BISCUITS AND COOKIES

The name biscuit comes from the French word bis, which means twice and cuit which means baked. It is a sweet or savoury dry flat cake with a high calorie content (420-510 / 100 gm) The raw materials used for biscuit manufacture is flour, sweeteners, shortening, milk, leavening agents and other miscellaneous products.

Cookies were at one time referred to as small cakes or sweet biscuits. The Dutch have provided bakers and confectioners with the word kocke which means small cake. The Americans began to use the word cookie, whereas the English continue to use the word biscuit for the same product. There are more varieties of cookies than any other baked product because there are so many different shapes, sizes, textures and flavors that are possible.

CLASSIFICATION OF COOKIES/BISCUITS

Cookies can be formed by dropping, rolling, cutting out, moulding and pressing. Cookies are usually classified according to the way in which the dough is shaped:

1.     bars and squares

2.     drop cookies 

3.     rolled cookies

4.     pressed cookies

5.     moulded or shaped cookies

6.     refrigerator cookies

7.     bag cookies (piped)

Bar and drop cookies are made with soft dough that has a comparatively high percentage of liquid. The other varieties call for a stiff dough, usually less sweet and often higher in fart content than soft dough.

MIXING METHODS

 Cookie mixing methods are similar to cake mixing methods. Major difference is that less liquid is incorporated, therefore less gluten. The methods of mixing are:

a.      One stage

b.     Creaming

c.      Sponge 

One Stage method: All the ingredients are mixed at once. Here the baker has less control over the mixing. 

Creaming method: This is identical to the creaming method for cakes.  The amount of creaming affects the texture of the cookies, the leavening and the spread, hence only a small amount of creaming is desirable.

Sponge method: This is similar to the egg foam method for cakes. The only batter is delicate. Precaution that one has to take is to keep the batches small because the

MAKE UP METHODS

Because their mixing is simple, it is better to classify cookies and biscuits according to their makeup.

Bagged:  Also, called pressed cookies are made from soft dough. The dough must be soft enough to be forced through a pastry (piping) bag, but stiff enough to hold its shape. E.g.: Butter Buttons

Dropped: these cookies are made from soft dough. In this method, the batter is deposited on a sheet for baking with a spoon or a scoop. When the dough contains pieces of nuts, dried fruits or chocolate bits or chips, this method is used. Also, when you want the cookie to have a rough homemade look. E.g.: peanut macaroons.

Rolled: Cookies are rolled and then cut with cutters. Bakeshops and 5 star operations do not make these type of cookies because of the labour involved. Also, after cutting the scraps, these are re rolled, making tough and inferior cookies. The only advantage is that you can make different shapes and sizes. E.g.: Tricolor biscuits

Moulded : In this method, each piece of dough is moulded into the desired shape. This usually involves flattening the piece out with a weight. (stamp the design) e.g.: Shrewsbury Biscuits (from Kayani, Pune).

Icebox: Also called refrigerated cookies. This method is ideal for operations that wish to have freshly baked cookies on hand at all times. Rolls of dough are made in advance and kept in the fridge.  They are then cut and baked as needed. This method is also used to make multi colored cookies in various designs. E.g.: chequered and pinwheel.

Bar: Here the dough is baked in long narrow strips which are then cut cross wise into bars. 

Sheet: This make up is like the sheet cakes….only denser and richer.

No matter what method is used, one important rule to follow is – the cookie should have a uniform size and thickness. This is essential for even baking. If the cookies are to be garnished, they must be done immediately on panning. Press them gently when still fresh. If you wait, the surface dries up.

PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE WHILE MAKING COOKIES/BISCUITS

1.     A major precaution to be observed while making cookie mixture is that they should be quickly mixed and never over processed.

2.     For hard to handle soft doughs, roll the dough directly on to the baking sheet. Cut into the desired shapes and remove the scraps from around.

3.     If cookies should stick to the pan, put the pan back into the oven for a few seconds. This usually loosens the cookies easily.

