The Science behind common Baking Ingredients

1. Prepared by:
Maria Merllan Estrellante Mier

2. The best-baked goods, including light cakes,
tender cookies, fine-textured breads, and
high popovers depend on the precise
combination of flour, liquid, leavening agents,
fats, sugars, and flavors.
Learn a bit about each ingredient and the
function it performs in the finished product.

4. It can be helpful therefore to understand the function
of the different ingredients in baking.
By knowing the different functions of salt in baking for
example, or how different leavening agents produce
different effects upon the product, you can get a
better understanding of what is going on in the oven.
This can be very useful when troubleshooting bakes
which didn’t go quite as you had planned, or when
you need to substitute an ingredient for something
else.

5. Flour gives the structure for the product. The gluten,
or protein, in flour, combines to form a web that
traps air bubbles and sets. Starch in flour sets as it
heats to add to and support the structure. In cakes,
cookies, and quick breads, we want little gluten
formation, which makes products tough. Fats and
sugars help prevent gluten formation.
In most baked goods, all-purpose flour is a good
choice; it has less gluten than bread flour.

6. It all starts with the flour. The vast majority of
baking uses wheat flour in its various forms,
and it is this ingredient which gives form and
structure to the baked product. It is the
substance of the cake or loaf, providing texture
and nutritional content.
Wheat flours contain two proteins called gliadin
and glutenin, which when mixed with water join
to form the protein gluten.

7. Gluten can form into long strands and
even into a large matrix or web, which
can trap the escaping carbon dioxide
gas produced by leavening agents
during baking. The gluten matrix
therefore helps the bread, cake or pastry
to rise, and is eventually set in place
towards the end of baking.

8. The amount of protein contained in flour and
the extent to which it is allowed to develop are
important factors in the final texture of the
baked good.
A high level of gluten will produce a tougher,
chewy texture that is required for bread,
whereas less gluten development will give the
tender, crumbly texture desired in cakes and
pastry.

9. Not all wheat is the same, with so-called hard wheats
which are grown in cooler climates such as the
northern US and Canada, having a higher protein
content than soft wheats which are grown in warmer
climates such as the southern US and southern
Europe.
While these wheats can sometimes be used on their
own, millers usually create mixes of several different
types of wheat to create flour with a specific protein
content and thus specific baking characteristics.

10. Bread flour contain the highest
levels of protein, about 12%, and
so creates a strong web of gluten
that leads to a soft, fluffy loaf with great volume
and a chewy texture.
Specialist bread flours or those produced from
single varieties of wheat can have different
protein levels however, and produce different
types of bread.

11. A very high protein bread flour, such as
Canadian Manitoba Cream, will give the
greatest volume to a loaf, whereas a
lower protein bread flour will
produce bread with a distinctly
European character, such as an
Italian ciabatta or a French pain de
campagne.

12. Unlike bread, cakes and pastries
require only a limited amount of gluten
development. Too much gluten will lead
to your cakes becoming tough and
chewy, more like a sweet bread than a cake.
Cake and pastry flour is therefore mixed to have a much
lower protein content, of around 7.5%. This allows the flour
to hold together and give structure to the cake or pastry,
while still having a tender and crumbly texture that breaks
easily apart.
Gluten development is further hindered in cakes and
pastries by the addition of fats and sugar

13. All-purpose flour sits somewhere in between
bread and cake or pastry flour. It is a mix of
both hard and soft wheats which creates a
flour with about 10.5% protein.
This is enough to form sufficient gluten in bread baking,
but not so much that it will have adverse effects upon the
texture of a cake or pastry. It is something of a
compromise, which will not give quite the same volume
as a high-protein bread flour, but which is a good choice
for those who do not bake quite as often.
It is advisable to use a little less all-purpose flour in a
cake recipe if cake flour is called for.

14.  Self-rising flour is a variety of all-purpose flour
which has had baking powder and salt added to it.
 This allows it to be used directly in cakes
without the addition of salt or a leavening agent.
It ensures that the baking powder is distributed evenly
throughout the flour, avoiding the need to sift them together
before adding the other ingredients.
 Baking powder deteriorates over time, so self-rising flour that
is past its use-by date may have lost some of its potency.
 You can make your own self-rising flour by whisking in 1½
teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt into one cup
of all-purpose flour.

15. Unlike bread flour which is
made from only the central part
Of the wheat grain known as the
endosperm, whole wheat flour is
milled from the whole grain,
including in it the bran and germ.
These elements are highly nutritious, containing
large quantities of fiber and minerals such as iron
and zinc. It is therefore used in place of bread flour
wholly or in part to increase the nutritional content
of a loaf.

16. It gives a more complex flavor to bread, less
sweet than white bread flour.
The bran in whole wheat flour cuts through
the gluten network in a dough during mixing,
leading to less volume and a heavier, denser
loaf.
The germ contains higher levels of
unsaturated fat, and therefore reduces the
shelf life of whole wheat flour.

17. • Many alternative flours are also
available for baking, some of which,
such as rye and corn, have long
histories of being used in traditional
recipes.
• Others have seen increased popularity
in recent years with the rise of gluten-
free baking, such as soy, buckwheat,
oat, rice and potato starch flours.

18. While these different flours each have
their own particular properties and
nutritional profiles, what they have in
common is a significantly lower level of
gluten compared to wheat flours.
This makes their chemistry somewhat
different to that of baking with wheat flour, and
they often require the addition of additional
binding or thickening ingredients to help them rise
and give structure to the product.

