How To Guide: How to Bake a Vanilla Cake?

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HOW TO BAKE A VANILLA CAKE?

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01 The Science of Baking: Kitchen Chemistry such as salt, eggs, milk, sugar, and flour 02 Kitchen Tools: Useful Tools for baking such as whisks, ovenw, and gloves 03 Ingredients: Materials such as egg whites, egg yolk, flour, milk, and cooking oil 04 Directions and Steps: There are 12 step-by-step directions and stages to guide bakers.

The Science of Baking: Kitechen Chemistry In the home kitchen, there are

— my typically lofty gougères came

instructor and the author of several

two kinds of people: cooks and

out of the oven as flat as cookies-I

books, including The Bread Baker’s

bakers. For cooks, recipes are

decided to become less of a cook

Apprentice-into sharing the basics

mere suggestions, flexible in their

and more of a baker. So I quizzed six

behind dough construction. He told

ingredients and proportions. For

baking experts about ingredients and

me that two proteins — glutenin and

bakers, on the other hand, recipes

techniques. The secret to successful

gliadin — inhabit flour. “When you

are gospel truth, precise in their

baking? It’s all in the chemistry. And

add water to the flour to hydrate the

measurements and techniques.

here’s the scientific lowdown on

ingredients, these proteins are drawn

how each basic baking ingredient

to each other and bond,” Reinhart

the spontaneity of tweaking a recipe

functions in the kitchen.

says. “This new protein is gluten.”

or making one up based on what’s

Flour

Reinhart suggested I call Shirley

Me, I’m definitely a cook. I enjoy

in the fridge. But the downside to

I started my research with flour.

Corriher for the nitty-gritty on the

being a cook is that, no matter how

After all, the protein in flour lends

science of baking. A former Vanderbilt

often I’ve prepared a particular bread

structure to baked goods, from poufy

University biochemist, Corriher turned

or pastry recipe, I can’t guarantee

popovers to crusty artisanal breads.

her kitchen into a laboratory of sorts

the same results every time. I envy

As pastry chef Shuna Fish

and published her experiments in two

my grandmother, who can whip

Lydon wrote recently on her

cookbooks, CookWise and BakeWise.

together dough for dozens of dinner

Eggbeater blog, “In baking, protein

Kneading builds gluten networks,

rollswithout even measuring the flour.

provides the walls holding up roofs.”

says Corriher, which in turn support

She just knows when the dough looks

But you can’t build walls of any kind

bread. While dough rises, existing

and feels “right.”

without elbow grease.

gluten threads touch and create

After a recent cheese-puff disaster

I coaxed Peter Reinhart-a baking

more links. Later, inside the oven,

the proteins and starches in the flour

flour in my cupboard. Sure enough,

the other hand, lend richness and

transform into the sturdy webbing

I had made my top-heavy cheese

moisture to baked goods, says David

inside a loaf of bread. Pastries, on

puffs with a high-protein flour more

Lebovitz, a pastry chef whose books

the other hand, demand a more

appropriate for hearty bread.

include Room for Dessert. “If you

tender crumb. Corriher explains that

Eggs

were to make a cake with all egg

the lower protein content in pastry,

In pastry, eggs “help bind things

yolks, it’d be moist, but also kind of

cake, and all-purpose flour creates

together,” explains Mani Niall, a

wet,” he explains. And make sure

a less rigid gluten network and a

pastry chef and the author of the

to bring eggs to room temperature

finer crumb. But selecting the right

cookbook Sweet!. Egg whites work

before mixing. “If you add cold

flour for the job isn’t as easy as it

as leavening agents. When heated,

eggs to butter and sugar, they won’t

seems. “The problem with all-purpose

the proteins in egg whites uncoil

combine correctly,” Lebovitz warns.

flour is that it is all over the place in

and practically explode up the sides

Sugar and Milk

protein content,” Corriher says. So

of the pan, just like Dutch baby

she shared a trick to help determine

pancakes. Corriher has experimented

addictive sweetness, but it also

flour’s protein content: Measure two

with substituting egg whites for

helps keep them moist. “If you think

cups into a bowl and stir it with a

whole eggs to force a bigger rise

of baked goods without sugar, it’s

scant cup of water. “If you have a

out of cream puffs or gougères.

bread, because it’s not tender,”

high-protein flour, it’s going to suck in

But substitutions can be tricky, she

says Niall. Not surprisingly, there’s a

water like crazy” and form a dough,

cautions, because the proteins in

scientific explanation behind sugar’s

she says. Less protein-rich flour won’t

egg whites force out moisture when

tenderizing properties. “If you have

come together unless you add more

they’re heated. The result: puffy but

a lot of sugar present, your glutenin

flour. I tested the all-purpose white

chalk-dry pastries. Egg yolks, on

runs off with sugar, your gliadin

Sugar gives pastries their

Wrote by Kelly Stewar

Eggs, Sugar, Milk, and Salt runs off with sugar, and you don’t

helps to balance sweetness and

get much gluten formed,” Corriher

enhance other flavors during baking.

explains. And then your pastry won’t

And if added as a finishing touch

have any structure. Likewise, adding

to, say, chocolate-chip cookies, salt

milk to batter helps keep baked

provides a pleasing textural contrast.

goods moist. Milk contains the sugar

Lab work

lactose, which bonds with flour proteins and hinders gluten formation.

After talking with bakers and chemists about ingredients, methods,

Both sugar and milk promote

and reactions, I decided there was

browning, Corriher says. Essentially,

one more person I needed to quiz:

bread crust is caramelized sugar.

my grandmother, the master baker

Salt

in my family. She didn’t have advice

Recipes for baked goods usually

about science, but she did say that

call for a pinch of salt because it

practice is the key to good baking.

helps conceal bitter tastes. But the

But just how much practice? Well,

mineral also plays a key role in gluten

she’s baked four to six dozen dinner

formation, says Patti Christie, a

rolls for our big, hungry family every

biochemist who teaches a series of

week or two for the past 58 years.

popular kitchen-chemistry courses

That adds up to nearly 150,000 rolls

at the Massachusetts Institute of

in more than 2,000 baking sessions.

Technology. As for sugary treats, a bit of salt added to batters and doughs

April 27, 2009

Tools

Spatula Gloves Milk Flour Gloves Measuring Spoon Whisks Flour Hand Mixer Sugar Oven 8 in

Ingredients

8 in Baking Pan 5 Eggs at room-temperature 85g Cake Flour 40g Cooking Oil 40g Whole-Fat Milk 60g Sugar for Egg Whites 30g for Egg Yolk; not recommend using Splenda Temperature 338Ëš F 42 Minutes

Spatula Gloves Milk Flour Whisks Measuring Spoon Hand Mixer Sugar Oven 8 in Baking Pan

Step

01-04 MILK

OIL

03 Ad

40g m d and c ilk ookin g oil

SUGAR

02 add

30g sugar

01

Se

par

ate

04 Ble

nd

Step

05-07 05 sift the flour in

the mixer

to

FLOUR

mix

06 ooths

sm

it u it ntil

ell u r w it il yo flou d t y en r un an l b e ee 7 0 geth ot s to nn ca ft le

Step

08-10 08 a

time dd 20g s int o eg sugar 3 gw hite

; o 338Ëš F t t a e h e r 09 p gg white e 3 / 10 b 1 ix and m r into lend a yolk mixe g g e o t l in pou egg yo l of the m l r int k o pa and n WH

ITE

Step

11

into place to 4 oven the pa n 2 m and set inut es

11-12 BAKE

12 place it upsid

on a cooling ra

ck

22

e down

23

24

WOW! YOU’RE ALLBAKING DONE!

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