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Advance Baking 4 (Science Behind)
Advance Baking 4 (Science Behind)
BAKING INGREDIENTS
Prepared by:
Maria Merllan Estrellante Mier
SCIENCE BEHIND INGREDIENTS
The best-baked goods, including light cakes,
tender cookies, fine-textured breads, and high
popovers depend on the precise combination of
flour, liquid, leavening agents, fats, sugars, and
flavors.
Learn a bit about each ingredient and the function
it performs in the finished product.
SCIENCE BEHIND INGREDIENTS
It can be helpful therefore to understand the function
of the different ingredients in baking.
By knowing the different functions of salt in baking for
example, or how different leavening agents produce
different effects upon the product, you can get a
better understanding of what is going on in the oven.
This can be very useful when troubleshooting bakes
which didn’t go quite as you had planned, or when
you need to substitute an ingredient for something
else.
FLOUR PROVIDES THE
RECIPE FOUNDATION
Flour gives the structure for the product. The gluten,
or protein, in flour, combines to form a web that
traps air bubbles and sets. Starch in flour sets as it
heats to add to and support the structure. In cakes,
cookies, and quick breads, we want little gluten
formation, which makes products tough. Fats and
sugars help prevent gluten formation.
In most baked goods, all-purpose flour is a good
choice; it has less gluten than bread flour.
FLOUR PROVIDES THE RECIPE
FOUNDATION
It all starts with the flour. The vast majority of
baking uses wheat flour in its various forms,
and it is this ingredient which gives form and
structure to the baked product. It is the
substance of the cake or loaf, providing texture
and nutritional content.
Wheat flours contain two proteins called gliadin
and glutenin, which when mixed with water join
to form the protein gluten.
FLOUR PROVIDES THE RECIPE
FOUNDATION
Gluten can form into long strands and
even into a large matrix or web, which
can trap the escaping carbon dioxide
gas produced by leavening agents
during baking. The gluten matrix
therefore helps the bread, cake or pastry
to rise, and is eventually set in place
towards the end of baking.
FLOUR PROVIDES THE RECIPE
FOUNDATION
The amount of protein contained in flour and
the extent to which it is allowed to develop are
important factors in the final texture of the
baked good.
A high level of gluten will produce a tougher,
chewy texture that is required for bread,
whereas less gluten development will give the
tender, crumbly texture desired in cakes and
pastry.
FLOUR PROVIDES THE RECIPE
FOUNDATION
Not all wheat is the same, with so-called hard wheats
which are grown in cooler climates such as the
northern US and Canada, having a higher protein
content than soft wheats which are grown in warmer
climates such as the southern US and southern
Europe.
While these wheats can sometimes be used on their
own, millers usually create mixes of several different
types of wheat to create flour with a specific protein
content and thus specific baking characteristics.
BREAD FLOUR
Bread flour contain the highest
levels of protein, about 12%, and
so creates a strong web of gluten
that leads to a soft, fluffy loaf with great volume
and a chewy texture.
Specialist bread flours or those produced from
single varieties of wheat can have different
protein levels however, and produce different
types of bread.
BREAD FLOUR
A very high protein bread flour, such as
Canadian Manitoba Cream, will give the
greatest volume to a loaf, whereas a
lower protein bread flour will
produce bread with a distinctly
European character, such as an
Italian ciabatta or a French pain de
campagne.
CAKE AND PASTRY FLOUR
Unlike bread, cakes and pastries
require only a limited amount of gluten
development. Too much gluten will lead
to your cakes becoming tough and
chewy, more like a sweet bread than a cake.
Cake and pastry flour is therefore mixed to have a much
lower protein content, of around 7.5%. This allows the flour
to hold together and give structure to the cake or pastry,
while still having a tender and crumbly texture that breaks
easily apart.
Gluten development is further hindered in cakes and
pastries by the addition of fats and sugar
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
All-purpose flour sits somewhere in between
bread and cake or pastry flour. It is a mix of
both hard and soft wheats which creates a
flour with about 10.5% protein.
This is enough to form sufficient gluten in bread baking,
but not so much that it will have adverse effects upon the
texture of a cake or pastry. It is something of a
compromise, which will not give quite the same volume as
a high-protein bread flour, but which is a good choice for
those who do not bake quite as often.
It is advisable to use a little less all-purpose flour in a cake
recipe if cake flour is called for.
SELF-RISING FLOUR
Self-rising flour is a variety of all-purpose flour
which has had baking powder and salt added to it.
This allows it to be used directly in cakes