First, the classification of biscuits
What we usually call cookies can be divided into sweet cookies and salty cookies, and sweet cookies can be divided into hard dough and soft dough according to the required dough. Generally speaking, the composition of dough used in hard dough biscuits is relatively low, that is, the content of oil and sugar is less. In the process of making dough, gluten needs to be stirred out, and chemical leavening agent needs to be added in batch production. Usually cookies are extruded and baked. The finished product is fragile.
The composition of soft flour cake is higher than that of hard flour cake, that is, there are more oil and sugar. When the dough is stirred, as long as there are no particles, basically no flour is enough, and gluten cannot be produced. Generally, chemical expansion agent should be added to mass production, rolled into pieces before baking, and then baked in a model. Compared with hard dough biscuits, it tastes softer. Generally, this is the main formula formulated by family courts. In addition, many cake shops and books in Japan are of this type, which is more suitable for our Asian tastes.
Salted biscuits are actually the most common, generally referring to the soda biscuits we usually say, mainly salty, with yeast as leavening agent. After the dough is stirred, it is fermented for a certain period of time, then rolled into pieces, molded with a mold and baked. This kind of biscuit can be divided into original flavor and seasoning.
Second, the use of biscuit materials.
1, flour
High gluten flour, medium gluten flour and low gluten flour can all be used to make cookies. What kind of flour to use mainly depends on the style and crispness of the finished product. If we want to bake products with diverse styles, beautiful shapes without excessive expansion, and hard and crisp taste, then we should choose high-gluten flour. On the contrary, if we want the finished product to be soft and the shape requirement is not high, then we should use low-gluten flour. For the formula with high ingredients, if there is more oil and sugar and the flour gluten is too low, the product will be too soft, so we can adjust it by adding medium gluten flour properly, or mix high gluten flour with low gluten flour.
2. Oil
Cookie oil must be crude oil and cannot be over-flavored. Generally, cookie oil has the following requirements:
A, oily. Oiliness here generally means that it can increase the softness and looseness of finished biscuits. Each oil is actually different. In fact, the oiliness of lard is the best, but this kind of lard must be deodorized, otherwise it will have a special taste and cannot be directly used as oil for biscuits and cakes.
B. stability. Generally speaking, stability refers to how long cookies can be stored, because products made of oil will produce a kind of rancidity or rancidity if they are stored for a long time. If the stability of the oil is good, the finished product can be stored for one month if it is put into a sealed can or packaged to isolate the air. Of course, the taste will definitely be worse, but as a business, the longer it can be preserved, the higher its commercial value.
C, oil fusion. It mainly means that when stirring, air can be quickly stirred and wrapped, and eggs can be quickly absorbed and quickly mixed with powder. If the melting property of oil is poor, the expansibility is poor and the finished product is hard.
At present, butter is the best way to make cookies, and of course some products are deodorized hydrogenated lard. However, the cost of butter is more expensive, and its fusion is not as good as lard, so many commercial applications only use part of butter in the formula, while the other part is replaced with lard or other oils.
3. sugar
The main functions of sugar in biscuits are seasoning, coloring and adjusting the smearability of products. Sugar can be divided into the following types according to its thickness:
A, coarse sugar. Generally speaking, dough is not used, but used for surface decoration.
B. fine sugar. In addition to surface decoration, it can also be used in formula to increase the taste and expansibility of products. But if it is a biscuit with high ingredients, more oil is used, and less water is used, so a lot of sugar cannot be dissolved. In this case, fine sugar is not easy to use in the formula with high ingredients and oil.
C. powdered sugar. It is mostly used in high-content formulas or formulas with low water content, and should be screened before use to prevent caking.
D, syrup. Generally, only a small amount is used to increase the flavor and toughness of products, and the dosage is usually 5- 10% of flour. If you use too much, the finished product will not swell easily and will be hard.
4. Chemical expansion agent. Baking powder and baking soda are usually used the most. The main function is to help increase the volume and softness of the product.
5. Cocoa powder and matcha powder. Mainly used for seasoning, the dosage of cocoa powder is generally 10-20% of the dosage of flour, and the dosage of matcha powder is 5- 10%, depending on different product requirements.
6, spices. Simply put, it is to make cookies with different flavors by seasoning. Many shops are just a kind of dough, and with different spices, countless kinds of biscuits are formed. Generally speaking, the more spices, the better. At present, spices can be divided into natural spices, synthetic spices and artificial spices.
7. salt. The dosage is very small, even not added, but for the formula with high sugar content, adding salt can reduce the sweetness appropriately.