Baking Questions

Cafe Society
1

My dream job is to be a baker. I know, strange one. Anyway, with the coming summer vacation (I’m a teacher) I tend to spend my free time practicing some new sweet concoctions, and I have some generic questions, and I figure it might bring around some from other people too.

*Do most people differentiate with flour, or does pretty much everyone do all-purpose? Someone told me once cake flour will make all the difference.

*Do you pack the measuring cup? My mom always packed the dry ingredients into the cup as much as she could. When I was taking some cake decorating lessons a few years back, the instructor mentioned she doesn’t pack the cup, just levels it off.

*I don’t like the grainy texture that powdered cocoa gives frosting, but the times that I have tried melted chocolate, it seems the consistency of the frosting ends up a little weird. Any suggestions?

*Can you make fondant at home? I always look out for recipes (more out of curiousity than anything) but I only see references to buying it already made.

I can’t think of anything else at the moment, but I’m sure I will later.

2

My (entirely inexpert) opinions.

I’m not sure I’ve ever baked a cake not starting from a mix, so I probably wouldn’t bother buying cake flour for a one-off cake. But if you are serious about being a baker, buy some cake flour and experiment. Try an all all-purpose flour cake, try an all cake-flour cake, etc. Pay attention to differences in texture, flavor, etc. then you will know what works for YOU.

(Make friends taste-test if you want to know what works for others as well).

I don’t pack the cup with dry ingredients. Just level off.

No clue on frosting. Except to say that there are lots of different recipes out there, suitable for different purposes, etc. Try a bunch.

No clue on fondant.

3

My best and only lesson learned about baking- follow the recipe exactly. There is no “wiggle room” in baking like there is in other cooking.

I have had many people try to persuade me that baking is incredibly difficult. No, it’s not- just do exactly as you’re told! Don’t substitute, don’t alter (unless you are an expert and know exactly what you are doing)- ingredient measurements and baking time/temps are crucial to success.

At least, that’s been my experience. YMMV.

4

I’m not a big fan of cakes, but I do know that cake flour does make a difference. It has less protein in it than bread flour, which means the crumb will be lighter (that is, the cake will be less tough).

Fondant is supposed to be a major pain in the butt. Save that for your advanced experiments, not for your beginner sessions, is my advice.

Don’t pack the measuring cup! Fill it lightly and then level it off with a knife. Cakes are pretty precise recipes, and this is the standard measuring technique.

Daniel

5

I made my own wedding cake last summer. It was a tremendous effort and by the end of it I had sugar and icing and everything else all over the kitchen, and myself, and my clothes, and if I hadn’t been close to tears with exhaustion, I’m sure my fiance would have been snapping pictures to pass around at the reception. Anyway, I did fondant, and it is a pretty big pain. I had practiced with it some, but not nearly enough. It turned out to be fine. the biggest problem was that we had an outdoor wedding and by the time we cut the cake the fondant was getting a little warm and starting to look a little sticky and not as smooth as it had. But it looked very adorable and I got lots of compliments, and everyone said it tasted pretty good.

6

In pro baking, you’ll find it to be a world of formulas, rather than recipies, and it’s not uncommon for ingredients to be measured by weight, so it makes no difference if the flour is packed in or sifted gently.

Usually, unless the recipe specifies otherwise, flour is measured after sifting, and by using dry ingredient measuring cups. These are the set of cups that precisely hold their stated amount once they’ve been overfilled and leveled off, as opposed to the more common glass thing with a pour spout and lines painted on the side.

7

My username is my profession, so I can tell you what I do on the job. But while there’s science to baking, there’s also art, so others can and probably will give different advice. That’s cool, and part of the fun.

When I attended the American Institute of Baking(AIB) our first labs were doing the most basic items, over and over, changing one ingredient to observe how it affected the finished product.

For example, take a basic yellow cake mix. One group would use boiling water in the mix, one ice water, one ideal temp, and so on. The cakes of the different groups would be analyzed, and you would learn why it’s needful to have things at proper temperatures.

