Essential Baking Ingredients

Flour
Flour is a powdery product made from milled grains like wheat, rye, barley, corn, and rice.
Among of these, wheat is the principal source of flour which is widely used in the bake shop.
Wheat flour has certain properly when mixed in the water the protein will form elastic strand
which hold gasses when kneaded.
Selecting the correct flour to be use make that quality bake product. The proper way to choose
flour is to understand first the type of wheat, properties of flour, and its market form.
Types of wheat Flour
1. Hard wheat – it has a granular texture that separates when rubbed between fingers. It
has higher protein content that soft wheat and is therefore more suitable for bread
making.
2. Soft wheat – it is soft, talcum-like power that stays lumpy when pass between fingers. It
is suitable for cakes, muffins, and quick breads.
Properties of Flour
1. Color – The darker wheat color of the flour, the stronger it is. Pure white represent weak
flour which means low gluten content.
2. Strength – The capacity of the flour hold air cell which is responsible for the volume of
bake products. High gluten flour is more capable to retain gas.
3. Tolerance – The ability of the flour to undergo kneading and other baking procedures
but still good results prevail. High gluten flour has greater tolerance than the low gluten
flour.
4. Absorption Capacity – The porosity of the flour depending upon its quality and protein.
The more protein is represent the more water to absorb.
5. Texture – The weak flour has soft and smooth texture while strong flour has coarser
granules.
6. Cohesiveness – The ability to hold it shape when press by hand because the granules
stick together. Weak flour tends to retain lumpy.
7. Weight – The strong flour absorb more moisture and its heavier and so the weak flour is
lighter.
Market form of flour
1. Wheat flour – it is obtained from milling the whole wheat kernel including the bran and
germ. Bread mage of wheat flour contains more fiber and heavier than the usual white
bread.
2. Pastry Flour – It is also a weak flour but slightly stronger than cake flour with 7-8% of
protein content. In layman’s term it is called the third class flour and the best for pie
dough, pasties, cookies, and biscuits.
3. Bread flour – It has coarser texture and squeezed into a lump it breaks way
immediately. This called first class flour in the market. Creamy white color and has more
protein content foe about 11-14%.
4. All propose Flour (APF) – It is formulated to e slightly weaker than bread flour. These a
blend of soft and hard wheat created to single flour that contains 9-10% protein. A
universal flour almost use in all baking and cooking purposes.
5. Cake flour – it is weak flour and has a very smooth texture, pure white color and low
protein content. This flour contains 5-7% protein.
 6. Self-rising flour – It is enriched flour to which baking powder and salt had been added
and uniformly blended.
Note: approximate protein content percentage may vary depending upon the brand name of the
flour. Just refer to the label of the packaging of the purchased flour.
LIQUID
In baking, liquid could be in the form of plain water, milk and fruit juices. The most important
function of liquid is to disperse proteins for gluten development. Liquid binds ingredients
altogether.
Uses of Liquid
1. To act as solvent to dry ingredients.
2. To activate yeast.
3. To hydrate flour granules.
4. To help the dough risen.
Kinds of Liquid
1. Water- it is the most important liquid in any baked products. Use distilled water with 5.5 pH
level for quality bread dough.
2. Fruit Juice- it gives richer flavor and aroma in any baked products.
3. Milk – it contributes to the texture, flavor, crust, color and nutritive of any baked products.
Categories of Milk Products
1. Fresh Milk Pure cow’s milk
2. Whole Milk contains milk solid, butter fat and water
3. Skim Milk non fat milk
4. Creams with different fat contents
5. Crème Cheese unripen cheese that is soft and creamy with sour flavor
6. Buttermilk cultured skim milk
7. Evaporated Milk whole milk with 60% water removed
8. Condensed Milk like evaporated milk but has 40% of additional sugar
9. Dried Milk whole milk in powder form
SUGAR
Sucrose is thee chemical name of sugar and it is substance called carbohydrates, either simple
sugar (monosaccharide) or complex sugar (disaccharides). It is derived from sugar cane and
sugar beets.
Purpose of Sugar in Baking
1. To sweetened baked products
2. To provide moist and tender texture of baked products
3. To give crust color in the baked products
4. To prolong the shelf life of the baked product
5. To act as yeast’s food to leaven the baked products.
Market form of Sugar
1. Granulated Sugar. It is the table sugar that commonly use in almost in all types of
sweetening function in the foods.
 2. Caster Sugar. It is ultra-fine sugar granules for fast dilution. Used in making icing
because it can produce uniform texture and can hold higher quantities of fats.
3. Confectioner Sugar. It is known as icing sugar or powdered sugar. A talcum like
powder in which cornstarch is added to prevent lumps or caking.
4. Brown Sugar. It consists of caramel, molasses and other impurities, which gives distinct
flavor. Available in light brown sugar and dark brown sugar. The darker grades in
containing more of the said impurities..
5. Washed Sugar. It is unwhitened crystal, which is one step needed to complete refining
process. This is called segunda in layman’s term.
6. Muscovado. It is raw sugar called demerara or turbinado, which like a brown sugar but
darker in color and has sticky texture because of its molasses content.
Kinds of Syrup
1. Corn Syrup. It is half the sweetness of granulated sugar and makes the brownies and
other baked product chewy. Made from starch of corn and have two types; the light corn
syrup and dark corn syrup.
2. Glucose. It is very important in sugar paste making to make it elastic and pliable for
easy kneading. Derived from corn starch also hence, unable to pour out the syrup easily
is a good quality of glucose.
3. Honey. It gives distinct flavor and it retains moisture of any baked products. It comes
from the nectar of flower gathered by the bees and one and a half times sweeter than
granulated sugar. The darker it becomes, the stronger it is and the more acidic taste.
4. Malt. It act as food for the yeast and used in bread making that enhance the flavor and
improve crust color. A complex sugar from extracted barley and its taste is cross
between honey and molasses.
5. Molasses. It also gives a distinct flavor and color to the baked products but not as sweet
as granulated sugar. Darker is more flavorful and contain less sugar than the lighter
grade. A product of residual concentrated juice from the sugar cane.
6. Maple. It is used as toppings for pancakes and other culinary uses. This is coming from
the sap of maple tree boiled down to syrup state, it is sweeter than granulated sugar;
the lighter the color the better the grade.
Stage in Sugar Cookery
Rules for Sugar Cookery
A. Place 1 part of water and 3 parts of sugar in clean and dry heavy sauce pan.
B. Add 1/8 tsp cream of tartar per 1 cup of sugar preventing from recrystallization.
C. When water is reduced, the syrup boils with uniform tiny bubbles appeared.
D. As it reaches the desired temperature use it immediately, or remove from fire and place
in a water bath to stop further cooking.
Stage Temperature Testing Usage Remarks
SYRUPS
Thin threads
215 °F or 101 between thumb Poaching fruits,
Small Threads
°C and index soaking babas.
Can dip dip
finger
fingers without
More
harm.
219-240 °F or numerous Candied fruit
Coarse Thread
105 °C threads, longer sherbet
and stronger
 Stage Temperature Testing Usage Remarks
COOKED SUGAR
Sugar
detaches in
Butter cream
234- 240 °F or water, making
Soft Ball and Italian
115 °C a glue which
meringue
can be rolled
into small ball
250- 268 °F or Ball is harder, Italtian
Hard Ball Dip in ice water
or 120 °C more resistant. meringue
before testing.
270- 290 °F or Will stick to
Soft Crack Hard Caramels
125 °C teeth
Detaches and
300- 310 °F or Glazing puffs
Hard Crack breaks like
145-146 °C and fruits
glass.
310-338 °F or Light to golden Sauces and
Caramel
164-170 °C brown. pralines

