Mary Grace M.

Milay

PROF. MERYJOY P. MESA, LPT,MM

Subject Professor

BREAD AND PASTRY PRODUCTION

ACTIVITY 1
SEPTEMBER 12, 2020

History of Baking

The earliest processing of cereal grains probably involved parching or dry roasting of collected grain
seeds. Flavour, texture, and digestibility were later improved by cooking whole or broken grains
with water, forming gruel or porridge. It was a short step to the baking of a layer of viscous gruel on a
hot stone, producing primitive flat bread. More sophisticated versions of flat bread include the
Mexican tortilla, made of processed corn, and the chapati of India, usually made of wheat.

Baking techniques improved with the development of an enclosed baking utensil and then of ovens,
making possible thicker baked cakes or loaves. The phenomenon of fermentation, with the resultant
lightening of the loaf structure and development of appealing flavours, was probably first observed
when doughs or gruels, held for several hours before baking, exhibited spoilage caused by yeasts. Some
of the effects of the microbiologically induced changes were regarded as desirable, and a gradual
acquisition of control over the process led to traditional methods for making leavened bread loaves.
Early baked products were made of mixed seeds with a predominance of barley, but wheat flour,
because of its superior response to fermentation, eventually became the preferred cereal among the
various cultural groups sufficiently advanced in culinary techniques to make leavened bread.

Brewing and baking were closely connected in early civilizations. Fermentation of a thick gruel resulted
in a dough suitable for baking; a thinner mash produced a kind of beer. Both techniques required
knowledge of the “mysteries” of fermentation and a supply of grain. Increasing knowledge and
experience taught the artisans in the baking and brewing trades that barley was best suited to brewing,
while wheat was best for baking.

By 2600 BCE the Egyptians, credited with the first intentional use of leavening, were making bread by
methods similar in principle to those of today. They maintained stocks of sour dough, a crude culture of
desirable fermentation organisms, and used portions of this material to inoculate fresh doughs. With
doughs made by mixing flour, water, salt, and leaven, the Egyptian baking industry eventually developed
more than 50 varieties of bread, varying the shape and using such flavouring materials as poppyseed,
sesame, and camphor. Samples found in tombs are flatter and coarser than modern bread.

The Egyptians developed the first ovens. The earliest known examples are cylindrical vessels made of
baked Nile clay, tapered at the top to give a cone shape and divided inside by a horizontal shelflike
partition. The lower section is the firebox, the upper section is the baking chamber. The pieces of dough
were placed in the baking chamber through a hole provided in the top.

In the first two or three centuries after the founding of Rome, baking remained a domestic skill with few
changes in equipment or processing methods. According to Pliny the Elder, there were no bakers in
Rome until the middle of the 2nd century BCE. As well-to-do families increased, women wishing to avoid
frequent and tedious bread making began to patronize professional bakers, usually freed slaves. Loaves
molded by hand into a spheroidal shape, generally weighing about a pound, were baked in a beehive-
shaped oven fired by wood. Panis artopticius was a variety cooked on a spit, panis testuatis in an
earthen vessel.

Although Roman professional bakers introduced technological improvements, many were of minor
importance, and some were essentially reintroductions of earlier developments. The first mechanical
dough mixer, attributed to Marcus Virgilius Euryasaces, a freed slave of Greek origin, consisted of a large
stone basin in which wooden paddles, powered by a horse or donkey walking in circles, kneaded the
dough mixture of flour, leaven, and water.

Guilds formed by the miller-bakers of Rome became institutionalized. During the 2nd century CE, under
the Flavians, they were organized into a “college” with work rules and regulations prescribed by
government officials. The trade eventually became obligatory and hereditary, and the baker became a
kind of civil servant with limited freedom of action.

During the early Middle Ages, baking technology advances of preceding centuries disappeared, and
bakers reverted to mechanical devices used by the ancient Egyptians and to more backward practices.
But in the later Middle Ages the institution of guilds was revived and expanded. Several years of
apprenticeship were necessary before an applicant was admitted to the guild; often an intermediate
status as journeyman intervened between apprenticeship and full membership (master). The rise of the
bakers’ guilds reflected significant advances in technique. A 13th-century French writer named 20
varieties of bread varying in shape, flavourings, preparation method, and quality of the meal used. Guild
regulations strictly governed size and quality. But outside the cities bread was usually baked in the
home. In medieval England rye was the main ingredient of bread consumed by the poor; it was
frequently diluted with meal made from other cereals or leguminous seeds. Not until about 1865 did the
cost of white bread in England drop below brown bread.

