Baking problems solved

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix 1 Problem solving – a guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 How to problem solve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 The record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3 The analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.4 Modelling techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.5 The information sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.6 Some key ingredient and process factors affecting product quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2 Flours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.1 What effects will variations in flour protein content have on baked product quality? How is the property measured? . . . . . . 18 2.2 There are many references to protein and gluten quality in the technical literature. How important are these properties for bread and other baked products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.3 I have seen that there are several different methods to assess flour protein quality. Which one gives the most meaningful results? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Contents 2.4 We have been using a flour ‘fortified’ with dry gluten for breadmaking. The bread is satisfactory when made on a highspeed mixer but less so when we use a low-speed mixer. What is ‘dry gluten’ and can you explain why we get different results when we change mixers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.5 What is the Falling Number of a flour and how is it measured? What values should we specify for our flour miller? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.6 What is damaged starch in flour? How is it damaged and how is it measured? What is its importance in baking? . . . . . 25 2.7 We find that we often have to adjust the water level we add to our flours in order to achieve a standard dough consistency. What are the factors that cause the water absorption capacity of flour to vary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.8 Why is flour particle size important in cakemaking? . . . . . . . 28 2.9 What is heat-treated flour and how can it be used? . . . . . . . . 30 2.10 What is chlorinated flour and how is it used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.11 We have two supplies of wholemeal (wholewheat) flour: one is described as ‘stoneground’ and the other comes from a roller mill. Why is the bread we obtain from the stoneground flour often smaller in volume? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2.12 Some wholemeal flour we have had in stock for a while and it has passed its use-by date. Can we still use it? . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.13 What are the active components in self-raising flour? . . . . . . 36 2.14 What are ‘organic’ flours, how do they differ from other flours and what will be the differences to the baked product? 37 3 Fats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 3.1 What are the critical properties of fats for making bread, cakes and pastries? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 3.2 Our bread doughs prove satisfactorily but they do not rise in the oven. On some occasions they may even collapse and blisters may form on the dough surface in the corner of the pans. What is the cause of these problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3.3 What is the role of fat in the manufacture of puff pastry? .. 43 3.4 What is the optimum level of fat to use in the production of puff pastry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 3.5 Our puff pastry fails to rise sufficiently even though we believe that we are using the correct level of fat. Are we using the correct type of fat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 3.6 What is the role of fat in cakemaking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3.7 We are making ‘all-butter’ cakes but find that after baking they lack volume and have a firm eating character. Why is this and is there any way to improve the cake quality? . . . . . . 47 vi Contents 3.8 We have been using oil in the production of our sponge cakes but we wish to change to using butter. How can we do this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 3.9 We wish to produce a softer eating sponge cake and have been trying to add fat or oil but cannot get the quality we are seeking. Is the addition of fat to sponge batters possible and what do we need to do to achieve the quality we are seeking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.10 We are making a non-dairy cream cake and find that after some days a ‘soggy’ layer forms at the interface of the cake and the cream. We have balanced the water activity of the cake and cream but still see the problem and so believe that this comes from fat migration from the cream. Are we correct? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4 Improvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 4.1 What are bread improvers and why are they used? . . . . . . . . . 52 4.2 What are the functions of ascorbic acid in breadmaking? . . . 54 4.3 We have heard that soya flour is added in breadmaking to make the bread whiter. Is this true, and if so how does it work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.4 We are using a bread improver that contains enzyme-active malt flour and find that doughs are becoming too soft and that the sidewalls of loaves collapse inwards to give a ‘keyhole’ shape. Is the malt flour to blame? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.5 We understand that an enzyme called
-amylase can be added to flour or dough to improve bread quality but that there are several different forms. We have tried several and get different effects on bread softness. Which one(s) should be used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.6 Why are emulsifiers used in bread improvers? How do we decide which one we should be using? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4.7 What is L-cysteine hydrochloride and what is it used for in bread improvers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 5 Other bakery ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5.1 Is it true that yeast requires oxygen before it can work correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5.2 How does bakers’ yeast produce carbon dioxide in breadmaking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 5.3 We have been advised to store our compressed yeast in the refrigerator but our dough temperature is much higher: is this the correct thing to do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 5.4 What are the causes of the dark brown patches we sometimes see on bakers’ yeast? Do they have any effect on baked product quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Contents vii 5.5 We have recently been experiencing ‘weeping’ from our nondairy cream formulation. This shows itself as a ‘soggy’ layer where the cream is in contact with the cake. How can the problem be cured? