Frequently Asked
Questions
|
- General
questions about flour
- Questions
about flour products
General
questions about flour
- Why is flour not suitable for
baking immediately after milling ?
- How do we produce wet gluten from
wheat flour ?
- What is bleached flour ?
- What is wheat flour ?
- Define extensibility as applied to
dough ?
- What are the three main parts of
the wheat grain ?
- What is the difference between
baking soda and baking powder ?
Questions
about flour products
- What are the basic characteristics of
bread flour ?
- Why do bread stale ?
- What causes holes in bread ?
- What is the difference between
compressed yeast and instant yeast ?
- Why do mooncakes crack on top ?
- Why do Swiss rolls crack while
rolling up ?
- How to prevent "weeping" in
glazed doughnuts ?
- How do I make a sheen on top of pies
and buns ?
- What can be done to make pastries
appear brown ?
- How would one know if a cake is done
?
- What causes a hard rubbery layer
on the bottom of cakes ?
- What causes cakes to crack deeply on
top ?
- How to prevent cakes from having a
dry and close texture ?
- How do I select the right flour for
bread ?
- What makes the yellow colour of the
alkaline noodles ?
- What are the most commonly used
alkaline salts in Oriental noodles ?
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Freshly milled flour is also called immature flour or
"green flour". It is not suitable for baking because of
its low water absorbtion capabilities and this will cause poor
handling characteristics during processing. The final product
will have low volume and poor crumb chracteristics.
When wheat flour and water are mixed into a dough, and is
thoroughly kneaded under water, the rubbery and extensible mass
left over is wet gluten.
Bleached flour is a term for whitened of flour. The creamy to
yellow colour in wheat flour is due to the presence of pigments
and adding bleaching agents such as benzoyl peroxide will whiten
the flour.
Wheat flour is a product derived from dry milling of wheat
grain. It is basically the endosperm or the dry reserve from
wheat germ. It consists mainly of starch and protein.
Extensibility of dough refers to the power of dough to stretch
when pulled and is directly dependent on the power of its gluten
to stretch. The extensibility of dough can be measured by dough
testing machines such as extensograph.
The three main parts of the wheat grain are :
- bran : outer layer of the wheat grain which is brown in
colour.
- endosperm : consist mainly of protein and starch.
- germ : embroye.
Baking soda is the common name for sodium bicarbonate. It is a
leavening agent used to increase the volume of baked goods when
they are cooked. Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate
and leavening acids such as cream of tartar and acid phosphates.
Bread flour is strong or high protein flour and has high
gluten content.
Bread stale because of changes in both starch and protein as
well as in the distribution of moisture between the two
components. However, in most of cases, changes in the starch due
to chrystallisation is the main cause. Other causes of staling
could be excessive drying of the bread before wrapping material.
To increase the keeping quality or self-life of bread, fats
and various emulsifiers such as glyseryl monostearate, sodium
stearoyl-2-lactylic, DATEM, etc... can be added.
Four main causes are :
- under mixed dough
- poor machining of dough
- excessive oxidation agent (potassium bromate or bread
improvers)
- incorrect block setting (in commercial bakery)
Instant yeast is also called dry yeast. It is normally sold in
10-12 gm sachets and can be added directly into other
ingredients. Compressed yeast is also known as fresh yeast and is
sold in blocks. It is cream in colour and firm in texture. To
use, crumble the fresh yeast in lukewarm water and leave to froth
between adding to the other ingredients. Compressed yeast can be
kept fresh in a freezer.
On proportion of instant yeast to compressed yeast, use half
portion of instant yeast to one portion of compressed yeast.
Mooncakes tend to crack on top due to extreme or uneven oven
heat.
Swiss rolls should be rolled immediately after baking, when
they are still soft. However, if cracking still happens, it could
be that the Swiss rolls were over baked, making them too dry to
be rolled up.
- Do not under fry; sufficient frying time is necessary to
give the doughnuts a darker and thicker crust.
- Make sure the doughuts are at the right temperature
before glazing because grains of sugar used in glazing
will not stick if the doughnuts are too hot or too cold.
- Instead of using sugar in grains, sugar syrup is
recommended.
Spray or brush the top of the product with oil or margarine.
- Brush a mixture of sugar and water on the crust.
- Brush some egg yolk onto the baked product and bake it
again for another minute.
- Colour test : Baked cakes are golden brown in colour.
- Spring test : When you touch the surface of baked cake
lightly with the tip of your finger, it will feel spongy
and springy. If it is not yet baked, it will be soft and
your finger may leave an indentation.
- Shrink Test : A cake shrinks from the sides of the pan
when cooked.
- Prick Test : Insert a thin skewer into the centre of the
cake; if it is sticky, the cake is not yet cooked. The
cake is considered done when the skewer comes out clean
or with only a few crumbs sticking to it.
- The egg white was not beaten stiff enough.
- Oven temperature was too low.
- Underfolding of egg yolks and whites.
- Overfolding or rough handling.
- Using shortening and not oil.
- Excessive beating of egg whites.
- Oven heat is too high.
- Cake is too dry.
Use fine granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar.
Generally, the following three main characteristics of wheat
flour are considered in determining its suitability for bread
making.
- Protein Quality & Quantity : The protein quality and
protein quantity required for bread making is usually
measured in terms of loaf volume, satisfactory crust and
crumb characteristics obtained under optimum conditions
of processing and formula. If two types of flour of the
same protein content give different quality. In general,
the overall baking quality of a particular flour depends
on a combination of protein quality and protein quantity.
- Dough Mixing Characteristic : Different types of flour
milled from different wheat may vary in the amount of
mixing required and in their mixing tolerance to produce
good bread. Dough made from weak flour tend to develop
faster, break down faster and have low tolerance. In
contrast, dough from a very strong flour requires very
long mixing time at high mixing speeds for optimum
development and may have good mixing tolerance, The most
desirable mixing characteristics for most baking methods
would be somewhere between those of weak and extremely
strong flour.
- Damaged Starch Level & Amylase Activity : Bread flour
normally contains 75-80 % starch. When wheat is milled
into flour, starch granules are subjected to physical
damage. Hard wheat usually has higher starch damage
values than soft. Effects of starch damage is important
in determining baking absorbtion, in producing
fermentable carbohydrates for gas production (with
amylases) and in controlling the level of dextrin
production by enzymic degradation of starch during
baking.
The yellow colour in alkaline noodles is attributed to the
naturally occuring pigments(flavones) in flour which are detached
from starch under alkaline conditions. In addition to that, some
noodle manufacturers add riboflavin(vitamin B2) or colourants
such as tatragine to enhance the yellow colour in noodle.
They are caustic soda(sodium hydroxide), soda ash(sodium
carbonate) and potash ash(potassium carbonate).
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