Serves: 5

We hope this glossary will be helpful when you use your Betty Crocker cookbook, purchase bread from a bakery or supermarket or just want to learn more about the wonderful world of bread baking.

Bagel: A doughnut-shaped roll made from flour, water, salt and yeast. It is shaped, raised, boiled and then baked.

Baguette: A long, thin bread with diagonal slashes on the top, a crispy, golden brown outside and a chewy, open-textured interior. In French, the word baguette means "wand."

Baking Stone: Also known as pizza stone or bread stone, a thin piece of porous, unglazed stone or baking tile that distributes heat evenly and absorbs the moisture in the bread dough. The result is crisp, crusty bread. Place the stone in the oven, and then preheat the oven a cold stone in a hot oven may cause the stone to crack. Sprinkle cornmeal on the heated stone, and slide the dough onto the stone.

Batarde or Batard: Medium-long loaf that is wide in the center and tapered at both ends. Also called a French loaf.

Boule: French word for "ball," and that is what it is-a fat, round loaf of bread.

Brioche: Light yeast dough rich with butter and eggs, this French creation is an elegant bread. It can be made in the classic shape, called brioche a tete, which has a fluted bottom and a topknot baked in a golden loaf. Brioche can be a loaf or individual rolls.

Bromated: See potassium bromate

Bulgar wheat: Also known as bulgar, bulgar or burghul. Consists of wheat kernels that have been steamed, dried and crushed. It is available in coarse, medium and fine grinds.

Challah: Rich egg-and-butter yeast dough. It is traditionally braided and is the symbol of the Jewish Sabbath. It should be a little sweet and have a soft texture.

Chop: To cut into coarse or fine irregular pieces, using a knife, chopper, blender or food processor.

Ciabatta: Italian word for "old slipper." An irregular-shaped Italian flatbread that is dusted with flour. The dough is "dimpled" with the fingers before it is baked the indentations are characteristic of this bread.

Citron: A semitropical fruit that looks like an oversized, lumpy lemon. It is very sour and not eaten raw. The thick peel is candied and used in baking.

Corn flour: Finely ground cornmeal can be used with wheat flour in baking. Masa harina is a special corn flour that is used for making tortillas.

Corn syrup: Clear, thick liquid (dark or light are interchangeable in recipes) made from corn sugar mixed with acid.

Cornmeal: Dried corn kernels ground into either fine, medium or coarse texture. Water-ground, also known as stone-ground, is the old-fashioned method of using water power to turn the mill wheels. Some of the hull and germ is retained, so this cornmeal is more nutritious. A newer method of milling is done by huge steel rollers that remove the most of the hull and germ. Water- or stone-ground is usually labeled as such, but steel-ground is seldom indicated on the label.

Couronne: Large, doughnut-shaped loaf of bread. The dough is shaped into a circle, and then the baker pushes an elbow into the center to make a hole. The hole is then enlarged by shaping with the fingers. After the dough has risen, the hole is made square using the handle of a wooden spoon, or a circle is cut in the dough an inch or two from the center hole.

Dough scraper: Square piece of metal that has a sharp edge and a wooden or turned metal handle on the other side. It is used for scraping dough off the work surface during kneading or for cutting dough into pieces. It is also handy for cleaning up the flour and dough that is left on the work area.

Dried Fruit: Fruit that has most of the moisture removed. Dried fruits have a more concentrated sweetness and flavor. Use dried fruits that are still moist. If they are too old and dried, they will absorb moisture from the dough or may stay in hard little pieces in the baked product. Dried-out fruits can be plumped by soaking in liquid or by steaming.

Drizzle: To pour in thin lines from a spoon or liquid measuring cup in an uneven pattern over food.

Dust: Sprinkle lightly with flour, cornmeal, powdered sugar or baking cocoa.

Epi: French loaf of bread that is cut with a pair of small sharp scissors so it resembles a wheat stalk. Cuts are made diagonally about 2 inches apart on the top of the loaf, cutting almost three fourths of the way into the loaf. A cut piece is lifted and turned to the right the next piece is lifted and turned to the left, until all pieces have been turned to alternating sides.