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 5.6 The chocolate fondant on our cream e´clairs falls off the top of the casing and gathers on the tray underneath as a sticky syrup. What causes this and how can we prevent it? . . . . . . . . 70 5.7 When we changed our supply of bun spice in our hot cross buns we experienced problems with slow gassing in the prover and flowing of the buns during baking. What can we do to avoid these problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 5.8 We are making a fruited bun product and from time to time experience problems with the product flowing out during proving and baking. What is the cause and how can it be remedied? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 5.9 We wish to use milk powder in our fermented goods and have heard that it is advisable to use a heat-treated form. Why is this so? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 5.10 Does the addition of mould inhibitors have any significant effects on baked product quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 5.11 What are the functions of salt in baking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 5.12 What are the correct proportions of acid and alkali to use in baking powders? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 5.13 Why is sodium bicarbonate frequently used alone or in excess to the normal baking powder for the production of ginger products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 5.14 We are using walnuts in our gateau filling and find that it turns black. It does not appear to be mould. What is the cause of this discoloration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 5.15 What is the role of emulsifier in the production of sponge cake products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 6 Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 6.1 We are producing a range of pan breads, some baked in a rack oven and others in a deck oven, and find there are large indents or cavities in the base of many of the loaves. What is the cause of this effect and how can it be overcome? . . . . . . . 81 6.2 We are experiencing a problem with the sides of sandwich loaves caving in. Sometimes the lid also shows the same problem, though to a lesser degree. Is the problem associated with overbaking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 6.3 We are producing hearth-style (oven-bottom) breads, baguettes and French sticks and are experiencing problems with ragged cracks appearing along the sides of the loaves. What are the likely causes of this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 viii Contents 6.4 We have noticed the development of a ‘fruity’ odour in our breads after they have been stored. The problem is particularly noticeable with our wholemeal products. What is the cause of this problem and are there any remedies we can apply to prevent its occurrence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 6.5 When viewing the crumb appearance of our sliced bread we notice the appearance of dark streaks and patches that have a coarser cell structure and firmer texture than the rest of the crumb. Is this a problem with uneven mixing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 6.6 Periodically we observe the formation of large holes in the crumb of our pan breads and suspect that the adjustment to the pressure board on our final moulder is faulty. Can you confirm our suspicions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 6.7 What is the function of four-piecing or cross-panning in breadmaking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 6.8 Can you explain the role of energy in the Chorleywood Bread Process? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 6.9 We are using the Chorleywood Bread Process to develop our doughs and apply a partial vacuum during mixing to produce a fine and uniform cell structure in the baked loaf. Sometimes we observe that the cell structure becomes more open even though the vacuum pump is still working. What is the cause of this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 6.10 We are using spiral mixers for our bread doughs. What is the best mixing time to use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 6.11 Why is it necessary to control the temperature of bread doughs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 6.12 We have been experiencing some variation in crust colour on our bread products. What causes bread crust colour and why should it vary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 6.13 Why is the surface of some bread doughs cut before baking? . . 99 6.14 What are the best conditions to use for proving bread dough? 100 6.15 Can we freeze our unproved dough pieces and store them for later use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 6.16 What happens when dough bakes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 6.17 Why do crusty breads go soft when they are wrapped? . . . . . 104 6.18 We have been comparing our bread with that of our competitors and find that our breads are firmer. Why? . . . . . 106 6.19 We have been deep-freezing bread products and experience a number of problems with different products. With crusty products we observe that the crust falls off, but with some other products we find that longer periods of storage lead to the formation of white, translucent patches in the crumb which are very hard eating. Are the problems related to the performance of our freezer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Contents ix 7 Fermented products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.1 What steps could be taken to prevent round doughnuts shrinking or collapsing within a few minutes of leaving the fryer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 7.2 The fermented doughnuts we are making tend to be quite greasy to eat. How can we reduce this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 7.3 When we retard our rolls before proving and baking we sometimes see a dark mark on the base after baking. We see similar problems with our retarded doughnuts. Is this mould because products have been left to cool on the trays before wrapping? We use silicone paper to bake on; does this aggravate the problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 7.4 We are retarding our roll and stick doughs overnight but find that the products baked from them are covered with many small, white, almost translucent spots on the surface. We do not get the same problem with our scratch production using the same recipe. Can you give an explanation for their appearance and advise on how to get rid of them? . . . . . . . . . . 114 7.5 We have problems with our retarded teacakes which have large holes underneath the top crust. We do not experience the same problem with scratch made products. Why is this? . . . . . . . . . . . 116 7.6 We have been receiving complaints that our small fermented products, such as rolls, teacakes and baps, are staling too quickly. How can we improve the product softness? . . . . . . . . 