I’m back with Tea Week, Take 2! If you weren’t here for the first part of Tea Week, here’s what you missed!

• Types of Tea
• Loose-Leaf v. Bagged Tea
• How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Tea

Smart Food: Cold-Brewed Tea

I think cold-brewing is the easiest way to make tea, because you don’t have to worry about the water temperature or brew time nearly as much as you do with hot tea. Plus, it is perfect for the hot summer months! It was close to 90 degrees last weekend when we were gardening, and I guzzled so much cold tea that day!

Admittedly, Ithaca has been too chilly since Monday for iced tea, and I’ve been leaning more towards hot. But once the temperature gets back above the low 60s, I will definitely be drinking some more cold-brewed tea!

Cold-brewed tea tends to have a lighter, sweeter taste than hot teas, because the cold water doesn’t pull out the tannins. I’ve found that I can really pick out the subtle flavors more from cold-brewed than hot tea, too!

To cold-brew tea, you will need:

• Tea leaves or bags. Use twice as much as you would for hot tea.
• A pitcher.
• Water.

Simply put the water and tea leaves/bags in the pitcher, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Strain out the tea leaves or remove the bags, and enjoy. Couldn’t be simpler, right? You can even use the same leaves/bags for 2-3 pitchers for most teas!

*Edited to Note:  Apparently, I’ve been using the pitcher wrong this whole time!  You actually just put the bags or leaves directly into the pitcher, and the cap will filter the tea for you when you pour yourself a glass!  This is even easier! *

My favorite way to cold-brew tea is to use my infusion pitcher, because I can put the tea leaves in the basket attached to the lid, and don’t have to worry about straining it at the end! I love it so much, I have added it to my shop. For $35, you can get the pitcher, some Blueberry Rooibos tea, and Citrus Mountain Oolong tea. Both are fabulous fruity options, perfect on a hot summer day. I highly recommend this pitcher for its convenience, but you can really use anything!

Smart Fitness

Dan and I finally got out on our bikes earlier this week. I didn’t want to go too far and overexert my IT band, so we kept it to 8.4 miles in about 40 minutes. I don’t know what happened, but I am suddenly much speedier, even going uphill! No complaints here

Smart Life

My graduation present to myself, a stand mixer, is scheduled to arrive today. Yippee! I’m so excited to play in the kitchen with it. What should I make first….

I’m so excited to hear that some of you are now inspired to try loose-leaf tea!

I used to think that I hated black teas and wasn’t a fan of green, until I realized that I was brewing it wrong! Through Maleah from Cha Cha Tea and my own research, I have figured out some tricks that made a HUGE difference, and now I enjoy the taste of a much wider variety of teas.

These instructions and tips should work for all loose-leaf teas, and most bagged teas…but always check the instructions on the packaging first.

General Tea-Brewing Tips

• NEVER squeeze the tea leaves/bag over the mug at the end of brewing. It will release all the tannins, which will give the tea a bitter, stringent taste…yuck!
• Use water of the appropriate temperature. Some teas need to be brewed at a cooler temperature than others…regardless of what you might think, it is possible to burn tea!
• Do not steep the tea for too long. Like squeezing the leaves, this will also pull out the tannins.
• As a general rule, 1 tsp. of tea is appropriate for 8 oz of water. If you want to make your tea stronger, use more tea leaves rather than steeping it for longer.
• Always put the leaves in the tea pot or teabag in the mug before pouring the hot water over it… you need that agitation for the tea to brew properly!
• Always use fresh water for the best-tasting cup of tea.

Brewing Different Types of Tea

• The water used for brewing black and Rooibos teas should be boiling, or 212F.
• Oolong teas should be brewed around 200F. You can either let boiling water cool for a few minutes before steeping the tea, or watch the water as it heats; when there are small bubbles rising from the bottom of the pot to the surface of the water, the water is about 190-200F!
• Green and white teas should be brewed around 180F. Again, you can either let boiling water cool before using it, or use the Chinese hot water method. When there are small bubbles on the top and sides of the pot, the water is about 180F.
• Green tea only needs to be steeped for 1-3 minutes.
• White and Oolong teas should be steeped for 3-4 minutes.
• Black and Rooibos teas should be steeped for 4-5 minutes.

