly, Lux had very limited experience baking and cooking so this stuff wasn't the easiest for her. Of course she loved food, but that didn't mean she prepared it. Hmm, maybe she should have her mom teach her some things so that she could make things for her and Bay. Raising her hand, she guessed at the answers. "I'd assume that the salt is for flavour because salt is added to a lot of foods for flavour." This was something she knew, because she sometimes added it to food before eating. "And I think the flour is added a little at a time so that it mixes in smoothly and no bits of powder remain. Because no one wants to eat powdery crust." She sure didn't!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordred

Cooking isn’t and ~~probably~~ will never be his expertise, even if he excelled in Potions. Ethan got his notebook and pen and started to write down more notes. Muggle notes, he reckon, is the most useful thing in the world. Makes him less stupid and stuff, you know? And it seems that cooking and baking is not a bad thing to learn. This topic meant food. And food makes Ethan happy, so there’s that.

So why salt? Ethan tilted his head and turned to their dough. Sure, it has something to do with taste, yeah? But if they were going for flavour, they should have added more. An idea struck the boy’s brain. Hand up. “Professor? Does it help keep the dough intact? Like…water?” Just a guess. It doesn’t make much sense to the boy, but based on his deductions, that just might be the answer. “As for adding the flour little by little…um…because it’s easier to spread the ingredient evenly while mixing the dough?” He wasn’t sure, but according to his observation while mixing the stuff, that seemed to make sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

Oh, so an older Slytherin girl agreed with her? Cool. Hiiiii snakey. She figured it was a safe bet to take that everybody loved sugar. If they didn't then they were just weird. More questions? Errr... she wasn't really sure why certain things were added. Taking a moment to think before answering she raised her hand. "I think the salt is added for flavor and to balance out the sugar maybe. If you added too much flour too soon then you will have a powdery mess and nobody likes cleaning." Seemed legit to her.

How much time had passed again? Her dough wasn't looking promising. The first year looked around to see how the other's looked, and well it didn't look good for her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Poor Candice. Adi could not imagine being unable to eat anything with sugar. Speaking of which...he was craving a Sugar Quill.

Sugar is added to bake the dough and give it a brown colour. Got it!So the purpose of salt? Hmmm... "Is it just for flavour, Professor?'' he asked his hand in the air. "And as for the flour, I think we add it slowly because it's easier to mix that way and also when mixing it would not become lumpy.'' Meaning there won't be little lumps among the dough.''

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Text Cut: Drama llama?

THINGS WERE GOING DOWN.

Despite how much he liked drama and looking into it, something told him that this wasn't going to go well. At least not for him. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked between Hadley, Lex and Lottie. What even? Couldn't they go ahead with the system they had? It seemed to work pretty well for them. She was going to get the smallest pieces. It was PERFECT.

But nooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!

And then Lottie was speaking and.............

SAY WHAT?!

No. No no. HE had to give up HIS pizza?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN. Dejected, he opened his mouth to argue this point and say that there was NO WAY he was going to give up the dough he had been working SO hard on but Lottie was continuing. And there was a wink too. That seemed to add points in the column that talked about the pros of giving his dough up to Lex, right alongside the points that this was LEX and that he was sure she would hex him into another century if she walked out of here on an empty stomach.

"Fine. FINE, you can have my dough." And cue a smile for the Gryffindor Prefect. "You owe me big time, Cambridge." Wink. He pushed the bowl towards her.

Oh there was a question too. About salt and flour. Salt question came first soooo, Grayson raised his hand to answer that one. "Dough without salt tastes bland. If you have a pizza crust that doesn't have salt in it, you can instantly tell that something's not right." Uh huh. "And besides, doesn't it help keep the dough not so sticky?" Because the last thing HE wanted was for a sticky dough.

"I heard something about a water to flour ratio." That was all. He didn't understand it too much sooooooo he wasn't going to say anything else on that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

SPOILER!!: Lottie and Hadley

Alexa continued nibbling away at the chocolate bar she'd nicked a little earlier. Her interest in most other things waning. How much longer would this class be before she could ask a house elf to bake her a pizza? Or have Lottie make her one, because she would right? Lex wasn't naive enough to think Lottie would up and volunteer her own pizza and Grayson who was admittedly very good people might have had grand plans for his own dough.

Her brow rose as Lottie made an attempt at securing the boy's dough but that was about all the reaction she gave before taking another bite out of her chocolate. Next time, could they learn about something like telephones? Or ...or...anything. Anything was better than being in a kitchen where you were meant to get things done efficiently for yourself.

