Mastering Home Baking: Guidelines, Basics & Methods

2. What I Will Learn • To state the advantages of home baking • To propose a set of guidelines for home baking • To identify the basic ingredients used in home baking • To make cakes and breads using a variety of methods • To devise a set of guidelines for making pastry • To compare home baking with commercial products

3. Home Baking • Home baking refers to baking bread and cakes at home rather than buying baked products from the shops. • Home baking involves a lot of time and some skill, but has many advantages: • A better, fresher flavour • A more attractive appearance • Usually cheaper than shop-bought • No added preservatives • Greater control of ingredients • More nutritious than shop-bought, e.g. healthy heart scones (textbook p. 241)

4. Guidelines for Home Baking • Prepare the tins and oven shelves in advance. • Pre-heat the oven to the correct temperature. • Use fresh ingredients – so check expiry dates. • Weigh the ingredients accurately and follow the recipe carefully, especially if you are new to baking. With more experience, you will be able to modify and adapt recipes. • Sieve the flour to add air. • Be careful when you are adding liquid.

5. Guidelines for Home Baking (continued) • Handle the ingredients, dough and batter as little as possible and knead lightly. • Once the mixture is in the tin, put it in oven as quickly as possible. • Time carefully and avoid opening the oven door during cooking. • Test the baking to see if it is properly cooked. • Cool on wire tray.

6. Basic Ingredients for Baking

7. Basic Ingredients for Baking(continued) • Flour: Usually wheat flour because it contains gluten. (What flour can you use if baking for a coeliac?) • Fat: Keeps bread fresh. Butter has the best flavour, while margarine is economical. Oils can be used in some recipes.

8. Basic Ingredients for Baking(continued) • Sugar: Granulated or caster sugar can be used for sweetness; brown sugar adds a spicy flavour; and icing sugar is used for decorating. • Eggs: Used to bind the mixture and to trap air. They should be fresh and at room temperature when used.

9. Basic Ingredients for Baking(continued) • Fruit or vegetables: Fresh or dried fruit used to add flavour. Vegetables like carrots, courgettes and beetroot add moisture to cakes. • Liquid: Water, milk and eggs are used to make a dough or batter.

10. Basic Ingredients for Baking(continued) • Raising agents: Make baking rise in the oven so that they have a spongy texture. Can be natural, chemical or biological.

11. Class Activity Complete the chart. Name seven basic ingredients used in home baking and explain what each ingredient is used for. • See Activity 13.9 in the TRB

12. How do Raising Agents Work? • Raising agents make bread and cakes rise in the oven so that they have a spongy texture. • Raising agents put a gas (air and/or carbon dioxide CO2) in the mixture. • In the oven, the heat makes the gas expand, which pushes up the mixture. • The mixture is able to stretch because of the gluten in the flour. • After a certain time, the heat in the oven sets the gluten so that the mixture keeps the risen shape.

13. How do Raising Agents Work? (continued) There are three types of raising agents used in home baking: Natural: Air Chemical: Baking powder, bread soda Biological: Yeast

14. Natural raising agent Air • Air is used alone in sponge cakes and pastry or with another raising agent in other baked goods. • Air is put into mixtures by: • Sieving the four • Raising the ingredients while rubbing fat into flour • Creaming sugar and fat • Whisking eggs with sugar

15. Chemical Raising Agents • Baking Powder contains both an acid and an alkali, which, when mixed and moistened with a liquid, produce a gas (CO₂) in the mixture. When the CO₂ is heated, it expands and rises, causing bread and cake mixtures to rise. These depend on a chemical reaction to make the gas in the dough. An alkali and an acid react to make carbon dioxide (CO₂). • Bread soda is an alkali that must be combined with an acid and moistened to produce CO₂. Buttermilk is an acidic liquid so it is used with bread soda to produce CO₂ in the mixture. This, when heated in the oven, expands and rises, causing bread and cake mixtures to rise.

16. Biological Raising Agent Yeast • Made of tiny living organisms that make CO₂ in the dough. • In the oven the bubbles of CO₂ expand and push up the dough, until the gluten sets the dough. • The heat also kills the cells of the organism.

17. Revision Toolkit To remember the raising agents’ names think of BABY: Baking powder Air Bread soda Yeast Watch this short YouTube video to find out more about how raising agents work.

18. Oven Temperature • Preheat the oven to the temperature indicated in the recipe before you put in the bread or cake. • If the oven is too cool (under-heated) the gas escapes through the top of the mixture before it has time to set, so it does not rise. • If the oven is too hot, the outside burns before the inside cooks fully.

19. How to Prepare Tins Baking trays • Sprinkle with flour for bread or plain scones • Brush with melted fat or oils, or line with greaseproof paper, for biscuits or small cakes • Queen cake tins • Brush with oil or use paper or tin foil cases

20. How to Prepare Tins (continued) Cake tins • Place a circle or square of greaseproof paper on the base and grease the sides for a plain cake • Line the base and sides with greaseproof paper for a fruit cake • Sponge tins • Grease tin, then sprinkle with an equal amounts of caster sugar and flour mixed together • Line bottom and sides of a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper

21. Class Activity: Baking Guidelines Look at the worksheet on home baking guidelines and give reasons for following each one.

