Flour: it depends on the country you live in. Since I am writing this in UK, I will write from my point of view. In other countries, they have different types of flours. Plain white flour is most commonly used in baking. For bread, you can use coarse flour, wholemeal or with added grains. You can also buy wheat, rye, buckwheat, corn or soy flour.
White flour is depleted of valuable components during the production process. Whole wheat flour has these components. At the beginning, we should know that white flour has a few other grains. For example: smooth, semi-coarse, coarse. Different thicknesses of flour are used for other doughs such as sponge cake, cake, pancakes, gingerbread or bread.
Also, flours are marked with the letter T and a number next to it. This number indicates how many minerals are in 100g of dry flour. The higher the number, the more minerals this flour contains. Likewise, a higher T content means a lower gluten content in the flour. The higher the T, the denser the pastry will be. But also healthier. If you want fluffy cakes, use a lower T such as T450. Use T630 for honeybees. Use T800 when baking bread.
Use of other flours in baking: when baking, and especially for those who avoid gluten, you can replace wheat flour with spelled flour. Spelled flour is healthier and better for our insides.
Wheat flour is ground grain. The grain consists of an inner part and a shell. Some flours contain both parts of the grain. The shell of the grain is healthier than the inner part. The inner part contains more gluten.
Whole grain flour contains the whole grain even with the coating and contains more vitamins and minerals, but it is thicker and you cannot bake delicate pastries from it.
It is recommended to sift the flour before using it. Sifted flour will be easier to work with and easier to mix with other ingredients.
Baking powder:
It releases pine oxide into the dough through an acid-base reaction. During this reaction, bubbles are formed in the dough, which add volume to the dough. Before baking powder existed, pastry chefs used other methods, such as thoroughly mixing eggs or rubbing butter and sugar. These bubbles will open the dough during baking.
Fat:
Many recipes call for the use of fat. We know that some fats are healthier than others. However, all fats are high in calories. Fats that are not healthy are trans and hydrogenated fats. Therefore, when choosing butter or margarine for baking, avoid these trans and hydrogenated fats and choose healthier versions such as real butter, coconut oil or virgin olive oil and sunflower oil.
Fat plays an important role in some recipes and it is important to add it to the recipe at the right time and sometimes at room temperature.
Sugar:
It has long been an integral part of our kitchen. The sugar production process is quite complicated and I am not going to describe it all here. But what we need to know when baking is which type of sugar we should use in which recipe and why.
The most commonly used sugar is granulated or powdered sugar. However, among these types there is also granulated sugar, which is between these two and its crystals are smaller and thus dissolve faster. But in some recipes, these crystals are important, and that is why we would not use powdered sugar in such a recipe, which we would use to decorate desserts or cakes. Then we know powdered sugar, which we need for toppings and fondant. Brown sugar, which can also have a few different shades, has a much stronger taste.
There is also cane sugar or fruit sugar. You can replace the sugar in the recipe with honey or other sugars, but you should understand whether the prescribed form of sugar plays a role in the recipe. For example, if you swapped out the granulated sugar for honey the third time, it wouldn't work well because the crystals in the granulated sugar play a role in this recipe.
Sugar plays other roles in baking besides sweetening: for example, forming bubbles with crystals when rubbing butter, or maintaining moisture, or preserving.
Sugar also attracts and retains moisture in baked goods and increases shelf life by preventing them from drying out too quickly. Sugar, for example, stabilizes egg whites and adds structure.
You can caramelize the sugar and this caramel flavour will change and enhance the sweet taste in the recipe and change the colour of the dough. But you can also use it to decorate your baked goods.
If you don't want the pastry to be too sweet and you are thinking about removing the sugar, then you have to take into account that the recipe may not work completely if this sugar has a role in its recipe. But too much sugar can also spoil the recipe: for example, too much sugar softens the pastry and may fall apart, or the cake becomes mouldy after cooling.