117 7.7 We have been experiencing difficulties with the production of our bread rolls. The finished rolls have poor volume with large holes in the crumb. What measures might we take to eliminate these faults? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 7.8 Our fruit breads rise very slowly in the prover and fail to rise any further in the oven. We make some unfruited products with the same formulation and they are satisfactory in all respects. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 7.9 Our fruited buns frequently collapse when they leave the oven. We have tried baking them for longer but this does not cure the problem. Our fruited loaves made from the same dough do not have the problem. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 7.10 When we cut open bread rolls and hamburger buns that have been stored in the deep freeze for a period of time we observe a white ring just inside the crust which has a hard eating character. Where does this problem come from? . . . . . 122 8 Laminated products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 8.1 What causes puff pastry to rise during baking? . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 8.2 Why do we get a less regular lift in our puff pastry when we use the Scotch method compared with the English or French? . . 126 x Contents 8.3 We are experiencing a problem with our puff pastry, which fails to lift and shows no sign of layering on baking. Why is this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 8.4 What are the purposes of the resting periods in the production of laminated products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 8.5 We have been experiencing some problems with excessive shrinking of our puff pastry products. What are the probable causes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 8.6 Why are acids sometimes added to puff pastry? . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 8.7 How should we handle the trimmings we get during the production of puff pastry shapes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 8.8 We are experiencing a problem with the discoloration of unbaked puff pastry stored under refrigerated conditions. Sometimes black spots appear on the surface. Why does this happen and how can it be avoided? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 8.9 We wish to make croissant with the moulded ends joining to form a circle but find that they open up during baking. How can we overcome this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 8.10 Why should croissant and Danish pastry doughs be given less lamination than puff pastry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 9 Short pastry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 9.1 Why does our pork pie pastry go soft during storage and what can we do to make our pastry crisper? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 9.2 We are producing unbaked meat pies but find that the short pastry lid cracks on freezing. The cracks become larger when the product thaws and during baking the filling may boil out, leaving an unsightly blemish on the surface. Why is this and what can we do about it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 9.3 Our baked pastries and quiches are baked in individual foils. Why do they have small indents in the base, which project upwards and are pale in colour? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 9.4 How can we make the sweet pastry we use with our apple pies crisper eating? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 9.5 From time to time we experience problems with the sheeting of our short pastry; in particular it cracks or fails to remain cohesive. Why does this happen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 9.6 We are having difficulty in blocking out savoury pie paste in foils. There is a tendency for the dough to stick to the block, causing the base of the foil case to become misshapen. We do not have the same problem with our sweetened paste. Why? . . 143 9.7 Why is the hot water method preferred for the production of savoury pastry but not for sweetened pastry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 9.8 Why does the filling of baked custards sometimes have a watery appearance in the cold product? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Contents xi 9.9 How do we avoid ‘boil-out’ of our pie fillings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 9.10 We wish to reuse pastry trimmings but find that sometimes we experience a ‘soapy’ taste in the final product. Can you suggest a cause for the flavour and how best to reuse the trimmings to avoid this and any other potential problems? . . 147 10 Cakes and sponges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 10.1 What is the flour-batter method of cakemaking? . . . . . . . . . . 148 10.2 What is the sugar-batter method of cakemaking? . . . . . . . . . . 150 10.3 When making fruit cakes we find that the fruit settles to the bottom of the cake after baking. Why is this and what can we do about it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 10.4 Can we freeze cake batters and what happens to them during storage? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 10.5 When we add fresh fruits such as blackcurrants to our cake batters we sometimes find that they fail to keep their colour during baking and often discolour the batter adjacent to the fruit. Can you offer an explanation and a solution to the problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 10.6 Why do cakes go mouldy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 10.7 In the light of the previous question, why do heavily fruited cakes go mouldy more slowly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 10.8 Why are we getting mould between our cakes and the board on which they sit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 10.9 We are experiencing mould growth on the surface of our iced Christmas cakes. This is the first time we have had this problem. Why has it happened? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 10.10 We are experiencing a ‘musty’, off-odour developing in our cakes, even though we store them in a deep freeze. Why? . . 160 10.11 When we take our cup cakes from the oven we find that the paper cases they were baked in fall off. How do we avoid this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 10.12 Why do our Genoese sheets tend to lack volume and have cores in the crumb? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 10.13 Sometimes our Madeira cake has a poor (coarse) texture. How can we improve it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 10.14 Our small Madeira cakes often shrink excessively during cooling. How can we avoid this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 10.15 Why do cake batters made by the sugar-batter method sometimes have a curdled appearance? Does this affect final cake quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 10.16 We are experiencing seepage of jam in our frozen fresh cream gateaux when they are thawed. Can we avoid this? . . 