[QUOTE=Jelymag]

*Do most people differentiate with flour, or does pretty much everyone do all-purpose? Someone told me once cake flour will make all the difference.
[/QUOTE]

For most items all purpose flour will work, but for yeast raised breads the higher protein/gluten flour will give even better results. For delicate cakes, if making from scratch, cake flour, which is lower in gluten, will be better.

[QUOTE=Jelymag]
*Do you pack the measuring cup? My mom always packed the dry ingredients into the cup as much as she could. When I was taking some cake decorating lessons a few years back, the instructor mentioned she doesn’t pack the cup, just levels it off.
[/QUOTE]

Depends on the ingredient, but mostly I level off, if I am measuring. But for the most part I weigh my ingredients. It gives better consistency for bulkier items. Of course, items like baking powder, baking soda, or spices, are measured, and I don’t pack.

[QUOTE=Jelymag]
*I don’t like the grainy texture that powdered cocoa gives frosting, but the times that I have tried melted chocolate, it seems the consistency of the frosting ends up a little weird. Any suggestions?
[/QUOTE]

I usually use powdered cocoa. I find that mixing it in right at the beginning, with the powdered sugar, gives smooth results. I also add just a little extra fat/oil. A useful way to substitute for those bars of unsweetened chocolate is three tablespoons of cocoa powder plus one tablespoon of oil, butter, or shortening, equals one bar.

[QUOTE=Jelymag]
*Can you make fondant at home? I always look out for recipes (more out of curiousity than anything) but I only see references to buying it already made.
[/QUOTE]

You can make fondant at home, but it’s so much easier to buy it prepared. You can probably find recipes in many places, but try p. 93, in the Wilton book Decorating Cakes, for a scratch recipe.

If you have the summer to play, do breads too(MY favorites!) IMNSHO, the *best * bread book, bar none, is the late James Beard’s Beard on Bread. With a wide variety of breads, he takes you through all the steps of making bread. Beard gives you explanations of why certain steps are done as they are, and gives troubleshooting advice as well. He had a great sense of humor too. Trust me on this one. It’s not a big book, and I believe it’s still in print.

Baking can be long hours, early hours, messy, and tiring. But I love it myself, and while I’ll never be rich I like going to work.

:smiley: But try to have someone else do the face to face with customers. They just don’t understand why high quality, labor intensive products can’t be produced at fast food prices, within the hour!

If you have any other questions I’ll be happy to try and answer with how I do things.

8

Dang. Lost the edit window.

A great website for cooking in general is www.allrecipes.com The following is a recipe for fondant found there, similar to the one I mentioned above.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rolled-Fondant/Detail.aspx

Ingredients like glycerin can be found at most cake supply places, or stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels, that stock cake making supplies.

9

If you are serious about learning the science of baking, this is a great place to start. It isn’t only about baking, but it covers cakes, breads, cookies, flour and eggs in some depth.

10

[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
…
Don’t pack the measuring cup! Fill it lightly and then level it off with a knife. Cakes are pretty precise recipes, and this is the standard measuring technique.
…
[/QUOTE]

With the exception of brown sugar, that is - all recipes say to pack it into the cup. This is because it tends to be clumpy and if you don’t pack it into the cup, you won’t get the correct measure.

Oh and a bonus comment on brown sugar: There’s a variety from Domino labelled “brownulated”. It’s processed somehow so that it comes in dry grains, sort of round, rather than sticky brown sugar. Per the packaging, it can be used in place of regular brown sugar in recipes etc.

No, it can’t. I’ve used it in cookie recipes and while the cookies tasted OK, their texture and “mouth feel” were completely different. Don’t use it in baking anything you care about. It’s doubtless great for sprinkling on stuff, sweetening drinks, etc., but not for baking.

11

[QUOTE=Jelymag]
*Do most people differentiate with flour, or does pretty much everyone do all-purpose? Someone told me once cake flour will make all the difference.

[/QUOTE]

I use all-purpose all the time.

