Baking

Baking is a craft that has been practiced for thousands of years to make breads, cakes, and pastries.

Equipment

For baking you will need any number of specific baking pans, such as loaf pans, cake pans, cookie sheets, or cupcake pans. For most recipes, you will want a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer to do some of the “heavy lifting” of mixing ingredients, which will give you better results and also cut down considerably on preparation time. Other tools for baking include wooden spoons, rubber spatulas, rolling pins, and measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients

The basic ingredients used in baking can be combined and mixed in many different ways to produce finished foods that have very little in common, from a cream puff to a loaf of challah bread. Each ingredient plays a different role in determining the characteristics of the finished food. Ingredients used for baking include:

• Flour
• Fats (butter or oil)
• Eggs

• Sugar
• Liquids
• Leaveners

Flour

Flour gives strength and structure to baked goods. Flour has protein in it, and when flour is mixed with water, protein strands (called gluten) form. The gluten is like a scaffolding or web that gives the baked goods their shape.

Types of Flour

Different types of flour have varying amounts of protein and starch. The protein forms gluten when moisture is added. A flour with high protein creates a dough that is tough and elastic, which is good for things like yeasted breads. A flour that has less protein and more starch is better for things like cake, which we want to be soft and tender. You can buy bread flour, which is high in protein, or cake or pastry flours, which are low in protein, but all-purpose flour is the best choice for the recipes in this book. It has a medium protein content and is the best all-around flour.

Eggs

Eggs provide structure and stability to baked goods because as they bake in the batter or dough, they become solid and bind the other ingredients together. When whipped, eggs trap air bubbles that expand when heated, making the finished product light and airy.

Egg Whites

When whipped, egg whites become light and fluffy and puff up in volume. This is because they contain a protein that, when whipped, creates small balloon-like structures that hold air and stick together to create volume. When whipping egg whites, be sure that your bowl is very clean because if there is any fat or egg yolk in the bowl, the whites will not whip.

Sugar

Sugar attracts and bonds with water, and for this reason it makes and keeps baked goods moist. Since it attracts all the water, it also keeps baked goods tender by keeping the water away from the developing gluten—gluten (see opposite page) needs water to form.

Sugar also helps beaten fats, eggs, and egg whites trap air bubbles, which makes baked goods light and fluffy. It browns during cooking or baking, which adds color and flavor. And you know that gooey top that you love on your banana bread and muffins, and that crispy top on your pound cake and brownies? Well, that is sugar too. As the water evaporates from the tops of these treats during baking, the sugar is left behind to do its thing—be melty and gooey, or recrystallize and become crunchy.

Other Sweeteners

• Corn syrup is processed from corn starch into a thick, heavy syrup that does not crystallize.
• Honey is made by bees, who work diligently gathering nectar from flowers, traveling millions of combined miles to produce just 1 gallon of honey. Twice as sweet as sugar, honey has many unique qualities. It is not affected by bacteria, and when stored in a dry environment it can last for thousands of years. But because honey is a liquid, it is not easy to substitute for sugar in a recipe. It is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts moisture), so it causes food to brown more than regular sugar. Doctors recommend that children less than one year old should not eat honey.
• Molasses is thick dark syrup made by boiling the liquid residue from crushed sugar cane. It has a rich, caramelized, slightly bitter and acidic flavor and is an excellent ingredient for baking cookies.

Liquids

Water, milk, and other liquids work to dilute or liquefy and distribute ingredients such as sugar and salt throughout a batter or dough. Liquid acts as a leavener (see below) when it changes to steam and expands.

Fats

Fats tenderize baked goods by coating the strands of gluten, which can otherwise make doughs and batters tough, as they develop, making them shorter and not as tough. Butter is the most common fat used in baking, but some recipes use oil or shortening.

Gluten and Fat

Gluten is a protein that is present in flour. As a dough or batter is mixed, the gluten in the flour is developed, but different baked goods require different amounts of gluten to have the texture and flavor that we want: a good baguette is crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside (lots of gluten), a chocolate chip cookie is chewy and moist with crispy edges (moderate amount of gluten), and a layer cake is moist and tender, not chewy at all (practically no gluten). When you add fat to a dough or batter, it coats the developing strands of gluten and makes them shorter, which makes the finished food more tender.

Leaveners

To leaven is to rise, or to make lighter. In baking, leavening is what makes breads or cakes fluffy, with holes of air inside. There are several ways to leaven in baking: with yeast, with chemicals such as baking powder or baking soda, or with steam from liquid in the recipe.