CONCEPT 45: LESS PROTEIN MAKES TENDER CAKES, COOKIES

Question 1

Does mixing batter (quick breads) as little as possible work for all mixtures?

Answer 1

No, it doesn’t work for drier mixture such as cookie dough; the solution, in this case, is choice of flour.

Question 2

While a muffin or quick bread can have some chew, a yellow cake should be what?

Answer 2

Really tender.

Question 3

What gives cakes, cookies and breads their structure?

Answer 3

Gluten

Question 4

Bread flours are designed to produce a lot of what?

Answer 4

Gluten

Question 5

Cake flour is made from what?

Answer 5

Soft winter wheat, using the inner core of the endosperm, which is easier to mill into a very finely granulated flour.

Question 6

Does cake flour feel finer than AP flour? What does this mean with regards to fat and liquid?

Answer 6

Yes, this means it can absorb the fat and liquid more easily than AP.

Question 7

What is AP flour made from?

Answer 7

Mix of hard spring wheat and soft winter wheat.

Question 8

In addition to containing less protein, cake flour is traditionally bleached with what? Does this help absorption?

Answer 8

Dry bleaches such as benzoyle peroxide and chlorine gas, so that the starches in the flour can absorb greater amounts of liquid and fat and form thick batters.

Question 9

Why are thicker batters important for tenderness?

Answer 9

Thicker batters hold more air bubbles during baking, producing cakes with a higher volume and finer crumb.

Question 10

Does bleaching affect gluten?

Answer 10

Yes, chlorine weakens gluten, helping to produce a softer, more tender crumb.

Question 11

Does bleached flour leave an aftertaste?

Answer 11

Some people can taste an off-flavor when bleached flour is used, owing to the residual chemicals.

Question 12

What Vermont miller introduced and unbleached cake flour?

Answer 12

King Arthur - the recommended cake flour; don’t buy bleached of you have a choice.

Question 13

Why is it hard to detect bleached flour?

Answer 13

Most cake recipes that rely on cake flour rely on so much butter and sugar that it is very hard to detect any off-flavor from the bleaching–you have to be looking for it.

Question 14

TEST KITCHEN: YELLOW LAYER CAKE MADE WITH CAKE AND BREAD FLOUR. BOTH WERE STRESS TESTED ON RAMEKINS.

Answer 14

One of the easiest taste tests they’d been asked to perform; cake flour was tender while bread flour created an unpleasant, tough, resilient texture. Cake flour buckled under its own weight after 5 minutes, bread flour lasted 30 and still didn’t break.

Question 15

Why does bleaching do to flour?

Answer 15

Bleaching quickly removes the yellow color from flour, makes its proteins less likely to form gluten and helps its starch absorb more liquid.

Question 16

When flour is first milled, what do some consumers find unappealing? What causes this?

Answer 16

The yellowish cast caused by yellow pigments called carotenoids.

Question 17

What happens to the yellow pigments after a few months?

Answer 17

They naturally whiten.

Question 18

Why don’t manufacturers wait to “age” flour?

Answer 18

It is expensive so the process is expedited with chemicals.

Question 19

In flours labeled “bleached,” what chemical has likely been used?

Answer 19

Benzoyl peroxide or chlorine gas.

Question 20

Does bleaching alter the protein and starch structure of the flour?

Answer 20

Yes, making proteins less likely to form tough gluten, and the starch more able to absorb liquid.

Question 21

Are bleaching techniques easily detectible is simple baked goods such as biscuits?

Answer 21

Yes

Question 22

This cake is usually described as “especially weightless, springy and moist.”

Answer 22

Chiffon cake.

Question 23

What is the issue concerning chiffon cake and frosting?

Answer 23

They are too light to stand up to a serious slathering of frosting.

Question 24

Why would you add corn syrup to frosting?

Answer 24

Keep it glossy and smooth; since there isn’t much liquid in a butter frosting, corn syrup helps dissolve the confectioners’ sugar.

Question 25

Box mixes rely on a number of chemicals to create what?

Answer 25

Volume and tenderness.

Question 26

What do emulsifiers like mono- and diglycerides do for box mixes?

Answer 26

Improve the effectiveness of leaveners so you can get a taller, fluffier cake.

Question 27

What does hydrogenated fat accomplish?

Answer 27

Guarantees tenderness because it’s 100% fat while butter is only 80%.

Question 28

Do cake mixes rely on food coloring?