Hope these tips help you in your quest for the perfect cup(s) of tea!

Next up on Tea Week: Strawberry Oolong Pancakes and How to Cold-Brew Tea!

Smart Fitness

Today’s Push-Ups Challenge Tip:

Mix it up! If you’re getting bored with the push-ups routine, switch out some of the exercises for something else. Try doing Triceps Dips instead of Triceps Push-Ups, or Wide-Armed Push-Ups instead of Diamond Push-Ups for some variety.

How is the challenge going for you? I think I’m going to throw a full-body weights session in with my push-ups today… the impending thunderstorm kind o f killed my cycling plans!

Smart Life

Are you going to the Healthy Living Summit in August? Heather and I are speaking on a panel that will be moderated by Anne…and they are looking for more panelists! If you are going to HLS and want to be on the panel with us, you can apply here!

I can’t believe I’m getting married in 9 days, and moving to New York in 10! Needless to say, posts for the next week will be like this one–short and sweet!

Welcome to all the new readers who found me through my guest post on Carrots ‘n Cake today!

For those of you who are new to Savvy Eats, I am a soon-to-be-graduate studying Food Science and Engineering. I write a series called ‘Just Eat It: Brain Food 101,’ where I answer reader questions about the science behind food.

Some of my favorite posts from the series so far are:

Replacing eggs with flax “eggs”

Baking powder v. baking soda

The caffeine in tea

Today, I’m adding one to the series, with…

Frozen v. “Fresh” Produce

Let’s start with a little quiz, shall we? Don’t worry, it is painless. I took an exam on this material today, but I promise I won’t make you write an essay about it like I did! I’ll write the essay for you.

Question: Rank the following in terms of likely nutritional quality and content.

A. Fresh sweet peas from the grocery store

B. Fresh sweet peas from a Farmer’s Market

C. Frozen sweet peas

If you chose B > C > A, you would be right!

Wait, the frozen peas have more nutrients than the ones in the produce section at your grocery store? That’s right, folks! (Unless your grocery store specifically states that it sources produce from local farmers, that is.)

Here’s why:

Respiration is the process by which plants turn nutrients into energy so that they can continue to grow and thrive. Fruits and vegetables continue to respire even after they are harvested, but since they can no longer get their fuel from the plant and soil, they must use what they have inside. Plants need fuel too!

Because of this, fruits and vegetables start to convert their nutrients into energy within hours of harvesting, meaning there are fewer nutrients left when we eat them. Unfortunately, they continue to respire throughout the time it takes to make the journey to your grocery store from around the globe. Yes, producers can take some steps to slow down the respiration process, like shipping the fruits and vegetables in dark, refrigerated containers. However, they will still lose nutrients.

Most frozen vegetables and fruits, on the other hand, are frozen within hours of being harvested. The low temperature nearly halts the respiration process, so very few nutrients are lost once they are frozen. One study shows that frozen peas, for example, have 60% more carotene than ‘fresh’ peas from the grocery store! That is a HUGE difference!

Question: Why do the vegetables at your local Farmer’s Market probably have more nutrients than the ‘fresh’ ones at the grocery store?

You can probably guess the answer by now! The fruits and vegetables at your local Farmer’s Market will have less time between harvest and purchase, so won’t have a chance to lose many nutrients. The sooner you eat freshly picked produce, the better!

And when you bring it home, it is a good idea to refrigerate most produce right away. Refrigeration slows respiration and therefore nutrient loss, though not as effectively as freezing does.

(Side note: There are some exceptions to the ‘refrigerate upon purchase’ rule. Bananas will actually brown more quickly when refrigerated, for example.)

Now granted, some methods for reheating and cooking the frozen fruits and vegetables will cause some of the nutrients to be lost. But that will be another Brain Food 101 post for another time!

Check back tomorrow for the Top 5 Reasons to Buy Local Produce!

Edited to add:  Sources:  On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Harold McGee), Fennema’s Food Chemistry, Fourth Edition (Food Science and Technology)

Announcements:

In case you missed it, my Open Sky Shop has had its Grand Opening. And, the Sagaform products are on sale!