Grayson's lack of immediate response turned her attention back to the Professor who was asking about salt and flour.

....

......

This was possibly worse than History of Magic and she never thought it'd come to that. Was it possible to be so clueless in a subject that had nothing to do with History? She didn't know OKAY????

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

More questions. Marigold looked at her dough again, urging it to RISE FASTER because she was actually getting hungry. Ahem. "Salt is for the savory aspect because otherwise it would taste sweet." Probbbbbably not true but what she always thought. "And if you add all the flour at once, it wouldn't be mixed in and would make it all floury and icky." Experience, yo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Okay, so sugar wasn't used to make the pizza TASTE better, which made little to no sense to Sophie. Oh, well. Sugar was still good, no matter what. Also, whoever this Candice girl was was allergic to sugar? How BAD can your luck be?! Sophie was glad that wasn't her.

Salt? Hmm... Sophie raised her hand. "Because salt makes bland food taste better, and there's ingredients in pizza that might be bland if we don't add salt," she said. And, oh--there was another question, too. "Do we only add a little at a time, so we can test it and make sure we don't add too much?" She had no idea what would happen if they added too much. "Does too much flour cause you to have too much crust on your pizza? Because the crust part is gross unless it's stuffed with cheese."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiara

Lucy thought:"Salt? .." Then she raised her wand and she said:" The Salt mixes better the water with the oil!
And if we add a little flour at a time the dough is softer! "

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Well, why does anyone add salt to anything? "The salt adds a little bit of flavor, makes the dough taste less like cardboard." And there was nothing worse than having a pizza crust that tasted like cardboard. Unless the whole pizza tasted like that, of course.

As for why they added the flour slowly....... "If you add too much flour to the dough, it'll become all dry and crumbley. Adding it slowly is a way of preventing that." And the Gryffindor with the oil and water answer was getting a 'what the....?' look from her. "Don't you spread the oil on top of the crust once you roll it out? So, salt wouldn't really make the impossible happen, right?" The impossible being oil and water mixing, of course. And you could blame the small Gryffindor and Layla's own dislike of stupidity for that question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah

Cutty didn't think they were talking about Pizza. These words of Whitty's had the distinct feeling of reciprocity to the younger Slytherin.

Cutty's brows furrowed in thought as he turned to the older Hufflepuff boy and did his utmost to hide the excitement for what this could mean. "Will it really taste like chalk?!" And would Bart eat it? This was USEFUL information, Cris. Cutty neeeeded to know.

H'mm, actually maybe eyecandy over there (Simon) would eat it. He was from the continent as well. Just like Bart.

Holding to the hope of the idea that dough tended, in general, to taste terrible until cooked, Cutty put his hand in the air and made the following, "I'm going to agree that it's to do with the flavour. Salt gives it flavour and allows the dough to be able to taste..." Cuthbert's inappropriate word was not so much ignored as stowed away for a later more opportune time in which to use it and he found a more suitable, if not plain one to use in it's stead whilst addressing his teacher. "...Good with whatever you might put on the pizza."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Beverly glanced down at her dough. It seemed to be doing okay. Oh, who was she kidding, it was doing wonderfully. She's done this enough times to feel confident in her baking abilities.

Glancing back up, she pursed her lips in thought. Salt, in her books was for one purpose and one purpose only. The reason she loves food. "Taste," she said, raising her hand. "Salt is needed for taste or else the crust will taste bland no matter what toppings it has." As for the flour: "I believe flour is added little by little to avoid bubbles in the dough or clumps." Clumpy dough was no good. Imagine biting into that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nanyjj

Looking down at her dough again, Leah listened to the professor's question. She was determined to answer this one because she missed out on the previous discussion. Groan. Raising up her hand, the second year said out a guess. "I think the little amount of salt balances out the flavor, and... I don't really know anything about the flour." Meh that was lame. There was a little Lioness allergic to sugar? Poor her.

A girl named Leah wanting to eat pizza here.

Hadley was listening to the student replies as she willed time to move faster ... wasn't there a way to make dough rise faster? She was pretty sure there was a spell for that. Of course it probably had side effects but you know. Uh what was the question she'd asked again? Ah right, about salt.

