Types of Flour and Their Properties

Flour Types and Properties

• Hard Wheat - granular texture, higher protein content, ideal for bread
• Soft Wheat - soft, powder-like texture, lower protein content, suitable for cakes, muffins, and quick breads
• Flour Color - darker white flour indicates stronger flour with higher gluten content, pure white signifies weak flour with lower gluten content
• Flour Strength - flour's ability to hold air cells, influencing baked product volume
• Flour Tolerance - flour’s ability to endure kneading and other procedures while producing desirable results
• Flour Absorption Capacity - flour's porosity, influenced by quality and protein content, higher protein = more water absorption
• Flour Texture - weak flour has a smooth texture, strong flour has coarser granules
• Flour Cohesiveness - ability of flour granules to stick together, giving shape when pressed
• Flour Weight - strong flour absorbs more moisture and is heavier, weak flour is lighter

Market Forms of Flour

• Wheat Flour - milled from the whole wheat kernel, including bran and germ
• Pastry Flour - weak flour, slightly stronger than cake flour, 7-8% protein content
• Bread Flour - coarser texture, high protein content (12-14%), breaks apart when squeezed
• All-Purpose Flour - a blend of soft and hard wheat, slightly weaker than bread flour, 9-10% protein content
• Cake Flour - weak flour, very smooth texture, pure white color, low protein content (5-7%)
• Self-Rising Flour - enriched flour with added baking powder and salt, uniformly blended

Liquids in Baking

• Water - most important liquid, distilled water with a 5.5 pH level is recommended for quality bread dough
• Fruit Juice - enhances flavor and aroma in baked goods
• Milk - contributes to texture, flavor, crust, color, and nutritive value of baked goods

Milk Product Categories

• Fresh Milk - pure cow's milk
• Whole Milk - contains milk solids, butterfat, and water
• Skim Milk - non-fat milk
• Creams - various fat contents
• Cream Cheese - unripened cheese, soft, creamy, sour flavor
• Buttermilk - cultured skim milk
• Evaporated Milk - whole milk with 60% of water removed
• Condensed Milk - similar to evaporated milk, but with 40% additional sugar
• Dried Milk - powdered whole milk

Sugar in Baking

• Sucrose - chemical name for sugar, a carbohydrate (simple or complex) derived from sugarcane and sugar beets
• Granulated Sugar - common table sugar, used for sweetening in most baked goods
• Caster Sugar - fine sugar granules for fast dilution, suitable for making icing, achieving uniform texture and accommodating higher fat quantities
• Confectioners Sugar - icing sugar or powdered sugar, talcum-like powder with added cornstarch to prevent clumping
• Brown Sugar - contains caramel, molasses, and impurities, providing distinct flavor. Available in light and dark brown, darker grades have more impurities
• Washed Sugar - unwhitened crystal, an intermediate stage in refining process
• Muscovado Sugar - raw sugar (demerara or turbinado), darker in color, sticky texture due to molasses content

Syrups in Baking

• Corn Syrup - two types: light and dark, made from corn starch, half as sweet as granulated sugar, contributes chewiness to brownies and other baked goods
• Glucose - used in sugar paste making, makes it elastic and pliable, derived from cornstarch
• Honey - distinct flavor, retains moisture in baked goods, comes from flower nectar gathered by bees, one and a half times sweeter than granulated sugar, darker honey is stronger and more acidic
• Malt - acts as food for yeast, enhances flavor and improves crust color in bread. Complex sugar extracted from barley, tastes like a blend of honey and molasses
• Molasses - distinct flavor and color in baked goods, less sweet than granulated sugar, darker molasses is more flavorful and contains less sugar. A byproduct of concentrated sugar cane juice
• Maple Syrup - topping for pancakes and other culinary uses, derived from maple tree sap, sweeter than granulated sugar, lighter color indicates better grade

Fats and Oils in Baking

• Fats - lubricate gluten strands in dough and batter, preventing toughness and tenderizing baked goods
• Shortening - solid fat, white and tasteless, derived from vegetables, leaves a plastic coating in the mouth
• Butter - product of fresh milk, 80% fat, 15% water, 5% milk solids, flavorful, melts in the mouth, available salted and unsalted
• Margarine - blend of rendered fat, vegetable oil, flavoring, emulsifier, coloring, and other ingredients, used in pastries, contains 80-85% fat, 10-15% moisture, and 5% salt, milk solids, etc.
• Oils - liquid substances from various vegetables, spread easily in batter and dough, not commonly used as shortenings because they spread too thoroughly
• Lard - hydrogenated fat from swine, often used in pie making for flaky crust, less common with the development of modern shortenings

Leavening Agents

• Leavening Agents - help baked goods rise by incorporating carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Biological Leavener (Yeast) - microorganism grown in molasses and ammonia, called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, vitality depends on moisture, heat, and air
• Yeast Types
  • Active Dry Yeast - 90% solid, 10% water
  • Fresh Yeast - 30% solid, 70% moisture
  • Instant Yeast - 92% solid, 8% moisture
• Yeast Role
  • Lightens leavened dough, enhancing palatability
  • Contributes to bread aroma and flavor

Chemical Leaveners

• Baking Powder - contains starch, baking soda, and tartaric acid, excess can affect texture and flavor of baked goods, available in single and double-acting
• Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) - no inherent leavening power, but becomes a leavening agent when mixed with an acidic ingredient

Air as a Leavening Agent

• Creaming - mixing butter and sugar, incorporating air cells
• Foaming - whipping egg whites and sugar, incorporating air cells

Steam as a Leavening Agent

• Evaporation - moisture in baked goods evaporates, creating steam that leavens the product
• Oven Spring - rapid rise of yeast products in the oven during the first five minutes, caused by trapped air pockets expanding due to extreme heat

Chocolate and Cocoa

• Origin - tropical cacao tree, South America
• Cocoa - powder with culinary uses, two types:
  • Alkalized - Dutch-process, treated with alkali to reduce acidity, milder flavor, darker color
  • Natural - more acidic, lighter color, slightly bitter taste
• Bitter Chocolate - unsweetened chocolate in solid form

Cookies

• Origin - Dutch word koekje meaning "small cake"
• History - cake batter dropped in the oven to check its temperature
• Typical Characteristics - baked until crisp or soft, some types are unbaked
• Ingredients - sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruits

Cookie Characteristics

• Crispness - small amount of liquid, prolonged baking time, high sugar and fat content, small size allows for quick drying
• Softness - high liquid content, thick shape, under-baking, honey, molasses, or corn syrup contribute to softness
• Chewiness - low fat, high sugar and liquid, more eggs, 10-15% invert sugar (humectant), strong flour for gluten formation
• Spreadability - sugar melting causes spreading, more baking powder makes bigger cookies, creaming promotes expansion, low temperature increases spreadability, high liquid cookies spread faster, weak flour spreads more due to low gluten formation, heavily greased pans promote spreading

Cookie Mixing Methods

• One Stage Method - all ingredients mixed together in one bowl at once
• Creaming Method - fat and sugar creamed together until fluffy, eggs added one at a time, leavener and flour stirred in, blended well
• Sponge Method - egg-foam method, eggs and sugar whipped until peaks form, dry ingredients folded in, careful not to overmix

Cookie Make-Up Methods

• Bagged or Pressed - soft cookie dough placed in a pastry bag and piped onto a sheet pan
• Dropped Cookies - cookie dough scooped using an ice cream scoop and dropped onto a sheet pan
• Rolled Cookies - stiff dough rolled out and cut using cookie cutters, then baked