Baking is a method of cooking food that uses prolonged dry heat, lump in the hand, it falls apart as soon
t as soon as the hand is opened. Its
normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The
most common baked item is bread
Bread , a type of food prepared by baking dough of flour and water,
has been an essential part of every mans diet since its invention,
many years back.
BAKED PRODUCTS
CAKES - Cake is a form of sweet dessert that is typically baked. Cake
is often served as a celebratory dish on ceremonial occasions, such
as weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays.
PASTRY is a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats,
including butter) that may be savoury or sweetened.
PIE - a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing
that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or
savoury ingredients.
TART is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an
open top not covered with pastry.
QUICHE is a savoury open tart or flan consisting of pastry crust filled
with eggs, milk or cream, and cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables.
Quiche can be served hot or cold. It is part of French cuisine but is
also popular in other countries, particularly as party food.
COOKIE is a baked or cooked food that is small, flat and sweet. It
usually contains flour, sugar and some type of oil or fat. It may
include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts,
etc.
SCONE is a baked good, usually made of wheat, or oatmeal with
baking powder as a leavening agent and baked on sheet pans
CRACKER a baked food typically made from flour. Flavorings or
seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, and/or cheese, may be added
to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking.
PRETZEL a type of baked bread product made from dough most
commonly shaped into a twisted knot.
RULES IN BAKING
1. Read your recipe. Before you even start adding things to your
mixer, read your recipe all the way through.
2. Do the research. This is especially important for recipes in the
internet. Read a few recipes and their reviews before settling.
3. Avoid distractions. When you are distracted it is easy to over mix
the batter or burn your cookies. Better to be safe than sorry.
4. Check your ingredients. It’s also best if you have the right
ingredients. Avoid substitutions, especially if this is your first time
trying the recipe.
5. Check your utensils. Take all your utensils out before starting that
way you know you have them. Standard measuring cups and spoons
are a must
6. Follow the instructions. Unless you have tried this recipe before
or are an experienced baker, follow the recipe step by step. It is
much easier to experiment/improve a recipe after you have already
tried it.
7. Preheat the oven. Don’t put something in the oven if it isn’t
preheated. Your food will most likely not bake properly. For
instance, the bottoms may burn, but the inside may not be cooked
at all. This is especially important for recipes with high temperatures
and short baking times.
8. Make accurate measurements.
KINDS OF FLOUR
BREAD FLOUR It is ideal for the preparation of bread. When rubbed
between the fingers, it feels slightly coarse or sandy. If squeezed in a
color is creamy white.
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR It milled from blends of both soft and hard
wheat. Its characteristics are intermediate to those of bread flour
and cake flour. This is the most widely used type of flour at present.
It is actually a general purpose flour. Like bread flour, it will not hold
its shape when pressed lightly in the hand but feels only somewhat
granular and less sandy.
CAKE FLOUR Contains 9% PROTEIN. It is made from soft wheat. As
its name implies, it is good for cakes and other bakery products
requiring little gluten. To distinguish cake flour from other flours, it
is very white and fine-almost powdery- and holds its shape when
pressed lightly with the fingers.
PASTRY FLOUR is also a weak flour or low-gluten flour, but slightly
stronger than cake flour. It has the same cream color as bread flour,
not pure white of cake flour. Pastry flour is used for pie dough and
for some cookies, biscuits, and muffins.
RYE FLOUR the most popular flour used for bread making next to
the white or whole gluten flour. Although rye flour contains some
proteins, these protein do not form gluten. Therefore, bread made
with 100% rye flour will be heavy and dense.
MEALS are products that are not as finely ground as flour. These
include corn meal, rice flour, buckwheat flour, soy flour, potato
flour, oat flour, and barley flour. They are used occasionally to add
variety and texture to bake goods. All these products are normally
used in combination with wheat flour because they do not form
gluten.
STARCHES are used primarily to thicken puddings, pie fillings, and
similar products. The most important starches are products
KINDS OF SUGAR
GRANULATED OR TABLE SUGAR is the most familiar and the most
commonly used sugar. It is available indifferent fineness.
CONFECTIONERS’ SUGAR OR POWDERED SUGAR is finely ground to
powder consistency mixed with a small amount of starch (about 3%)
to prevent caking.
BROWN SUGAR is regular cane sugar that has not been completely
refined. It is mostly sucrose (about 85 to 92%), but it also contains
varying amounts of caramel, molasses and other impurities.
KINDS OF FAT
BUTTER it consist of 80% fat, about 15% of water, and about 5% of
milk solids. It is available salted and unsalted. Unsalted butter is
more perishable but it has a fresher, sweeter taste and is thus
preferred in baking. If salted butter is used, the salt in the formula
may have to be reduced.
MARGARINE manufactured from various hydrogenated animal and
vegetable fats plus flavoring, emulsifiers, coloring agents and other
ingredients. It contains 80-85% fats, 10-15% moisture, and about 5%
salt, milk solids, and other components. Thus, it may be considered
an imitation of butter.
OIL is a liquid fats. It is less often used as shortening in baking
because it spread through a batter or dough too thoroughly and
shorten too much. Some breads and few cakes and quick breads use
oil as shortening. Beyond this, the usefulness of oil in the bakeshop
is limited primarily to greasing pans, deep-frying doughnuts, and
serving as a wash for some kinds of rolls.