"Salt as you may or may not know is a mineral substance composed of sodium and chloride; now the chemical history behind the substance isn't so important for this class, at least," other classed they took it might be, but she wasn't interested in it. "Salt, like sugar, can be omitted from the dough recipe yet it often is utilized as its not much. The main role of salt is for flavor, as many of you said, though it also plays a role in the dough's elasticity and texture. It ultimately creates a stronger dough that feels less sticky so it is extremely helpful in the stretching of the dough when forming the crust."

"Just as sugar is food for the yeast, salt regulates the consumption rate, creating a more consistent fermentation. It allows for the gluten to become more fully hydrated and prevents the dough from over fermenting quickly." Yes, this probably seemed unimportant and boring, but it was quite the contrary, especially considering how many were interested in actually EATING decent pizza. "If the dough ferments too much or too quickly, then there will be less sugar left over to caramelize the dough when baking, thus lacking that golden brown crust we all love. So in essence, salt is critical to the end result of a tasty crust."

"A crust without salt will seem bland and takes away from the overall experience of the toppings. Not to mention that one of salts principles is that it holds water. Holding water is critical to keeping a moist and fresh dough. Without salt, the bread becomes dry and stale within a few hours of baking; effects that cannot be slowed or reversed."

Glancing around at their dough, she nodded in approval. "It seems, we're just about there for the next part - the rolling of the dough." She paused, waiting... "There's two options for this; if you like thinner crusts, then you should use the rolling pin to roll out your dough onto the round pizza stone. However, if you prefer a thicker crust, then kneading it with your hands is best. Yes, if you're daring, you may try tossing it into the air. But if you drop it on the floor, then we're not trying yours..." That was a joke. Maybe. "The ovens are preheating now to 425, while we knead our dough. Once your dough is kneaded or hand-tossed into a round circle, prick it with a fork in various locations a few times throughout the dough. This process will help to oxidize the dough and keep it fresh. Drizzle your dough with olive oil and garlic salt. Why do we do that?"

