1. Chapter 8
Desserts and Baked Goods

2. Baker’s Ingredients
strengtheners provide stability and ensure that the baked item doesn’t collapse once it is removed from the oven
Gluten (protein in flour is developed as bread is kneaded = elastic quality)
All-purpose flour: falls between pastry flour and bread flour in gluten
Bread flour: high gluten, used for breads, hard rolls
Cake flour: low gluten content, soft, smooth texture
Durum flour: hard, wheat flour used to make breads; gluten content is higher than bread flour
Pastry flour: in between bread and cake flour in gluten content
Semolina flour: type of durum flour used in pasta
Shortenings/fats: make baked goods moist, add flavor, and keep the baked item fresh longer.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

3. Baker’s Ingredients Leaveners allow the dough or batter to rise
Chemical leaveners: (introduces carbon dioxide)
Baking powder: mixture of baking soda and acid; needs liquid and heat to activate
Baking soda: must have liquid and acid to activate
Physical leaveners: (introduce air into batter)
creaming method: beat fat and sugar = air in batter
(cakes and cookies)
foaming method: beat egg whites w/ or w/o sugar
(meringue, angel food cake)
Organic leavener: yeast (microscopic fungus)
needs warm liquid and sugar to activate = CO2 & alcohol

4. Bakers Ingredients
Sweeteners add flavor and color to baked goods (as sugar caramelizes, it turns brown)
Thickeners: combined with the stirring process
Determines the consistency of the finished product
Gelatin, flour, arrowroot (starch from a tropical root), cornstarch, and eggs
Flavorings: affect a baked item’s taste and color
Cocoa, spices, salt and extracts
Liquids: one of the most important elements of baking
Provides moisture & allows gluten to develop properly
water, milk, cream, molasses, honey, or butter.

5. Baker’s Measurements
Standardized recipes for bakery products are called formulas.
Flour always has a proportion of 100%, and the percentages of all other ingredients are calculated in relation to the flour.
The formula for baker’s percentages is:
Weight of ingredient ÷ (Weight of flour × 100 percent) = percent of ingredient
A yield is how much of something is produced.
Sifting adds air to flour, cocoa, and confectioner’s sugar; removes lumps
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

6. Types of Dough
Lean doughs are made with flour, yeast, water, and salt.
Rich doughs are made with the addition of shortening or tenderizing ingredient (sugar, eggs, milk)
Kneading: develops the gluten in the dough; gives it the stretch
Straight-dough/mix method: can be used to make all yeast breads (lean, rich, and sponge)
Mix all ingredients in bowl, mix and knead
Sponge method
Mix yeast, ½ liquid, ½ flour to form a “sponge”
After sponge rises, add the remaining ingredients
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

7. Types of yeast doughs Sourdough:
Made with a starter (water, yeast and flour that has fermented until it smells sour – usually overnight)

8. Yeast Bread Preparation
Scaling ingredient
Mixing and kneading ingredients
Fermentation (1st rising, warm spot)
Punching down
Portioning
Rounding
Shaping
Proofing (2nd rise), warm spot, until double in size
Baking ( degrees)
Cooling and storing
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

9. Quick Breads and Cake Batters
Quick breads use chemical leaveners rather than organic ones (yeast) and therefore don’t require a rising period (biscuits, muffins, etc.)
A batter is a semi-liquid mixture containing flour, liquid, and other ingredients.
A batter typically has more fat and sugar than a dough and is usually thin enough to be poured.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

10. 4 Methods for Preparing Quick Breads
Creaming method: cream fat and sugar to produce a very fine crumb (yellow cake)
Foaming method: foam of egg whites and sugar (angel food cake)
Straight-dough method: combine all ingredients at once (cornbread, muffins)
Two-stage method: used for high ratio cakes
higer ratio of sugar than flour in recipe
Fine crumbs and are very moist
Devil’s food cake

11. Icing Icings have three main functions: Buttercream: sugar and fat
protective coating around cake
flavor and richness.
improve appearance.
Buttercream: sugar and fat
Fondant: shiny icing with nonsticky coating when dried
Ganache: chocolate and cream
Glazes: drizzles rather than spread
Royal icing: sugar and egg whites
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

12. Steamed Pudding and Soufflés
Steamed puddings and dessert soufflés are made of batters that require special handling.
Steamed puddings are more stable than soufflés because of the greater percentage of eggs and sugar in the batter.
Soufflés are lightened with beaten egg whites and then baked.
Baking causes the soufflé to rise like a cake. As the soufflé rises, the moisture evaporates and the light batter sets temporarily.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

