Writing to the baking novice three - starch
In chemistry, starch is formed by hundreds (straight chain starch) or thousands (branched chain starch) glucose molecules condensed homogeneous polysaccharides, its molecular shape of the straight chain (soluble in hot water) and branched chain (insoluble in hot water) two kinds of glutenous starch, all of which are All glutinous rice starches are branched, some legume starches are all straight chain, and general starches are both. Starch is widely found in plant grains (rice, wheat, corn), fruits (chestnuts, white fruits), roots (sweet potatoes), tubers (potatoes), bulbs (water chestnuts, taro), and is the main form of energy storage in plants. Starch is insoluble in water, and in hot water it will absorb water and swell into a translucent colloidal solution with viscosity.
(I) wheat products
We eat flour from the seeds of the grass plant wheat, wheat is the world's most widely planted grain. Unlike other grains that are directly consumed after hulling, wheat has tough surface bran and fragile internal endosperm, making it difficult to process into whole grains, so it can only be milled into flour. The biggest difference between wheat flour and other grains is that the two proteins unique to wheat can combine to form elastic and ductile gluten (that is, it can be stretched very long, but will not break), so only wheat can produce a wide variety of pasta products with different tastes. The amount and quality of gluten (that is, the amount of each of the two proteins) in flour depends on the variety of wheat crop and the growing process, not on the flour milling process, but the protein content may change during processing and storage.
Gluten: is the (pure gluten) protein fraction extracted from flour, which can be used to make Chinese specialties such as cold skin and oil gluten.
Wheat starch: also called clarified flour, clarified noodles, ting flour, ting noodles, is the (gluten-free) starch portion left in the flour after the protein is removed, it is very white in color, it is the main ingredient of crystal pastries, and the raw material of cold skin.
High-gluten flour: also called bread flour, bread flour, protein content of 11.5% or more, the strongest gluten, used to make bread, pizzas, puffs, doughnuts, lasagna, and other needs to rely on the strong elasticity and extensibility to wrap the air bubbles, the layer of oil in order to form a loose structure of the snacks.
Medium gluten flour: the most common flour, plain flour, with a protein content of 9.5-11.5%, is used to make steamed buns, buns, dumplings, pancakes, noodles, twisted flowers, and most other Chinese snacks.
Low-gluten flour: also known as thin flour, cake flour, protein content of 6.5-9.5%, can be used in accordance with the mass ratio of four gluten flour plus a corn starch (other starches can also be) mixed with, suitable for making cakes, cookies, tarts, and other loose, crunchy, no toughness of the snacks.
Self-raising flour: supermarkets sell self-raising flour is flour mixed with a certain percentage of yeast, baking powder and other chemical additives, with only the need to add water, and can save fermentation time. The use of self-rising flour should follow the instructions on the package, as the method of use may vary with different product recipes.
Whole Wheat Flour: Wheat seed consists of three parts: bran, endosperm, and germ. Bran is hard and difficult to digest, and germ is rich in oil and easily rancid, so flour is made from endosperm. But the bran provides rich dietary fiber, which is very beneficial to the human digestive process. Therefore, whole wheat flour is made from the endosperm of ordinary flour with the addition of ground bran, for different purposes such as bread, cakes, noodles, etc., the proportion of bran added and the size and shape of the bran are also different, so in fact, whole wheat flour is not a whole grain of wheat directly milled crude products, but rather more complex refined products.
While pastry recipes will specify which flour is needed, you can generally substitute medium-gluten flour for high-gluten or low-gluten flour without a noticeable difference. Now the flour sold in the grain section of the domestic supermarkets is mainly medium-gluten flour suitable for Chinese pasta, and the labeling of "fine flour", "special flour", "rich and strong flour" is an indication of the degree of refinement of the flour processing, not the gluten content of the flour. The labels "fine flour," "special flour," and "rich flour" indicate the degree of refinement of the flour, not its gluten content. "Dumpling flour" is medium gluten flour, "bread flour" is high gluten flour. In the imported food section of large supermarkets, you can also buy fully imported flour, categorized in detail, purpose-specific, as well as a variety of ready-mixed flour containing other powdered ingredients that can be used directly, but the price is also very expensive.
(2) Other starches
Grain milled flour is different from the starch extracted from grains, just like the difference between wheat starch and flour. Grain ground into powder is usually sold with rice, flour, and a variety of miscellaneous grains, the use of which is similar to flour, and can be made into various types of miscellaneous bread, noodles, steamed cakes and so on. Starch is sold with salt, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings, and is mainly used in Chinese cooking for thickening water, thickening soups and porridges, and as a coating for deep-fried foods. Starch is also used as a raw material for vermicelli, vermicelli, and cold noodles. Vermicelli and tai bai powder are general terms for various kinds of starch, and the specific ingredients should be seen in the package description. There are some starches that have a special role in making dim sum.