Cookies may be iced, sandwiched with filling or dusted with confectioners sugar. They make a excellent finger food dessert or can be used as a garnish for a dessert. Cookies are one of the most profitable items produced by the baker. An important factor in the production is the use of high grade ingredients. Butter is the preferred shortening. It has a better flavor and a melt in the mouth quality. Careful selection of the purest spices, extracts and flavorings will assure delicious cookies. The type of flour used for cookies can vary from flours of medium strength to soft texture. Strong flours are not recommended for making cookies.

COOKIES AND BISCUIT FAULTS

1. Lack of spread.

a.      Too fine granulation of sugar

b.     Adding sugar at one time

c.      Excessive mixing

d.     Too hot oven temperature

e.      Too much of acidity in the dough

2. Excess of spread

a.      Excessive sugar

b.     Too soft a batter consistency

c.      Excessive pan grease

d.     Too low an oven temperature

e.       Excessive or improper type of shortening

3. Tough cookies

a.      Insufficient shortening

b.     Flour too strong

c.      Over handling

4. Sticking to pans

a.      Too soft a dough

b.     Excessive egg content

c.      Unclean pans

5. Black spots and harsh crumbs

a.      Excessive ammonia

Sometimes we want some cookies to be crisp, others to be soft, some to hold their shape and others to spread. In order to produce characteristics we want, and to correct faults, it is useful to know what causes these basic traits.

Crispness: Cookies are crisp if they are low in moisture. 

-        Low proportion of liquid in the mixture, so stiff dough

-        High sugar and fat content

-        Baking long enough to reduce moisture

-        Small sizes or thin shapes

-        Proper storage

Softness: This texture is the opposite of crispness

-        High proportion of liquid

-        Low sugar and fat

-        Use of honey and molasses

-        short baking times

-        Large size or thick shapes.

-        Proper storage

Chewiness:  Moisture is necessary for chewiness

-        High sugar and liquid content

-        High proportion of egg

-        Strong flour

Spread:  This feature is desirable in some varieties of cookies while others must hold their shape

-        High sugar content increases the spread. Coarse sugar increases the spread while fine sugar reduces spread.

-        Baking soda and ammonia increases spread

-        Creaming fat and sugar contributes to leavening by incorporating air and therefore increases spread. Just blending fat and sugar to a paste reduces spread.

-        Low temperature increases spread

-        Excess liquid (slack batter) will increase the spread

-        Strong flour decreases spread

-        Spread is more on a heavily greased tray.

Pastry & its types

PASTRY

Various types of pastries are used in the preparation of sweet and savory dishes in the bakery and confectionery. These include:

1.     Short crust pastry

2.     Flaky pastry

3.     Puff pastry

4.     Danish pastry

5.     Choux pastry

6.     Rough puff pastry

7.     Hot water pastry

SHORT CRUST PASTRY

Short crust pastry is a mixture of flour, fat, sugar and sometimes egg and milk. The flour should have low gluten content, one that is milled from soft wheat flour. The fat will reduce the extensibility of the gluten that is it makes the gluten strands shorter….hence the term shortening for the fat used in the bakery and the term short crust pastry. The usual method of making short crust pastry is by the rub-in method. Chilled fat or butter is rubbed into the sieved flour so that it is finely dispersed and resembles a sandy or bread crumb like texture. The fat forms a thin layer or coating on the glutenin and gliadin molecules, without turning the fat into a continuous paste. Cold water is sprinkled over the mixture to form smooth dough. The ratio of fat to flour is normally 1:2, but the fat can be increased to equal the flour to obtain a rich dough. This dough would be very difficult but not impossible, to work with. Pate Sucre is a sweet version of this pastry and sugar is creamed with butter before the flour and the moisture is added. The ratio of sugar fat and flour is 1:2:4. Various sweet and savoury products are made with short crust pastry. It forms the base of several pies, tarts, flans and also products like cheese straws and turnovers. Few precautions must be taken when making short crust pastry. It is important not to work the dough too much as it will get tough due to the development of gluten. This can also happen when scrapings and trimmings are added to the dough and re worked. The use of too much flour for dusting will also alter the ratio of the mixture and cause toughening as the extra flour proteins – glutenin and gliadin -  does not have a coating of fat around it, and thus come together to form gluten.