166 10.17 What are the causes of the small, white speckles we sometimes see on the crust of our cakes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 xii Contents 10.18 Why are we getting an orange discoloration of the crumb of our fruit cakes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 10.19 Our sultana cakes are collapsing. What can we do to remedy this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 10.20 Why are we getting large holes in the crumb of our fruited slab cake? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 10.21 Why do cakes sometimes sink in the middle? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 10.22 Our fruited cakes are fine to eat soon after production but tend to become drier eating after a few days. Why? . . . . . . . . . 172 10.23 Our cake quality varies when we change from one type of oven to another, even when the ovens register the same temperature. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 10.24 We are encountering an intermittent fault with our round high-ratio cakes in that a shiny ring with a pitted appearance is seen on the cake surface. What factors are likely to give rise to this fault? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 10.25 How important is the temperature of cakes at the point of wrapping? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 10.26 We have a shrinkage problem with the parkin cake we produce. How can we eliminate it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 10.27 What precautions should we take when freezing flour confectionery products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 10.28 We would like to improve the quality of our slab cake. How important is batter temperature in this context? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 10.29 Why should the whole of the batter for one slab be placed in the tin in one piece rather than bit by bit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 10.30 What happens to the batter when cakes enter the oven and how can you tell when a cake is baked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 10.31 What are the advantages of having the oven filled when baking slab or other cakes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 10.32 Why do we add extra acid to make white cake batters? . . . . 186 10.33 We have been experiencing problems with the collapse of our sponge sandwiches which leaves the product with a depression in the top of the cake and an area of coarse cell structure in the crumb. What causes this problem? . . . . . . . . . . 187 10.34 We are having problems with the bottom crust of our sponge cake products becoming detached after baking. We also notice that the corners of the product become rounded and the texture close. Why do these problems occur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 10.35 When making sponge drops we find that the last ones to be deposited are not as good as the first ones. Why is this? . . . . 191 10.36 From time to time we experience problems with Swiss rolls cracking on rolling. What causes the problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 10.37 What causes sponge sandwiches to assume a peaked shape during baking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Contents xiii 10.38 How do we convert a plain sponge recipe to a chocolate form? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 11 Biscuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 11.1 What is ‘vol’ and what is its function in biscuit doughs? . . . 195 11.2 From time to time we have noticed a white discoloration on the surface of our all-butter shortbread. Why does this occur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 11.3 We produce biscuits containing powdered fructose which we cream with the fat and sucrose before adding the other ingredients. Recently we have seen the appearance of brown spots on the product. What causes this effect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 11.4 Our chocolate-coated wafer biscuits are prone to cracking. Why does this happen and how can we avoid the problem? . . . 198 11.5 We are experiencing intermittent problems with gluten formation in our wafer batter. What causes this problem? . . 199 11.6 A batch of our biscuits containing oatmeal has developed a ‘soapy’ after-taste which makes them unpalatable. Why is this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 11.7 How do biscuits and crackers get broken during storage, even if they are not disturbed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 11.8 We are making a ginger crunch cookie. Why do we experience variations in size? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 11.9 When making ginger nuts we find that we do not always get the degree of cracking that we would like. Why is this? . . . . 203 12 Other bakery products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 12.1 Why are we getting a grey-green coloration to our choux buns? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 12.2 Why is powdered ammonium carbonate or ‘vol’ added to choux paste? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 12.3 Why are cream buns baked under covers but e´clairs are not? 206 12.4 What are the most important factors that control the volume of choux paste products? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 12.5 We wish to make a large batch of e´clair cases and store them for a few days before filling and icing them. What is the best way to keep them to preserve their quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 12.6 Why do our choux buns collapse during baking? . . . . . . . . . . . 210 12.7 We stand our finished choux buns on U-shaped cardboard and wrap them in a cellulose-based film. Recently we have observed the growth of mould colonies on the products. Why is this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 12.8 We find that our Viennese fingers go soft very quickly after baking. How can we prevent this from happening? . . . . . . . . . . 212 xiv Contents 12.9 We freeze our unbaked pizza bases in a nitrogen tunnel. On defrosting and baking we get bubbles forming on the top of the product accompanied with an open crumb cell structure. How can these problems be overcome? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 12.10 Our scones are made from frozen dough but frequently lack volume. We also find that the crumb colour is rather brown. How can we improve our product quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 12.11 Some of our scone bakings have a coarse break at the side and an open crumb cell structure but the results are not consistent. What steps should we take to obtain a better and more consistent product quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 12.12 How can we extend the shelf-life of our scones? . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 12.13 The surface of our scones is covered with speckles of a yellowish-brown colour. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 12.14 Why should particular