Flour: See Know Your Bread Ingredients, page 8.

Focaccia: Italian flatbread that can be shaped into a large round or rectangle. It is "dimpled" by pressing with the fingers, drizzled or brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Other ingredients and herbs can be added to the top before baking.

Fougasse: A decorative flatbread that originated in Provence, France. After the dough is flattened, slashes are made and spread open to resemble a leaf, tree, sun or any decorative design.

Glaze: To brush, spread or drizzle an ingredient or mixture of ingredients onto hot or cold foods to give a glossy appearance or had finish.

Graham flour: Whole wheat flour that is named after Sylvester Graham, who created the milling process for grinding the complete wheat kernel. It is coarser-ground flour than regular whole wheat.

Grate: To make tiny particles by rubbing a hard-textured food against the small, rough, sharp-edge holes of a grater.

Grease: To rub the inside surface of a bowl or pan with shortening or oil, using a pastry brush, waxed paper or paper towel, to prevent food from sticking to it.

Grissini: Italian breadsticks. They can be long and pencil thin or thicker and knobby.

Julekage: Sweet bread that is full of fruits and flavored with cardamom. A popular Christmas treat in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Kasha: Roasted buckwheat kernels or grouts, often called kasha that are the hulled seeds of the buckwheat plant.

Knead: To work dough on a floured surface into a smooth. Elastic mass, using hands or an electric mixer with dough hooks or a cycle in the bread machine. Kneading develops the gluten in flour, which results in an even texture and smooth, rounded top. It can take up to about 15 minutes by hand.

Kosher salt: A coarse-grain salt with no additives.

Kuchen: German word for "cake," it is a yeast coffee cake that has a fruit or cheese topping.

Lame: Single-edged razor blade that is used to make decorative slashes in the tops of bread dough before baking. A sharp, thin knife or finely serrated knife also works. Sharp scissors can be used but can sometime leave "snip marks" in the slashed line.

Millet: Ancient grass that has a small, round yellow seed that can be ground and used link flour in cakes, breads and puddings.

Oat bran: The outer casing of the oat high in soluble fiber and thought to help reduce high cholesterol.

Oat flour: Made from oat grouts that have been found into powder. It contains no gluten-forming protein, so it must be used with wheat or bread flour for yeast breads.

Oats: Oat grouts are whole oats that have been cleaned, toasted, hulled and cleaned again. Oat grouts become rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats, when they have been steamed and flattened with huge rollers. Quick-cooking rolled oats have been cut into several pieces before being steamed and rolled into thinner flakes so they cook faster. Instant oats have been precooked and dried before rolling, so they cannot be used interchangeably with rolled or quick-cooking rolled oats.

Panettone: Sweet yeast bread studded with fruit and nuts that originated in Milan, Italy. It is baked in a tall, cylindrical shape that reminded Italians of cathedral domes. It traditionally is served at Christmastime but also at other celebrations such as weddings and christenings.

Panini: Italian rolls, available in various shapes.

Pasty brush: Small brush used for applying egg washed, glazes or melted margarine or butter on breads and pastries before or after baking. Software bristles are best for yeast doughs and delicate pastries.

Pastry wheel: Small sharp cutting wheel that is attached to a handle used for marking or cutting pastry or cookie dough.

Peel: 1. To cut off outer covering, using knife or vegetable peeler. Also, to strip off outer covering, using fingers. 2. Flat smooth wooden or metal paddle with a long handle used to slide yeast breads and pizza in and out of ovens. Also known as a baker's peel.

Petits pains: French hard rolls that are crusty on the outside and soft and tender inside.

Potassium bromate: Used to quickly improve the baking performance of flour. Freshly milled flour may not make consistently high-quality baked products, so it must be stored for several months in order that natural oxidation occurs. The oxidation produces whiter flour and results in flour with a finer texture and improved baking quality. Potassium bromate is sometimes added to high protein wheat flours to quickly improve the baking performance and make baked products with better volume and crumb structure. Flours containing potassium bromate are required to be labeled "bromated."