Glutinous rice flour: the seeds of glutinous rice, a variant of rice (glutinous rice) are ground into flour, also known as jiangmi flour, which is an ingredient in soup dumplings and lanterns.
Sticky Rice Flour: the seeds of the grass plant rice (rice) ground into powder, also called rice flour, is the raw material for turnip cake.
Mung bean starch: from the seeds of the legume mung bean, used to make mung bean vermicelli and mung bean cold noodles, but different from the mung bean noodles used to make mung bean cakes, which are ground directly from mung beans.
Corn starch: also known as cornstarch, comes from the seeds of the grass plant corn, mixed into the flour can reduce the gluten of the flour in the cream pudding filling, pineapple filling, such as pies, towers, tarts and other pastry fillings to play a viscous role, but also one of the raw materials of ice cream. Cornstarch is the starch component extracted from corn, white in color, as opposed to yellow cornmeal, which is made by grinding corn kernels directly.
Sweet potato starch: comes from the tuberous roots of the sweet potato (sweet potato, sweet potato, yam, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, groundnuts, as they are called in the north) of the spinach family.
Potato starch: from the tubers of potato (potato, egg, taro), family Solanaceae.
Tapioca starch: from the plant Euphorbiaceae tapioca (tapioca) tuber, is the main raw material of pearl milk tea in the pearl.
Water chestnut starch: also called horseshoe powder, from the bulb of water chestnut (also known as horseshoe) of the Salviaceae plant, is the raw material of horseshoe cake, water chestnut is mainly produced in the southern warm regions of China.
Kudzu starch: from the tuberous roots of the leguminous plant kudzu, is the raw material of kudzu cake.
Lotus root starch: it is lotus root powder, from the roots and stems of lotus, a plant in the water lily family, and can be eaten directly with boiling water.
Sago: sago, also known as sago rice, is the phonetic translation of English sago, native to Indonesia, is a small ball of starch extracted from the trunk of the sago palm, a local palm plant, has no structure and can not be rooted and sprouted, not the seeds of a certain plant.
Written for the Baking Novice No. 2 - Fats, Oils and Dairy Products
Chemically, esters formed from chain carboxylic acids and glycerol are called fats and oils. Those that are liquid at room temperature are called oils, which are dominated by unsaturated fatty acids; those that are solid at room temperature are called fats, which contain large amounts of saturated fatty acids. Most of the oils are obtained from plant seeds, and most of the fats are obtained from animals. The main physiological function of fats and oils is to store and provide heat energy, which can be provided in the metabolism is about twice as much as sugars and proteins.
Liquid oils:
Daily frying with salad oil, melted butter, melted cream of wheat are liquid oils.
Liquid oil is used to make sponge cake and chiffon cake (relying on baking powder or whipped eggs to create bubbles) when it can make the cake more delicate and delicious. Liquid oil should be added after the eggs have been whipped and the batter has been mixed well. If there is too much oil, it will not be able to blend with the eggs and the batter, it will settle on the bottom and make the cake layered, and too much oil will destroy the bubbles that have been created.
When making bread and pizza biscuits (which rely on yeast fermentation to produce bubbles), softened butter or salad oil must be added after the dough has been kneaded, or it will prevent the flour from absorbing water to form a gluten.
Melted butter or cream of wheat is used in making puffs and soda crackers, or salad oil can be substituted.
Lard:
Cut the lard into chunks and stir-fry it in an empty pan, and it will simmer down to a clear lard (if the temperature is too high or the oil is browned after too long a time of stir-frying), with some dry residue left over. When the lard cools down, it is a white solid and can be kept frozen in the refrigerator. Of course, now the supermarket can hardly buy lard or even large pieces of fat, you need to go to the food market meat stalls special reservation (the price had to go along with the other people to ask for, I was 5 yuan a catty to buy, can be boiled seven two oil it).
Lard has a very low melting point and is very soft at room temperature, so it has the best crisping effect. Lard is mostly used in Chinese confectionery, such as bean paste pastry and peach crisp, which have a distinctive texture and flavor.
Butter:
Butter is butter, which is also called butter (butter does not usually refer to the oil boiled from beef, which is difficult to consume), and in some recipes is written as cream.
Butter is the fat extracted from milk or whipping cream (the nutrients in milk that are only soluble in oil and not in water are contained in the butter that is extracted). Some butter sold on the market has salt added.
Melted or softened butter in a recipe is equivalent to liquid oil.
Butter is also very tasty when softened and spread directly on bread or buns, which can be sprinkled with some sugar.