06-09-2014, 11:31 PM	#198 (permalink)
PhoenixRising Quintaped Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: in my head [GMT-6] Posts: 58,785 Hogwarts RPG Name: Amelia Adara Graduated Hogwarts RPG Name: Emma Montmorency (#301199) Hufflepuff Fourth Year x12 x8	... any volunteers to start a fire? twitches Kidding ... or not? glances around YesJess! \| Captain Goggles \| Mama Badger \| Eva's Soul Sister \| An OG™ \| It's all in the Numbers SPOILER!!: Student answers! Quote: Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow This was awesome.. and so far all Bay wanted to do was to eat the pizza.. why couldn't he just do that now.. le sad face Raising his hand "I think we add the salt for it attracts the water and keeps the dough moist?" he lowered his hand to think about it for a second and then kept his hand down for he didn't know the reason for the other question.. CAN HE JUST HAS THE PIZZA!!!!! he was so hungry now his stomach was growling very loud he was pretty sure anyone could hear it. Quote: Originally Posted by Team ronmione So, had Tag gotten that right? He hoped so. Yes? He'll just go with yes. Now the next question. He could either go for the salt or the flour, or both. Yes, both. "I think the salt is pretty much there for a seasoning ingredient type of way. The dough would taste pretty stale, like old bread, if it didn't have any?" He said. Onto the flour question now. "I also think we add in a little flour at a time because if we add it all in at once into the dough mixture it would all clump together. You know, like when you put flour on a cutting board, it makes the ingredients spread out more evenly and from getting stuck together. Then it'd be extremely hard to take it apart. May need water or something and then you've pretty much ruined it all." So, Tag was going with the 'flour spreads out the texture of the dough and keeps it from clumping together' answer. Mhm. Were the forty five minutes already up? Yes? No. We hope so. Oh, yes, we saw that girlfriend, so Tag just gave her a small smile. Quote: Originally Posted by ArianaBlack Zander took out his quill and started taking down some quick notes. Except his messy workspace was definitely not helping the effort. The kid was getting flour all over his parchment... Eh, whatever. He'd just have to try to remember all of this stuff. Which was going to be difficult considering all the things Hadley just mentioned. SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. GAH. Can't they just eat pizza now? Like order in or something? "If you add to much flour, wouldn't the dough be a lot harder to roll out and stuff?" Plus, that probably wouldn't make for a yummy pizza. Mhm. But really Zander had know idea what any of the ingredients would do to it. Pizza is pizza. And that's all Zander could think about. What? He's a growing boy okay. Quote: Originally Posted by Daydreamer11 It was time for another question from the Professor. Jasmine was eager to contribute to the conversation because her last answer apparently had not gone over to well. Taking a stab at the why do we add flour a little at a time question, she raised her hand. "If we added the flour all at once, it would be more difficult to mix adequately. We'd be likely to end up with a big gloppy mess with little flour clumps throughout the dough." Quote: Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin Kace was listening to the professor move on. She asked an interesting question about the flour. She wondered what would happen if you put too much in? He smiled and raised his hand and said, "Professor I think if you put too much flour at once, it would be really hard to knead the dough or even mix the dough..." Quote: Originally Posted by Emms Simon frowned when he heard that Candice was allergic to sugar. Aw, no! But quickly enough Professor Hadley had reassured her that they could make dough without sugar if it was a problem. Good, good, he thought as he copied down the next set of notes that Professor Hadley had written about sugar in his notebook. After writing down those notes, he listened to her next set of questions. Oh Merlin. Uh.. Why was there salt in pizza dough? Hmmm.. Perhaps it had something to do with the yeast and sugar stuff!? That could work. He raised his hand. "Would the salt affect the rate at which the yeast consumes the sugar? And if so, this could mean that the dough would have a more consistent fermentation," he said. As for flour... He didn't really know. So he took a guess. No harm every came with guessing, right? "With too much flour added, wouldn't the dough not rise enough?" If they had an increased concentration of flour would that affect the rate of fermentation? Simon blinked. He had no clue. Quote: Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 Okay his sugar guess was right but now wait...why salt and why did they have to add flour a little at a time? Cris scratched his forehead as he listened to some of the others share their answers. He smiled proudly as Jasmine shared hers. That girl really did know a lot about cooking and baking stuff. Cris decided to hazard another guess. What the heck right? They were here to learn. Raising his hand, Cris gave his answer. "Professor, I think we add salt just for the flavoring, to give the crust some taste instead of just that chalky taste," Cris answered before pausing to think why flour was slowly added at a time. "Um...and we add the flour slowly, so that it is mixed in well and the dough doesn't get all clumpy, you know with air bubbles and lumps of flour. I guess you want to give the yeast enough time to rise naturally?" Cris shrugged making an educated guess. ....and that was why he always stood aside to let his mother and sisters do the cooking. Quote: Originally Posted by Squishy Honestly, Lux had very limited experience baking and cooking so this stuff wasn't the easiest for her. Of course she loved food, but that didn't mean she prepared it. Hmm, maybe she should have her mom teach her some things so that she could make things for her and Bay. Raising her hand, she guessed at the answers. "I'd assume that the salt is for flavour because salt is added to a lot of foods for flavour." This was something she knew, because she sometimes added it to food before eating. "And I think the flour is added a little at a time so that it mixes in smoothly and no bits of powder remain. Because no one wants