Depends on the dry ingredient. For most, I just level it off. I pack brown sugar. I sift flour, then measure and level off.

No idea on your other two questions.

12

I use all-purpose flour exclusively, unless the recipe specifically calls for cake flour or bread flour. That said, different brands of all-purpose flour have different amounts of protein in them, and that can affect your cakes. I think it’s Shirley Corriher’s book that CairoCarol linked above that has some info on the amount of protein in each brand. This doesn’t mean that I keep lots of different all-purpose flours on hand, it means that I try to aim for a middle-of-the-pack flour.

As for measuring – for flour, a lot of cookbooks these days will tell you (in the intro or something) what method they use: dip-and-sweep, spoon into the cup, pour into the cup, etc. I try to use the same method they do, since it can make a difference! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone recommend packing your measuring cup when measuring flour, though; that’s the standard for brown sugar, but nothing else AFAIK.

I make wedding cakes (I mean, I’ve made a few of them; I don’t make them regularly, or anything!), and I do NOT feel the need to mess with making my own rolled fondant. That, to me, just sounds like a huge pain in the ass, especially when there are fine products out there that are easily available and not too expensive. I might consider it if I only wanted a small amount and felt like experimenting, though.

13

For cakes, I think you get the best – and most consistent – results by sifting the flour first, then measuring. Otherwise, the exact amount is going to vary from one time to the next depending on how much the flour has settled in the container. Most recipes I have say “X cups *sifted * all-purpose flour.”

I generally sift a second time together with any other dry ingredients like baking soda, salt, etc. Sugar’s generally mixed in with the butter or shortening.

Angel food cakes MUST have cake flour.

14

I sift and then measure only if they call for “sifted flour”. Otherwise I spoon it in straight from the canister and level off with a butter knife. Then I sift if they tell me to.

15

This is a really cool book about some of the whys of baking and cooking (including packing measuring cups and sifting) http://www.amazon.com/Inquisitive-Cook-Accidental-Scientist/dp/0805045414

16

[QUOTE=Baker]

Depends on the ingredient, but mostly I level off, if I am measuring. But for the most part I weigh my ingredients. It gives better consistency for bulkier items. Of course, items like baking powder, baking soda, or spices, are measured, and I don’t pack.

[/QUOTE]

As a side note, if you plan on doing a lot of baking at home, invest in a high quality scale (I use an Edlund digital scale.) As you work on recipes at home, measure them correctly THEN weigh them, writing down the results. This way you have an easy way to scale your recipes up or down, if you need to.

17

It was said somewhere (can’t remember, maybe on a TV show) that a lot of bakers use cake mixes now for the basic cake because some of them are good enough that scratch doesn’t make that much difference, and the baker has more time for the more creative aspects of his art. Is that true?

18

[QUOTE=Liberal]
It was said somewhere (can’t remember, maybe on a TV show) that a lot of bakers use cake mixes now for the basic cake because some of them are good enough that scratch doesn’t make that much difference, and the baker has more time for the more creative aspects of his art. Is that true?
[/QUOTE]

At my workplace we do a lot of scratch work, but for cakes I do use mixes, for just the reasons given above. It’s not that I can’t make cakes from scratch, but there’s only so much time. And mixes can be jazzed up with added things mixed in. For example, I make a mocha cake by using cooled coffee, with a couple shots of espresso, in place of the water.

19

Any tricks to get air bubbles out of the cake batter?
I’ve tried running a spatula through to lift them out, pouring the batter in a slow stream, tapping the full pans on the counter, nothing works.
My cakes look like ants have been mining gold in them :frowning: ! Help!

CMC fnord!

20

You might want to check your water temperature, to make sure it isn’t too warm. That can cause a coarse structure. Do your layers attain the right height, or are they just a little short? What kind of water would you get? I mean, is it really hard or soft water you’d get from the tap? pH levels might be off.

Do you mix by hand, or with a mixer? They could be over mixed. If you do use a mixer, try once mixing by hand, with a wire whip, and see what results you get.

What elevation are you at?