Also, Savvy Eats now has a Facebook page. Become a fan today!

And, the Crofter’s winners are listed at the end of this post!

Brain Food 101: Caffeine in Tea

Mae asked me a great question about caffeinated v. decaf tea the other day.

‘Food Science Girl!! If caffeine from tea leaves dissolves in hot water, is it decaffeinated the second time you use the same leaves?’

Kind of! With each cup brewed with the same leaves, the caffeine content will be lower. So it may take a few cups to get a ‘decaf’ tea. Keep in mind, of course, that no decaf tea or coffee is truly caffeine-free. There is always still a little bit there!

Caffeine is one of the first things to dissolve during steeping. Studies show that it takes 4-5 minutes to remove about 2/3 of the caffeine in tea, approximately 10 minutes to remove more than 90% of the caffeine, and 15 minutes to get rid of virtually all the caffeine.

In my opinion, you will lose a lot of the flavor of the tea if you steep it in hot for 15 minutes before actually making your cup of tea, but I haven’t actually tried it.

Recipes from Around Blog-Land

I tried recipes from two of my favorite blogs this week, and loved them both, so I’m sharing the love with you! Check these out, and make them SOON.

1. Angela’s In a Jiffy Spelt Burgers. So filling, addictive, and filled with great ingredients!

2. Lindsey’s Super Health Nut Chocolate Shake. Tastes like a chocolatey, creamy dessert, but super healthy!

Winners

And finally, the winners of the Crofter’s giveaway are….

1. Kimberly Jahnke
2. Wendy
3. Tiffany

Congrats, everyone! Please send me your mailing info, and we’ll get you your coupon!

What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder? Why do some recipes call for one, some for the other, and some call for both?

Baking soda, or bicarbonate of soda, releases carbon dioxide when it comes into contact with an acidic liquid. The resulting air bubbles help whatever you are baking rise.

Now, baking soda can be a great leavener if you have an acidic ingredient in your recipe, like buttermilk or lemon juice. But if you don’t have enough acid in your dough, your baking soda needs a little help.

[Source]

This is where baking powder comes into play. Baking powder is simply baking soda, with added acid salts. The salts and the baking soda do not react together when dry, but when combined with a liquid, they will create carbon dioxide bubbles are produced to help leaven the dough.

[Source]

So now we have baking powder to leaven no or low acidity recipes, and baking soda to help acidic goods rise. Why do some recipes, then, call for both baking powder and baking soda?  

Sometimes, you want to neutralize the acid in a recipe. The baking soda achieves this, and the baking powder actually achieves the leavening.

Substitutions

What do you do if you don’t have any baking powder? Simple! Substitute with a mixture of two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda.

And if you don’t have any baking soda? Just replace with baking powder, and increase the amount by two or three times. Be warned, however, that this could affect the final taste. You may be better off just running to the store to get a box of baking soda!

Welcome to the last installation of the Just Eat It: Brain Food 101 Wheat Flour series! In case you missed the first four, they are here:

• Quick v. Yeast Breads
• Whole Wheat v. White Flour
• Baking Experiment: All-Purpose versus Pastry Flour
• Baking With Wheat Flour: It’s All About the Protein

And for a special deal on the Chocomize chocolate I gave away last week, keep reading!

NO CAKE FLOUR? NO PROBLEM!

What do you do when a recipe calls for a particular ingredient, but there is none to be found in your kitchen? Do you simply look for another recipe that doesn’t require that ingredient, or cross your fingers that a simple ingredient substitution will do?

Several readers asked me if they could use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. So I did a little research for them.

[Source]

Apparently, cake flour is finer, lower in protein, and higher in starch than all-purpose flour. Oftentimes, cake flour is chlorinated to break down the gluten proteins to make the texture even more tender.

To make your own cake flour, simply mix 1/4 c. cornstarch with 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour. Make sure it is well-mixed. Really, that’s all you need to do! Your resulting mixture will have more starch and less protein than the all-purpose flour you started with.

Remember, cake flour is typically finer than all-purpose, so the final product’s texture may be grainier.

I was going to do an experiment for you and compare baking with this substitution to baking with cake flour, but I couldn’t find cake flour at any stores near me! So, I guess I’ll be using 1/4 c. cornstarch + 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour whenever I need cake flour, too!

