Pastries FNF Flashcards
Shortening
A flour mixture to tenderize i
How does shortening tenderize?
By limiting the length of gluten protein structure which can develop
What do you want to have tender product?
Short gluten strands not long
How is gluten developed?
By over kneading
How is shortening accomplished?
Multiple layers of fat to separate starch and gluten particles (limits association between the starch and the protein)
What happens when you bake?
Fat melts into layers and moisture from fat contributes to leavening due to steam
Good crust?
Flask and tender
Key fats for baking animal
Lard (pork) and tallow (Beef)
How are lard and tallow processed?
Take fat from slaughter process and then heat
Rendering fat
Heating fat denatures enzymes and prevents them from oxidizing fat
Lard vs tallow
Lard is softer
Why is lard more fluid?
Pork fat contains more linoleic acid which introduces double bonds creating a softer more fluid texture
Characteristic of linoleic acid
2 double bonds, two kinks or bends, allows lard to be softer
Beef tallow characteristics
Less linoleic acid but the same oleic
Plasticicity of a fat
Fat has spreadability
Vegetable shortening
Purposely used to shorten gluten and give tender product
How is vegetable shortening produced?
Vegetable oil
Plasticity of vegetable shortening
15-35 degrees C
Important about shortening
Not pure fat, incorporates nitrogen gas and emulsifier
Why are emulsifiers useful?
More uniform easier to mix pastry because incorporates sugar better into baking
Oil in water emulsion
Pure oil droplets in water. Vinegar in oil. Water in aqueous environment
Water-in-oil emulsion
Butter/ margerine is water in oil emulsion (water droplets suspended in hydrophobic)
Low-fat spread
Larger water suspended in hydrophobic background
Pastry definition:
Broadly defined as a dessert dish with a high-fat flour component
Pater brisee
All butter
Pate sucree
Butter, sugar, eggs (cookie like)
Pate sablee
Cookie like, shortcrust from shortening
Flakiness
Cutting into the fat and creating crumb sized pieces to it melts into the dough
Key characteristic of a good pastry
Flakiness tender enough to be cut by a fork but not crumbly in texture
What creates a tough product?
Excessive kneading or handling develops gluten so longer gluten strans and tougher
What would make a pastry crumbly?
Fat at far extreme at plasticity (crumbly) oil
What does oil do in pastry?
Spread a lot and evenly coats flour which inhibits association between starch and protein inhibiting gluten development
Good choices for pastry
Butter or shortening
Shortening power
Greater plasticity= greater shortening
Temperature sensitive effect on fat
Ice cold water or cold butter keeping solidity of fat especially in hot environemnts
Ratio of fat to flour
Stiff dough with 1:3 or 1:2 ratio of fat to flour
Over developed crust is baked prior to putting filling
Large blisters
How to avoid blisters
Fork, beans to weigh down pastry
Goal of cake making
Light, moist, tender product
How is tender cake achieved?
Choice of flour
What does cake flour give you?
finer grain and texture is a lot more uniform with cake flour.
Why is cake flour more soft tender?
soft wheat and some tenderness comes from gluten content
What else is cake composed of?
Starch
What happens to the starch in the oven?
Gelatinization (starch, moisture, heat combined)
Addition of liquid to cake
Milk, eggs, flavouring agents (citrus juice), vanilla is not very significant and some of it is also an alcohol so will be cooked off in the baking
Effect of sugar on cake
Sugar addition will influence starch gelatinization and on gluten development
Why does sugar good?
Good part of its effects relates to hydrogen bonding and has an overall tenderizing effect
Sugar and gelatinization
delay gelatinization and will happen at a higher temperature than it would in the absence of sugar
Inhibition of gluten development
Sugar and denaturation of proteins
hydrogen bonding effects of sugar it increases temperature required for denaturation of the proteins which means the presence of the sugar helps us to have a tender product
Shortened cakes
Shortened gluten strands and more tender
What do shortened cakes contain?
Fat such as butter, margarine, or shortening
Most shortened cakes are levened with?
Baking powder or soda
Unshortened cakes
Sometimes called foam cakes have no fat
How are unshortened cakes leavened?
By air which is heated into eggs and by steam that forms during baking
Shortening: creaming
Mixing shortening into cake batter is usually creaming process
Incorporating sugar when creaming
entire mixture increases in volume because you are incorporate lots of air when combining fat and sugar
Effect of egg on cake
Adding the whole egg (overall the whole egg is regarded as having a toughening effect on the texture of cakes)
When does toughening of cake decrease?
gets decreased or is less obvious comes about through the other additional effects of fat and sugar mixed into the product
What will yolk in egg contribute to?
Lipid and an important emulsifier