Answer 28

Yes

Question 29

Chiffon and angel food cakes rely on what for their height?

Answer 29

Egg foam

Question 30

Why can butter dry out a cake?

Answer 30

It contains 16 to 18% water that can evaporate in the oven.

Question 31

What did test kitchen add to their yellow cake that improved tenderness but maintained butter flavor?

Answer 31

3 tablespoons of oil to 10 tablespoons of butter; use two fats.

Question 32

What happened when test kitchen replaced buttermilk with regular milk in the yellow cake? What does buttermilk add?

Answer 32

It produced a crumb that was slightly porous and so fine it was almost downy. Buttermilk’s tang also adds another dimension to the cake.

Question 33

Besides sweetness, what is sugar well known for in cakes? Explain.

Answer 33

Increasing tenderness in cakes by attracting and bonding with water, thus preventing the water from hydrating the proteins in the flour. With less liquid available for them, fewer proteins are able to link together, resulting in weaker gluten.

Question 34

Why would you use confectioners’ sugar instead of granulated for frosting?

Answer 34

It dissolves better and keeps frosting smooth.

Question 35

When cocoa powder and a frosting that uses butter are combined, why is it difficult to detect any grittiness?

Answer 35

The cocoa butter crystals in cocoa powder blend with the fat in butter to coat and lubricate particles of cocoa powder, helping to mask grittiness.

Question 36

Do bright yellow yolks have everything to do with a hen’s diet? Explain.

Answer 36

Yes, the bright yellow color come from carotenoids. These substances are found in a wide range of plants that a true free-range hen could find merely by pecking around the farmyard.

Question 37

Is there a contrast in the color of yolks between supermarket and free-range eggs?

Answer 37

Yes, the free-range hen’s are much darker.

Question 38

Do cakes with light and dark yolks taste the same?

Answer 38

Yes

Question 39

The Hollywood stars of the 1920s were among the first to taste Harry Baker’s what?

Answer 39

Chiffon cakes.

Question 40

What is chiffon cake a cross between?

Answer 40

Angel food cakes and pound cake.

Question 41

What are qualities huge, high cakes usually lack?

Answer 41

Tender and moist.

Question 42

Who invented the chiffon cake? Tell the story.

Answer 42

Henry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance salesman turned caterer who had been wholesaling fudge from the kitchen of the apartment that he shared with his aging mother, in 1927. When the cake became a feature attraction at the Brown Derby, then the restaurant of the stars, Baker converted a spare room into his top secret bakery, with 12 tin hotplate ovens, and personally baked 42 cakes a day. The cakes sold for a remarkable 2 dollars each to prestigious hostesses and the MGM and RKO studio commissaries. The recipe had been kept secret for 20 years. Finally, having been evicted from his apartment and fearing memory loss, Baker sold the recipe to General Mills. There ensued considerable testing, but with only a couple minor changes to the technique and new name–“chiffon cake”–the cake appeared before the American public in a 1948 pamphlet called “Betty Crocker Chiffon,” containing 14 recipes and variations in addition to umpteen icings, fillings, serving ideas and helpful hints. It was an instant hit and became one of the most popular cakes of the time.

Question 43

What did test kitchen find with the classic chiffon cake? How did they fix it?

Answer 43

It was too dry and cottony. Using cake flour was the key but the entire recipe simply needed less. An extra egg yolk was added to help make up for the reduction in structure (less gluten). Not all the egg white were whipped either, adding the remaining 2 as is, to keep the structure without causing the cake to spill over the top of the pan.

Question 44

What happens if eggs white aren’t beaten to stiff peaks in a chiffon cake?

Answer 44

Anxiety-inducing instructions that state “DO NOT UNDERBEAT” hold true. If the whites are not very stiff, the cake will not rise properly and the bottom will be heavy, dense, wet and custard like; it’s better to over-beat than under-beat.

Question 45

What can you do if egg whites are over-beaten?

Answer 45

Smudge and smear any stubborn clumps with the flat side of the spatula to break them up without worrying about deflating the beaten whites.

Question 46

All of test kitchens recipes are standardized with what flour?

Answer 46

Gold Medal, the best selling brand in the united states.

Question 47

What is the # two seller of flour brands?

Answer 47

Pillsbury

Question 48

How much protein do Pillsbury and Gold Medal contain?

Answer 48

About 10.5%

Question 49

How much protein does King Arthur contain?

