Before baking, I only know that there are all kinds of sweets, white sugar for cooking, brown sugar for boiling water, honey and so on. After baking, I know that sugar can be divided into white sugar, fine sugar, cotton white sugar, frosting, powdered sugar and so on. Sugar is an indispensable raw material in baking. Sugar is indispensable for cakes, biscuits, bread or pies. There is no doubt that sugar has worked. It not only increases the sweetness, but also has other important functions or magical changes in the baking process. Let's get to know each other.
The main function of sugar in baking
1, which increases the sweetness and reduces the fishy smell of eggs, and the finished product tastes better;
2. It absorbs water. Adding sugar during baking can not only change the taste, but also strengthen moisturizing and delay aging;
3, strengthen the anti-corrosion effect, the higher the sugar content, the longer the shelf life;
4. The higher the sugar content, the easier it is to color when baking, and the finished product is more beautiful.
5. It can improve the structure of dough and change the ductility of dough.
6, filling, making the foam of protein more stable, helping the whole egg or protein to form a thick and lasting foam during the beating process, and also helping the butter to form a fluffy tissue, making the batter smooth and delicate and the product soft;
7. It is the main target of yeast. Adding sugar to bread is not necessarily sweet, because sugar is decomposed by yeast during fermentation;
8. If the amount of sugar in the formula decreases, it is necessary to increase the baking temperature and prolong the baking time.
Usually, what we call fine sugar or coarse sugar belongs to white sugar. This is the sugar we come into contact with most often. In fact, sugar can be divided into many grades according to the particle size, such as coarse sugar, general sugar, fine sugar, superfine sugar and young sugar. In baking, when making cakes or cookies, fine sugar is usually used, which makes it easier to blend into dough or batter.
Soft candy, as its name implies, is a very soft sugar. It is soft because it contains a little invert sugar, and its water content is higher than that of sugar. In supermarkets in the north, soft sweets are as common as sugar.
So, what is the position of soft candy in baking? To a certain extent, the particles of soft candy are relatively fine and can be used as a substitute for fine sugar. However, because the properties of soft sugar are slightly different from those of white sugar, the characteristics shown in cakes will be different. For example, it is difficult to send protein with fudge.
Powdered sugar, as can be easily seen from the name, refers to powdered sugar. In order to prevent caking during storage, about 3% starch is usually mixed into powdered sugar. Sugar powder is divided into many grades according to the particle size. "10X" powdered sugar is the best. Generally, 6X powdered sugar is used more.
Powdered sugar is very useful. It can be used to make cookies, cakes and so on. More often, it is used to decorate cakes. Screen a layer of powdered sugar on the surface of the finished cake, and the appearance will become much more beautiful. It is also used to make icing and cream fillings, such as custard when making gingerbread houses.