EGGS
Uses of Eggs
Structure Egg Protein coagulates to give structure to all baked products
Emulsifier Egg provides good volume and smoothen texture of any baked products.
Leavener Egg aerates the mixture which is necessary to raise bake products.
Shortening
Egg helps to shorten gluten and add richness to low-fat bake products.
Action
Egg liquid content is approximately 75% and be calculated as liquid in the
Moisture
formulation of baked products.
Egg improve flavor. Makes creamy taste and gives yummy smell of the baked
Flavor
products.
Nutritional
Egg adds protein, calcium and iron contents in the baked products.
Value
Egg yolk gives desirable yellow color to the batter and helps in the formation
Color
of crust on the baked products.
Note: How to determine the freshness of eggs:
When the egg shell feels rough or when it submerge into water, but do not float.

FATS
Fats are intentionally used to lubricate the gluten strand in the dough or batter, preventing the
finish product becomes tough and tenderizes the baked products.
Classification of Fats
1. Shortening- a solid fat that is tasteless and derived from vegetables, it leaves like
plastic coating in the mouth upon eating the baked products.
 2. Butter- a product from fresh milk, consist of 80% of fats, 15% of water in 5% of milk
solids. It has a flavorful taste and melt in the mouth qualities. Available salted and
unsalted.
3. Margarine- a blended or rendered animal fat and vegetable oil plus flavoring emulsifier,
coloring, and other ingredients. It is used in many pastry products.
4. Oils- a substance came from variety of vegetable that could avail in liquid form that can
easily spread in the batter or dough.
5. Lard- a hydrogenated fat from swine and often used in pie making to produce flacky
crust.
FLAVORINGS
These are essential ingredients used to highlight flavors.
1. Salt- This plays a vital role in baking and swerves as flavor enhancer. Serve as yeast
inhibitors and helps to strengthen gluten structure of the bread. Iodized salt is the one to
use because of its fine texture.
2. Spices- these are plants that include seeds, flowers, buds, roots, bark that has flavoring
power. Samples of spices used in pastry shop such as nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, all
spice, mace, and anise. Use in moderation due to its concentrated flavor that may ruin
the taste that affect the quality of the finish products.
3. Vanilla- This is the most widely used flavoring in the bake shop. Derived from vanilla
bean pod and extracted the flavoring essence. There there are extracts products which
is an oil base and water base, also available in powder from called vanillin, use to
camouflage the unpleasant aroma of fresh eggs into the batter mixtures.
4. Extracts- These are flavorful oils and extracted substances like pandan, lemon, orange,
almond, coffee, butter mixtures.
5. Alcohol- These are the different alcohols that are used as flavoring ingredients in
bakery products. These are the wines and liqueurs, Example: dark rum, cherry brandy,
coffee liqueur, apple brandy, mango liqueur, irish cream, orange liqueur and many other.