Salt:
Many recipes call for salt and therefore many recipes mention a pinch of salt. Salt plays an important role in some recipes and if the recipe mentions it, don't leave it out. Salt, for example, enhances the colour, taste, and improves the structure of the dough. When baking bread, salt kills yeast and controls the rate of yeast fermentation.
Eggs:
Recipes usually mention eggs, not egg weight. Some confectioners weigh the eggs in their shells and adapt the recipe to the weight of the eggs. A medium egg weighs around 45-55 grams in the shell and most recipes are adapted to this weight. The wrong weight of eggs can spoil your dough.
In the recipe, use eggs at room temperature, unless the recipe says otherwise. Eggs are much easier to mix with other ingredients when they are at room temperature than when they are cold.
Free range/free range eggs have a nicer colour and are healthier.
Many recipes call for separating the white from the yolk. Egg whites will last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and even longer in the freezer. Don't forget to mark them with the date and put them in a sealed container.
Eggs also play a big role in baking. The most interesting feature is the ability to capture air bubbles in the dough. When mixed, they will become egg foam. These bubbles add lightness to the cakes. The protein in the eggs expands their quantity at a high temperature, which is why the cake rises in the oven. Fresh eggs have more protein than older eggs.
However, egg yolks add richness to pastries due to their fat content. Egg yolks are super emulsifiers and will combine liquids with fat into one dough.
The functions and behaviour of eggs may vary depending on how we handle them. When baking, we will use eggs in different forms and prepared by different methods, and it is really important that we follow the recipe.
Chocolate:
Quite a few recipes contain chocolate and chocolate pastries are very popular.
Dark chocolate consists of around 70% cocoa and this chocolate will give your baked goods a great taste. A higher percentage can dry out your recipe.
Cocoa: without cocoa, confectionery would be very boring. Cocoa in its natural form has a bitter taste. When baking, you need real unflavoured cocoa and not cocoa (cocoa powder), which is made as a milk drink. Real cocoa is made from fermented (unroasted) seeds that are processed at low temperatures and then ground into a powder. This ensures that its nutritional benefits - and bitter taste - are preserved. Where cocoa powder is, the cocoa has been processed at a high temperature, which destroys most of the nutritional benefits of the cocoa bean.
If you use chocolate in your recipe, always cut or grate it into smaller pieces so that it melts easily in the recipe.
Double Cream:
Not everyone notices that there are several types of cream and the difference is in its fat content. It can contain from 18 to 48% fat, so it is important to follow the recipe and use the right cream. The fat content makes quite a difference, whether it's thickening your sauce or whipping cream into a cake cream. If you have high-fat cream, it will be easier to whip, while low-fat cream will be much more difficult to whip or not at all.
Extracts and flavours:
Many recipes call for extracts or flavours such as vanilla, orange, nuts and the like. The main difference between an extract and a flavour is that the extract is made from that raw material, but the flavour is made from artificial ingredients. The extract is mostly the given raw material infused in alcohol and water. It has a stronger and truer taste and is therefore usually more expensive than the flavour. The flavour is synthetic, artificially produced and more diluted and therefore cheaper.
It is recommended to use extracts when baking. If you use an extract, you need less than if you use a flavour. In some countries they may use different names, so always check the label to see if it is made from natural or synthetic ingredients.
Nuts:
Baking with nuts will add amazing flavour and texture to your baked goods and add nutrition to them. They basically consist of a similar consistency, but have different flavours. You can toast them ahead of time, which will add an even stronger flavour. When you fry the nuts, they will not fall to the bottom during baking. Nuts can replace flour in your baked goods. If you add nuts to the recipe, take the same amount of flour.
You can roast the nuts in the oven on a baking sheet lined with baking paper at 180 degrees C for 10 to 20 minutes. The nuts are ready when they are nicely browned. After cooling, store them in an airtight jar.
Fruits and vegetables:
The further we go, the more new fruits and vegetables (fresh or dried) we have on the market that we can use in baking and decorating pastries. Popular recipes like carrot cake, apple cake, pumpkin cake, banana cake, beetroot and carrot cake or zucchini cake.
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