Ingredients have a big impact on baked goods, so what are some common baking ingredients?

Flour

Different varieties of wheat and parts of the grain determine the protein content of flour and its use. For example, durum wheat is used to produce high-gluten flour, soft wheat is used to produce low-gluten flour, and medium-gluten flour is usually made from the endosperm part of the wheat grain. The gluten content of flour is actually the percentage of protein (gluten) in the flour.

1. High gluten flour

Darker in color, more active and smooth in itself, not easy to form a dough when grasped by hand; more suitable for bread making.

Protein content of 10.5-13.5%, darker color, more active and smooth, not easy to form a ball; more suitable for bread, as well as some shortcrust pastry, also known as bread flour.

2.Medium gluten flour

Protein content of 8.0-10.5%, milky white color, between high and low flour, semi-loose body; baking is often used for soufflé, general Chinese snacks will be used, such as buns, steamed buns, noodles and so on. (In general, the ordinary flour sold on the market is this flour)

3. Low gluten flour

Protein content of 6.5-8.5%, the color is whiter, easy to form a ball with the hands; low protein content, gluten is also less, so gluten is also weak, often called cake flour, more suitable for cakes, muffins, cookies and tartlets need to be fluffy and crispy texture of the Western-style desserts.

If you don’t have low gluten flour at home, you can replace it with medium gluten flour mixed with 20% corn starch. The ratio of gluten flour to corn starch is 4:1. Corn starch can reduce the gluten in the flour.

4. Cake flour

Cake flour, also called pastry flour. In fact, low gluten flour is not equal to cake flour, because in foreign countries, flour classification is finer in some areas, low gluten flour is also divided into two grades at the same time, one is cake flour (Cake Flour), refers to the low gluten flour after chlorine treatment, so that the original low-gluten flour of the acid value of the lower, conducive to the organization and structure of the cake; a pie flour (Pastry Flour). The gluten level of pie flour is a little higher than cake flour, but it is also a low gluten flour.

5. Rich Flour

Rich flour is a kind of high-gluten flour that is finer, with high gluten content, fewer impurities, and whiter, similar to semolina.

6. Whole Wheat Flour

Whole wheat flour is made from whole grain wheat through grinding, sieving (grading appropriate particle size) and other steps, retaining the same proportion as the original whole wheat endosperm, bran and germ and other components of the product, whole wheat flour is rich in nutrients, is a natural and healthy nutritious food.

Whole wheat flour in the palm of the rubbing open, you can see there is crushed bran in the inside, the taste is rougher than the general flour, wheat flavor is more intense, often used to make whole wheat bread, cookies, steamed bread.

7. Corn Starch

Also known as cornstarch, cornflour, cornflour, is the starch extracted from corn kernels. It is used as a thickener in cooking to help thicken the texture of ingredients and thicken soups; and in the dessert-making process, when making batter, it is sometimes necessary to mix a certain amount of cornstarch into the flour.

Because of its gelatinizing properties, cornstarch is also used in pie fillings, such as creme fraiche. In addition, cornstarch mixed proportionally with gluten free flour is a good substitute for cake flour to reduce gluten and increase the fluffy texture of the cake.

8. Clarifying Powder

It is a kind of flour with lower gluten than low gluten flour, i.e. wheat starch, without gluten, the batter can be translucent and crystal clear when heated, which is used to make shrimp dumpling skin, crystal dumplings, etc. (also known as crystal powder).

9. Oatmeal

Usually refers to oatmeal, used in bakery products to make mixed grain bread and small western cake, etc..

10. Yeast

Yeast is a bulking agent used as a leavening agent for bread dough. Yeast is a single-celled microorganism in the form of tiny particles that is used in brewing production and leavening dough.

Yeast interacts with sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. When baked and heated, the alcohol is evaporated and the carbon dioxide expands, i.e., creating a puffing effect. It is a biological fermentation. It should be stored in an impervious container and kept refrigerated.

11. Baking powder

Baking powder is a compound puffing agent, from baking soda to add acidic materials, and cornstarch as a filler made of white powder, also known as baking powder and baking powder. Baking powder is a kind of pastry bulking agent, often used in the production of cakes and cakes.