Solid butter whipped with sugar, the color becomes lighter, the volume increases, which wrapped into a large number of small bubbles, cream cake, cookies is to rely on the whipped butter to produce a fluffy texture.
When making pie crusts and tart crusts, the solid butter is broken into small pieces and mixed with the flour instead of being evenly mixed and kneaded into a ball, and after baking, the butter melts away, making the crust crispy and easy to crack.
Doing lasagna, butter is used directly as a wrap into the oil, folded into the crust and butter alternating layers, after baking, the butter melts away, the crust is divided into a lot of crispy layer.
Margarine:
Margarine is the phonetic translation of margarin, is margarine. The oil extracted from plant seeds (similar to salad oil) is hydrogenated to reduce unsaturation and become a solid fat, and then flavoring is added to make margarine that looks and tastes like butter. Cream of Wheat is less expensive than butter. Some ice creams also have salt added. In theory, cream of wheat can completely replace butter, but in practice, because the flavor of cream of wheat is not as mellow as natural butter, melting point is slightly lower, so it is generally only used to make shortening wrapped into the oil.
Ghee:
(Ghee refers to a Tibetan unique food, also used in Tibetan unique ghee sculpture, made from yak, cow, sheep milk, and baking has nothing to do) Ghee is shortening, as long as the fat used for shortening wrapped into the fat can be called ghee, ghee in the less water, the better, so it is also called anhydrous ghee, which can be animal fats, vegetable fats, hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils, and also called anhydrous ghee. It may be animal fats, vegetable fats, hydrogenated vegetable fats, or a mixture of all three, but in any case it is industrially processed to remove water and add flavor.
Whipping cream:
Whipping cream, light cream, or simply fresh milk, light milk, is cream, pronounced cream. It is also the fat extracted from milk, and after whipped into a paste can be framed on cakes, or added to coffee, ice cream, fruits, snacks, or even eaten directly. But what you see on the market nowadays is almost always phyllofat fresh milk. Just as the cream of wheat is margarine, the fat cream is also artificial milk, is the vegetable oil hydrogenated and then added to produce milk flavor flavors to replace fresh milk. When purchased in liquid form, it can be frozen in cubes, cut into desired sizes and packaged in pieces for freezing. To use, take out a piece of frozen cream, melt it into liquid, and then beat it with a whisk under ice water until it is bulky and can be pulled out at the corners without collapsing, then it can be used for laminating.
Condensed milk:
Condensed milk is made by evaporating the water from the milk and concentrating it before adding sugar to make it easier to store. Condensed milk diluted with water is equivalent to milk with sugar. However, in baking, condensed milk contains too much sugar, so it is basically not used as an ingredient, not to mention a substitute for butter or milk. The original and various flavors of condensed milk can be applied directly to baked or steamed snacks.
Milk powder:
Milk powder can be added to add flavor when making bread, and milk powder and water can be substituted for milk in bread recipes.
Milk:
Milk in baking provides water on the one hand, and milk flavor on the other; it can be washed down with powdered milk, concentrated milk without affecting the result; whole, low-fat, and skim milk are all fine.
Cheese:
cheese, also known as cheese, cheese, pronounced cheese, cheese. Milk is concentrated and fermented to preserve most of the nutrients and get cheese. Cheese is a very broad umbrella term, there are hundreds of specific types (just like when we say wine, there is yellow wine, white wine, red wine, beer, fruit wine, rice wine, wine lees, wine brewing, dry red, dry white, draft beer, root beer, dry beer, moutai, old cellar... (Oh, dizzy). The main ones used in baking are mozzarella cheese (Mozzarella), which is specifically used in pizza and can have a good pulling effect, and cream cheese (cream cheese, pronounced as cream cheese), which is used to make cheesecake.
Cheese, butter and fresh milk are basically available in large supermarkets or supermarkets attached to shopping malls, in refrigerated cabinets. Imported dairy products, in particular, are very varied and complete, but they are more expensive.
Recommended Wangfujing Oriental Plaza China Resources Supermarket, there are bulk Anjia butter (48 ￥/1000g) and a variety of cheese (mozzarella 68 ￥/1000g).
Written to the baking novice one - oven
One, where to buy
In Beijing, the oven can go to the supermarket (such as: Carrefour, Wome), shopping malls (such as: Hualian), home appliance malls (such as: Dazhong, Gome) to buy. Common brands (in order of price and quality from low to high) are Kesheng, Changdi, Shangpengtang, and ACA, and you can usually get a very practical Kesheng or Changdi oven for two or three hundred dollars.
