Hi - I'm Pam and I am a Baking Geek (part 2)

In PART 1 of this post, I talked about 5 general "things to know" when it comes to baking, especially baking cakes.  In part 2, I promised to go over the purpose of the key ingredients in cake recipe.  Key ingredients are:  flour, a leavener, sugar, eggs, and butter.

1.  Flour:  Flour is what gives the cake structure.  I have written quite a bit (probably more than anyone else wants to read) about flour.  For all you need to know about flour, see PART 1 and Flour Power.  The only other thing I need to add is not to overmix your batter.  When you mix flour with a liquid and beat, it forms gluten. An overmixed cake batter will result in a tough cake because it developed too much gluten.

2.  Leavener:  Leaveners (baking powder and/or baking soda) is what makes cakes rise.  They are not the only ingredients that cause the cake to rise, but they are the primary way.  Unlike yeast, which produces carbon dioxide bubbles in the presence of sugar to create rise in breads, baking powder and/or soda just expands the bubbles that already exist in the batter.

What's the difference between baking soda and baking powder and are they interchangeable?  No - baking soda needs an acid to act (like citrus, buttermilk, molasses, honey or chocolate).  Baking powder is activated when it comes into contact with liquids and again when heated.

To make my cakes rise a little more, one of the things I do just about every time I bake a cake is to create a parchment "collar".  This process is explained in a post a wrote last year, You've Got Wring Around The Collar.

3.  Sugar:  Now, we all know sugar makes the cake sweet, but that is not it's only purpose in cake baking.  It also breaks up the gluten (from the flour) to help make the cake tender.  Sugar also helps make the cake moist by trapping the liquids.

4.  Eggs:  Eggs help bind the ingredients together and set the cake batter.  When exposed to heat, the proteins in egg whites uncoil and help the cake to rise.  The

yolks gives the cake a rich flavor and helps to keep it moist.

5.  Butter:  Butter (or oil or shortening) help tenderize the cake by keeping the flour from forming gluten.  Oils do a better job of it than butter does, but butter produces a better flavor.

While I hope these posts about the science of baking help to "demystify" the process, I highly recommend Gretchen Price's blog - Woodland Bakery (be sure to check out her YouTube videos, too).

Hi - I'm Pam and I am a Baking Geek (part 1)

I fully admit that I am a science geek when it comes to cooking.  Some ingredients are added purely for flavor but some are necessary for structure, texture or some other key component.  Baking is especially well suited for a science geek like me because each ingredient, as well as the mixing method, play a crucial role in the overall success or failure of the end product.

Ever baked cupcakes with a very high unwanted dome in the center?  What about a cake that didn't rise?  If you know the WHY of a recipe, you can usually pinpoint the problem with something goes wrong.

In cake baking, here are a few general helpful "geeky" things to know:

1.  The kind of flour you use has a huge impact on your finished product.  Just because the package says "all purpose", that doesn't mean it is the best choice for all baking.  All purpose flour might be okay for baking homemade bread, but bread flour is even better.  All purpose might be okay for making cakes, but cake flour is usually better (not always).  If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where

you can get your hands on White Lily all purpose flour, I recommend using it in place of the standard all purpose.  WHY?  Gluten - the higher the protein content in the flour, the more gluten will develop.  Lots of gluten is desirable for bread, not so much in biscuits or cake.  If you want to learn a little more about flour, see my post on

Flour Power.

2.  Preheat - it's not just a suggestion.  Preheating can seem like a waste of time and electricity or gas but it is a part of the process.  Some baked goods rely on steam that is only generated by a very hot oven in the first few minutes.  If you don't preheat your oven to the correct temp, your cakes will not rise properly (and your cookies will spread way out).

Illustration by:  Joe Holland SOURCE

3.  Room temperature ingredients - When you are baking a cake, it is very important to have your ingredients at room temperature.  That means eggs, milk, and butter.  Well - not exactly.  Butter should be around 65 degrees (F).  When you press your thumb against the wrapper, it should leave a slight indentation.

"Does it really matter?", you ask.  Yes...Room temp ingredients combine better AND also are better able to have more air whipped into them for better rise.

4.  Check the expiration date on your baking powder and/or soda.  If you leaving agent is past its prime, your baked product will fall flat :(

5.  No peeking!   I know you are curious as to how your yummy concoction is looking, but when you open that over door before the cake is set, it will look like a meteor crater in the middle.  The cold air that rushes in will upset the rising process and the structure will collapse in the middle.  Don't open that door until about

5-7 minutes before the cake is supposed to be done.

*For a more detailed explanation about the purpose of each key cake ingredient, see PART 2.

Scratch Biscuits

Scratch Biscuits

I tried making biscuits maybe 25 or so years ago and they never came out right, kinda like Ellie Mae Clampett's for those who remember watching The Beverly Hillbillies.  So, I gave up and never really thought about making them from scratch until a few weeks ago.  I gave it another shot and I guess some things do get better with age.  Thought I would share my recipe for those who want to give it a try.

I took the recipe off a bag of White Lily flour and changed it up just a bit.  The first time I made them with this recipe, I used it exactly as written.  Here is the recipe exactly how it appears on the bag.  (I'll share my changes at the end).