22. Methods for Making Breads and Cakes The ingredients may be combined in a variety of ways that influence the texture of the bread or cake. Rubbing in method: • Fat and flour are lifted by the fingertips and rubbed high above the bowl until resembling breadcrumbs. • Used for scones, muffins, plain cakes and buns, shortcrust pastry, yeast bread, and shortbread biscuits.

23. Practical Class Brief • Make a sweet or savoury scone (using the rubbing in method) suitable for afternoon tea. • Use the practical class template you have been given to prepare for class.

24. Methods for Making Breads and Cakes (continued) • Creaming method • Fat and sugar are beaten or creamed together until pale and there is no sugar at the bottom of the bowl. Then the liquid, eggs and flour are mixed in. • Used for Queen cakes, muffins, cupcakes, madeira cakes, fruit cakes and biscuits.

25. Methods for Making Breads and Cakes (continued) • Whisking method • Eggs and sugar are whisked together until thick and foamy. Then flour is folded in. • Used for sponges, swiss rolls, flans, roulades and meringues.

26. Practical Class Brief • Jane is about to celebrate her fifth birthday. Make and decorate a simple cake for her birthday party (using the whisking or creaming method). • Use the practical class template you have been given to prepare for class.

27. Methods for Making Breads and Cakes (continued) Melting method • All ingredients that can melt are melted together in a pot, then the mixture is added to the dry ingredients (add wet to dry and mix). • Used for gingerbread, boiled fruit cakes, choux pastry and some biscuits.

28. Methods for Making Breads and Cakes (continued) All-in-one-method • All the ingredients are placed in a bowl together and beaten. • Used for Madeira, Victoria sandwich and plain cakes.

29. Practical Class Brief • Prepare, make and decorate a batch of biscuits or Queen cakes for your friends (using the melting method or the all-in-one method). Compare your batch to a similar shop- bought product. • Use the practical class template you have been given to prepare for class.

30. Commercial Cakes and Breads • Packaging on ready-made bread and cakes is very important. • Work in pairs to answer the questionnaire you have been given on the processing and packaging of ready-made cakes.

31. Cake Mixes • Cake mixes are a mixture of flour, fat, sugar, raising agent, salt and additives sieved, blended and sealed in a packet. • When buying a cake mix check the expiry date and that it is sealed properly. Store in cool place. • When using the cake mix, follow instructions when adding the liquid.

32. Cake Mixes (continued) Advantages Disadvantages Expensive Contain additives Lack fibre and have too much salt and sugar • Saves time and labour • Simple to use • Quick in emergencies • Useful for beginners and children

33. Pastry • Pastry is a mixture of flour, fat and water, which is made into a dough, then kneaded, shaped and baked. • It may be enriched by the addition of other ingredients, such as sugar, eggs or extra fat. • Pastry may be used in sweet and savoury dishes.

34. Pastry (continued)

35. Pastry (continued) Can you name the type of pastry used in each image?

36. Rules for Making Pastry • Weigh ingredients accurately and use the correct proportions. • Keep the ingredients and utensils as cool as possible. • Add the water carefully. Use just enough to bind the ingredients without becoming sticky. • Mix with a knife and knead lightly on a floured board. • Avoid over-handling. • Roll pastry lightly and as little as possible.

37. Rules for Making Pastry (continued) • Avoid stretching pastry, as it will shrink during baking. • Allow pastry to relax in a refrigerator before baking. • Bake in a hot oven so that the starch grains in the flour burst and absorb the fat. • Then reduce the heat to allow them to cook through so it has an even texture and is not shrunken or uneven. • Well-made pastry: • Is light golden in colour • Is not greasy, tough soggy or brittle • Has a fully cooked, crisp texture • Has a good flavour (i.e. sweet or savoury)

38. Baking Blind • Baking blind is baking a pastry case without a filling, e.g. for quiche or a fruit flan. • The base of the case is marked with a fork. • Greaseproof paper is spread over the base and weighted down with dried beans or rice to prevent the pastry from rising. • The case is then baked for 15 minutes at 200⁰C. • The paper and beans/rice are then removed and the case is baked for a further five minutes to make it crisp.

39. Practical Class Brief • Make two batches of shortcrust pastry – one by hand and one using a food processor. Freeze one batch. • Class one: Make a set of jam tarts. • Class two: Make a sweet or savoury tart using the frozen pastry from the previous class. • Use the practical class template you have been given to prepare for class.

40. Home Baking: Quick Revision • List three guidelines to follow when baking at home. • State the advantages of home baking. • Name four raising agents, explain how one of them works, and give examples of a use. • Identify the basic ingredients used in home baking. • Outline four methods of making cakes, giving an example of each one. • Classify pastry and give examples of dishes made with each type.