CHOCOMIZE DISCOUNT!

Drooling over the chocolate in my Chocomize giveaway, but didn’t win? Enter “savvyeat” at checkout on Chocomize’s website to get 10% off!

First things first, the winner of the Chocomize giveaway is Mel, who said:

I’ve gotta de-lurk for this one for sure! I think the one that you got with the orange slices and gummi bears sounds super interesting and yummy!

Mel, send me your information and we’ll get you your gift certificate!

Today’s post was going to look at the flours you should use for quick breads versus yeast breads.

But after doing a little research, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are many other differences between the two types of bread that should be considered.

Before I dive into that, though, a little reminder about gluten from the first installment of this series:

Gluten is made of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, both of which are found in wheat flour. When water interacts with the proteins, gluten is formed. The gluten gives the dough, and therefore the final product, elasticity and structure.

Okay, back to the quick v. yeast breads!

[Source]

Quick breads don’t need time to rise, and are leavened chemically, rather than by yeast. Baking soda and baking powder are the chemical leaveners that you are probably most familiar with.

To get the tender, soft texture associated with quick breads, formation of gluten is minimized in quick breads by addition of tenderizers such as fat and sugar. These tenderizers break up the gluten network so that the bread stays nice and soft.

[Source]

Yeast breads, on the other hand, are leavened by yeast (shocking, right? ) and do need time to rise. The gluten network needs to be strong in yeast breads so that the bread doesn’t collapse, so less fat and sugar is used in yeast breads than quick loafs.

So really, the difference between quick and yeast breads is less about flour, and more about leaveners and gluten!

That being said, here are my suggestions for what flours you should use/avoid for each type of bread, based on their protein levels.

Quick Breads USE:

• All-purpose
• Self-rising (be careful about the amount of baking soda/baking powder you use, though. There is already some in there!)
• Pastry flour

Quick Breads AVOID:

• Bread flour/ high-protein flour

Yeast Breads USE:

• All-purpose (though you’ll need to add something like vital wheat gluten)
• Bread flour/ high-protein flour

Yeast Breads AVOID:

• Pastry flour
• Self-rising flour

Want to know more about wheat flour? Check out the first three parts of this series!

• Baking with Wheat Flour: It’s All About the Protein
• Baking Experiment: All-Purpose versus Pastry Flour
• Whole Wheat versus White Flour

Welcome to Part 3 of my Just Eat It: Brain Food 101 Wheat Flour series.

Miss the first two segments? Check them out here and here.

There are so many kinds of flour available, it is hard to keep track sometimes. We’ve already looked at all-purpose v. self-rising v. pastry v. bread flours. But what about whole wheat versus white flour? And why is whole wheat flour not the same as wheat flour?

Whole Wheat Flour

As you may have guessed from the name, whole wheat flour is a whole grain. It includes all parts of the wheat grain: the bran, germ, and endosperm. Whole wheat flour is higher in fiber, iron, magnesium, zinc, and many other nutrients than white or wheat flour. Baked goods made with whole wheat flour tend to have a more hearty, earthy flavor, and may be slightly more bitter.

It should also be noted that whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture than white or wheat flour, so you may need to add more water, oil, butter, or milk to your recipe when substituting whole wheat flour for white flour.

Wheat Flour

Wheat flour is not the same as whole wheat flour. While whole wheat is a whole grain, wheat flour doesn’t have the endosperm. So wheat flour is missing a lot of the fiber, vitamins and minerals that whole grains have. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it refers to wheat in its name! Foods made with wheat flour are lighter in flavor.

White Flour

See wheat flour above!

Whole White Wheat Flour

This one really confused me. On the one hand, it has the word ‘whole’ in its name. On the other, it is called a ‘white’ flour. So is it a whole grain or isn’t?

Apparently, despite having the word ‘white’ in its name, whole white wheat flour is actually a whole grain. It is made from white wheat, and has just as much fiber as regular whole wheat flour! Though I haven’t personally tried whole white wheat bread, I’ve read that it is slightly sweeter than whole wheat bread.

