My roommate and I took a baking class at Whole Foods. We mostly observed as our instructor put together five different recipes in about 3 hours. We did get to participate in making little individual fruit tarts. My roommate made a face with his strawberries.
We learned a few really cool facts that made me feel like I was more on the inside when it comes to the baking business. First of all, look at the ingredients in baking soda and baking powder-- the base bicarbonate of soda is the only thing in baking soda, whereas baking powder also has a chemical acid. This means that water is the only thing between baking powder and puffing up. Recipes that include baking soda also need an acid like vinegar, molasses, or buttermilk.
Another fun fact is that shortening got its name because it was used in biscuits and other crumbly baked goods to shorten the strands of gluten stick together when flour absorbs moisture. Kneading helps promote longer strands to form in bread dough.
No comments:
Post a Comment