Sometimes, people take short cuts when they cook. When it comes to flakier pie crusts, moister cakes, and chewier cookies, there are rules that must be followed. Baking is a science that requires precision, and doesn't allow for creativity. Setting a timer, weighing flour, and using room-temperature eggs matter in the end result of what you are baking. Even if you get confused as soon as you pick up measuring spoons, below are useful helps on the baking process. Hopefully, this will help you feel more comfortable in the kitchen.
A
bunch of flours-A well-stocked baking aisle can
have an overwhelming number of flours ranging from whole-wheat to pastry to
corn to almond and back to all-purpose. Flour is ground wheat berries, which is
what comes right off the stalk. Whole-wheat flour is the whole-wheat berry,
whereas white flours are made from just the inside of the berry called the
endosperm. The two proteins in flour, gliadin and glutenin, are what make
gluten when made wet. Gluten is a protein.
It’s what forms structures inside
of bread to trap CO2 released from your leaveners, and manipulating this will
give you airier or denser end products. Bread
flour is so named because it has higher protein levels giving you
more lift, structure, and air pockets in your bread. Cake flour is softer,
lower-protein flour and gives your delicate baked goods a tender morsel. All-purpose flour, as the
name suggests, is somewhere in the middle and very versatile. Self-rising flour has
baking powder and salt already mixed in.
It’s a favorite of Southern
bakers in particular because it makes biscuits and dumplings a quicker process.
Like tomatoes, not all wheat is the same. Different wheats will make different
flours, and different brands will have different properties. King Arthur and
Gold Medal all-purpose flours will be different. The secret to a light sponge
is to actually sift your flour three times. The higher you lift the flour above
the bowl, the more you’ll aerate it. Always use a large metal spoon to fold dry
ingredients into wet. If you use a wooden spoon, the mixture will lose all its
air.
Baking
powder versus baking soda- Baking works because of a
series of chemical reactions. It’s some of the most delicious science out
there. It also means that you need the right chemicals to make the right things
happen at the right time. Phys.org helps
explain the difference between two
leavening agents, baking powder and baking soda, to keep your muffins light and
airy and help your cookies puff up. Baking
soda is a single ingredient: sodium bicarbonate. Its main property
is that when it encounters acid, it releases CO2.
It’s the CO2 bubbles that make
the air bubbles in batter that create a fluffy texture. Acids in baking are
things like lemon juice, vinegar, and buttermilk. This is why you can’t just
substitute regular milk in the place of buttermilk. The baking soda won’t
activate, and your cupcakes won’t rise. To make buttermilk, add a tablespoon of
lemon juice or vinegar to every cup of milk the recipe calls for. Baking powder is a
compound ingredient made from baking soda and two or three things that
react with it during cooking.
Because it includes a powdered
acid, any liquid to dissolve the powders will do. To keep the CO2 bubbles from
escaping before the batter starts to set in the oven, the ingredients activate
with heat. Baking powder is usually a double-acting ingredient allowing it to
continuously release gas throughout cooking because it’s a more reliable
leavener.
Egg
whites versus egg yolks-Eggs are a wonder ingredient.
They are a must-have, versatile weapon in a baker’s arsenal; and essential to
many baking processes. Few novice bakers understand eggs. The egg white is made
up almost exclusively of protein and water whereas the yolk is made up of
different proteins, fat, and vitamins.
The contents of an egg white
allow it to whip up into a foam using the protein to build structures. When
baked, these structures set in place and hold their shape. This is how
meringues are made, why soufflés rise, and why egg whites are used in many
recipes to aerate and lighten batter.
An egg yolk, on the other hand,
is a creamy emulsifier that adds richness and thickness. An egg yolk is
used to stabilize one liquid in another — water and oil, for example — to add a
smooth, creamy texture to baked goods. The fat content adds richness and
thickness. Together, they’re a top-notch binding agent holding your baked goods
together.
