Biscuits (flaky Western-style snacks baked with flour as the main raw material)

The etymology of the so-called biscuits is "twice-baked bread", that is, from the French Derived from bis (again) and cuit (to bake). It is baked with flour and water or milk without adding yeast. It is very convenient and suitable as a storage food when traveling, sailing, and mountain climbing, especially as a backup food for soldiers during wartime.

Chinese name: Biscuit

Foreign name: Biscuit

Main raw materials: wheat flour (glutinous rice flour, starch, etc. can be added)

Taste : crispy or crunchy

How to eat: tastes great when eaten with milk

Pinyin: bǐng gān

Shape: square, round, star-shaped etc.

Pulp raw materials: fruit particles: bergamot, blueberry, cranberry

Coarse grains: red beans, corn, purple sweet potato, black beans, black rice

Etymology

The early biscuit industry was the concept of emergency food during long-term voyages or wars as mentioned above. It began to spread in HandMade-type (handmade form). After the industrial revolution, due to the development of mechanical technology, biscuits The production equipment and technology developed rapidly and spread to all parts of the world. Biscuits include Biscuit, Cookies, Cracker, Pizza, etc.

One day in the 1850s, in the Bay of Bes, France, strong winds caused a British sailing ship to run aground on the rocks. The crew escaped death and came to a deserted island. After the wind stopped, people returned to the boat to look for food, but the flour, sugar, and butter on the boat were all soaked in water. They had to take the soaked batter back to the island, knead it into small balls, and bake them Eat later. Unexpectedly, the baked dough was soft, crispy and delicious. In order to commemorate this escape, the crew used the same method to bake cookies after returning to England, and named these cookies after the name of the bay, "Beas Bay". This is the origin of the English name biscuit (Biscaya) today.

Biscuit is called Biscuit in English, but the biscuits from Guangdong on the market are called "crackers". Some people think this is a "gimmick" for Cantonese people to do business, but they don't take it seriously. In fact, they are wrong. . Because in American English, biscuits are called Cracker, and the root word crack is like the sound of biting a biscuit, which means "crisp". Cantonese people translate it as "Ke Li Jia" in Cantonese phonetic. Biscuit means "soft biscuit served hot" in American English.

So, the British Biscuit and the American Cracker both refer to biscuits. Their essence is the same, but there is a slight difference in "taste". Anyone who has eaten soda crackers will feel that the "thick and crisp" version is British style, while the "thin and crispy" version is American style. The recently popular "pizza biscuits" also adopt the shape of Western pizza, add fruit elements, and bring innovation to traditional biscuits.

History

The simplest product form of Biscuit is simply a mixture of flour and water. It was discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs around 4000 BC.

The actual biscuits can be traced back to Persia in the seventh century AD, when sugar-making technology was just developed and widely used for biscuits. Until around the tenth century AD, with the Muslim conquest of Spain, biscuits spread to Europe and have been spread in various Christian countries since then. By the 14th century AD, biscuits had become the favorite snack of people all over Europe. From the royal kitchens to the streets where civilians lived, the aroma of biscuits was permeated. The modern biscuit industry was started by Britain in the 19th century due to its advanced navigation technology. During the long-term voyage, bread was not suitable as a food reserve because it contained high moisture content (35%-40%). Invented a kind of bread with very low moisture content - biscuit.

Classification

The main raw material of biscuits is wheat flour, with added sugar, oil, eggs, dairy and other auxiliary materials. According to different formulas and production processes, sweet biscuits can be divided into two categories: tough biscuits and crisp biscuits.

The characteristics of tough biscuits are that the impressions are mostly concave and have pinholes on the surface. The surface of the product is flat and smooth, the cross-sectional structure is layered, and it has a crispy feeling when chewed. It is chewy and crispy as its unique characteristics.

The sugar and fat content of tough biscuits is lower than that of crisp biscuits. Generally, the amount of sugar used is less than 30%, and the amount of oil used is less than 20%. The characteristics of crisp biscuits are that the molds are mostly convex, with obvious patterns and fine structures, accounting for 14% to 30% of the flour content. For some special products with loose sweetness, the oil content can be as high as about 50%.

·Crisp biscuits: made from wheat flour, sugar, and oil as the main raw materials, adding loosening agents and other auxiliary materials, and made by cold powder processing, rolling, rolling printing or punching and baking Most of them are embossed, with a porous cross-section structure and a loose texture. Such as butter biscuits, scallion biscuits, sesame biscuits, meringue biscuits, etc.

