Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods SECTION 8.1 BAKESHOP BASICS Most everyone loves a good dessert. A perfectly moist, rich slice of chocolate cake or a warm piece of pie with a light, laky crust are the perfect ending toa ‘meal. But no small amount of time, effort, and precision go into creating such delicious desserts. And it all starts with knowing the basics. How is milk used in baked goods? Is an egg a strengthener, a liquid, a leavening agent, or all three? How many types of flour are there? While many people may know the general ingredients that go into baked goods, not many know exactly how they're used or in what proportions. This section will start you off with the baking basics: ingredients and measurements.Chapter 8 | Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts Study Questions After studying Section 8.1, you should be able to answer the following questions: = What are the main ingredients used in baking? = What are the primary percentages needed for proper baking? = What are the basic types of dough used in baking? Baker's Ingredients Nearly all bakery products are prepared using a common list of ingredients that fall into eight categories: ™ Strengtheners, such as flour and eggs = Fats/shortenings, such as butter and oils = Sweeteners, such as sugars and syrups = Flavorings, such as vanilla and nuts = Chemical, organic, and physical leaveners, such as baking powder, baking soda, yeast, and steam = Thickeners, such as cornstarch, flour, and eggs = Liquids, such as water, milk, cream, eggs, honey, molasses, and butter Additives, such as food coloring In baking, strengtheners provide stability and ensure that the baked item doesn’t collapse once it is removed from the oven. Flour is a main ingredient used in baking. There are six popular types of wheat flour, as described in Table 8.1 on the following page Shortenings/fats make baked goods moist, add flavor, and keep baked items fresh longer. Any fat, such as oil or butter, acts as a shortening in baking. The more thoroughly mixed the fat, the more it will affect the item's overall texture. Fats that are rubbed or rolled into doughs tend to separate the dough into large layers, creating a flaky texture. When the fat is thoroughly creamed together with the other ingredients, the resulting texture of the baked item will be smooth, soft, and more cake-like.Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods Bde estas falls between pasiry ond bread flour. itis good in cookies, biscuits, and general production work. This flour has a loweluten conten’, a very sok, smooth texture, and a pure white color. Use cake flour for cakes ‘and other delicate baked goods. This flour is not as strong as bread flour and not os delicate as coke flour. Use pastry flour for boking cookies, pie pastry, and some sweet yeast doughs, biscuits, and muffins. It feels like cake flour, but has the creamy color of broad Flour. ‘Sweeteners include refined sugars, sugar syrups, molasses, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, and malt syrup (usually used in yeast breads). Sweeteners add flavor and color to baked goods. They also help the shortening blend with other ingredients and make the product soft and tender. When a product containing refined sugars is baked, the heat causes the sugar to turn a light brown color. This process is called caramelization and occurs whenever sugar is used as an ingredient in baked items.Chapter 8 | Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts Leaveners are necessary in baking because they allow the dough or batter to rise, It is important to measure all leavening agents very carefully. Even small changes can produce major defects in baked products. Leaveners fall into three categories: chemical, organic, and physical. Table 8.2 describes each leavener. Oe auteurs This is a very versatile leavener. It is a mixture of baking soda cond on acid with an inactive material, like starch. Because there | is acid in the baking powder, the pastry chef does not need to. tadd any acid to the batter for leavening 0 tke place, Leavening, Sec eyiien Hegel end feet ra eco Introducing air into the batter is another way to leavan a baked litem. The air expands during baking and leavens the product. Pastry chefs use two methods to introduce cir into batter: ‘creaming and foaming. In the creaming method, beat the fat ‘and sugar together. Use the creaming method mos! offen in cake nd zockle mating. In the forming method, best 295s, with of without sugar. Use whole ogg foams in sponge cokes, cd £99 white foams in angel food cakes, meringues, and souiflés, | ‘Thickeners include gelatin, flour, arrowroot (a powdered starch made from a tropical root), cornstarch, and eggs. Thickeners, combined with the stirring process, determine the consistency of the finished product. For example, cus- tard cooked over direct heat and stirred constantly will result in a sauce; the same custard recipe cooked (without stirring) in a bain-marie, which is a water bath used to cook foods gently by surrounding the pan with simmering water. ‘Then, it will