Knowing
your oven-Ovens are like snowflakes. Every
single one is different, and will do different things to your food at different
times. Two of the most common quirks are that they’ll distribute heat unevenly,
or the temperature gauge will be inaccurate. Hot spots are real, and ovens
sometimes lie. If your cookies come out of the oven with the back-left looking
burnt and the front-right looking doughy, you’re going to have to start
rotating your pan halfway through. Cooking Light describes
a technique for getting to know your oven.
Lay sliced bread out on a cookie
sheet, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for a few minutes, or until your
start seeing color develop. Pull the pan out of the oven and inspect the color
variance. The pieces that get dark are hot spots, and the light pieces show
areas of your oven that will cook more slowly. Take a photo if you have to, but
remember where these spots are for even cooking. Most ovens don’t have accurate
temperature gauges. The only way to know for sure is to put an oven thermometer
in your oven and follow that.
Many baking recipes rely on the
right amount of heat at the right time. If you don’t get a blast of heat at the
beginning, breads, cakes, and cream puffs won’t rise. If the heat is too low
for too long, they could dry out. Follow the visual cues described in the
recipe, and get a thermometer. Rack placement is also important. Depending on
how your oven circulates heat and where the heating element is, there’s a big
difference between baking on the top, middle, or bottom rack.
A batch of muffins on the bottom
rack can end up with burnt bottoms. Biscuits too close to the top can burn on
top while the middle is still raw. Toast on the middle rack could stale instead
of toast. Everything has a proper placement. If a recipe describes rack placement,
follow the directions.
Reading
a recipe-It’s so easy to skip, but the
first and most important thing that every baker knows to do is read the recipe
before starting. This means you read it from beginning to end until you
understand all the steps. This is so you don’t forget to separate your eggs
before you dump them into the mixer. Only to find out that your cake won’t be
fluffy because you have no more egg whites to beat and fold in. Prep before you
start baking.
This way, you won’t be stuck with
rock-solid butter when it should be softened, or frantically filling a bowl
with ice water while your ice cream custard scrambles on the stove.
There’s some skill in reading a recipe correctly, though. What’s the difference
between the following: 1 cup walnuts, chopped or 1 cup chopped walnuts? The
difference ends up being how many walnuts go into your recipe. There’s much
less lost space in a cup of chopped walnuts so you get many more walnuts in the
second option.
If a recipe says “1 cup walnuts,
chopped,” measure out a cup of walnuts and then chop them. If you’re supposed
to have “1 cup chopped walnuts,” start chopping and then measure what you have
until you’ve reached a cup. Why is it important? Well, in this case, you end up
with too many or too few walnuts. Too few are depressing, and while too many
sounds great, it could actually dry out what you’re baking — nuts absorb
moisture from the batter. It’s even worse than too few.
Using
butter and oils-One thing you’ll notice when
reading a recipe is that it will always define the temperature your butter
should be: cold, soft (room temperature), or melted. This is incredibly
important to the success of your baking adventures because each temperature
will produce different results. Cold butter, like in pie crust, is used to
create flaky layers.
As the butter melts in the oven, it keeps the
dough from binding together, which creates flakiness. It’s how you keep
croissants from just being biscuits. Room-temperature butter is almost always
creamed with sugar, which creates little air pockets. These air pockets then
expand with steam and leaveners like baking powder in the oven, making your
cookies fluffy and not little hard disks.
Melted butter combines the
ingredients and provides richness without creating flaky layers or extra air
pockets. Anywhere you see melted butter in a recipe, you can substitute oil; if
you see cold or room temperature, and the final product won’t come out right if
you try to use oil instead of butter. Butter should be at room temperature
before you start to avoid the batter curdling. Speed up the butter softening
process (without melting it to liquid in the microwave) by grating the stick
into a bowl.
“The biggest challenge of being a pastry chef is that, unlike other
types of chefs, you can't throw things together at a farmer's market. When
you're working with baking powder and a formula, you have to be exact. If not,
things can go wrong.”
(Carla Hall) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“11 Things You Need to Do
to Make Your Baked Goods Better” Rochelle
Bilow
·
“6 Things Everyone
Needs to Know About Baking” by Alli Neal
·
“Every baking skill you need to know” by
www.taste.com.au
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