Flour Mixtures: Quick breads, Cakes & Cookies Flashcards
What are quick breads
Bread leavened quickly by air, steam or chemicals (compared to yeast)
What are the 5 basic ingredients of quick breads?
Flour Liquid Salt Leavening Agent Others (Fat, eggs, sugar)
What does flour provides for quick breads?
Not so much gluten formation because low protein & high water ratio
Structure provided by gelatinization of starch
What does the liquid provides in quick breads?
Provides a dispersion medium allowing to mix ingredients (baking soda in contact with acid)
Hydrates starch into granules
Why do some recipes includes both baking soda and baking powder
The baking powder can provide an extra lift
The baking soda can neutralize the extra acid
What does fat do in quick breads? (3)
Tenderizes (interferes with gluten development)
Improves the volume (stabilizes air bubbles)
Delays starch retrogradation
What is the effect of sugars in quick breads? (2)
Tenderizes and moistens (hygroscopic)
Caramelizes with heat
What do eggs do in quick breads?
Provide structural integrity as they coagulate during baking
Distributes the fat (emulsifier)
What are the 3 flour mixtures possible for quick breads? (3)
Soft dough
Drop & Pour batter
What happens when the quick bread mixture is heated?
Gasses expand Starch gelatinizes Proteins (egg, milk) coagulates (all of which makes the structure set) Outer surface browns (Maillard + caramelization)
What is the muffin method preparation for quick breads?
Dry ingredients are sifted together
Moist ingredients combined together
Stir dry & moist until moistened
What are 4 poor batter products and how do they differ?
Pancakes (muffin preparation method)
Crepes (no chemical leavening agent)
Waffles (more fat than pancakes, beaten egg holds air)
Popovers (a lot of egg, leavened by steam)
What happens when drop batters are over/under-mixed
Over: High gluten formation (form gluten tunnels –> loss of CO2)
Under: leavening agent not mixed nor moistened (lower volume and more crumbly)
What happens when whole wheat flour or bran is added for drop batters?
Denser product due to inhibited gluten formation (bran cuts the gluten)
What are the 3 types of cakes and how do they differ?
Shortened (solid fat + creaming/whipping) = Birthday cake
Unshortened (without fat + beating/folding) = Angel food cake
Chiffon (hybrid: veg oil & separated eggs + beating/folding) = light and airy but richer than unshortened
Place in order of gluten content: cake flour, rye, pastry flour, barley, bread flour, all purpose flour
from low to high Barley Rye Cake Flour Pastry Flour All-Purpose Flour Bread Flour
What are the 6 basic ingredients in cakes?
Cake Flour = low protein and more acidic for greater volume
Sugar (hygroscopic –> moisture + delays gluten)
Fat (traps air and delays gluten)
Eggs (emulsify and strengthen)
Milk (hydrates, provides acid)
Leavening agents (allows control pH = color)
What are some changes to commercial cake mixes compared to homemade? (4)
Antioxidants (retards oxidation)
Emulsifiers = mono-di-glycerides (fat more finely dispersed, retards staling)
Slow dissolving baking powder
What is the main difference between cookies and cakes?
Cookies have a lower water content and higher fat & sugar content
What are the 6 cookie categories?
Dropped (will not spread too much)
Bar (poured in shallow pan
Pressed (viscous enough to be forced out)
Molded (heavy enough to be shaped before cooking)
Rolled (heavier than molded so can cut shapes into)
Icebox (same as rolled)
