Baking Powder
Commercially produced baking powder is a mix of bicarbonate of soda, tartaric acid, and a few other acids plus starch to keep it shelf-stable and dry. It is important to measure baking powder carefully for recipes, otherwise you may upset the balance.
Keep to hand for thick American-style pancakes or drop scones, scone making, and quick breads such as soda bread. It is indispensable when baking with unusual flours, helping give lift to cakes made from cornmeal, buckwheat flour and millet flour.
Bicarbonate of Soda
Bicarbonate of Soda
This commercially produced white powder is an alkaline substance used primarily as a raising agent. It reacts when mixed with acid foods such as lemonjuice, buttermilk and cream of tartar, or with boiling water, creating carbon dioxide or air bubbles.
Bicarbonate of Soda is often used in addition to baking powder to further boost the raising properties of cake mixes and so on. On its own it is an essential ingredient of recipes for Anzac biscuits, and the sweetmeat honeycomb, known in Scotland.
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is made from the podded fruit of the theobroma cacaotree, which is native to Central and South America. Each cacao pod contains 20-60 fatty cocoa beans, which are roasted and ground into a pulpy liquid called the chocolate mass. Most of the fat (the cocoa butter) is removed, and what remains (the cocoa solids) is processed to make chocolate.
To make eating chocolate, sugar is usually mixed into the cocoa solids and some cocoa butter is also added back into the mixture. Milk solids are blended in to make milk chocolate. This mixture is then heated and pressed through rollers before being conched (rapidly agitated) to make it smooth and bring out the taste. This can take anywhere between a few hours and several days depending on the quality of the chocolate. The chocolate is then tempered (heated, cooled then warmed slightly) so that it can be moulded.
• DARK CHOCOLATE: this is made from cocoa solids, cocoa butter and usually a little sugar and lecithin (a vegetable based emulsifier which will bind it). The very best dark chocolate contains 70% or more cocoa solids and little or no sugar.
• MILK CHOCOLATE: this combines 30-40% cocoa solids with dried milk solids, more sugar than dark chocolate, vegetable fats, an emulsifier and a relatively small amount of cocoa butter.
• WHITE CHOCOLATE: this contains no cocoa solids at all. It is made from cocoa butter, sugar, dried milk solids and an emulsifier. Avoid white chocolate made with vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter.
IN THE KITCHEN
To get the richest chocolate flavour in cooking, you should use a dark chocolate containing at least 70% cocoa solids. Store it in a cool, dry place – not in the fridge as this will cause the cocoa butter to separate from the solids, leaving a white bloom on the surface.
Chocolate will scorch if exposed to a high heat and seize if it comes into contact with cold liquids once melted. To prevent this happening, it is usually melted in a bowl set over (not touching) a pan of simmering water.
White chocolate is even more temperamental than dark chocolate and scorches easily. It is best to set the bowl over simmering water, then take it off the heat before adding the white chocolate and allowing it to melt slowly in the residual heat.
DID YOU KNOW?
Cocoa beans were used as a form of currency in the Aztec civilisations of South America. They were made into a bitter, chilli-spiked hot chocolate drink, and chocolate is still used in savoury cooking in Mexico.
The Spanish conquistadors brought cocoa beans back to Spain and sweetened the chocolate drink with sugar and vanilla. The craze spread around Europe, and it was the English who created the first chocolate bar. This was later refined by the Swiss who invented milk chocolate and developed the conching technique.
Cocoa butter melts at body temperature, so chocolate will melt slowly in your mouth, remaining somewhere between liquid and solid. This, together with the feel-good chemicals it contains is what makes it so irresistible to chocolate lovers.
Cocoa Powder
• DARK CHOCOLATE: this is made from cocoa solids, cocoa butter and usually a little sugar and lecithin (a vegetable based emulsifier which will bind it). The very best dark chocolate contains 70% or more cocoa solids and little or no sugar.
• MILK CHOCOLATE: this combines 30-40% cocoa solids with dried milk solids, more sugar than dark chocolate, vegetable fats, an emulsifier and a relatively small amount of cocoa butter.
• WHITE CHOCOLATE: this contains no cocoa solids at all. It is made from cocoa butter, sugar, dried milk solids and an emulsifier. Avoid white chocolate made with vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter.
IN THE KITCHEN
To get the richest chocolate flavour in cooking, you should use a dark chocolate containing at least 70% cocoa solids. Store it in a cool, dry place – not in the fridge as this will cause the cocoa butter to separate from the solids, leaving a white bloom on the surface.
Chocolate will scorch if exposed to a high heat and seize if it comes into contact with cold liquids once melted. To prevent this happening, it is usually melted in a bowl set over (not touching) a pan of simmering water.
White chocolate is even more temperamental than dark chocolate and scorches easily. It is best to set the bowl over simmering water, then take it off the heat before adding the white chocolate and allowing it to melt slowly in the residual heat.
DID YOU KNOW?
Cocoa beans were used as a form of currency in the Aztec civilisations of South America. They were made into a bitter, chilli-spiked hot chocolate drink, and chocolate is still used in savoury cooking in Mexico.
The Spanish conquistadors brought cocoa beans back to Spain and sweetened the chocolate drink with sugar and vanilla. The craze spread around Europe, and it was the English who created the first chocolate bar. This was later refined by the Swiss who invented milk chocolate and developed the conching technique.
Cocoa butter melts at body temperature, so chocolate will melt slowly in your mouth, remaining somewhere between liquid and solid. This, together with the feel-good chemicals it contains is what makes it so irresistible to chocolate lovers.
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder is made from the same bean from which chocolate is made. Intense and dark, it tastes a little bitter when raw, but brings a good chocolate flavour to the desserts, cakes and biscuits it is mixed into.
