BPA 102: The Baking Process; Baked Goods, Cookies, Pie Dough

Baking Process
Product put in oven
Gasses form- proteins + starch trap air in strands- if don’t cook it enough whole thing will collapse
Starches gelatinize- slimy consistency, protein coagulate, fats melt
All happen simultaneously
Moisture evaporates, sugars caramelize- get color on bread
Carry over baking- residual heat in pan, continues cooking. If want really moist- un pan items
Staling- all moisture evaporates + gets dry

Baked Goods
Quickbreads- chemical or mechanical leavening- no yeast. Use baking soda, powder, ammonium potassium

Breads w/ yeast require extra time for resting + proofing, fermentation

Baking soda- alkaline, needs just acids + moisture
-since starts leavening/reacting right away, must be baked immediately

Baking powder- mixture soda + acids
Single acting- moisture + acids (like soda)
Double acting- needs moisture + acids, heat triggers second type acid + final rising + reactions occur
Bakers ammonia is used + adds crispiness usually in cookies + crackers

Chemical leavening agents must be tightly covered when stored- absorb a lot of flavor

Mixing quickbreads- will usually have a liquid
Biscuit method- cut butter into flour, end up w/ flat pieces of butter, as roll out have thin layers of dough + fat, makes flaky. Fat is hard and cold
Muffin method- usually use melted fats- oil or melted butter, mix all ingredients, very simple, well method- flour w/ well in middle then add wet ingredients. Fat is melted/liquid
Creaming method- have solid fats- but softened, cream w/ sugars then liquids (eggs in cookies) to have good emulsion, then dry
-cookies, brownies, poundcakes; usually high in fat- contributes to flavor + tenderness

Cookies
Drop cookies- like choc chip w/ scoop + bake
Ice box- roll dough into log or shape, chill, cut in slices, bake
Bar- brownies, lemon bars, baked as whole + cut out
Roll/ Cut outs- sugar dough, roll w/ pin, shapes, gingerbread, sugar cookies
Press/Bagged- piping bag, hand press, piped into shape
Wafer- lace cookies, very thin batter spread out + baked, crispy, ice cream cone

Cookie textures
Crispy- lot of fat, lot of sugar, low liquid, strong flour
Softness- little fat, little amt. sugar, use hygroscopic sugars, corn syrup, weak flours
Chewy- lot of liquid, + fat + hygroscopic sugars, strong flours
Spread- high fat, lot of granulated sugar, high in liquid, weaker flour

Brownies
-chewier + fudgier, bar cookies
-sweeter + denser

Biscuit method
Flaky vs. Tender-
Tenderness- when all fats evenly distributed, when fat shortens gluten strands, when baking fat melts, coats flour
Flakiness- fat as spacer between dough layers

Pastry doughs
Pate Brisee- pie dough
-flaky dough- gets mushy- absorbs liquid
-mealy dough- fat evenly distributed, for bottom of pie
Pate Sucree- used for tartes
Pate Sablee- mix into sand like consistency, extremely rich + crisp dough, for rich filling- chocolate cream filling for tarte, like gram cracker crust

Nice, Flaky crust
-solid, cold fat
-low protein flour, AP or Pastry
-add an acid such as lemon juice, oj, or vinegar- to denature the protein, relax the gluten
-Avoid adding too much water- sprinkle are carefully, ice water
-Don’t over mix
-Reduce gluten development
-Reduce handling/warming of fat
-Chill fat after each stage
-Allow dough to rest to relax gluten