·Tough biscuits: Made from wheat flour, sugar, and oil as the main raw materials, adding loosening agents, improvers, and other auxiliary materials, and mixing powder with hot powder technology, rolling, cutting or stamping, and baking The patterns are mostly concave, with smooth appearance, flat surface, pinholes, layered cross-section and crispy texture. Such as milk cake, vanilla cake, egg-flavored cake, Mary cake, Boston cake, etc.

· Fermented (soda) cake: made from wheat flour, sugar, and oil as the main raw materials, yeast as the loosening agent, adding various auxiliary materials, fermentation, flour mixing, rolling, lamination, and baking Crispy baked goods with the unique aroma of fermented products. Fermented cakes, also known as chocolate racks, are divided into salty fermented cakes and sweet fermented cakes according to their recipes.

Crackers: Thin, crispy baked goods made from wheat flour, sugar, and oil as the main raw materials, with seasonings and other auxiliary ingredients added, mixed with powder, shaped, and baked.

·Cookies: Using wheat flour, sugar, and dairy products as the main raw materials, adding loosening agents and other auxiliary materials to knead the dough, using one of the methods of extrusion, extrusion, wire cutting, etc. Form-shaped and baked crispy baked goods with three-dimensional patterns or regular ripples on the surface and high fat content.

·Sandwich biscuits: Sandwich baked goods with various fillings of sugar, grease or jam as the main raw materials added between two biscuits.

· Wafer biscuits: crispy baked goods made from wheat flour (glutinous rice flour) and starch as the main raw materials, adding emulsifiers, loosening agents and other auxiliary materials, and mixing, pouring and baking. . Also known as waffles.

· Egg round biscuits: crispy baked goods made from wheat flour, sugar, and eggs as the main raw materials, adding loosening agents, flavors and other auxiliary materials, and whipping, mixing, pouring, and baking. Commonly known as egg-based biscuits.

·Egg rolls: Using wheat flour, sugar, and eggs as the main raw materials, adding loosening agents, flavors and other auxiliary materials, they can be whipped, mixed (fermented or not), poured or hung, and baked. Crispy baked goods.

· Sticky flower biscuits: Using wheat flour, sugar, and oil as the main raw materials, adding dairy products, egg products, loosening agents, spices and other auxiliary materials, kneading, shaping, baking, cooling, and decorating the surface. Loose baked goods made from sugar flowers and dried.

·Blister biscuits: Made from wheat flour, sugar, and eggs as the main raw materials, adding a leavening agent, mixing powder, rolling, shaping, blanching in boiling water, soaking in cold water, and baking. Fluffy baked goods with a rich flavour.

Pizza biscuits: On the basis of crispy biscuits, fruit particles (bergamot, blueberries, cranberries, etc.), red beans, corn, purple sweet potatoes, black beans, black rice and other ingredients are added to increase health. element.

Preparation

Ingredients

2 eggs, 80 grams of caster sugar (add as appropriate according to your own situation), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, melted butter 50 grams, 320 grams of flour (medium-gluten is enough), 1/2 tsp of baking powder

Method

1. Put all the ingredients in a basin in sequence and mix to form a uniform dough ( Mix one ingredient well before adding the second)

2. Sprinkle some flour on the table, pour the dough on the flour, and sprinkle a layer of flour on the dough

3. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a 0.3cm thick sheet and leave it for 30 minutes

4. Use a biscuit mold (any other shapes of impressions are acceptable, if not, you can use a cup instead). Poke some holes on the slices of various shapes with a fork, grease the baking sheet with oil and put them in

5. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes

How to make lavender biscuits

Ingredients: 140g of butter, 80g of powdered sugar, 1 egg, 1 baking powder, 1 tsp of low-gluten flour, 200g of lavender, 3.5g (1.5 tablespoons)

1. Pour it with boiling water first Soak lavender for 2 minutes. Pour out the water again.

1. Soften the butter and beat until fluffy and about white in color. Add powdered sugar and stir

2. Beat an egg and add it

3. Add soaked lavender

4. Mix all the powders , sift in. Sift a little and stir a little until everything is mixed evenly. Place the mixed noodles in the refrigerator for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. After taking out the dough, shape it and bake it.