LARDS is the rendered fat of hogs. Because of its plastic quality, it
was once highly valued for making flaky pie crust. Since the
development of modern shortenings, however, it is not often used
in the bakeshop.
HOW DO YOU PORTION DOUGH
first make it into a ball
second cut it into two or four equal parts, depending on size
third roll each of those parts into a log/cylinder then cut it in half,
thirds, or smaller portion if your comfortable.
BAKING TERMS A-Z
A LA MODE – to serve with ice cream.
BAGEL – a ring shaped lean yeast bread.
BEIGNET – square or strips of éclair paste deep fried and dusted with
powdered sugar.
BRIOCHE – rich yeast dough containing large amount of butter and
eggs.
CHARLOTTE – a cold dessert made of Bavarian cream or other cream
lined with lady fingers or other sponge products
CHOUX PASTRY – a light pastry dough for making profiteroles,
croquembouches, elcairs, crullers, and beignets.
CREAM PUFF – a round shell of pastry filled with whipped cream or
custard.
CREMA DE FRUTA – a variant of sponge cake, that is assembled n
layer of creamed fruits and sponge together.
CREPE – a very thin french pancake, often served rolled with fillings.
CRIMP – to pinch together the edge of doughs in pastry making
using the thumb and forefinger or fork.
CROISSANT – a flaky buttery yeast roll shaped like a crescent and
made from a rolled in dough.
CROQUEMBOUCHE – a pyramid of small puff, each filled with pastry
cream.
CROUTON – cube of bread for garnishing
CUSTARD – a liquid that is thickened or set by coagulation of eggs.
DINNER ROLL – is a rolled bread made from soft yeast dough usually
serves in meals.
DUTCH CAKE – a cake which is baked from biscuit dough and is
heavily dotted with fruits.
ECLAIRS – baked fingers of éclair paste filled with pastry cream.
FRUIT CAKE – a cake containing a variety of dried or candied fruits
such as raisins, dates, nuts, and a small amount of wine and brandy
MARZIPAN – a paste or confection, icing or filling made of meringue
and gelatin
MELBA TOAST – thin dry toast usually served in buttered.
MERINGUE – a thick white foam made of whipped egg whites ang
sugar
MORSEL – bite size
MOUSSE – a soft creamy dessert made light by adding whipped
cream, egg whites or both
PARBOIL – to boil until partially cooked; the cooking is usually
completed by another method
PARCH – to brown by means of dry heat.
PARCHMENT – a special paper that is used to line baking pan.
PRE HEAT – to turn oven to a desired temperature before putting
the food to bake
PROFITEROLES – small baked rounds of éclair paste filled with ice
cream and topped with chocolate sauce.
PUREE- to press through a fine sieve or mill
SOUFFLÉ – a baked dish containing whipped egg white, which make
a dish rise during baking
STALE – loss of freshness in baked goods after long storage.
PIES - MADE UP OF A BAKED OR AN UNBAKED CRUST COUPLED
WITH VARIETY OF FILLINGS COOKED OR UNCOOKED
INGREDIENTS OF PIE CRUST
DOUGH CRUST CRUMB CRUST
FLOUR CRUSHED
FAT CRACKERS
WATER BUTTER
KINDS OF PIE DOUGH
SHORTCRUST PASTRY - This is probably the most versatile type of
pastry as it can be used for savoury and sweet pies, tarts and flans.
There are several different ways of making short crust pastry.
PUFF PASTRY - This is one of the ‘flaked pastries’ characterized by
fat and air being trapped between the layers of the pastry dough to
give a flimsy, light and crisp finish.
TYPE OF PIE CRUST
SINGLE/ONE-CRUST
A one-crust or single-crust pie is one where the only crust is along
the sides and bottom of the pan. The crust usually folds out onto the
rim of the pie plate but doesn't hang over it.
Graham Cracker and Crushed Cookie
Another type of non-rolled single crust is the graham cracker or
crushed cookie crust. Crush the crackers or sandwich cookies, mix
them with melted butter, and press them into a single crust.
Double/Two-Crust/Whole-Crust
Double crusts, also called two-crust and whole-crust, consist of a
bottom crust plus a top. The top must have vents to let out steam.
When creating a double crust, leave the edges of the bottom crust
longer, add the filling and place the top on. After trimming the top
edges, pinch together the crusts to seal.
Decorative Cut-Out
Depending on how much of the pie is covered, cut-outs could qualify
as a type of double crust. Some are simply small cut-outs of dough
that are mini-decorations on top of a single-crust pie, while others
are large enough that they function as a double crust with large
gaps.
Crumb-Top
Crumb-top crusts fall somewhere between a double crust and a
single crust with a crumb topping. The top consists entirely of
crumbs pressed onto the filling. The crumbs cover the filling
completely, like a double crust, but they aren't necessarily from the
same dough as the bottom crust.
Lattice
A lattice-topped crust is a decorative type of double crust. The top
crust consists of strips of dough woven horizontally and vertically to
form a mat like top. The pattern has gaps in between the strips. This
is the type of crust often called for in berry and cherry pies.
COOKED JUICE METHOD – only the juice is cooked.
COOKED FRUIT METHOD – the fruit requires cooking or the is not
enough liquid for the cooked juice method
OLD FASHIONED METHOD – the fruit is mixed with starch, sugar, and
spice and are then placed in the unbaked shell