It is mainly used for the rapid fermentation of grain products. In the production of cakes, cakes, buns, buns, shortbread, bread and other food products with a large amount. Physical fermentation.

12. Baking soda

Sodium bicarbonate is commonly known as baking soda. White fine crystals, solubility in water is less than sodium carbonate. This characteristic allows it to be used as a bulking agent in the food production process.

Baking soda is usually added in small quantities when making cookies. Baking soda makes the cookies crispy, but it has a bitter flavor when used in excess.

In Chinese pastry such as the use of baking soda can be combined with white vinegar or vinegar to the acid-base balance to remove the alkali flavor, baking soda can be mixed directly in the noodles, can also be dissolved into water before using (water temperature can not be too high), we usually common twist, open smile, are made with it, with it made out of food common characteristic is crisp.

13. Tartar powder

Beginners need to distinguish it from baking powder. Tartar is an acidic substance, in the egg white add a little tartar powder adjusted to weak acid can make the egg white whipped more stable.

Generally speaking, a teaspoon of cream of tartar can be replaced by a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar, but reduce the amount of egg whites by about ten grams. You don’t need to worry about the vinegar flavor when using white vinegar, as it neutralizes the alkalinity of the egg whites and is less noticeable after baking.

14. Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder is the cocoa beans (seeds) taken out from the pods (fruits) of the cocoa tree, and the cocoa bean fragments (commonly known as cocoa cake) obtained through fermentation, coarse crushing, peeling and other processes are crushed by defatted cocoa cake, and the powder after crushing is called cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder is divided into high, medium and low-fat cocoa powder according to its fat content; it is divided into natural powder and alkalized powder according to different processing methods. Cocoa powder has a strong cocoa aroma, can be used in high-grade chocolate, drinks, milk, ice cream, candy, pastries and other foods containing cocoa.

15. Matcha Powder

The raw material of Matcha is “Ground Tea”, that is, one month before the tea harvest, that is, in the tea plantation with a canopy, about 20 days will be picked off the tea buds, after distillation to remove the surface moisture of the tea, that is, dry tea grinding, and then grinding into a stone mill into a very fine powder, after the completion of the emerald-green powder, that is, the Matcha. Used for baking to add a special flavor.

16. Red Currant Powder

Redcurrant powder is a natural red coloring used in the south to make roast pork or tofu milk. Red currant is steamed with glutinous rice inoculated with red currant strain, fermentation and reproduction, the product is fermented dark red glutinous rice, after crushing to become red currant powder. The coloring is natural, but it is easy to oxidize, so it is mostly used in the catering industry. It is widely used in baking, and the bread, cake and cookies can be colored with red currant powder!

17. custard powder

Be sure to remind the novice students, do not be mistaken as a custard powder, custard powder is a spice powder, powdered, light yellow or light orange, with a strong milky and fruity flavor, the Department of fluffing agents, stabilizers, food flavors, food coloring, milk powder, starch and filler combination.

Custard powder was originally used in Western cuisine, mainly for the production of pastries and puddings, custard powder is easy to dissolve, suitable for soft, fragrant, smooth hot and cold desserts (such as cakes, egg rolls, stuffing, bread, tarts and other pastries), mainly to take its special aroma and flavor, is a more ideal food spice powder.

18.Vanilla Powder/Vanilla Extract

Extracted from the vanilla pods to enhance the flavor, is a very valuable plant spices, fine powder, with a strong vanilla flavor, can withstand high-temperature baking, for snacks, cakes, ice cream, etc., to increase the finished product’s texture and aroma, but also get rid of fishy smell of eggs.

Sugar

1. Fine sugar

Fine sugar, in fact, we usually see the white sugar. However, due to the difference in production process, there are coarse sugar and fine sugar.

In home baking, the most frequently used sugar is fine sugar, because its fine particles are easier to dissolve in the batter or dough, and easier to mix with other ingredients to improve the whipping efficiency. Coarse granulated sugar is difficult to dissolve because of its large particles and easy residue, and is generally only used for boiling syrup and other operations.