set into a firm custard that can be sliced.a Bey Es Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods Flavorings, such as cocoa, spices, salt, and extracts, affect a baked item’s taste and color. Cocoa is the basis of all chocolate desserts, and therefore absolutely vital to any dessert menu. Spices used most often in baking are cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, ginger, caraway, cardamom, allspice, anise, and poppy seed. Salt plays an important role in baking. It improves the texture of breads and controls how yeast ferments in bread doughs. Extracts are flavorful oils taken from such foods as vanilla, lemon, and almond. A few drops of extract will greatly enhance the flavor of baked goods. Flavorings need to be measured accurately so that the flavor of the spice or extract will not overwhelm the flavor of the finished baked product. Liquids are one of the most important elements used in baking. The liquid used in baking can be water, milk, cream, molasses, honey, or butter. Liquid is used in baking to provide moisture to the product and to allow the gluten to properly develop. Water is the most basic and common form of liquid used in baking. Often, milk products such as whole milk, buttermilk, cream, or dried milk are used. Milk provides the baked product with flavor, nutritional value, and texture. Honey, molasses, eggs, and butter also act as liquids in baking by contributing moisture to the baked item, as well as a unique taste and texture. Did You Know... ? Yeast has been used in baking for a long time. The ancient Egyptians used it to bake bread 4,000 years ago. As a matter of fact, some people think that humans probably used yeast before the development of a written language. Gluten Sensitivity Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains. When kneaded or worked, gluten protein develops into long strands that stretch and hold a structure. This is why kneaded bread can rise without the bubbles of carbon dioxide bursting through the dough. If yeast dough is not kneaded, the carbon dioxide production from yeast is a bit too vigor- ‘ous for the dough to resist it It will be flat. Glurten is responsible for the pleasantly chewy elastic quality of yeast breads. ‘Some individuals have an intestinal sensitivity to gluten. A disorder called “Gluten- sensitive enteropathy’ (GSE), also called "Celiac Disease” or "Celiac Sprue’ is caused by gluten, which approximately 1 to 2 percent of the population suffers from. The interior lining of the small intestine becomes inflamed in the presence of gluten. Pain and diar- thea result. These individuals can avoid gluten in the diet and improve their symptoms. ‘n normal individuals, there is no health benefit to avoiding gluten in the diet. Gluten sensitiv- ity is not the same as a wheat allergy. Although there is some discussion and controversy on the subject, research still supports that gluten is perfectly safe for unaffected individuals. 507Chapter 8 | Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts Baker's Measurements Standardized recipes for bakery products are called formulas, and they are set up a bit differently than those for other food items. Proportions for each ingre- dient are given in the form of percentages. A percentage indicates a part of a whole. For example, a pizza with four pieces is divided into quarters. Each slice is 25 percent of the pizza. Two slices, half the pizza, is 50 percent, and three slices is 75 percent. The whole pizza is 100 percent. In baking, flour always has a proportion of 100 percent, and the percentages of all other ingredients are calculated in relation to the flour. These are known as baker’s percentages. In this way, pastry chefs can convert recipes to give larger or smaller yields by changing ingredient amounts while keeping proportions and percentages the same. The formula for baker's percentages is expressed like this: Weight of ingredient + (Weight of flour x 100 Percent) = Percent of ingredient Table 8.3 shows a formula for soft rolls using baker's percentages. Although the example in Table 8.3 doesn’t include directions, usually the formula also shows the various directions given in a bakeshop recipe, such as mixing, yeast fer- menting time, scaling, and baking temperature. Table 8.3: Formula for Soft Rolls Using Baker’s Percentages 1 Shortening, 2 ounces Totel dough weight: 5 pounds 4 ouncesChapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods Understanding baker's percentages makes it easy to calculate the weight of any ingredient or to convert a formula to a new yield. A yield is how much of some- thing is produced. To calculate the weight of a particular ingredient, change the ingredient per- centage to decimal form by moving the decimal point two places to the left. ‘Then, multiply the weight of the flour by this decimal to get the weight of the ingredient. For example, ifa formula calls for 20 percent sugar and the pastry chef is using 10 pounds of flour, how much sugar does the chef need by weight? Example: 20 percent = 0.20 10 pounds flour x 0.20 = 2 pounds sugar To convert a