Introduction to Baking

Baking:

Baking refers to cooking dry heat especially in an oven where the temperature is uniform as hot air circulates to cook a cake, pie, cookie or bread.Basic ingredients: Flour is the basic ingredient in cakes, pastries, breads and scores of other products. It provides the structure or framework of the food. Different types of flour are used for all kinds of baked goods. For cakes, it is baest to use cake flour becuse of its lightness and low protein content while bread flour is the most suitable for breads due to its high protein content. Other flours used in baking include whole wheat flour, pastry flour, etc.

Sugar function not only as sweetener, it is also responsible for making the cake tender because it hinders in the hydration of flour which is necessary in the development of gluten. Sugar also provides the golden brown color of cakes of breads. Most used is therefined white sugar or granulated sugar although some recipes call for brown sugar and even confectioner's sugar.

Fat is also needed for baking because it makes the bread products tender, moist and rich. Butter or margarine are usually preferred because of their flavor and for additional color. Shortening is also often used while oter specify oil. Butter can either be creamed or melted depending on its use.

To make cake rise, leavening agents are added. These produce carbon dioxide largely resonsible for the rising of the cake or its volume.They also make the cake light and porous. Bakingpowder, baking soda, andyeast are examples of leaveners used in baking. The first two are used for cakes and pastries while yeast is used for breads.

To hold the batter or dough together and to blend all the ingredients, liquid is added. Liquid can be in the form of water, milk or juices. Milk refers to whole cow's milksubstitute with canned evaporated milk, dilute it in 1:1 proportion. Powdered full-cream milk can also be used as substitute, simply dissolve it in water before using.

For additional structure, richness and nutrition eggs are added-either whole, just eggyolks or just eggwhites. The important thing is to use eggs of the same size.

Lastly, to make cakes flavorful and more interesting, add nuts, dried fruits, flavoring,spices and even fresh fruits.