Hey guys, welcome back to class today. We are in section 3 of the baking
fundamentals course. Now today I want to review with you all of the most common
baking techniques and terminology that you will see in recipe. Now when I was
first starting to learn how to bake I would often come across techniques and
terminologies and recipes that I would have no idea what they meant so for
instance I would be reading a biscuit recipe and it would tell me to cut the
fat into the flour and I had never baked before, I had no idea what this meant so
I would get online, I would google it, I would find pictures and try to figure
out what this should look like, how I'm supposed to do it and then I would get
to that information but I wouldn't quite still understand why we were doing it.
What was the purpose of cutting the fat into the flour? Now I don't know about
you but understanding the purpose for me is really what helped me become a
confident baker and really feel like I could tackle recipes in a confident way.
So today I want to review all of the most common baking techniques and
terminology, talk about how you do them and why you do them. So this video is
going to give you some really quick demonstrations of all of the terminology
we're reviewing today but I really want to make sure that you don't skip over
the written part of this lesson because the written lesson is going to go much
more in depth about each technique and terminology so that you really have a
good clear understanding of it. If you aren't already enrolled in this course
there's a link down below for you to go ahead and enroll. You'll be just a little
bit behind in the rest of the class but you can enroll at any time so if you
aren't already enrolled make sure you do that. So let's go ahead and dive into
the lesson and learn all the most common baking techniques and terminology. A
batter is an unbaked mixture that is thin enough to pour or scoop but it
cannot be rolled out like a dough. Some examples of baked goods made with
batters are muffins, cakes, and brownies.
When sugar is heated it becomes liquid and then eventually begins turning brown
in color this process is called caramelization. Caramelized sugar is much
more complex in flavor and also becomes less sweet than pure sugar. Sugar is
caramelized for making sugar decorations as well as for dessert sauces and
candies. When a baking recipe instructs you to cream together it is referring to
when room-temperature butter or other solid fat is beaten together with sugar.
The process of beating the two together forms a web of air between the fat and
sugar which lightens and leavens baked goods. Fat and sugar are creamed together
for cookies, butter cakes, and for buttercream frosting. Cutting in fat
refers to when pieces of cold fat are worked into flour with a tool called a
pastry cutter or pastry blender. This process coats the flour and also evenly
disperses small pieces of fat throughout the dough which will melt in the oven
creating pockets of steam and flakiness. Fat is cut into flour when making baked
goods with a flaky texture such as for biscuits, scones, and pie crusts. Crimping
refers to folding or pinching the edges of a dough in a decorative way to finish
the edge of a pie crust or tart. It also serves to seal two pieces of dough
together to prevent filling from leaking in pastries like ham pies or calzones. A
pie or tart crust is docked by pricking it all over with a fork to allow steam
to exit while the crust is baked. This helps prevent crust from puffing up
and shrinking while they are baking.
A dough is a thick unbaked mixture that is much thicker than a batter. A dough can be
rolled out or shaped by hand. Baked goods made with does include yeast bread,
biscuits, scones, cookies, pie and tart crusts. An emulsion is a forced mixture
of two ingredients that are normally unmixable for instance fat and water.
When an emulsion is created particles from the two substances are suspended
within each other instead of quickly separating. An example of creating an
emulsion in baking is when making ganache which is a mixture of cream and
chocolate. In baking fermentation refers to the process of yeast feeding on
sugars and starches present in yeast dough. After a yeast bread is kneaded it
is allowed to rest and ferment. As the yeast feeds it produces ethanol and
carbon dioxide which make the dough rise this process is also what develops the
distinctive flavor of yeast bread.
Folding is a technique used to incorporate two mixtures together in a
very delicate way to reduce gluten development and also to prevent whipped
egg whites or whipped cream from deflating. When folding the delicate
mixture should be added into the heavier mixture, use a spatula to cut down
through the two mixtures to the bottom of the bowl bringing the ingredients
from the bottom up to the top turn the bowl 90 degrees and continue with this
motion until the ingredients are fully incorporated. When the proteins found in
wheat flour are hydrated they bond together forming what is called gluten.
Gluten is responsible for the elastic texture of dough. Kneading is the process
where dough is worked together in order to align the gluten strands building
strength and elasticity in the dough. This process is most commonly used when
making yeast bread. Kneading can be done by hand or with a dough hook in a stand
mixer. In baking the word leaven refers to the process of a baked good rising.
Leaveners include baking powder, baking soda, and yeast. Forced leavening can also
occur by whipping air into ingredients. In baking peaks refer to the stiffness
of whipped cream or whipped egg whites. As cream or egg whites are whipped more
air is incorporated into the mixture and it becomes thicker soft peaks barely
hold their shape. Medium peaks hold their shape but curl over at the tip and stiff
peaks stand up straight and do not curl. Over proofing refers to the final rise a
yeast dough goes through before it is going to be baked. Scoring refers to
shallow cuts made on unbaked dough to control where bread dough will split as
well as to release steam out of filled pastries. Sifting is a process of forcing
flour and other dry ingredients through fine mesh to break up any lumps and
aerate the ingredients. Sifted flour is much lighter and incorporates more
easily. When a recipe calls for butter to be softened the butter should be at a
cool room temperature. The texture should be soft and easily malleable but there
should not be any hints of it starting to melt. That is it for today for all the
most common baking techniques and terminologies. I hope you found that
helpful and if there's any words that we missed so that you're curious about you
can go ahead and post that in the comments. I'll try and clear that up for
you. You can also ask it in our private
Facebook group. If you aren't already a member of the private Facebook
group there's a link below for you to go ahead and request access to join that
group and after each lesson we are continuing the conversation over there.
So you definitely don't want to miss out on that. Okay so now for your homework
for today. I'd really love to hear from you what is the most exciting thing you
have learned about baking so far. It can be from this course or something you've
learned on your own. So I'll share with you mine now so I remember the day I
first discovered what gluten truly was. You know gluten is a word you hear
thrown around so much but I remember the days that I discovered that gluten had
to do with proteins found in flour and how it the strands align and
strengthen and build elasticity once you work them. And I, that just really started
clicking for me. I really started understanding how gluten was important
in baking to control it, to keep it under control but then also to really develop
it for in certain circumstances. So I'm a little bit of a geek, things like that
get me really excited so I'd love to know what the most interesting or
exciting thing you've learned about baking is so far. You can share that in
our private Facebook group on this discussion or you can also just share it
on Instagram or Twitter or other social media using the hashtag #BBbakingschool.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll see you guys next time. Bye!