Some faults in Short Crust Pastry

-        Hard or tough pastry is due to too much liquid or too little fat. It is also probably due to over mixing.

-        A soft and crumbly pastry is due to too little water for the binding, too much fat or the use of self raising flour instead of plain flour.

-        A shrunken pastry is due to excess stretching during rolling.

-        A soggy pastry is the result of the filling in the product being too moist.

LAMINATED PASTRY

This category of pastry includes Puff, Flaky, Rough Puff and Danish Pastry.

Puff and Flaky are two of the most remarkable products of the Bake Shop. Although they are similar products, they are made differently and it is almost impossible to tell which is. Puff is referred to as the French method whereas the English refer to it as Flaky pastry. The Scots have their own version and call it Rough Puff Pastry. The flour used for laminated pastry must be of high gluten content so that it will stand up to the manipulation involved in building up the laminated structure. Butter is the preferred fat because of its flavour and melt in the mouth quality. Special pastry margarine is also available. It has a low moisture content and good creaming value…ideal for this kind of pastry. This product is easy to work with as it does not get too hard in the refrigerator. A weak acid solution such as lemon juice or cream of tartar is added to the dough, as it will confer greater extensibility to the gluten.

Puff pastry has equal amounts of fat and flour. A dough is made with flour, salt, and the lemon juice. After allowing it to rest, the dough is rolled out into a square and the creamed block of fat is placed in the centre. The dough is then folded around the fat and it is refrigerated for a while. The dough is then rolled into a rectangle about ½ “thick. Fold the two ends to the centre and then into half (book fold). Make sure that the edges /corners are even. Refrigerate/rest the dough to relax the gluten. Do not refrigerate for too long as the fat will harden. Now turn the dough 90° on the table so that the length now becomes the breadth. This step must be repeated before subsequent rolling’s so that it helps to stretch the gluten in all directions, not just lengthwise. Failure to do this will result in the product that shrinks unevenly when they are baked. Repeat the rolling and folding a total of four times. The dough is now ready to be rolled out for the final shaping and cutting.

Flaky pastry is a similar product. The dough is similar but the amount of fat is only 2/3 that of the flour. The fat is creamed into a homogenous mass and divided into three parts. The dough is rolled out into a rectangle about ½ “thick. One third of the fat is then spread onto 2/3^rd of the dough surface. The dough is then folded into three so that there are alternate layers of fat and dough. The dough is then rested/refrigerated to relax the gluten. The process is repeated twice more to use up all the fat and then once again without fat (blind fold). Remember to rest the dough between each rolling. The pastry is now ready for the final make up.

Khari biscuits, vol-au-vents, cream horns, cheese straws, meat and vegetable puffs are some of the sweet and savory products made with puff and flaky pastry. 

Rough Puff pastry is the Scottish answer to Puff and Flaky pastry. This is the quickest method of making a laminated pastry. Old books describe it as the Blitz method, the term being derived from the German Blitzen. Meaning lightening.  In this method, the fat is mixed into the sieved flour in pieces, the size of walnuts. A dough is made using water and a little lemon juice, without using too much pressure so that the fat does not completely blend into the dough. The dough is then rolled out like the Flaky pastry method and the process is repeated two more times. The dough is now ready for rolling cutting into the desired shape.

When laminated pastries are baked, the fat melts and forms oil layers between the layers of dough, preventing them from sticking to each other. As the heat penetrates into the product, the water in the dough layers changes into steam and pushes the lubricated leaves of dough apart. This produces an increase in the volume of the dough. Later, the gluten in the flour coagulates while the water is dried out so that by the time the pastry is properly cooked, it is able to retain its distended puffy volume. The temperature of the oven has an important role to play in the success of this product. The temperature must be hot enough to generate the steam required.