13. Pies
3-2-1 dough—used to make pie crusts; it is made of three parts flour, two parts fat, and one part water
Crusts should be flaky, tender and flavorful
Baking blind is the procedure for baking an empty pie crust (must be weighted down or poke holes using fork)
Cheesecake: made from a cream cheese or quark (a cheese that is a lot like sour cream) and egg batter on a crumb crust, using a spring-form pan.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

14. Pastries
Roll-in dough method: used to make Danish, croissant, and puff pastry.
Puff pastry can be used in both sweet and savory applications.
Use phyllo dough to prepare baklava, a dessert made of thin pastry, nuts, and honey.
pâte à choux: combine water (or another liquid), butter, flour, and eggs into a smooth batter.
éclairs, cream puffs, and profiteroles.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

15. Cookies
Use the same creaming method as quick breads and cake batters, but with the liquid and the flour added at the same time.
Due to their high sugar content, cookies are best when they are baked in convection ovens.
The seven makeup methods for cookies are:
Dropped (chocolate chip)
Bagged (ladyfingers)
Rolled (sugar cookies)
Molded (peanut butter)
Icebox
Bar
Sheet (brownies)
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

16. Chocolate Preparation and Products
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans picked from cacao trees.
1. Processors roast the cocoa beans
2. Crack the beans into small pieces, called nibs, which are the
basis of all cocoa products.
3. Beans are crushed into a paste that is completely unsweetened,
called chocolate liquor.
4. Chocolate liquor may be ground to give a smoother texture, or
pressed to separate the liquid from the solid materials:
The liquid is cocoa butter, which can be combined with chocolate liquor to make eating chocolate, or flavored and sweetened to make white chocolate.
The solids are further ground to form cocoa powder.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

17. Chocolate Storage
To store chocolate, wrap it carefully, and keep it in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area.
Do not refrigerate chocolate. Refrigeration causes moisture to condense on the surface of the chocolate.
Sometimes a white coating, called bloom, appears on the surface of the chocolate. The bloom indicates that some of the cocoa butter has melted and then recrystallized on the surface.
Properly stored, chocolate will last for several months.
Cocoa powder stored in tightly sealed containers in a dry place will keep almost indefinitely.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

18. Tempering Chocolate
Tempering: melting chocolate by heating it gently and gradually.
To temper chocolate, chop the chocolate into coarse pieces and place it in a double boiler, a stainless steel bowl over water, simmering on very low heat (until it reaches 105 degrees)
If chocolate becomes grainy or scorched, discard it
Tempered chocolate will coat items with an even layer and then harden into a shiny shell.
Tempered chocolate can be drizzled or piped out into designs with a piping bag for decoration, or can be used as a glaze.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

19. Frozen Desserts
Quality ice cream has a custard base, melts readily in the mouth, and does not weep, or separate, when it softens at room temperature.
Gelato is an Italian version of ice cream. Unlike ice cream, however, it does not contain eggs.
Sherbet contains milk and/or egg for creaminess.
Sorbet contains no dairy, just fruit juice or purée with sweeteners and other flavors or additives.
Frozen yogurt contains yogurt in addition to the normal ice cream ingredients.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

20. Poached Fruit and Tortes
To poach fruit, combine fruit with a liquid, usually a mixture of sugar, spices, and wine.
Heat the fruit and liquid together until the fruit is tender.
Use fruits that are firm enough to hold their shape during cooking (peach melba and pears belle Helene)
A torte is an elegant, rich, many-layered cake often filled with buttercream or jam.
Normally, pastry chefs use Génoise, French sponge cake, in preparing a torte.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

21. Dessert Sauces and Creams
Vanilla sauce, also known as crème Anglaise, is a classic accompaniment to soufflés and steamed puddings.
Fruit sauces can be raw or cooked, depending upon the desired flavor (coulis, fresh berry sauce)
Fruit syrups: cooked sugar based juice
Chocolate sauce is a family of sauces and syrups with cocoa or melted chocolate as the base.
Pastry creams: used as filling for eclairs
Bavarian creams: three basic ingredients: vanilla sauce, gelatin, and whipped cream.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods

22. Plating and Presenting Desserts
Good plate presentation requires careful attention to colors, shapes, textures, and arrangement of food on the plate.
Guests eat first with their eyes, then their noses, and finally with their mouths.
There are two areas of presentation technique: first, the food itself, and second, the plate, platter, or dish as a whole.
When plating desserts, everything on the plate should be edible.
It’s best to place dessert decoration in threes, because that tends to be appealing to the eye.
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Chapter 8 | Desserts and Baked Goods