Seeing a friend asking about the basic knowledge of baking, although I am only a novice, I will post some baking experience I have summarized, which is also a small contribution I have devoted myself to in the gourmet kitchen for many years.

Singing opera and talking about costumes-there are many baking materials; Acting needs to be learned-skill is often the key to success or failure. After many failures, I summed up some experiences for reference by chefs and chefs interested in making desserts.

1, enough time.

Almost all desserts should be cooled or even frozen after baking, and then further operations, such as icing or cream decoration, should be carried out. If the cake is hot, the decoration will melt and fail. There is also cutting, which is also cooled first, and then the ideal shape can be cut. Baked biscuits must wait until they are cooled, or they will break when they are taken. Complete cooling usually takes more than 1 hour. In addition, it takes 1 to 2 hours to make dough, so there is not enough time and patience, so don't toss about.

2. When protein is sent, impurities such as water or oil in the container will be invalid.

Usually, protein is mixed with sugar and tartar until it forms a hard foam, and then mixed into the batter. I can't find tooth powder anywhere. Later, I found on the Internet that white vinegar can replace tartar powder with the same effect. More importantly, it should actually be to avoid impurities. If there is water, protein will be able to produce a lot of foam, but it will not harden for a long time. It can be used to make egg cakes, but the cake is poor. Moreover, the sugar should be put in several times, which is easy to beat hard. The taste of the cake depends largely on this glycoprotein, otherwise it will be as rough as bread.

3, baking powder, baking soda and dry yeast

Baking powder is baking powder and baking soda is baking soda, which is often used as a flavoring agent for refrigerators in American families. Both are commonly used in baking, use one teaspoon at a time, but remember, you must put salt! I don't know how its chemical reaction is. In short, these two powders will only work if salt is added. Instant yeast is very convenient. In order to make it work, warm water and sugar must be mixed first. After the sugar is dissolved, add the dry yeast and gently stir until it is dissolved. After waiting for 10 minutes, a layer of bubbles will appear on the water surface, which means that the yeast is awake and can be put into the dough for kneading.

4. Flour classification

There are several kinds of flour for making cakes, including self-raising flour (self-raising flour, you don't need baking powder after using this flour, but I think this flour is too thick and yellow, and I don't know how to improve it), low-gluten flour (cake flour), high-gluten flour (bread flour) and medium-gluten flour (general flour, the most commonly used flour). If China flour is added, there are glutinous rice flour, corn flour (transparent flour, used to make transparent snacks such as shrimp dumplings), corn flour (called raw flour or glutinous rice flour in Guangdong, which is not enough), sticky rice flour (rice flour) and potato flour. There are all kinds, so be optimistic when using them.

When making cakes, flour is usually sieved, because flour will agglomerate, and it will be more delicate and have different effects after sieving!

5. Classification of sugar

White sugar in western supermarkets includes natural sucrose and sweeteners for diabetics, and their shapes are also different. The general sugar is sugar, and powdered sugar is called candy sugar, which is refined fine sugar and used to decorate cakes. Brown sugar is brown sugar, and sugar cubes are used less. Of course, there are colorful decorative candy. Syrup is called syrup, and the most common are corn syrup and maple syrup. There is also highly purified molasses, and this supporting role is hard to find.

6, spices and saccharin

The spices and saccharin in West Point are nothing more than these. The most commonly used saccharin is vanilla extract, which can add vanilla flavor to the cake with only a spoonful. Others are orange saccharin and lemon saccharin. Cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder are the most commonly used spices, and clove and mint are sometimes used.

7. Other ingredients

I like the taste of coconut. Coconut slices are often the protagonist in my dessert. The taste of chocolate can be made of cocoa powder or the whole chocolate is melted, but chocolate is too sweet, so I usually avoid it. I also often use corn cereal and oatmeal (oatmeal, eating more is good for the heart) to increase toughness and taste. For nuts, I mainly use walnuts and almonds, which are cheaper than others ... I have been looking for dried dates everywhere recently, because I don't like raisins, so I can use sweet dates instead. Butter (the kind without salt, not butter coated on bread, but margarine to reduce fat), eggs, vegetable oil, etc. It is the ashes of green leaves.

8. Bakers and measuring tools

After talking for a long time, I found that I forgot to mention the stage background-toaster! The following figure shows the basic baking tray, which has glass and resin versions. The 9X5-inch tray is dedicated to baking bread, and the round tray is used to bake cakes. There is also a special baking tray, which is the most exaggerated baking tray I have ever seen, and can make the whole football stand up. Awesome!

The most basic measuring tools are measuring cups and spoons. I suggest you buy measuring cups and spoons with prominent scales, because the words on them are easy to wear out.