Be careful not to make it too thin. 175 degrees, about 15 minutes will do. Because the thickness of biscuits made by everyone is different, if you make them thicker, you need to increase the time appropriately. It is recommended to take it out halfway and continue baking it in another direction so that it can be heated more evenly.

Warm Tips

1. This production method is simple and has a high success rate, making it very suitable for beginners.

2. Follow the above method to make "plain biscuits", or you can also make seasoned biscuits. The method is: mix 1 egg yolk and 2 tsp of coconut milk and spread it on the biscuits before baking. Can.

3. During the baking process, you should adjust the temperature and time according to your own oven power, and observe at any time to prevent scorching

Indicator judgment

1. Microbiological indicators. Microbiological indicators are important hygiene evaluation criteria for food and are used to determine the degree of food contamination. The higher the total number of bacterial colonies and mold counts in food, the worse the hygiene status of the food and the greater the possibility of pathogenic bacteria contamination. 2. Preservatives (sorbic acid, benzoic acid). Preservatives are mainly used to inhibit the reproduction of microorganisms in food to extend the shelf life of food. However, long-term consumption of foods containing excessive preservatives may pose potential risks to human health.

2. Health indicators. Healthy elements are the most important consideration for pizza biscuits. The appropriate proportion of fruit particles and whole grains and grains, without adding any excess or subtracting any necessities, will start an era of healthy nutrition for you.

3. Physical and chemical indicators. Physical and chemical indicators are also important quality indicators in biscuit products. The physical and chemical indicators tested in this comparative test include acid value, lead, total arsenic and peroxide value. The peroxide value is an indicator that indicates the degree of oxidation of oils and fatty acids. It is used to explain whether the sample has deteriorated due to oxidation. Generally speaking, the higher the value, the greater the degree of rancidity.

4. Tags. Product labels are the main way for consumers to understand food information and are an important manifestation of consumers' right to know. The country has always had strict regulations on product labels. Therefore, in addition to managing the inherent quality of products, manufacturing companies must also pay attention to product labeling.

Notes

Usually people like to choose biscuits as snacks. In addition to their good taste, they can also supplement the energy needed by the human body. However, do not underestimate the calories of biscuits. Some types contain The fat content is surprisingly high. This is how you unknowingly accumulate fat. Therefore, you should eat biscuits in the right way so that they can add energy to you healthily. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Wafer biscuits are high in fat

The butter fat content in wafer biscuits is very high, each piece has 43 kilocalories, and the density is very high. Low, not enough to eat, so it is not easy to notice if you eat too much. In fact, three chocolate wafers contain more than 200 calories.

2. Cream sandwich biscuits are high in sugar and fat

Usually, the sugar content in cream is very high. The calories of two cheese biscuits are as high as 185 calories, and artificial High in pigment content, eating too much is not healthy. Therefore, biscuits can only be used as snacks. Generally, biscuits are too dry and can easily cause "heat" (getting angry). Moreover, the main nutrition of biscuits is only carbohydrates, which is not nutritionally balanced.

How to prevent it?

(1) When purchasing biscuits, try to choose low-fat, low-sugar and low-calorie biscuits. When choosing, just pay attention to the nutrition label on the package and don't choose varieties with high fat, sugar and calories.

(2) Drink more boiled water. As mentioned just now, biscuits contain too little water, so you must drink more boiled water to reduce inflammation. In addition, the water content increases the starch in the cake, making it easier to feel full, so you can control the portion size.

In short, although biscuits are delicious, eating less will increase the taste, and eating more will spoil your belly. Be careful of problems such as excessive internal heat or excessive nutritional content. If you want to eat cookies happily and healthily, you must stop eating them in moderation.

Purchasing methods

How to measure the fat content of facial tissue

Fan Zhihong, associate professor at the School of Food, China Agricultural University, said that when choosing biscuits, you must carefully read the ingredient description and description on the packaging. Nutrients. The flour used to make biscuits is generally refined white flour, which has low nutritional value. The nutritional value of biscuits can be increased if milk, nuts, whole grains or legumes are added to the ingredients.

In addition to flour, also identify the fat used in biscuits. Ordinary vegetable oils are relatively good, while animal fats such as beef tallow, lard, and butter have higher saturated fatty acids and slightly lower nutritional value. Shortening, vegetable butter, and hydrogenated vegetable oils that may contain trans fatty acids are the most unhealthy.