2. Powdered Sugar

It is sugar ground into a very fine powder. But sugar is very easy to absorb moisture after grinding into powder, so in order to avoid this phenomenon, at the same time about 3~10% of the starch mixture (generally cornstarch), to prevent lumps.

Because powdered sugar is very fine, it is very suitable for making cookies or cakes, for decorating pastries, and for making frosting or cream fillings. Also, since the process of mixing sugar and butter and whipping them evenly is often required during baking, powdered sugar, being fine, is also easier to mix with these ingredients.

Frosting can be understood as powdered sugar, and there is no obvious difference between the two. But the distinction to be made is that meringue and frosting are not the same thing. It is frosting made by adding whipped egg whites or protein powder, and is mostly used for frosting cookies or gingerbread houses.

3. Milky Sugar

This is also a common type of sugar in the home, it is more delicate and soft than granulated sugar, because its water content is a little higher than granulated sugar, and there is a small amount of converted sugar. When you do not have granulated sugar at home, you can also use white sugar instead, and both have little effect on the finished product.

4. Brown Sugar/Brown Sugar

Brown sugar refers to cane sugar with molasses. Sugar cane is juiced and concentrated to form sugar with molasses.

Brown sugar contains strong molasses and honey flavor, often used in heavier flavor cakes and cookies, caramel is granulated sugar after heating caramelized into dark brown, can be used as a coloring surface.

5. Caramel/Caramel Sauce

Caramel, also known as caramel color, commonly known as sauce color, is a thick liquid or powder boiled with caramel and cane sugar, dark brown.

Caramel sauce daily use is very wide, not only can be used in baking, coffee, milk tea when adding caramel sauce is also very delicious, more widely used in soy sauce, candy, vinegar, beer and other coloring!

6. Xylitol

Xylitol is a new type of natural sweetener and advanced therapeutic food extracted from corn cobs, bagasse and other substances.

Its sweet taste, the appearance of white crystalline powder, sweetness equivalent to sucrose, he can be used as a sweetener, the taste is relatively light, slightly lower sugar powder, not as sweet as sucrose, the family has diabetic can be used in baking instead of granulated sugar, but the patient can not eat more.

7. Water syrup

What exactly is water syrup? The explanation of “syrup” is: syrup made from malt, sugar dilution.

The main ingredients of water syrup are tapioca flour and water, which are fermented by heating tapioca flour with water. There are different names for water syrup, such as rice syrup, Luo Zai syrup, stone syrup, water syrup and Zhu syrup, etc. The difference lies in the different temperatures during the production, which will result in different softness and hardness; the higher the temperature is, the harder the maltose will be.

8. Maltose

Maltose is a kind of carbohydrates, which is produced by the action of amylase-containing malt on starch. We often use maltose in baking, especially when making sugar (such as nougat, toffee, etc.).

9. Honey

Mainly used in cakes or small cakes to increase the flavor and color of the product.

10. Conversion syrup

Granulated sugar is cooked with water and acid to a certain time and the right temperature and then cooled. This syrup can be stored for a long time without crystallization, most of them are used in Chinese mooncake crust, sauces and various products instead of sugar.

Oil

1. Butter

Butter, the English name is butter or butter fat, the Chinese early also called cream, is separated from the milk fat, our Hong Kong and Macao region also called it called “butter” This is different from another kind of butter (with the cow’s body fat like refining lard refining out of the oil) cow body fat oil in English beef Tallow, the two must be treated differently. Butter is generally used in baking.

Animal butter: baking is commonly used in unsalted butter, because the flavor of unsalted butter is relatively fresh, and sweeter, baking effect is better. Butter is more commonly used in some heavy oil cakes or cookies, by whipping butter can make the cake or cookie expansion to play a fluffy effect, and the flavor is more fragrant. Some recipes also call for melted butter instead of liquid oil. (Stock up on common oils.)