Durum Flour

Durum flour is made from a special kind of wheat, durum wheat. It is high in protein and is more yellow than common wheat. It is often used in pasta and artisan breads.

I hope you’ve found this information to be helpful!

Still To Come in the Wheat Flour Series:

• Make your own cake flour?
• Flours to use for quick breads versus yeast breads

Miss the first installment of my Just Eat It: Brain Food 101 Wheat Flour series? No worries, you can find it here!

Today’s experiment compares the use of pastry flour to all-purpose flour for making scones. Orange Coconut & White Chocolate Chip scones, to be exact. Both the pastry and all-purpose flours I used were whole wheat and came from the bulk bins at Whole Foods.

The recipe that inspired these scones came from the cookbook Moosewood Restaurant: New Classics (Moosewood is, conveniently, in Ithaca), and called for pastry flour.

Enough logistics, let’s look at the scones!

With pastry flour:

With all-purpose flour:

Side by side: Pastry flour on the left, all-purpose on the right.

I have decided on a name for my “science behind food” series:

Just Eat It: Brain Food 101 !

Check back later tonight to see the new Just Eat It: Brain Food 101 page, where I will link to all of my Brain Food posts, as well as tell you what topics are coming up!

Baking with Wheat Flour: It’s All About the Proteins

As I start to experiment with baking without a recipe, I find myself a bit overwhelmed with the array of flours available. Self-rising, whole wheat, pastry, all-purpose flours? What is the difference, and when can I (and can’t I) replace one with the other?

As evident from my Glo Bar giveaway, several of you have these same questions.

Because this is such a broad topic, I will be discussing the science behind the different types of flour in several installments throughout the week.

First, let’s talk about flour’s role in baked goods. Gluten is made of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, both of which are found in wheat flour. When water interacts with the proteins, gluten is formed. The gluten gives the dough, and therefore the final product, elasticity and structure.

The key difference between the different types of wheat flours is the protein level. The higher the protein level, the more moisture absorbed by the dry ingredients, which means the less your baked goods “spread.”

To keep from overwhelming you all, I’ll address gluten-free flours in my future gluten-free baking series.

All-Purpose flour:

Ever tried baking a cake or cookies with all-purpose flour from a recipe that got rave reviews, only for your final product to be too crumbly or too spread out?

I have. A few months ago, I found a particular cookie recipe that got great reviews and was meant to produce a puffy, soft cookie. Instead, mine came out flat and crisp. While I prefer my cookies crispy, this really wasn’t what I was hoping to get out of this recipe.

Now I realize that it may have been because of my all-purpose flour. Different brands of all-purpose flour contain different amounts of protein.

There is nothing wrong with any particular brand of all-purpose flour, but if your dough is drier or wetter than you think it should be, you may need to adjust your moisture levels. In this situation, it is more important that the dough match the description provided by the recipe than it is for the wet to dry ingredients ratio to be exactly right.

Self-rising flour:

Self-rising flour includes leaveners such as baking powder, making it easier for bakers to get an even texture in their products. Be careful though, because if the flour is stored too long, the leaveners may lose their strength, and your goodies won’t have the texture you were going for!

Self-rising flour is lower in protein than all-purpose flour, so you may either need to use slightly less liquid in your recipe, or accept that your cookies will spread a bit more!

Pastry flour:

Bread flour, or high-protein flour:

Based on the name, you can probably guess that bread flour, also called high-protein flour has… more protein than all-purpose flour! Because of this, the structure of foods made with this flour have a stronger, stiffer texture. This is why this flour is often used for bagels, as it gives it that tough, chewy texture we all know and love!

Moral of the Story: More protein in your flour = more moisture absorbed by dry ingredients = stronger dough and baked good!

At the risk of this winning the award for “longest post ever,” I’m going to break this post into 2 parts. Check back tomorrow evening to see what happens when I make the same baked good with different types of flour!

Oh, and the pictures in tomorrow’s post will be taken with our brand new Canon Rebel. I told myself I couldn’t open the box until I finished my homework and this blog post… which means I can go open it now. ‘Twas excellent motivation, I must say!

Finally, thank you Jessica and Estela for your help in coming up with the blog series name!

Do you have any other questions about the different types of flours that you’d like to see addressed this week?