Danish pastry is a rich, sweet and fermented dough. The fat is laminated into the dough and therefore, Danish is also considered a laminated pastry. A ferment of yeast, sugar, eggs and milk is added to the flour to make a soft dough. After resting and knocking back the dough, it is then rolled into a rectangle and the fat spread evenly. The dough is then cut into three uneven sizes and a spool is made….that is….rolling the smallest into the medium and then that into the largest piece of dough. The dough is wrapped into a moist cloth and refrigerated for 15-20 minutes. It is then rolled and cut into the desired shapes. Egg wash is applied and the product is allowed the second prooving and then is baked at 200°C for 20 minutes. The pastry is brushed with sugar syrup after baking.

Croissants, windmills, turnovers, napoleons, and breakfast Danish are products.

CHOUX PASTRY

The French term for this pastry Pate a choux literally means cabbage paste, because the profiteroles and cream puffs made from this pastry resemble little cabbages. These are hollow shells which have a crisp and brittle texture. They are then filled with a variety of fillings both sweet and savoury – including creamed cheese, fresh cream, crème patissiere, fish, and meat pate. Water, butter and salt are boiled together and then the flour is added in to form a partly gelatinised paste. It is mixed vigorously with a wooden spoon and then cooked once more till the mixture has a shiny appearance and leaves the sides of the pan. Beaten eggs are added gradually to the paste, beating continously to form a smooth pliable and piping consistency mass. It is then piped into the desired shapes – rosettes, fingers or balls. Choux paste is baked at 200°C so as to achieve maximum rise. The temperature is then reduced to 150C to dry out the shells and to obtain the crisp and brittle texture. During the baking, the products should not be subjected to unnecessary movements, otherwise the structure will collapse. Shells can be stored in airtight containers and used as and when required. Eclairs, Cream Puffs, Duchesses, profiteroles and cream puffs are all choux pastry based items.

HOT WATER PASTRY

This is also known as the cooked pastry and is seldom used these days. It is a lean dough made by cooking the flour, salt and a little fat in water to a paste. This paste is then used to line the sides of pie tins, using the hands to apply the mixture, the filling was then placed inside the tin and then covered with more of the paste. After baking, the dough was often discarded and it was more like a protective layer over the filling. Welsh miners oven carried their food wrapped in this pastry to work. At lunch time, the pastry was broken open and the filling- meat or fish - was consumed. Cornish Pasties, a traditional Welsh favorite was originally made with Hot Water Pastry.

Cake formula & balancing cake formula

CAKE FORMULA BALANCING

What is a CAKE FORMULA?

It is an accurate record of the quantities of the raw materials necessary to make a particular type of cake. In other words………..it is an accurate recipe. If the recipe is correct, it will produce a good cake. As important as the recipe is the correct temperature, time and packing of the product. A good cake is one showing no faults, either in appearance, texture or while eating. It should be of good flavor and aroma and if it contains fruits, they must be evenly distributed. Bakery being the science that it is, we refer to the recipe as a formula. In the bakery, the range of ingredients that are used and which are essential is limited. There is Flour, Fat, Sweetening and Moistening. Each of these has a specific role to play and must be in Balance with each other.

What is BALANCE?

The ingredients that are used in cake making are divided according to their functions:

The Tougheners – these are the ingredients that provide structure and form and give shape to the product. These will include flour and egg. The starch in the flour gelatinizes and the protein in the egg coagulates during baking and gives shape to the cake.

The Softeners – these are the ingredients that soften the texture of the cake and include sugar and fat and milk. This softens the texture of cake and makes it different from that of bread, which contains basically the same ingredients but in a different proportion.

The Moisteners – these ingredients like milk, egg and liquid sweeteners like golden syrup provide the moistening effect in the batter and adjust the consistency.

The Driers – are those ingredients, which absorb the excess moisture in the batter and include flour, milk powder, cocoa powder.

The problem in Balancing is that certain ingredients perform more than one function. Eggs provide toughening but are also a moistening agent. Milk is a moistening agent, but milk powder is a drier!!!! The aim of formula balancing is to balance the moisteners with the driers and the tougheners with the softeners. A simple sponge recipe may be in perfect balance, but when converted into a chocolate cake, the addition of cocoa powder in the recipe will mean additional driers so the corresponding moistening (addition of milk) will have to be increased as well.