It is made by extracting the fat from the cocoa bean, then drying the residue and grinding it to a fine powder.
It is vitally important that you don't confuse it with the ready-made powdered drinking chocolate that might produce a cup of 'cocoa' - this is a combination of cocoa powder, sugar and powdered milk and if mixed into batters will not taste chocolatey.
Cocoa powder can be used on its own or in tandem with pieces of cooking chocolate to bring a rich chocolate flavour to cooking. Use cocoa powder to make chocolate crepes, muffins, cakes, biscuits, icings and toppings.
Filo Pastry
It is vitally important that you don't confuse it with the ready-made powdered drinking chocolate that might produce a cup of 'cocoa' - this is a combination of cocoa powder, sugar and powdered milk and if mixed into batters will not taste chocolatey.
Cocoa powder can be used on its own or in tandem with pieces of cooking chocolate to bring a rich chocolate flavour to cooking. Use cocoa powder to make chocolate crepes, muffins, cakes, biscuits, icings and toppings.
Filo Pastry
Filo pastry, also known as phyllo, is extremely difficult and time-consuming to produce at home. The translucent paper-thin leaves are created by beating and stretching as well as rolling, and demand a lot of space in the kitchen.
Filo is essential for Greek dishes such as baklava (honey and nut pastries) and spanokopitta (spinach and cheese triangles).
Fold into little parcels or pouches enclosing a moist filling, or shape into ragged tart cases.
Flour
Fold into little parcels or pouches enclosing a moist filling, or shape into ragged tart cases.
Flour
In western terms ‘flour’ without further qualification usually means wheat flour.
Flours are defined by whether they contain bran and germ or not, by their colour and by the type of grains milled to make them. Wholemeal, is a brown wheat flour that contains the whole of the grain. White flour is milled only from the starchy endosperm of the grain, with none of the bran and germ.
Flour can be plain or self-raising (with raising agents added to it), or can be strong (sometimes labelled ‘bread’ flour) if it is milled from a hard variety of wheat that is high in gluten. Granary which is made from a mixture of wheatmeal flour and malted wheatflakes, and Hovis, white wheat flour mixed with cooked wheatgerm, are both proprietary brands of flour.
Baking is a major use for flour, and different types are recommended for different forms of baking. Strong flour is preferred for yeast baking since it contains more gluten-forming proteins than soft wheat flours – it is the gluten that makes yeast doughs elastic and helps bread to rise.
Plain and self-raising flours are better for cakes and biscuits, where the aim is for a light, crumbly texture, and for most pastries. Flour is a major ingredient is other dishes too, such as dumplings, pasta and batters for pancakes, Yorkshire puddings and so on. It is also used to thicken sauces, gravies and stews, and as a coating for fish fillets, chicken joints and meats that are to be fried.
Puff Pastry
Flour can be plain or self-raising (with raising agents added to it), or can be strong (sometimes labelled ‘bread’ flour) if it is milled from a hard variety of wheat that is high in gluten. Granary which is made from a mixture of wheatmeal flour and malted wheatflakes, and Hovis, white wheat flour mixed with cooked wheatgerm, are both proprietary brands of flour.
Baking is a major use for flour, and different types are recommended for different forms of baking. Strong flour is preferred for yeast baking since it contains more gluten-forming proteins than soft wheat flours – it is the gluten that makes yeast doughs elastic and helps bread to rise.
Plain and self-raising flours are better for cakes and biscuits, where the aim is for a light, crumbly texture, and for most pastries. Flour is a major ingredient is other dishes too, such as dumplings, pasta and batters for pancakes, Yorkshire puddings and so on. It is also used to thicken sauces, gravies and stews, and as a coating for fish fillets, chicken joints and meats that are to be fried.
Puff Pastry
Puff pastry is both rich and light, the moreish flaky texture achieved by combining equal quantities of fat and flour into dough that is meticulously rolled and folded many times to build up fine layers.
Cooks who prefer to make their own puff pastry will typically use pure butter, but commercial manufacturers use cheaper fats. Bought puff pastry therefore does not taste as rich as home-made, however it is still acceptable and convenient to use in many dishes.
Making your puff pastry is time-consuming, so it is worthwhile producing a large batch and storing the excess in the freezer ready for use another day.
Puff pastry is used to make vol au vents, sweet or savoury piecrusts, traditional French sweet pastries such as mille feuille and pithiviers. It is a classic ingredient of beef wellington, salmon en croûte and pâté en croûte.
Sprinkle the trimmings with cheese and seeds and bake to make cocktail snacks.
Sugar
Yeast
Making your puff pastry is time-consuming, so it is worthwhile producing a large batch and storing the excess in the freezer ready for use another day.
Puff pastry is used to make vol au vents, sweet or savoury piecrusts, traditional French sweet pastries such as mille feuille and pithiviers. It is a classic ingredient of beef wellington, salmon en croûte and pâté en croûte.
Sprinkle the trimmings with cheese and seeds and bake to make cocktail snacks.
Sugar
Common sugar is sucrose extracted from sugar beet or sugar cane, the latter generally considered superior by good cooks.
Sugar syrup, a combination of sugar and water, can be used to make many things including sorbets, fruit salads, caramel and praline. Treacle tart, macaroons, toffee apples, fudge, sugar candy and meringues are all treats that rely on quality sugar.
Yeast
Yeast is a natural microscopic fungi that ferments other ingredients and, in the case of baking, helps doughs and other mixtures to rise. It comes in three main ready-to-use forms for the kitchen: fresh, dried and easy-blend.
Yeast is used for myriad breads and doughs, including pizza bases, sweet and savoury buns and some rich pastries.
Yeast batters are used for deep-fried fish, and occasionally pancakes and waffles.
Yeast batters are used for deep-fried fish, and occasionally pancakes and waffles.
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