Put milk in a pan (preferably a thin-bottomed one) over very high heat and leave the room. Come back when the smell becomes unpleasant and throw the milk and the pan away.
Seriously, to scorch milk is to burn it. The proteins stick resolutely to the bottom of the pan. The sugar also burns onto the pan and imparts an unpleasant flavor and color to the milk. And it is the devil to clean the residue of scorched milk from a pan.
Many older recipes called for you to scald milk, that is, to bring it nearly to a boil (185°F, 85°C, or more), preferably in a thick-bottomed pan, and stirring actively, to keep a protein skin from forming on the surface and keep the proteins and sugar from sticking to the bottom. Scalding served two purposes, to kill potentially harmful bacteria in the milk, and to destroy enzymes that keep the milk from thickening in recipes. Pasteurization, however, accomplishes both of those goals, and since almost all store-bought milk in Western countries is pasteurized these days, scalding is essentially an unnecessary step.
Shirley Corriher, the noted food scientist, baker, and author of Cookwise (Canada, UK), says she does scald milk before using it in breads, however. She says there is a protein in the whey that marginally reduces the volume of a loaf of bread as it rises and bakes. This is especially noticeable with the use of nonfat dry milk, and it appears that the amount of milk used really matters. That is, in relatively small quantity, the use of unscalded milk seems to have no negative effect on the formation of the loaf. But for her “peace of mind,” Corriher says she continues to scald milk and reconstituted dry milk for her baking projects.
Another reason some recipes continue to call for scalded milk is that they simply want you to heat the milk first, as it will speed the cooking process, help melt butter, dissolve sugar more easily, etc.
To help keep a scalding project from turning into a scorching one, try some of these tips:
Rinse your pan with cold water before adding and heating the milk, keep the heat to medium, and stir attentively.
Heat the milk in a double boiler and stir occasionally.
Heat the milk in a heat-proof glass container in a microwave oven.
Microwave: Pour milk into a microwave-safe container and microwave on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power, stirring every 15 seconds, just until steam begins to rise from the milk. To scald milk for custards or yogurt, heat 1 cup on HIGH (100%) power for 2 to 2 ½ minutes.
Scalded milk is milk that is heated to a temperature of 180 degrees F and then cooled down to about 110 degrees F. Milk boils at 212 degrees F, so scalded milk does not reach boiling point.
Stir constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan, checking to make sure the milk isn't burning. Milk has reached scalding temperature when small bubbles form around the sides of the pan and steam rises from the surface of the milk.
Try not to allow the milk to come to a boil as that will change the flavor of the milk. If you blow it and it does boil, take it off right away and allow it to cool down. I would use it anyway, it's not optimum, but it also won't hurt anything.
Activating yeast in milk follows the same steps as activating it in water. The only change is that you don't need to add sugar. But you'll still stick to the 100–110℉ temperature and the 10- to 15-minute “leave it to do its thing” window.
The whey protein in milk can actually weaken gluten, preventing bread doughs from rising properly, but when you scald the milk, you actually deactivate this protein. Scalding milk also helps ensure a tender crumb.
Milk is an excellent carrier of flavors, and in many recipes, the real purpose of the milk-scalding step is to infuse it with flavor – and therefore bring the flavor into the final dish.
Heat treatment of milk at 80 °C (15 s) completely inactivates both milk enzymes. Under the selected assay conditions, enzyme activities are related with intensity of pink colour of product.
For 2 cups of water, it would take approximately 2 to 2.5 minutes in a microwave oven with at least 1000 watts of power. Do not wait until you see rolling bubbles, as you would when boiling water on the stovetop.
The time it takes to boil water in a microwave will differ depending on what kind of container you're using, how much water you're trying to boil, and how powerful your microwave is. As a very general rule of thumb, heat water for 2-3 minutes to bring 1 cup (235 mL) of water to a boil.
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