Application Guide

especially like Ala Perruche brand cubes made from African sugarcane and
imported from France; they are less refined.
Brown sugar is either light or dark, depending on how much molasses has
been added back into the granulated sugar. Obviously, dark brown sugar will
have a more pronounced molasses flavor. I favor the Dark Muscovado sugar
from African sugarcane distributed under the India Tree brand. Brown sugar
can be used cup for cup in place of granulated sugar.
Turbinado and Demerara sugars, from Mauritius and Guyana, are par-
tially refined with 15 percent of the molasses left in. They are coarsely crys-
tallized (Demerara is slightly larger and is found in the raw sugar packets in
restaurants) and essentially the same as the C & H raw sugar in the super-
market. Many bakers use this instead of regular granulated sugar. You can
use it like light brown sugar.
Maple sugar is crystallized maple syrup. It is a regional favorite in New
England, a great flavor enhancer in both white and whole wheat breads. It
can be substituted cup for cup for other granulated sugars.
Fructose is found in ripe fruits and honey, but made from cornstarch. It has
double the sweetness and is more soluble in water than sucrose, regular gran-
ulated sugar. It has the same sweetening power as granulated sugar in bak-
ing.
Molasses is the brown syrup that is left after refining granulated sugar. Light
molasses, Barbados, is from the first extraction and has a lovely sweet flavor;
dark is from later ones and is much stronger. Blackstrap is from the final ex-
traction; I don’t use it in breads because it is bitter and heavy with ash. If
your bottle just says molasses, it is probably between light and dark.
Sorghum molasses is a regional sweetener, which comes from a grass, found
mainly in the South.
To substitute molasses in a recipe that calls for sugar, use
1
/
2
cup molasses for each cup of granulated sugar called for and reduce the
liquid ingredients by
1
/
3
cup for each cup of sugar called for. (If you were
using molasses in a recipe that called for 2 cups of sugar, you would use 1
cup of molasses and decrease the liquid by
2
/
3
cup.)
Honey is a thick, sweet, semiviscous liquid produced by nectar-gathering
bees. Its flavor is determined by the flowers that the bees gather pollen from.
Generally, light-colored honeys are mild in flavor and darker honeys
stronger. The flavor and aroma of honey are accentuated by the slow heat of
the bread machine, and delightfully permeate the bread.
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