I would have never thought that along with the title “baker” I would ever add “scientist” to my resume, but if you’ve ever tried to bake cakes from scratch, you’d know that there is more to it than just scooping, stirring, and throwing pans into the oven.
Recently, my husband surprised me with a new cookbook, Baking Illustrated, by the editors of Cooks Illustrated and the folks who work at America’s Test Kitchen. These people are awesome. The introduction to the book explains their ultimate goal as such:
“to investigate the fundamental principles of cooking so that you become a better cook”
I like that.
And since I’ve come to learn that baking cakes is a real science, when I put my apron on now, I feel more like Albert Einstein, than Betty Crocker, and maybe instead of listening to Lady Gaga, I’ll have to start listening to Bach, Mozart or Beethoven (I don’t know, it just seems more like scientist music).
Anyways, having spent the weekend reading through sections of this book, I thought you might enjoy some of the things I came across, whether a baker yourself or not.
Flour
Most recipes you’ll come across call for all-purpose flour. When the recipe tells you to use a certain flour, they usually do for a reason. Cake flour has the lowest percentage of protein and produces delicate, fine crumbs. The higher protein content a the flour has, the more likely the baked goods will be dense, and heavy. Although a delicate cake with fine crumbs sounds nice, it isn’t always ideal for every recipe and could be harder to frost.
Unbleached flour is recommended over bleached. The book commented that people who sampled foods made with bleached flour said there was more of an “off” flavor, though when a recipe had large quantity of other ingredients, that “off” flavor was usually undetected. Either way, it might just be safer to go unbleached.
Sugar
Obviously granulated sugar is the most commonly produced sugar. What I didn’t know is that superfine sugar is sometimes called castor sugar in other countries. If a recipe calls for superfine sugar (which not only dissolves more quickly but also produces a more delicate texture), instead of going out to buy some, put granulated sugar in the food processor for 20-30 seconds…and wa-la!
Butter
According to the USDA, all butter must contain at least 80% milk fat, about 2% milk solids and water. Therefore, unless you are buying higher fat butters, brands don’t really make much of a difference, and when tested, most tasters could hardly tell the difference…but, when making something like frosting, where the butter is such a main ingredient, the higher fat butter produces both a more noticeable texture and flavor.
When storing butter, it is much better to keep it in a sealed airtight bag in the freezer, then in the butter compartment in the fridge. Butter can spoil in the fridge and that just sounds bad.
Milk
Unless specified, whole milk should usually be used when baking. Believe it or not, though the percentages might seem minimal, the difference between whole, low-fat and skim milk can alter the taste and texture of baked goods. In a test, a cake made with skim milk turned out more tough and dry than the same cake made with 1%, which was noticably more tender.
Eggs
Eggs have an important role in the deliciousness of baked goods. Flavor, structure, richness and texture, are all influneced by the use of eggs.
When choosing eggs to use for baking, AA eggs are the best and B are the worst. Most eggs you will use and find are A, right in the middle.
I didn’t read this one in the book, but did you know that you can get a stray piece of egg shell out of your batter using a large piece of egg shell. Apparently they are like magnets (though I don’t think that is the scientific explaination for how it works) and the stray piece easily attaches itself to the bigger piece. That piece of info, in my book, is worth gold!
Leaveners
Leaveners are like yeast in that they help baked goods rise. Thus, in order for baking powder to do its job properly, it is important that it is not old. 6 months after opening the container, test it’s freshness by mixing 2 teaspoons of baking powder with 1 cup of hot water. If it reacts immediately, it’s still good. If you’ve had your baking powder for more than a year, its time to get a new can.
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After all that, I sure do feel a lot smarter, and not just because that was a lot of sciencey kind of talk, but because I feel like now I know a bit more about why things happen and turn out the way they do.
Do you have any scientific baking tips you’d like to share? Please do!