2. Margarine

English name is margarine, is margarine commonly known as vegetable butter, in fact, is not the real butter, is extracted from plant seeds in the oil (similar to salad oil) after hydrogenation, reduce the degree of unsaturated, solid fat, and then add yellow pigment and cream spices formulated to become the appearance of the taste is very much like butter margarine.

The price of ice cream is lower than butter, will produce trans fatty acids (the same reason as vegetable cream), especially on the cardiovascular harm is great.

3. Shortening

Shortening is a high melting point fat made from low melting point butter mixed with other animal oils or vegetable oils, and is used exclusively for making shortcrust pastry. Its melting point is usually above 44 degrees, which is the highest melting point among fats and oils, so the texture of the snacks is better.

4. Lard

A kind of fat extracted from pig’s fat, can be used in the production of Chinese shortcrust pastry. Cut the lard into cubes and stir-fry it in an empty pot, and it will boil out transparent lard. When cooled at low temperature, it turns white and solid.

5. White Lard

Commonly known as chemical lard or hydrogenated oil, is the fat processing deodorization, decolorization, and then given different degrees of hydrogenation, so that it becomes a solid white fat, can be used for bread production or instead of lard.

There is also snow white oil which is similar to white oil, with good whipping property and white and delicate oil quality, it can be used for heavy cream cake and buttercream frosting. General home baking is not recommended to use such materials, unhealthy, containing trans fatty acids.

6.Liquid oil

Salad oil, olive oil, corn oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, liquid cream and so on, can be used for cake and Chinese pie crust production. Generally used in cakes, bread and other pastry production need to choose salad oil, corn oil and other colorless and tasteless oil.

Milk

1. Fresh milk/milk

You can use powdered milk, concentrated milk without affecting the effect, whole milk, low-fat, skimmed milk can be. In many cases, even the same amount of water can be used as a substitute (of course, it can not replace the milk as the main ingredient of the food), but the taste will be a little worse. Except for special recipes usually milk can not be used after boiling, it will make the taste worse not so smooth.

2. Light Cream

Light cream, also known as thin cream, generally refers to the animal cream can be whipped laminating with the fat content of the general light cream in 35%, whipped into a solid form is the cake above the decorative cream.

Compared to vegetable cream is healthier, does not contain trans fatty acids, because there is no added sugar, so called light cream. Sugar should be added when whipping. The melting point is a little lower than vegetable cream, if you add some when making bread, it will also make your bread more fluffy.

At present, the whipping difficulty of different domestic brands is different, the taste is also slightly different, you need to choose according to your own preferences. Light cream, heavy cream, including vegetable cream are actually called whipped cream.

3. Milk powder

Powdered milk is a relatively common thing, add powdered milk in baking can play a role in increasing the milk flavor, so that the finished product taste milk flavor is more fragrant, often asked whether it can be replaced, powdered milk can not be used instead of milk, because of the increase in liquid will affect the finished product, you can choose not to put it, just in the aroma will be reduced.

In addition, there are specialized baking milk powder, the quality is relatively low compared to infant milk powder, the price is more affordable, but also no infant milk powder in a balanced ratio of various types of nutrition.

4. Condensed milk

Milk with sugar, heating, evaporation and concentration into concentrated milk products with sugar, that is, condensed milk, in fact, is a large amount of sugar added to the concentrated milk. Its milk fat content should not be less than 0.5% and milk solids content should not be less than 24%.

In baking, condensed milk contains too much sugar, so basically do not need to do the ingredients, not to mention can not replace butter or milk. Original and flavored condensed milk can be applied directly to baked or steamed confections. Or as a flavor enhancer in the ingredients.

5. Sour cream

Sour cream is made from thin cream fermented by lactic acid bacteria and flavor-producing bacteria. Compared with thin cream, it has a thicker aroma and higher cream rate, and it can inhibit the growth of undesirable microorganisms due to lactic acid bacteria fermentation.

But acidic cream also has some disadvantages, such as acidic buttermilk buttermilk, PH is lower, more difficult to deal with; and acidic cream is easy to oxidize, easy to produce a metallic taste, especially when there are traces of copper or other heavy metals exist, will accelerate this trend.