to eat powdery crust." She sure didn't! Quote: Originally Posted by Mordred Cooking isn’t and ~~probably~~ will never be his expertise, even if he excelled in Potions. Ethan got his notebook and pen and started to write down more notes. Muggle notes, he reckon, is the most useful thing in the world. Makes him less stupid and stuff, you know? And it seems that cooking and baking is not a bad thing to learn. This topic meant food. And food makes Ethan happy, so there’s that. So why salt? Ethan tilted his head and turned to their dough. Sure, it has something to do with taste, yeah? But if they were going for flavour, they should have added more. An idea struck the boy’s brain. Hand up. “Professor? Does it help keep the dough intact? Like…water?” Just a guess. It doesn’t make much sense to the boy, but based on his deductions, that just might be the answer. “As for adding the flour little by little…um…because it’s easier to spread the ingredient evenly while mixing the dough?” He wasn’t sure, but according to his observation while mixing the stuff, that seemed to make sense. Quote: Originally Posted by PhoenixStar Oh, so an older Slytherin girl agreed with her? Cool. Hiiiii snakey. She figured it was a safe bet to take that everybody loved sugar. If they didn't then they were just weird. More questions? Errr... she wasn't really sure why certain things were added. Taking a moment to think before answering she raised her hand. "I think the salt is added for flavor and to balance out the sugar maybe. If you added too much flour too soon then you will have a powdery mess and nobody likes cleaning." Seemed legit to her. How much time had passed again? Her dough wasn't looking promising. The first year looked around to see how the other's looked, and well it didn't look good for her. Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Poor Candice. Adi could not imagine being unable to eat anything with sugar. Speaking of which...he was craving a Sugar Quill. Sugar is added to bake the dough and give it a brown colour. Got it!So the purpose of salt? Hmmm... "Is it just for flavour, Professor?'' he asked his hand in the air. "And as for the flour, I think we add it slowly because it's easier to mix that way and also when mixing it would not become lumpy.'' Meaning there won't be little lumps among the dough.'' Quote: Originally Posted by hermionesclone Text Cut: Drama llama? THINGS WERE GOING DOWN. Despite how much he liked drama and looking into it, something told him that this wasn't going to go well. At least not for him. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked between Hadley, Lex and Lottie. What even? Couldn't they go ahead with the system they had? It seemed to work pretty well for them. She was going to get the smallest pieces. It was PERFECT. But nooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooo! And then Lottie was speaking and............. SAY WHAT?! No. No no. HE had to give up HIS pizza?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN. Dejected, he opened his mouth to argue this point and say that there was NO WAY he was going to give up the dough he had been working SO hard on but Lottie was continuing. And there was a wink too. That seemed to add points in the column that talked about the pros of giving his dough up to Lex, right alongside the points that this was LEX and that he was sure she would hex him into another century if she walked out of here on an empty stomach. "Fine. FINE, you can have my dough." And cue a smile for the Gryffindor Prefect. "You owe me big time, Cambridge." Wink. He pushed the bowl towards her. Oh there was a question too. About salt and flour. Salt question came first soooo, Grayson raised his hand to answer that one. "Dough without salt tastes bland. If you have a pizza crust that doesn't have salt in it, you can instantly tell that something's not right." Uh huh. "And besides, doesn't it help keep the dough not so sticky?" Because the last thing HE wanted was for a sticky dough. "I heard something about a water to flour ratio." That was all. He didn't understand it too much sooooooo he wasn't going to say anything else on that. Quote: Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo SPOILER!!: Lottie and Hadley Alexa continued nibbling away at the chocolate bar she'd nicked a little earlier. Her interest in most other things waning. How much longer would this class be before she could ask a house elf to bake her a pizza? Or have Lottie make her one, because she would right? Lex wasn't naive enough to think Lottie would up and volunteer her own pizza and Grayson who was admittedly very good people might have had grand plans for his own dough. Her brow rose as Lottie made an attempt at securing the boy's dough but that was about all the reaction she gave before taking another bite out of her chocolate. Next time, could they learn about something like telephones? Or ...or...anything. Anything was better than being in a kitchen where you were meant to get things done efficiently for yourself. Grayson's lack of immediate response turned her attention back to the Professor who was asking about salt and flour. .... ...... This was possibly worse than History of Magic and she never thought it'd come to that. Was it possible to be so clueless in a subject that had nothing to do with History? She didn't know OKAY???? Quote: Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104 More questions. Marigold looked at her dough again, urging it to RISE FASTER because she was actually getting hungry. Ahem. "Salt is for the savory aspect because otherwise it would taste sweet." Probbbbbably not true but what she always thought. "And if you add all the flour at once, it wouldn't be mixed in and would make it all floury and icky." Experience, yo. Quote: Originally Posted by Anna Banana Okay, so sugar wasn't used to make the pizza TASTE better, which made little to no sense to Sophie. Oh, well. Sugar was still good, no matter what. Also, whoever this Candice girl was was allergic to sugar? How BAD can your luck be?! Sophie was glad that wasn't her. Salt? Hmm... Sophie raised her hand. "Because salt makes bland food taste better, and there's ingredients in pizza that might be bland if we don't add salt," she said. And, oh--there was another question, too. "Do we only add a little at a time, so we can test it and make sure we don't add too much?" She had no idea