LEAVEANING AGENTS
The leaving agent helps the baked products raised through the incorporation of carbon dioxide
(CO2). The gas formed called air cell should be trapped to retain its volume. And give structure
of the baked products.
1. BIOLOGICAL LEAVENER
Yeast- It is a microorganism grown in molasses and ammonia in fermentor known as
saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast vitality depends on moisture, heat and air. There are
three kinds of yeast:
A. Active yeast 90% solid + 10% moisture
B. Fresh Yeast 30% solid + 70% moisture
C. Instant Yeast 92% solid + 8% moisture

How to Use Active Dry Yeast

 Ensure that temperature of the water is lukewarm. If the water is too cold. The yeast
becomes inactive. If the water is too hot, the yeast dies.
 Add sugar. Without sugar, the yeast will not feed thus; it will not be able to activate and
release air.
  Dissolve the yeast and the sugar completely in warm water not exceeding 95 °F,
otherwise it will die.
 Wait for the yeast mixture until frothee. When the yeast feeds on the sugar, it becomes
bloated thus, it burps, releasing air. This process is called fermentation.
How to Use Fresh Yeast
 Fresh yeast or compressed yeast is a cake like product that is highly perishable.
 This is cheaper than the other two kinds of yeast but it quite difficult to handle.
 To prolong life span it must be stored in the freezer to last until 6 months and if in the
chiller, it will last for 1 month.
 Thaw it first to avoid thermal shock, from the freezer defrost it to the chiller before putting
it to room temperature before using, otherwise the yeast dies.
 Dissolve fresh yeast about twice of its weight of lukewarm water, lower temperature a
little bit then use the active dry yeast.
How to Use Instant Yeast
 Fast-acting or rapid-rise yeast live fast and give excessive performance but die young, it
cannot stand for longer fermentation or multiple rising.
 Just combine it directly to all die ingredients, no required water temperature.
Note: Instant yeast is used in all bread recipes in this book, since it is easy to handle by
the beginners.
Main Roles of Yeast
1. To lighten leavened the dough thereby, improving palatability.
2. To contribute the aroma and flavor of the bread.

2. CHEMICAL LEAVENER
A. Baking Powder. It contains starch, baking soda and tartaric acid. A leavening agent
wherein too much amount can spoil texture and flavor of baked goodies. Available in
single-acting and double-acting.
B. Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate). It has no leavening power per se. However,
when it is mixed with an acid ingredients, it becomes a leavening agent.

3. AIR
Air cells produced into mixing of batter through:
A. Creaming (butter and sugar)
B. Foaming (egg whites and sugar)

4. STEAM
A. When the moisture of baked products evaporates, it can creates steam which
leavens the product.
B. Oven spring is the rapid rise of yeast product in the oven in the first five minutes due
to the formation and expansion of trapped air pockets caused by extreme heat.
Chocolate and Cocoa
It is derived from a tropical tree called cacao and originated from Southern America. The
ripened fruit pod harvested and removed the seeds from husk that is called beans. These beans
allow fermenting to develop flavor due to chemical changes and then dried thoroughly. The
beans were roasted to further improved true flavor and cracked to remove the shell that brings
out the nibs, and then grind it into paste called cocoa liquor. When cools down, it harden and
molded into pieces called tablea. This harden block will grind again and squeeze out cocoa
butter separated from cocoa solid, this pulverized solid is the cocoa powder. The cocoa butter is
purified, and then added again in cocoa liquor together with sugar and milk solids that is done in
manufacturing chocolate product.
Classifications
1. Cocoa-a powder with many of culinary uses, and has two types:
Alkalized- underwent Dutch-process that is treated with alkali to reduce acidity and
produced milder flavor but darker color.
Natural- more acid content, lighter in color and taste somewhat bitter.
2. Bitter Chocolate-unsweetened chocolate in solid form
3. Sweet Chocolate-bitter chocolate with addition of sugar if the percentage of sugar is
less, it is called dark-sweet
4. Milk Chocolate- sweet chocolate to which milk solids have been added
5. White Chocolate-consists of cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids.
Nuts and Seeds
Seeds like, sesame, caraway, poppy, sunflower and anise seeds are used in some of the
baked goodies, whereas roasted nuts accentuates flavor and texture of the baked products.
These nuts will turn rancid due to high oil content, in this case; it can be store in the freezer to
prolong life span. Here are the samples of commonly used nuts in baking:
DIFFERENT NUTS USED IN BAKING