BALANCING THE RECIPE KSHS 600 BALANCING THE RECIPE

BALANCING THE RECIPE KSHS 600

BALANCING THE RECIPE Ø The use of a balanced recipe is essential for the proper control of production and quality. To understand a recipe, it is necessary to have some insight into what the function of the ingredient is. Ø The basic characteristic of a balanced recipe is that it maintains a correct relationship between its various ingredients. Ingredients may be divided into four groups according to their functions. Some ingredients appear in more than one group because they have more than one function.

Stage 1 • Ingredients which provide the strength and structure on which the cake is built. Ø Flour impacts strength through the development of its gluten content. Ø Egg, adds structure by the coagulation of albumen. Stage 2 • Ingredients do not provide strength and structure and therefore have to be carried. Ø Sugar Ø Fats Ø Milk

Stage 3 Ingredients which have an opening or lifting effect Ø Sugar Ø Baking powder Ø Eggs Ø Fats Stage 4 Ingredients which have a closing effect and which restricts lightness, but improve moistness. Ø Milk Ø Other liquid A balanced recipe contains only such quantity of ingredients from Group 2 as can be successfully carried by the ingredients in Group 1. There should also be a similar balance between the opening effect of the ingredients in Group 4.

Other factors affecting the recipe balance • Ø Ø Besides the ingredients, also some other factors can affect the balance of a recipe, like bakery conditions/ temperature, oven and baking conditions, ingredients temperatures (ideally around 20°C/ 68°F) and mixing methods. Ingredients temperatures Ingredient and final batter temperatures are important in achieving good consistent results. The ideal batter temperature for this type of cake is 20/21°C which means ingredients would need to be around this temperature before use. Fat temperature Fats that are too cold (solid in texture) will not aerate as well as fats which are around 18/20 C. It would, therefore, be necessary to beat cold fats for a longer time in the first stage otherwise final cake volume will suffer. Fats that have gone oily because they are too warm will also not take in air the same resulting in loss of cake volume. Egg temperature The egg temperature is also important in this method as an egg which is too cold will cause the aerated fats to firm up when they come in contact with the cold egg, preventing good emulsification, with the possibility of curdling occurring before all the egg has been added. The frozen liquid egg is used in most bakeries, with fresh eggs there is the risk of the development of salmonella bacteria. § Fresh eggs are better used for classic whisked sponge cakes but could contaminate utensils, hands, and tables. Be aware of the problem of salmonella whenever fresh eggs are used.

Basic rules Ø For all types of cakes, the following can be noted: Ø The fat should not exceed the egg level The fat should not exceed the sugar Ø The sugar should not exceed the liquid. Batter Specific Gravity (Batter density) Ø This is an important item in cake making as the degree of batter lightness will have a bearing on the final cake volume. If the specific gravity is too high then it is likely that the baked cake will have reduced volume and visa Versa. In practice this will be done by filling a pre-determined container with batter (the container volume is always the same) levelling it off at the top, weighing the full container and comparing it to a weight chart. If the weight is above the target weight then the batter is lacking lightness if it is below the target weight then too much aeration has taken place. There will be an acceptable deviation from the target weight set by the company but weights outside this will require action. Ø Specific gravity is a weight to volume ratio and in cake, batters relate to the degree of lightness as a result of aeration during mixing.