It is not recommended to mail-order the oven online, and group buys shipped off-site should be participated in with caution, as damage caused by long-distance transportation, incomplete accessories in the box, as well as future repairs in the local area, it is very troublesome to deal with. Commonly used online shopping address www.ebay.com.cn和www.taobao.com.cn, shopping should pay special attention to the seller's credit, evaluation, turnover, etc., but also pay attention to the payment method and delivery method, will be the delivery fee and transfer fees and other comprehensive consideration.
Two, the principle of work
The basic principle of the oven is that the heating tube is energized to heat the air and food inside the oven, so the oven can, and need to preheat the empty box to achieve the required temperature. Older models of ovens use quartz tubes, newer ovens are using copper tubes. Usually two copper tubes on the top and bottom of the oven, the volume is particularly large oven using W-shaped tube, increase the length of the heating tube to improve the heating efficiency. Heating tube only a power, when the oven reaches the desired temperature, the heating tube will be powered off, and when the box gradually cooled, the heating tube will be energized and then heated, so repeatedly to ensure that the temperature inside the box is constant. So the power of the oven refers to the power of the heating, but in the whole baking process is not always in the power heating. The exposed part of the food surface is exposed to direct radiation from the heating tube, so it is very easy to scorch. (Just as skin exposed to direct sunlight in the summer tends to tan, skin under an umbrella or covered in clothing doesn't tan but likewise feels very hot as the air is heated by the sun.)
Three, the purchase method
Buy the oven need to look at a few features: First, the upper fire, the lower fire can be opened separately or at the same time. Secondly, the timer setting is usually adjustable from 0 to 60 minutes, and some have always heating gear. Third, the temperature control is adjustable from 100 to 250 degrees Celsius, and some have 40 to 100 degrees Celsius low-temperature gear. Fourth, some ovens have rotating fork racks for roasting whole chickens, and some have rotating trays underneath the oven.
The exterior of the oven should be well sealed to minimize heat loss. Open the door mostly from top to bottom, not too tight so as not to be too hot when opened with force to avoid easy scalding, and not too loose so as not to fall down and break the glass door.
There should be at least three baking trays inside the oven, close to the top, close to the bottom and in the center.
Some ovens have removable bottoms for easy cleanup of grease and crumbs.
Ovens range in effective volume from 13 to 34 liters, but an easy way to pick one is to measure the width of the oven's interior to see how big a cake will fit; cake sizes are measured in inches, with 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters, and the smallest cake commonly available is a 6-inch one. Some oven boxes are labeled with the dimensions of the length, width and height, but they are the dimensions of the box or the outer dimensions of the oven shell, not the dimensions of the internal cavity, so it is more reliable to use a ruler to measure in person.
The power of the oven is about 1,000 to 2,000 watts, but the oven is not always energized when it works, so a high-powered oven is not necessarily more expensive than a low-powered oven. In addition to considering the power consumption, it is also important to choose the right socket.
The oven should have a baking sheet, a baking net and a fork that can easily reach the baking sheet and net, and some ovens come with a rotisserie and a corresponding fork. The baking sheets and nets that go with a particular model of oven are not readily available, so you should check them out.
The exterior of the oven should preferably not be too white, otherwise it will be ugly when stained by grease.
Four, the use of
Oven preheating, as long as you see the heating tube a little red a little black is the temperature reached, you should immediately put the food in the baking.
When baking, in the food surface cover a layer of tinfoil can effectively prevent the surface of the scorched at the same time does not affect the baked.
Do not touch any food, and prevent oil and batter from dripping onto the heater, otherwise the oil residue will bake into carbon and adhere to the heater, making it difficult to clean and affecting the heating efficiency. It is best to use tinfoil to completely wrap the meat when baking, which can prevent the surface from scorching, and can also avoid condensation on the inner wall of the oven after the oil vaporization. After roasting, it is best to clean up in time to avoid accumulation.
Don't touch the cold water to the oven door that has just been used to avoid the glass door blowing out.
When the oven is not in use, the knobs should be placed in the off gear.
V. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS
Thanks to theodoref@sohu for describing the various utilities of the 40 to 100 degrees Celsius low-temperature gears:
40 degrees Celsius, which can be used for fermenting dough and yogurt, in place of warm water and quilts.
50 degrees Celsius, can be used to dehydrate food into a variety of dried fruits, vegetables and jerky for preservation, drying with the oven door slightly open to facilitate moisture distribution.
60 degrees Celsius, can be used to make sausage, bacon.
Introducing a few commonly used oven models:
Changdi CK-25B: large, 25 liters, with a rotisserie chicken rack, temperature 40-250 degrees Celsius adjustable, can be called the perfect home oven, but also the main object of the group purchase.
Cosun CKF-10: popular thanks to Carrefour's promotion, 18L, maximum can put down 9-inch pizza pan, no low-temperature section, no grill, standard lite version. Another CKF-10R comes with a grill, other features are the same.