There are three simple rules that govern Formula Balancing:

-        the weight of the fat should not exceed the egg

-        the weight of the fat should not exceed the sugar

-        the weight of the sugar should not exceed the total liquid

The Effect of Sugar

Sugar sweetens. It also has the power to lift and lighten the cake and to give the crust its color. It improves the taste and the flavour of the cake as well as the keeping quality and it adds to its nutritive value. The extra sugar in a recioe will result in the M Fault, when the extra sugar has lifted the batter to such an extent that the protein-starch structure can no longer hold up the cake and collapses. Excess sugar will result in spots on the crust and the crumb will be sticky (excess moisture). On the other hand, if the batter is made with less sugar, it will have a decreased volume with a peaked surface. The crumb will be dry and harsh. The peaked top is the result of the lack of softening action of the sugar on the gluten, which in turn will have greater resistance to expansion resulting in a peaked top.

The Effect of Fat

Fat imparts a rich and pleasant eating quality to the cake and increases the food value. Butter adds flavor and improves the quality of the cake. Because of its shortening property, fat/butter also prevents toughness. It holds the air that is incorporated in the initial process of creaming. To much fat in a recipe will result in a cake of poor vol; Ume. The top crust will be thick and greasy. An increase in fat must be balanced by an increase in the toughners (structural material) like flour and egg. Less fat will make the caske tough, the volume will be poor and the crumb structure will show tunnel like holes pointing to the centre of the crown of the cake.

The Effect of Baking Powder

Baking Powder is used for aeration, thus increasing the volume of the cake. Some recipes do not use baking powder and the aeration is provided by mechanical means like creaming or beating (of eggs) or by sieving. Excess baking powder will produce the same effect as an excess of sugar will produce. The only difference is that there is a generation of gas beyond that which the flour and egg can take, with the result, the cake collapses. The crust of the cake is darker than normal and the crumb is open and is discolored especially near the base of the cake. Less baking powder will produce a cake of poor volume.

Common Problems/Faults in Cakes

1.     Cakes rise and fall during baking: An unbalanced formula is commonly responsible for this condition. Too much liquid or sugar will weaken the structure. Less flour or weak flour will not produce the structure required to support the leavening action. An excess of baking powder will produce excess gas that will weaken the structure and cause collapse. Too much aeration caused by over beating will also stretch the cell structure causing it to weaken. Excess fat may overburden the flour and egg structure causing the cake to rise initially and then collapse. Also, if during baking, the cake in the oven is shifted about before the it is fully set, it will tend to fall back.

2.     Cakes sink after baking: Cakes that are rich in sugar and fat but not supported by sufficient flour and egg will tend to sink after baking. Excess moisture in the in the cake may cause shrinkage. Too rapid cooling of freshly baked cakes can also cause shrinkage.

3.     Cakes have Peaks: Peaks are often caused by too strong flour. A high gluten content will ause the batter to become stringy and binding. Lack of liquid results in a firmer batter that does not expand evenly and peaks are formed from the forced breakthrough of the expanding gas and steam.

4.     Fruits sink to the Bottom of the Cake: A moderately strong flour must be used to make fruit cakes. There should be sufficient amount of gluten developed to hold the fruits in suspension. Some amount of extra gluten can be developed by mixing the batter well, after the addition of the flour. This will provide a structure that is strong enough to hold the fruits and the nuts. Weak flour will allow the fruits to sink to the bottom as the fat melts and liquifies and sugars are in a syrup form. Also, large pieces of fruits will settle as they are too large to be supported. Fruits, which come in sugar syrup, must be drained properly. Excess liquid will act like a lubricant and allow the fruits to move rapidly through the batter during the baking process.

5.     Cakes crumble when sliced: An open grain and a weak structure are the primary cause for cakes getting crumbly. It may be due to over creaming, excess shortening or sugar or even improper mixing. A weak structure is caused because of a weak flour or lack of the flour – egg combination. An excess of sugar creates a very open grain that will not hold the fruits. Fruits that are not soaked and are dry will absorb the moisture and make the cake crumble.