Ingredients Flashcards
Why is wheat the chief grain used in baking?
Wheat contains the proteins - glutenin, and gliadin - which, when hydrated, create gluten which provides the structure for light, good volume bread.
Which other cereal grain is used for bread making?
Rye - rye bread is often heavy and dense, but the flavour is wonderful!
How is barley used as an improver in bread making?
Barley is an improver as it improves diastatic activity. Usually, in the form of malt, which contains the enzyme diastase, barley assists in the break down of starch into simple sugars that yeast uses for fermentation enabling fermentation to proceed quicker. = Barley speeds up fermentation.
What are two uses of the cereal grain Rice in baking?
Rice flour, which is dry and granular, is great for dusting. Bread is proofed on rice flour. Since the flour is dry and does not easily pick up moisture from the dough, it gives a good release from the proofing pan or basket. Rice flour is often used as decorative patterns on breads.
What is the major cereal grain used for thickening?
Starch made from corn (cornstarch) is a main thickening agent.
What are some uses of oats in baked products?
Oats are used in cookies, muffins, date squares, whole grain products, and multigrain products.
What are the 3 varieties of wheat, and the purpose for which each is most suited?
- Triticum Vulgare / Common Wheat
- Triticum Durum - used for pasta
- Triticum Compactum - has a compact ear, and is used for cake and pastry flour
Describe the differences between spring wheat and winter wheat.
The main difference between spring wheat and winter wheat is the season of planting and the season of harvest. The other difference is one of protein of hardness and strength. Spring wheat is exposed to intense sunshine and as a result has a stronger protein and a higher protein content.
Define the terms hard wheat and soft wheat.
Hard wheat has a protein content that is good for bread making and a more granular flour which lends itself to dusting. Soft wheat has a lower protein content and a finer but more irregular particle size which tends to clump. Soft wheat flour is used for cake and pastry flour.
What does the colours red, yellow, and white wheat indicate?
Wheat kernels can be red yellow or white. Traditionally, Red Wheat made strong bakers’ flour and White Wheat made a weaker Cake flour. Today some White Wheat varieties yield Bread flour - with a slightly lower protein content, but higher ash content - which is in demand for artisan bread. Yellow kernels are indicative of Durum Wheat.
Red Wheat - used to make strong bakers flour
White Wheat - used to make weaker flours such as cake and pastry
Yellow Wheat - is durum wheat used to make pasta
What are the 6 criteria by which wheat is graded before milling in Canada?
- Protein Quantity
- Protein Quality
- Moisture Content
- Weight per bushel
- Kernel damage
- Amount of Weeds and Dockage
What are the 3 major parts of the wheat berry, and their approximate percentages?
83% Endosperm
15% Bran
2% Germ
Textbook: 72% Endosperm 14% Bran 3% Germ 11% Shorts
What is the composition of Bran, and how does its protein differ from that of the Endosperm?
Wheat bran is made of indigestible protein (not gluten-forming), the B-Complex vitamins, trace minerals and indigestible cellulose.
What are 3 uses of edible Bran in baking?
Bran is used as part of whole wheat breads, as an ingredient in bran muffins or as a decorative topping on whole grain or multigrain.
What is the composition of the Wheat Germ?
Wheat germ contains oil, protein similar to the protein found in bran, sugars, B-Complex vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin and thiamine.
What is the composition of the Endosperm?
Endosperm contains the gluten-forming type of protein; carbohydrates such as starch and sugars; iron; and many B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin and thiamin.
Describe how Protein is distributed throughout the Endosperm.
Protein forms a network, similar to a mesh, which holds the starch granules. It is found in greater quantities to the outside of the kernel, nearer to the bran layer.
What are the names of the 2 major Proteins found in the EndosperM?
- Glutenin - responsible for elasticity during mixing.
- Gliadin - responsible for extensibility during relaxing.
When mixed with water these proteins form Gluten.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is an insoluble protein which gives bread its structure. Gluten is made of water, glutenin and gliadin. Glutenin gives elasticity or the ability to hold shape, and adds to the chewiness of bagels. Gliadin gives strength and the ability to stretch without tearing, to hold the expanding carbon dioxide gasses.
What is the procedure followed in the roller mill?
Milling is a process designed to produce flour varieties and obtain white flour, germ and bran. The wheat goes through a series of rollers: corrugated rolls called break rolls that crack open the grain. The reduction rollers are smooth and reduce the size of stock or middling to fine flour particles. After each step, the product is sifted until it is finely separated. The process goes like this: The cleaned and conditioned wheat berry is fed into the first break rolls, which crack the kernel grain open. Fine particles that can be sifted go through sieves of various granulations but the coarse stock is fed into the 2nd break rolls. The 2nd break rolls grind the stock finer, and finer particles are removed by the sifters. This continues onto the fifth break roll. Meanwhile, the sifting machines move stock to the reduction rolls, which are smooth. These reduce the size of the particles even finer, and again they are sifted until eventually the miller ends up with flour, germ and bran. After each pass through the rollers, part of the endosperm is fine enough to be sifted off as flour. The first streams come from the interior of the kernels. Later streams consist of the outer portions of the endosperm. By repeated sifting and breaking, different grades of flour can be obtained from one type of wheat.
What is the chemical used for bleaching flour in Canada, and what effect does it have upon the flour?
In Canada most flour is bleached with Benzoyl Peroxide. Benzoyl Peroxide has a maturing effect.
What is the reason for diastasing, and how is diastase normally added by the miller?
Some flours are deficient in enzymes. In Canada it is common for wheat to lack sufficient amaylase A, which begins the process of breaking starch open so that it can eventually produce fermentable sugars that will feed yeast. So the miller adds diastatic enzymes, in the form of malted barley or fungal amylase or amylase, to make sure of adequate sugar for the yeast, which in turn produces carbon dioxide gas for leavening.
Why are nutrients added to flour?
The government studied groups of the population and discovered they were lacking certain essential nutrients in their diets. In an effort to combat this nutritional deficiency, it was decided to add B vitamins and iron to all white flours because most people eat bread or pasta every day and would therefore get these missing nutrients.
What are all the additives (5) which must be added to flour to legally label it enriched? Why is this legislated?
In Canada millers add 1.thiamin, 2.riboflavin, 3.niacin, 4.folic acid and 5.iron. This is because the general population is lacking in these essential nutrients and flour is a convenient way to ensure the population get their nutrients.