what would happen if they added too much. "Does too much flour cause you to have too much crust on your pizza? Because the crust part is gross unless it's stuffed with cheese." Quote: Originally Posted by Chiara Lucy thought:"Salt? .." Then she raised her wand and she said:" The Salt mixes better the water with the oil! And if we add a little flour at a time the dough is softer! " Quote: Originally Posted by lazykitty Well, why does anyone add salt to anything? "The salt adds a little bit of flavor, makes the dough taste less like cardboard." And there was nothing worse than having a pizza crust that tasted like cardboard. Unless the whole pizza tasted like that, of course. As for why they added the flour slowly....... "If you add too much flour to the dough, it'll become all dry and crumbley. Adding it slowly is a way of preventing that." And the Gryffindor with the oil and water answer was getting a 'what the....?' look from her. "Don't you spread the oil on top of the crust once you roll it out? So, salt wouldn't really make the impossible happen, right?" The impossible being oil and water mixing, of course. And you could blame the small Gryffindor and Layla's own dislike of stupidity for that question. Quote: Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah Cutty didn't think they were talking about Pizza. These words of Whitty's had the distinct feeling of reciprocity to the younger Slytherin. Cutty's brows furrowed in thought as he turned to the older Hufflepuff boy and did his utmost to hide the excitement for what this could mean. "Will it really taste like chalk?!" And would Bart eat it? This was USEFUL information, Cris. Cutty neeeeded to know. H'mm, actually maybe eyecandy over there (Simon) would eat it. He was from the continent as well. Just like Bart. Holding to the hope of the idea that dough tended, in general, to taste terrible until cooked, Cutty put his hand in the air and made the following, "I'm going to agree that it's to do with the flavour. Salt gives it flavour and allows the dough to be able to taste..." Cuthbert's inappropriate word was not so much ignored as stowed away for a later more opportune time in which to use it and he found a more suitable, if not plain one to use in it's stead whilst addressing his teacher. "...Good with whatever you might put on the pizza." Quote: Originally Posted by Deezerz Beverly glanced down at her dough. It seemed to be doing okay. Oh, who was she kidding, it was doing wonderfully. She's done this enough times to feel confident in her baking abilities. Glancing back up, she pursed her lips in thought. Salt, in her books was for one purpose and one purpose only. The reason she loves food. "Taste," she said, raising her hand. "Salt is needed for taste or else the crust will taste bland no matter what toppings it has." As for the flour: "I believe flour is added little by little to avoid bubbles in the dough or clumps." Clumpy dough was no good. Imagine biting into that? Quote: Originally Posted by nanyjj Looking down at her dough again, Leah listened to the professor's question. She was determined to answer this one because she missed out on the previous discussion. Groan. Raising up her hand, the second year said out a guess. "I think the little amount of salt balances out the flavor, and... I don't really know anything about the flour." Meh that was lame. There was a little Lioness allergic to sugar? Poor her. A girl named Leah wanting to eat pizza here. Hadley was listening to the student replies as she willed time to move faster ... wasn't there a way to make dough rise faster? She was pretty sure there was a spell for that. Of course it probably had side effects but you know. Uh what was the question she'd asked again? Ah right, about salt. "Salt as you may or may not know is a mineral substance composed of sodium and chloride; now the chemical history behind the substance isn't so important for this class, at least," other classed they took it might be, but she wasn't interested in it. "Salt, like sugar, can be omitted from the dough recipe yet it often is utilized as its not much. The main role of salt is for flavor, as many of you said, though it also plays a role in the dough's elasticity and texture. It ultimately creates a stronger dough that feels less sticky so it is extremely helpful in the stretching of the dough when forming the crust." "Just as sugar is food for the yeast, salt regulates the consumption rate, creating a more consistent fermentation. It allows for the gluten to become more fully hydrated and prevents the dough from over fermenting quickly." Yes, this probably seemed unimportant and boring, but it was quite the contrary, especially considering how many were interested in actually EATING decent pizza. "If the dough ferments too much or too quickly, then there will be less sugar left over to caramelize the dough when baking, thus lacking that golden brown crust we all love. So in essence, salt is critical to the end result of a tasty crust." "A crust without salt will seem bland and takes away from the overall experience of the toppings. Not to mention that one of salts principles is that it holds water. Holding water is critical to keeping a moist and fresh dough. Without salt, the bread becomes dry and stale within a few hours of baking; effects that cannot be slowed or reversed." Glancing around at their dough, she nodded in approval. "It seems, we're just about there for the next part - the rolling of the dough." She paused, waiting... "There's two options for this; if you like thinner crusts, then you should use the rolling pin to roll out your dough onto the round pizza stone. However, if you prefer a thicker crust, then kneading it with your hands is best. Yes, if you're daring, you may try tossing it into the air. But if you drop it on the floor, then we're not trying yours..." That was a joke. Maybe. "The ovens are preheating now to 425, while we knead our dough. Once your dough is kneaded or hand-tossed into a round circle, prick it with a fork in various locations a few times throughout the dough. This process will help to oxidize the dough and keep it fresh. Drizzle your dough with olive oil and garlic salt. Why do we do that?" __________________ ___________________You should take your little finger and just point it in the mirror. ________________________________________Baby, maybe you're the problem ✯