Rise up, you don’t knead plastic for baking!
We McSisters love to cook! I especially love baking bread. Since plastic wrap was created for commercial use by Dow Chemical in 1949, baking has involved a lot of plastic. When my awareness of my own use of single-use plastic began, I was dismayed by the amount I was using in my bread baking. My dismay turned into inspiration as I vowed to find out ways to bake bread without single-use plastic.
My first exposure to baking was when I was in elementary school around 1953. My mother tried her hand at baking cinnamon rolls. She had never baked before and did not realize what would happen when the dough rises. I will never forget many trays of rising cinnamon rolls covered with dish towels all over the house. It was an explosion of cinnamon rolls. The house smelled so good. There was no single-use plastic wrap in sight. My mother had not yet caught on to the plastic wrap craze, but she certainly would!
After the excitement of the cinnamon rolls, my mother took up pie baking instead. Every year on my birthday into my adult life, she baked me a lemon meringue pie from scratch, crust and everything. By this time, she had acquired lots of plastic wrap and lovingly wrapped every pie crust dough in it, then put the little package in the refrigerator to chill before rolling it out. Then, of course, threw the plastic wrap in the garbage. Unwittingly, she was one of the earliest contributors to the single-use plastic garbage disaster we find ourselves in today.
To celebrate writing this blog, I baked bread. The house smelled wonderful. The bread proofed beautifully under the parchment paper. I hope you will enjoy many olfactory celebrations of the smell of baking bread in your home, without the use of single-use plastic.
I did some un-scientific research in my own cookbook collection. My oldest cookbook is the 1947 edition of the “Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book”. Their bread baking instructions included no reference to using plastic wrap. “Place in lightly greased bowl; turn over to greased entire surface. Cover with waxed paper, then cloth, to prevent crust”. Throughout the years, I saw the introduction of the use of plastic wrap in my cookbooks. Sadly, my all-time favorite cookbook, “The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book”, contains instructions to use single-use plastic throughout.
From my humble kitchen, with the inspiration of saving our planet, I decided to eliminate single-use plastic in my bread baking. After oiling the bowl and dough, I needed something to cover the bread dough while it was rising or proofing, to prevent a crust. My historical cookbook recommended covering the dough with waxed paper then cloth. I don’t want wax touching my dough and I certainly don’t want plastic. I needed to know alternatives.
What can you do:
There are many options including covering the dough with a plate, old grocery bags, dish towels (not terrycloth), or parchment paper.
I chose to use a sheet of compostable, unbleached, chlorine-free parchment baking paper.https://buyifyoucare.com/products/parchment-baking-paper
Review this blog from King Arthur Baking for more great tips on alternatives to single-use plastic in baking. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2022/02/21/how-can-i-get-single-use-plastic-out-of-my-baking