2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup veg. shortening

2/3 cup-3/4 cup milk

I don't normally keep buttermilk in my refrigerator unless I buy it specifically for biscuits or my homemade buttermilk cake.  So, what to do when I want to make biscuits with no buttermilk (we really don't even buy regular dairy milk).  Here is one way you can still make this recipe without buttermilk or milk.

2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

almost 1 teaspoon salt (I thought 1 whole teaspoon made them too salty)

2 1/2 Tablespoons dried buttermilk powder *

4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)-chilled*

2/3 (or a little more) milk or half n half

*you can find buttermilk powder on the baking aisle of the grocery where they carry canned evaporated milk and stuff like that

*You can also add a little vegetable shortening (Crisco) for flakiness

Preheat your oven at 500 degrees (yep...that's 500).  Preheating is very important.  Measure out your flour, baking powder, salt and buttermilk powder into a bowl and blend it with a fork to get it mixed together.  I like to use White Lily flour for biscuits because it is milled from soft southern wheat which is better for making biscuits.  For more on different types of flour, see my post Flour Power.

Take your butter out of the refrigerator and cut into about 10-12 pieces. Put those into the dry mix and blend with a pastry cutter or 2 knives.  I use a pastry cutter and it makes this step very easy.  It is important that your butter is very cold.  I don't take mine out of the frig until I am ready to put it in the dry mix.  I mash it with the cutter a few times and then scrape the cutter off and repeat 4-5 times.  The butter should be about the size of peas when you are done (there are usually some bigger chunks that don't get mixed up as well).

Next, I add the 2/3 cup half n half (or milk or even water) and mix with a fork.  The goal is to get the mixture to "come together" and pull away from the sides of the bowl.  I usually end up adding a little more liquid to get all the flour incorporated in the mix.  You don't want it to be liquid but you don't want it real dry either.  It is going to be sticky but more flour will be added at the rolling-out step.  This is what it looks like when I put it on the counter to start kneading it.

It's kind of a sticky mess and you will have dough stuck on your fingers.  Make sure you throw some flour out on your rolling surface (I use my counter top) before you turn out your dough.  Add a dusting of flour on the top and flour your hands.  Gently knead the dough for 3-4 times.

Unlike bread dough, biscuit dough should be kneaded very gently.  Kneading bread dough will make you break out in a sweat and give your arms a good workout.  Biscuit dough kneading should be gentle and only done a few times to produce a rollable dough.

Take your rolling pin and roll to about 1/2-inch thickness.  I may have rolled mine out a little thin this morning.  I cut out as many as I can, then re-roll the scraps left over after I pick up the first biscuit cuttings.  Each time you have to re-roll, your dough will get a little tougher.

Cut your biscuits out with a cutter, inverted glass, what ever you have to cut them out with and place on nonstick pan or cookie sheet.  I like to use a silpat for biscuits.  The bottoms never get too brown and they never stick.  They aren't cheap but last a very long time.  I have had this one for years.  You can also use parchment paper.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

I have made these with skim milk in place of the buttermilk powder/water mix.  Just use 2/3+ cup of milk for the liquid.  I have also used a milk/half-n-half blend.  I originally bought the buttermilk powder for a cake I was making because we don't drink buttermilk at my house and if I buy fresh buttermilk, it will just get thrown out.  You keep the powder in the frig and it will stay fresh for quite a while.  There are directions on the back for using it in recipes as a substitute for fresh buttermilk.

Give these a try sometime.  They are really quite easy and turn out great.

P.S.   In case you are wondering about the blue coffee container in some of the pictures, that is my flour canister.  I searched for quite a while for a suitable canister that had a mouth wide enough to get my 1-cup scoop in easily.  Never found one but this coffee container works great.

What Type of Flour Should I Use?

What Type of Flour Should I Use?

Ever wonder why there are so many different kinds of flour on the store shelves?  I used to get confused about what kind of flour I needed and didn't fully understand that one type of flour can't do it all.  Here's a picture of the different flours I have right now in my pantry.

From left:  bread flour, whole wheat flour, White Lily (all purpose) flour, cake flour, and Pillsbury (all purpose flour).

Why on earth does one person need all these kinds of flour?  Well, I do a lot of baking.  For baking cakes, I like to use a mixture of Cake Flour and the White Lily Flour.  For bread, I use mixture of Bread Flour and Whole Wheat Flour.  The other all purpose flour is what I use to "flour the counter" to roll out biscuits and stuff like that.

  Fair warning - I am a fan of Alton Brown, so this will start to get a little scientific.  These flours react differently because of the varying protein content in them.  The higher the protein content, the more the gluten will develop.  If you want a bread that rises nice with a soft texture, use bread flour.  You can use all-purpose, but it will not give you the same results.  I like wheat bread so I mix in some whole wheat flour with the white bread flour.  I have used whole wheat by itself, which will give you a slightly coarser texture.

For cakes, I want a much finer texture (this is called the "crumb").  That's why I use a mixture of cake flour and White Lily flour.  OK...stay with me here.  White Lily is milled from a soft winter wheat (I believe from the south).  It has a protein content of somewhere between a cake flour and regular all-purpose.  It's supposed to be great for biscuits.  I'll have to try that out sometime.  If any of you use it for biscuits, let me know.  I cheat a little and use Bisquick for biscuits.

Then, there is self-rising, which is just regular all-purpose with leavening added in.  That is the one flour I don't have in my kitchen right now.

Hope this little explanation has helped demistify the types of flour you may find on your grocery shelves.