6. Yogurt

Yogurt is very common, is based on milk as raw material, after pasteurization and then add beneficial bacteria to milk (fermentation agent), after fermentation, and then cooled and filled with a milk product.

Currently on the market yogurt products are mostly curdled, stirred and add a variety of fruit juices and jams and other accessories of the fruit-flavored type. Yogurt is still relatively common in baking, such as yogurt mousse, yogurt meal packets, yogurt pudding and so on.

7. Cheese

Cheese, also known as cheese or cheese or cheese, the English name cheese, its nature and the common yogurt has similarities, are made through the fermentation process, also contain lactic acid bacteria can be health care, but the concentration of cheese is higher than yogurt, almost solid food, nutritional value is therefore more rich.

This category is the one that gives newcomers the most headaches. Cheese, cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese, cream cheese, light milk, light cream, and so on are a whole bunch of terms that give you a headache, and even worse, there are recipes that call butter cream too!

So how do you tell the difference? When shopping for cheese, because the Chinese name of cheese is sometimes different according to the phonetic translation, so please be sure to check the English name on the package to avoid buying the wrong.

8. Cream cheese

Cream cheese, also known as cream cheese, the English name of the cream cheese, is a kind of unripe full-fat cheese, white color, delicate texture, slightly acidic taste, very suitable for making cheesecake, cheese cheesecake. Cream cheese is very susceptible to spoilage after opening, so consume it as soon as possible.

9. Mozzarella

Mozzarella cheese, also known as mozzarella cheese, melts easily when heated and can be pulled out in long strands, often used to make pizza.

If you want to make a pizza with long strands, you have to use mozzarella cheese. It is best to refrigerate it in an airtight container at a temperature between 1℃ and 4℃.

10. Mascarpone cheese

Mascarpone cheese, English name mascarpone cheese, is a kind of fresh cheese, the production process is not fermented, so the taste is fresh, is the production of the famous dessert “tiramisu” necessary ingredients.

11. Cheddar Cheese

Cheddar cheese, also known as cheddar cheese or cheddar cheese, is a kind of original cheese, is one of the most common varieties of cheese, in most supermarkets can be bought.

There are many varieties of cheddar cheese, and the color and taste vary greatly depending on the variety, with colors ranging from white to pale yellow and flavors ranging from strong to mild.

12. Cheese slices

Is a kind of cheese cut into slices, also known as cheese slices, can be eaten raw, is not used to eating people will feel the taste of strange, a little salty. The best and easiest way is to be sandwiched in the bread to make sandwiches or hamburgers to eat, both delicious and convenient!

Gelatinous

1. Gelatin / Fish Gum Flakes

Translated from the English name Gelatin, also known as gelatin or fish gelatin, Gelatin is a gel extracted from animal materials such as cow or fish bones, with the main ingredient being proteins, rich in 18 amino acids. It is an ideal source of protein.

The flakes, also known as gellan gum flakes, are translucent, yellowish-brown, have a fishy odor, and need to be soaked to remove the fishy odor, and should be softened with cold boiled water before using gellan gum flakes. In the baking is mainly used for mousse cake, jelly, pudding, etc. Mainly play a role in coagulation.

2. Guylidin Powder

The flakes are called as Ghirardine slices, and the powder is called as Ghirardine powder. Ghirardine powder and Ghirardine tablets can be used in place of each other, the dosage is the same (such as 5 grams of Ghirardine tablets coagulability and 5 grams of Ghirardine powder is the same).

To soak softened Gilead powder, usually soak it in 3-4 times its weight in water. To soak the Guylidin tablets, then soak soft and fish out, wring out the water can be.

3. Agar

Agar is a coagulant made from seaweed, therefore, agar is a vegetarian food. Unlike Gilead, agar is much harder to dissolve and needs to be added to boiling water and simmered for a few minutes before it can be completely melted into the water, and once the temperature drops below 40°C, it will solidify immediately.

Agar also needs to be soaked before use and will swell to four times its size when fully soaked. Agar has a harder texture than Guylian, and is often used to make pastries such as suet and gazpacho, so agar is not interchangeable with Guylian.