Answer 49

About 11.7%

Question 50

Can King Arthur and Gold Medal be used interchangeably? Explain.

Answer 50

Depends on the recipe. In test of recipes with relatively little gluten development, such as cookies, muffins, and biscuits, both flours produced virtually identical batches. But in bread recipes specifically engineered to use AP flour (not bread flour) to create a tender crumb, such as sandwich bread or challah, the switch mattered. The extra protein in King Arthur produced more gluten when the dough was kneaded, leading to loaves that were gummy and rubbery in comparison to loaves that were made with Gold Medal.

Question 51

How do you switch manipulate King Arthur to make it more like Gold Medal or Pillsbury?

Answer 51

Replacing 1 tablespoon of flour per cup with 1 tablespoon or cornstarch made King Arthur behave like Gold Medal.

Question 52

Cake recipes often call for what temperature eggs? Why?

Answer 52

Room temperature because they incorporate into the batter more readily than cold eggs.

Question 53

Is there a difference between yellow cake made with room temp eggs and cold?

Answer 53

The cold eggs had a slightly thicker batter and took 5 minutes longer to bake. Room temp eggs produced a slightly finer, more even crumb, but the cold egg cake was entirely acceptable; tasters strained to tell the difference–they’re both fine for most basic cake recipes.

Question 54

When can cold eggs cause problems? Explain.

Answer 54

Finicky cakes such as angel food, chiffon, and pound cake, which rely on air incorporated into the beaten eggs as a primary means of leavening. Cold eggs didn’t whip nearly as well as room-temperature eggs and the cakes didn’t rise properly. As a result, these cakes become too dense when made with cold eggs.

Question 55

How would you quickly warm cold eggs?

Answer 55

Put them in warm (not boiling) water for 5 minutes. If already separated, just use a ban marie.

Question 56

Ounce for ounce, what has more chocolate flavor than semisweet or bittersweet (which are 1/3 to 1/2 sugar)?

Answer 56

Unsweetened chocolate.

Question 57

Does vanilla reinforce chocolate flavor?

Answer 57

Yes

Question 58

What does chocolate contain that can ruin brownies? Solutions?

Answer 58

Starch, and using a lot of chocolate can negatively impact brownies. Switching from AP flour to cake flour makes the brownies fine textured, not gritty; baking powder also lightens the texture.

Question 59

How should nuts be added to a brownie mixture? Explain.

Answer 59

Besides being toasted first, they should not be mixed into the batter; they steam and become soft. Instead, sprinkling the nuts on top just before baking keeps them dry and crunchy–toasting makes them even crunchier.

Question 60

Does chocolate flavor suffer if over baked?

Answer 60

Yes

Question 61

What should a toothpick look like for perfectly baked brownies?

Answer 61

Coming out of the brownies with a few moist crumbs still attached.

Question 62

Easy way to remove brownies.

Answer 62

Create a foil sling; the two sheets of aluminum foil will be perpendicular.

Question 63

What is reverse creaming?

Answer 63

Mixing the flour and sugar before adding butter; it creates less aeration.

Question 64

Can replacing some flour with oats halt gluten development?

Answer 64

Yes

Question 65

At its simplest, shortbread contains what ingredients?

Answer 65

Flour, sugar, salt and butter.

Question 66

Traditionally, how is butter mixed with flour in shortbread?

Answer 66

The cold butter is cut into the dry ingredients as if making a pie dough. However, test kitchen found that beating the cold butter into the dry ingredients (reverse creaming) works better.

Question 67

Why use confectioners sugar for a shortbread recipe that doesn’t contain much liquid?

Answer 67

There’s not enough liquid for granulated sugar to fully dissolve in this cookie dough, even in eggs; fine-textured confectioners’ sugar gives it a tender crumb.

Question 68

Why pick oats and/or cornstarch of rice flour to reduce gluten formation?

Answer 68

Oats contain very few of the proteins necessary for gluten development, plus they have a nice flavor; rice flour is acceptable but flavor is sacrificed.

Question 69

Common substitute for cornstarch.

Answer 69

Arrowroot replaces it with a 1:1 ratio.

Question 70

How should you bake shortbread cookies?

Answer 70

Bake high, then low, then off.

Question 71

How was early shortbread baked?

Answer 71

Made by leaving the dough in a still-warm oven heated only by dying embers.

Question 72

Since buttery shortbread expands in the oven, its edges flatten. How is this problem fixed?

Answer 72

Use mini spring form pans or molds.