19. It is best to follow specific instructions
for any recipes that call for these
flours, and note that they can rarely
be substituted for wheat flour without
additional alterations.

20. Fat coats gluten molecules so they can't combine as
easily, contributing to the finished product's
tenderness. In many cakes, fat also contributes to the
fluffiness of the final product. When sugar is creamed
with fat, small pockets of air form from the sharp
edges of the crystals interacting with the fat. These
pockets form a finer grain in the finished product. Fats
also carry flavors and add to a tender mouth-feel.
Commonly used baking fats include butter, shortening,
coconut oil, and (less rarely these days) lard.

21. Fats are used in many forms in baking, and
serve a range of functions. Both animal fats
such as butter and lard and plant-based oils
can be used to differing effect, along with
chemically altered fats such as margarine
and shortening.
Fats generally serve to shorten a dough,
hindering the development of gluten and
producing a more tender crumb.

22. In a pastry dough, butter or some other solid fat is
first rubbed into the flour to coat the individual
granules with a layer of fat. This stops the proteins in
the flour joining together to form gluten.
Butter can also be creamed with sugar to trap air
before being added to a cake or pastry mix. This
gives a lighter and airier texture to the cake.
In puff pastries and laminated doughs, butter serves
to create layers interspersed with dough, which trap
escaping steam when baked and cause it to rise.

23. Fats are also one of the big contributors of flavor and
mouthfeel in baking, and like salt add both their own flavor
and enhance the flavors of the other ingredients. Butter
especially adds a richness of flavor much prized in cakes
and pastries, as well as giving pastries a lovely golden-
brown color.
When added to a bread dough, a small amount of fat can
help the gluten to stretch, which can give the loaf greater
volume. It also helps to soften the crumb, however too
much will negatively affect the gluten development.

24. Sugar adds sweetness, as well as contributing
to the product's browning. Sugar tenderizes a
cake by preventing the gluten from forming.
Sugar also holds moisture in the finished
product. Sugar crystals cutting into solid fats
like butter help form the structure of the
product by making small holes which are filled
with CO2 when the leavening agents react.

25.  Sugar does much more in baking
than just imparting a sweetness of
flavor, although this is of course
an important function of sugar.
 Its various forms, from simple granulated sugar to the more
complex caramel, honey and molasses, each offer a
different type of sweetness to the baked product.
 In yeasted products such as bread or vienoisserie, sugar
also acts as a food for the yeast, kick-starting fermentation
and helping the product to rise. The yeasts eat the sugar
and convert it to carbon dioxide which aerates the dough or
batter.

26. Too much sugar however will slow fermentation, as sugar
draws water out of the yeast cells, preventing them from
functioning. Very sweet doughs will therefore take longer
to rise, and may require a special kind of yeast.
In cakes and pastries, sugar plays an important role in
limiting gluten development, increasing the tenderness of
the cake. This also allows cookies to spread when baked
in the oven.
The water-binding properties of sugar also help baked
products to retain their moisture over longer periods,
keeping them soft and delaying staling.

27.  Sugar also contributes to crust development, affecting its color
and flavor. The crust is the hottest part of the product in the
oven, and it is here that complex chemical reactions occur,
known as Maillard reactions
 These, along with the process of caramelization, produce
many different organic molecules that, when combined,
produce the wonderful flavors that are found in bread and
pastry crusts, as well as their brown color.
 And we should of course not forget sugar’s role in decoration.
Icing sugar and pearl sugar can be dusted or sprinkled over
baked cakes and pastries to produce a pleasing effect, or icing
sugar can be mixed with water to create icing or frosting.

28. Eggs are a leavening agent and the
yolks add fat for a tender and light
texture. The yolks also act as an
emulsifier for a smooth and even
texture in the finished product. And the
proteins contribute to the structure of
the baked good.

29. Liquid helps carry flavorings throughout
the product, forms gluten bonds, and
reacts with the starch in the protein for a
strong but light structure. Liquids also
act as steam during baking, acting as a
leavening agent and contributing to the
tenderness of the product.

30. It adds flavor and weight
Salt strengthens gluten and adds flavor. Salt
enhances flavors. In yeast breads, salt helps
moderate the effect of the yeast so the bread doesn't
rise too quickly.
Salt shares some functions with sugar in its role in
baking. It not only adds flavor to bread and cakes, but
it also brings out the best in the flavors of its fellow
ingredients.
A loaf of bread or a cake without salt will taste bland,
but too much salt will overpower the other flavors.

31. Besides flavor, salt helps to strengthen the gluten
network in a bread dough, allowing it to trap more
carbon dioxide and give volume to the loaf. A bread
dough lacking in salt will be very short, sticky, and
result in bread that is dense and doughy.
Like sugar, it also binds to water, drawing water from
yeast cells and slowing fermentation. This
moderating effect is important in bread baking as it
prevents the dough from rising too quickly, and
allows other fermentation reactions to occur, building
more complex flavors.

32. Baking soda and baking powder form CO2, that is
held by fat pockets, gluten, and starch, which makes
the baked product rise. Baking soda and powder are
not interchangeable; be sure that you have the
product the recipe calls for.
Too much leavening agent will make the bubbles too
big, then they will combine and burst, leading to a
flat cake or bread. Too little leavening agent will
result in a heavy product, with soggy or damp
layers.

33.  Ma’am Lyn