formula to a new yield, change the total percentage to decimal form by moving the decimal point two places to the left. Then, divide the desired yield by this decimal figure to get the weight of the flour. If necessary, round off this number to the next highest figure. Use the weight of flour and remaining ingredient percentages to calculate the weights of the other ingredi- ents. Check recipes carefully to see whether ingredients are to be scaled before or after sifting. Sifting is very important in baking. Dry ingredients must be sifted before they are mixed into the dough or batter. Sifting adds air to flour, cocoa, and confectioner’s sugar; removes lumps; and filters out any impurities. Sate Baking The principles of food safety and sanitation aoply to the making of baked goods, too. Dough must be handled frequently, whether the pastry chef uses machinery or kneads the dough by hand. The various stages of baking require diferent tools and stations ‘of the kitchen; therefore, cross-contamination should be a concern. Always follow safe foodhandling procedures: + Keep hands away from the face, hair, and body. + Wash hands whenever changing from one task to anather~especially from raw foods 40 ready-to-eat foods. + Keep work areas clean. + Handle and clean all foods properly. Keep waste away from edibles. + Keep pest contro! a high priority; rodents and insects can thrive on a diet of grains and flour, which are essential baking ingredients,Chapter 8 | Foundations of Restaurant Management & Culinary Arts Essential Skills Sifting: Why it Matters: If you have ever tasted soap in your mouth, you can appreciate the need to sift dry ingredients. It used to be necessary to sift flour to remove little twigs or stones or other items that might have infiltrated it, but most flour is free of debris today. Also, most commercial recipes call for weights of flour rather than dry measures (cups) of flour, so sifting is irrelevant in measuring—a given weight of dry flour will weigh the same whether it is sifted or not. If it is sifted, it will have more volume, but not more weight. See Figure 8.1. ‘Why does sifting matter, and what does this have to do with soap? Soap is alkaline, giving it a nasty, bitter taste. Baking soda is also alkaline, and tastes like soap. Baking soda tends to form small clumps, especially in humid conditions. Sifting the dry ingredients together forces the clumps of soda to break apart as they pass through the sieve. ‘This prevents little clumps from remaining whole in the final product. One little clump of soda in a muffin will taste like a mouthful of soap—probably not the flavor you want. In addition, sifting adds air to the flour, making it lighter and fluffier. This is important for many recipes, especially cakes and light baked goods. Figure 8.1: Sifting flour.Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods Summary In this section, you learned the following: There are eight main categories of ingredients used in baking: + Strengtheners provide stability and ensure that the baked item doesn't col- lapse once it is removed from the oven. Flour is a main ingredient used in baking. + Shortening makes baked goods moist, adds flavor, and keeps the baked item fresh longer. Any fat, such as oil or butter, acts as a shortening in baking. + Sweeteners include refined sugars, sugar syrups, molasses, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, and malt syrup (usually used in yeast breads). Sweet- eners add flavor and color to baked goods. They also help the shortening blend with other ingredients, and make the product soft and tender. + Leaveners are necessary in baking because they allow the dough or batter to rise. Leaveners fall into three categories: chemical, organic, and physi- cal. Baking soda and baking powder are the main chemical leaveners; yeasts comprise the organic leaveners; the basic physical leaveners are air and steam. + Thickeners include gelatin, flour, arrowroot (a powdered starch made from a tropical root), cornstarch, and eggs. Thickeners, combined with the stirring process, determine the consistency of the finished product. + Flavorings, such as pic: color. , salt, and extracts, affect a baked item’s taste and + Liquids are one of the most important elements used in baking. The liq- uid used in baking can be water, milk, cream, molasses, honey, or butter. Liquid is used in baking to provide moisture to the product and to allow the gluten to properly develop. + Additives include substances such as food coloring, which may add to the appearance of baked goods. Standardized recipes, or formulas, for bakery products are set up a bit dif- ferently than those for other food items. Proportions for each ingredient are given in the form of percentages. In baking, flour always has a proportion of 100 percent, and the percentages of all other ingredients are given in rela tion to the flour. These are known as baker's percentages. Understanding baker's percentages makes it easy to calculate the weight of any ingredient or to convert a formula to a new yield, which is how much a recipe produces. 511