Pumpernickel: Coarse dark bread with a slightly sour taste. It is made with rye and wheat flours and often has molasses and baking cocoa added for flavor and color.

Punch down: To push out the accumulated gases in yeast dough after it has risen, either by gently pushing the fist into it or by gently folding the dough over several times using the hands.

Retardation: The stage when dough is put in a cool place (but not cold enough to kill the yeast), such as a refrigerator to retard or inhibit the yeast. This gives the dough time to develop its flavor.

Rising: To cover yeast dough and place it in a draft-free place so the yeast can ferment. Also called proofing.

Rye Flower: Milled from the whole rye berry usually found as medium-ground in most supermarkets. Although it is high in protein, it is low in the two gluten-forming proteins. Therefore, rye flour is generally mixed with wheat flour for making breads with good texture and volume.

Scald: To heat liquid to just below the boiling point. Tiny bubbles will form at the edge. A thin skin will form on the top of milk.

Score: To cut the surface of food about ¼ inch deep, using a sharp knife or single-edge razor blade, to facilitate cooking or baking or for appearance.

Sea salt: Made from evaporating sea water has a pure and natural taste.

Shred: To cut into long, thin pieces, using round, smooth holes of shredder, knife or food processor.

Slice: To cut into uniform-size flat pieces.

Sponge: A starter that usually is a mix of yeast, some liquid and flour, set aside to rise before the remaining ingredients are added. The sponge can be made in the bread machine pan close the lid and let the sponge work before adding the remaining ingredients.

Starter: A premix for yeast dough. It can be a sourdough starter, a chef or a sponge. It may contain a commercial yeast, or for sourdough or a chef, a wild or naturally fermented yeast. A simple starter is made by mixing flour and water with a pinch of commercial yeast and letting it become a bubbly mixture. Feed the starter and let it stand over a period of days or weeks it will attract airborne yeast in your own kitchen.

Stirato: Long, thin Italian bread. The dough can be "stretched" to make as long a loaf as will fit into your oven.

Stollen: German sweet bread studded with candied fruits and nuts. It can be braided or folded over and is dusted with powdered sugar after baking.

Stone-ground: Process for grinding whole wheat flour that crushes the kernel between two slowly moving stones, so the endosperm and germ are included in the four.

Straight rise: Refers to yeast dough that is made without a starter. The dough is mixed, raises one or two times, is shaped and baked. The breads in our cookbook are straight rise except for the two sourdough loaves.

Table salt: A fine-grained refined salt that is requited by the FDA to be washed free of its trace minerals and magnesium. This salt is mainly used for cooking and as a condiment on the table.

Triticale: Grain that is a cross of wheat with rye. Triticale flour is higher in protein than other non-wheat flours but still needs to be combined with a wheat flour to produce a satisfying texture.

Torpedo: A popular bread shape in both Italy and France, it is a cigar-shaped loaf that is tapered at both ends like a torpedo.

Wheat berry: The whole unprocessed wheat kernel contains the bran, endosperm and germ.

Wheat bran: The rough outer covering of the wheat berry has very little nutritional value except for fiber. It is removed during milling.

Wheat germ: The sprouting segment of the wheat berry that contains the fat. It is removed from all flours except from whole wheat flour. It can be purchased either powdered or whole and can be added to bread dough.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook Cookbook:
Any Way You Want to Slice It
Basic Cycle Features
Betty's Tips for Shaping Dough
Bread Baking Glossary
Five Steps to Great Bread
Flour Power!
Freezing Bread
Helpful Nutrition and Baking Information
Here's How We Test the Recipes
Keeping Bread Fresh
Know Your Bread Ingredients
Let's Make a Great Bread Machine Loaf
Measuring Your Bread Machine Pan Size
Metric Conversion Guide
Mystery Punch
Refrigerating Dough
Some Like It Hot: Reheating Your Bread
The Proof Is in the Dough
Your Bread Machine Baking Questions