At that time improvements in baking technology began to accelerate rapidly, owing to the higher level
of technology generally. Ingredients of greater purity and improved functional qualities were developed,
along with equipment reducing the need for individual skill and eliminating hand manipulation of bread
doughs. Automation of mixing, transferring, shaping, fermentation, and baking processes began to
replace batch processing with continuous operations. The enrichment of bread and other bakery foods
with vitamins and minerals was a major accomplishment of the mid-20th-century baking industry.\

What is Baking Industry

 Baking industry is the branch of the food-

processing industry that produces various types of bread, rolls and baranki products, therapeutic and die
tary baked goods, and enriched and un-enriched biscuits. The variety of products offered is great. In the 
USSR in 1975, the baking industry produced more than 15 percent of the total gross output and used 8 p
ercent of the total fixed production assets of the food-processing industry. The basic raw material used 
by the baking industry—flour—easily lends itself to transportation, but the finished products do not. Pro
longed storage of most baked goods is impossible because of staling; as a result, production conforms to 
the daily requirements of retail outlets, which vary in quantity and assortment.

What are the different types of Bakery Products. Define each type.

Breads

Bakeries produce a wide variety of breads including rye, Italian and pumpernickel. Breads are one of the
oldest forms of food in the world and are made by baking dough, a flour and water mixture. Other
ingredients such as salt, fat, milk, sugar, baking soda and yeast can be added. Breads come in a variety of
forms, including rolls and loaves. Other common ingredients in bread include nuts, seeds and
vegetables.

Doughnuts
Doughnuts provide a tasty snack and can be eaten for breakfast. Usually sweet and deep fried,
doughnuts come with a hole in the middle or as a solid piece filled with items such as jelly, creams or
custards. Doughnuts can be baked in an oven instead of deep fried. Common doughnut toppings include
powdered sugar, glaze and caramel. The two main types of doughnuts include yeast and cake. Yeast
doughnuts are lighter and fluffier. Cake doughnuts tend to be heavier. The majority of doughnuts have a
round shape.

Bagels

Bagels, popular breakfast items, are usually made of yeast wheat dough and come in the form of a ring.
Bagels have a thick and tough exterior that is crisp and often browned. Common bagel toppings include
poppy and sesame seeds. Most bakeries carry bagels, although bagel shops specialize in bagels only.

Pies

Bakeries sell pies as dessert items. A pie is a baked dish consisting of layers of pastry dough that form a
shell and have sweet or sour fillings. Pies can also be filled with meat and eaten as a dinner, however
such pies are rarely found in bakeries. Some traditional varieties of pies sold in bakeries include apple,
strawberry, blackberry, cherry, cream, custard, key lime and lemon meringue.

Pastries

Pastries refer to baked goods made with ingredients that often include butter, sugar, shortening, flour,
baking powder and eggs. Pastries, higher in fat content than breads, include small desserts and quiches.
Other types include Danish pastry and croissants.

What Are The Different/Essential Baking Ingredients?

Baking Powder
Made from Cream of tartar and starch, baking powder is a leavening agent, which causes your batter to
rise. It has a built-in acidic ingredient, so  you don’t need to add anything else (unlike with baking soda).
Too much baking powder results in a bitter tasting product, while too little results in a tough cake with
little volume.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, and needs to be paired with an acidic ingredient like honey,
chocolate, or yogurt. Like baking powder, it’s a leavening agent. Use too much, and you’ll have a soapy,
coarse cake.

Butter
As a solid fat, butter is better suited for baking than any other fat product. Butter in particular adds
flavour, with a melting point just below body temperature, which is why some cookies and baked goods
tend to “melt in your mouth.” It also helps in leavening and adds moisture.

Cornstarch
This ingredient has multiple purposes depending on the type of dish it’s being used in. Cornstarch is
usually either a thickener or a binder, but can also be an anti-caking agent. It’s great to use in gluten-free
cooking instead of flour to thicken sauces, custards, or cake fillings.

Eggs
Eggs do a lot in baking, but most importantly they’re a leavening agent (adding volume), and are a
binder, meaning they keep the finished product together. You can use the whole egg, for flavour,
binding, thickening, or glazing, or you can use egg whites and egg yolks for separate things. Egg whites
are a drying agent, and add moisture and stability. Egg yolks contribute to texture and flavour.

Flour
Flour holds ingredients together in baking. When flour protein is combined with moisture and heat, it
develops into gluten. Different types of flours have different levels of protein, which are suitable for
various baked goods.

Milk
The protein in milk softens, contributes moisture, and adds colour and flavour to baked goods. It’s a
double-whammy in terms of function, as it gives the dough or batter strength and structure, as well as
adds tenderness, flavour and moisture.

Salt
Salt does a couple different things in baking. For one, it helps preserve the colour and flavour of flour. In
bread, it controls of the fermentation rate of yeast, and strengthens the gluten protein in dough. Though
it seems salt is out of place in sweet recipes, if you skip it, your product will taste very bland, as it also
enhances flavour.

Shortening
Shortening is just 100%, solid fat made from vegetable oils, almost exclusively used in baking. When you
use shortening instead of butter in baking, you’ll get a softer and more tender, though taller and less
flavourful, product.

Sugar
In any given recipe, sugar is performing a number of functions you’re probably not aware of. For one, it
adds texture, like keeping your baked foods soft and moist. It is also yet another leavener, though
working in conjunction with fat, eggs, and liquid ingredients. Sugar sweetens by the sugar caramelizing
in the recipe, and adds that “crunch” to the crusts of cakes and cookies.