Home Baking Flashcards
(15 cards)
What are the advantages of home baking?
.Better, fresher flavour and aroma
• No artificial preservatives used
• Recipes can be modified to suit special dietary needs, e.g. gluten-free flour can be used for someone with coeliac disease
• Control over ingredients used, e.g. the amount of sugar
• More sustainable than buying commercially produced baked goods, e.g. less packaging, use of organic flour
What are basic ingredients used in home baking?
Flour: Wheat flour is generally used, as it contains gluten.
• Fat: This keeps baked goods fresh for longer.
Food For Thought;
Butter, margarine and vegetable oils are most commonly used.
• Sugar: Caster, granulated (table), brown and icing sugar are used to sweeten or decorate
• Eggs: Eggs bind dry ingredients together and trap air in the mixture.
• Liquid: Milk, buttermilk or water are added to bind dry ingredients. Mony plont-based alternatives to dairy milk work well in baking recipes, e.g. soya milk, oat milk, rice milk.
• Raising agents: These are added to make cakes and bread rise
What are the guidelines for home baking?
LCollect ingredients, check use-by or best-before dates and weigh them accurately.
• Collect all equipment and prepare tins before you start mixing ingredients so that when the mixture is wet there is no delay getting it into the oven.
• Arrange oven shelves, set oven temperature and preheat fully.
• Follow the recipe step by step so that no important stages are left out.
• Take care to not make the mixture too wet. Add liquid little by little, stirring between additions to check for wetness.
• Avoid overhandling ingredients, as it can cause baking to become dry.
• Time cooking accurately - cooking times can vary in different ovens.
• Do not open the oven door unnecessarily. This causes the oven temperature to drop and baking may not rise or may fall if risen before the crust has formed
.remove from tins and cool on a wire tray
How do you test to see if home baking is cooked
Bread: top and bottom should be golden brown. There should be a hallow sound when tapped underneath
Sponges: surface should be golden brown and spring back when pressed lightly with fingers
Cakes: skewers remains dry after being inserted into the centre of the cake
What are raising agents?
Raising agents make cake and bread rise
What are the 4 raising agents and what do they do?
Air: is introduced into the mixture by sieving, rubbing in, creaming or whisking.
• Bread soda is an alkali.
• Baking powder contains both an acid and an alkali.
Yeast: Yeasts are living organisms used in bread making.
What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other cereals. It has an important role in bread and cake making.
What are the methods of baking bread and cakes!
Rubbing in:Fat is rubbed into flour with the
tips of the fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs
• Pastry
.scones
.soda bread
Creaming:Fat and sugar are beaten together
until creamy and pale in colour.
• Fruit cakes
.Cupcakes
All in one:
All ingredients are added at once
and mixed thoroughly by hand
or using an electric mixer or food processor.
.cupcakes
.maderia cakes
Whisking:Eggs and sugar are whisked until thick and creamy
• Sponge cakes
• Meringues
Melting:All ingredients that melt are melted together, e.g. fat, sugar and syrup.
• Gingerbread
•muffins
・ Brownies
What’s in commercial cake mixes?
Commercial cake mixes contain all the dry ingredients needed to make a cake: flour, fat, sugar, a raising agent and other additives, e.g. flavourings and preservatives.
To make the cake, you usually have to add wet ingredients, e.g. egg, milk or water. Follow the instructions on the packet. Most are made using the all-in-one method
What are the advantages and disadvantages of commercial cake mixes?
Advantages: pre weighed, contains all the ingredients (apart from wet foods),not much equipment is needed
Disadvantages: dosent taste as good as fresh ingredients ,high in sugar,fat and salt,the front package makes it look more persentible 
What is a pastry?
Pastry is a mixture of fat, flour and water that is made into a dough, then kneaded, rolled out and shaped.
What are the guidelines for making pastries?
• Keep ingredients and utensils cold. If fat melts during preparation, it will result in a heavy greasy pastry
• Introduce air, e.g. by sieving, rubbing in, rolling and folding, so that pastry will when cooked.
• Do not make the pastry too wet, as it will stick to the table and be impossible to roll.
Add one tablespoon of liquid at a time so you can control the amount.
• Allow pastry to relax in the fridge before rolling. This will harden the fat and relax the gluten, making the pastry easier to roll and less likely to shrink in the oven.
• Roll gently on a lightly floured board and turn trequently while rolling. Do not stretch
or over-roll the pastry, as it will shrink on cooking.
• Cook in a hot (200 °C) oven to burst the starch grains so that they absorb the fat.
What is baking blind?
Baking blind means baking a pastry case without any filling. This is done to:
• seal the pastry, so that it will not absorb the juices of the filling and become soggy
• ensure that the pastry is fully cooked when using filling ingredients with a short cooking time
What is the baking blind technique?
- Prod the base of the pastry case with a fork.
- Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on the base and cover with a layer of rice or baking beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 200 °C.
- Remove the paper and rice or baking beans and cook for a further five minutes
What are types and uses of pastries?
Shortcrust: half the amount of fat to flour. Apple tart and sausage rolls
Rich shortcrust: additional ingredients added e.g. egg and sugar. Mince pies and fruit flans
Flaky and puff: Special rolling and folding techniques are used to introduce air into the pastry.
High in fat. Time-consuming to make. Cream slices and Vol au vents
Choux: a wet pastry made by melting fat in water then adding flour and eggs. Eclairs and profiteroles
Filo: very thin pasrty only made by specialist bakers