It is not difficult to know the fat content. Wrap the biscuits with tissue paper and press it with a heavy object. If a lot of oil seeps into the paper in a short period of time, it means that the saturated fatty acid content is very high, which is unhealthy.

The ingredients of biscuits should also be carefully checked. The various flavors of biscuits basically come from flavors and pigments. Chocolate-flavored biscuits are not necessarily made from real cocoa butter, but may be imitation chocolate made from cocoa butter substitutes, which often contain trans fatty acids. Relatively speaking, biscuits containing vegetables, lighter salty and sweet flavors, and lower fat content are healthier.

Look at the fiber content of cereal biscuits

The view that eating whole grains is good for health has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and there are also many whole grain cereal biscuits claiming to be "high in fiber" on the market. But if the so-called whole wheat, oats, rye, grain biscuits and other ingredients advertised on the package are ranked at the bottom of the ingredient list, they may not be real grain biscuits.

Fan Zhihong took a cookie as an example. Its ingredient list is "wheat flour, white sugar, butter, vegetable shortening, peanuts, whey powder, salt, etc." It can be seen from the ingredient list that the first ingredient of this biscuit is wheat flour, the second is white sugar, and the third is vegetable shortening. By analogy, the lower the content, the lower the ranking. Therefore, when buying high-fiber cereal biscuits, you should look at the fiber content in the nutrition facts table. If it is less than 5 grams, it is not a high-fiber biscuit. And sugar. Regardless of white sugar, glucose syrup, maltose syrup, starch syrup, or corn syrup, they are all simple sugars containing energy, and the health effects are the same. Some companies use other syrups to replace white sugar, and they are called "sugar-free foods" and sugar-free biscuits. Really sugar-free? In fact, this is not the case. Please be careful when purchasing.

Types of Biscuits

Biscuits are a common snack. As a snack or a dietary supplement, they are convenient to eat and carry. They have become an indispensable food in daily life. . However, as the variety of biscuits increases, consumers are increasingly dazzled and have no choice. Coupled with the increasing health awareness of modern people, if you choose based on personal taste and preference alone, you are afraid of being detrimental to your health. So, what kind of biscuits should different groups of people choose?

Soda Biscuits

Soda biscuits are made by first adding yeast to a part of the wheat flour, and then making it into a dough. After a long period of fermentation, the remaining wheat flour is added, and then fermented for a short period of time before being shaped. Made.

Advantages: Contains less sugar and oil.

Note:

1) Eating soda crackers increases sodium intake, which can increase blood pressure and aggravate edema.

2) Eating soda crackers increases fat intake, makes it easier to gain weight, and increases the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Whole wheat and digestive biscuits

Whole wheat and digestive biscuits are biscuits made from wheat that has not had the bran removed and ground into flour. It is better than the rich and strong flour we usually eat. Refined flour without bran is darker in color and has a rougher texture, but it retains a large amount of vitamins, minerals, and fiber in the bran, so its nutritional value is higher.

Advantages: relatively high cellulose content.

Note:

Because cellulose has a very poor taste, in order to improve the taste of cellulose and have a shortening effect, a lot of oil may be added, resulting in a relatively high fat content and easy to use. Elevated blood lipids are detrimental to the prevention of heart disease.

Sandwich biscuits

To make sandwich biscuits with different flavors, the key is to add different auxiliary ingredients, such as oil, sugar, milk, eggs and other flavorings.

The fat content of ordinary biscuits is not high, but with the sandwich, the fat and sugar content increases significantly, making it a high-calorie food.

The calories of 100 grams of steamed buns are about 226 kilocalories (945 kilojoules), while the calories of 100 grams of biscuits are more than twice as high as steamed buns! When making biscuits, fat and sugar are added to the flour, which is very high in calories, especially cookies and sweet sandwich biscuits.

Advantages: Sweet and rich taste.

Note: If it is for people who need to supplement calories in a short period of time, biscuits are a good choice, such as snacks for middle school and high school students, calorie supplement for heavy manual workers, etc.; People who need to control their weight, as well as patients with hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia, should eat as little or no biscuits as possible.

Nutritional-fortified biscuits

There are also biscuits with fortified nutrients on the market. The most common varieties are fortified with minerals and vitamins, such as calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D, etc. Some also add wheat bran to increase dietary fiber.

Like pizza biscuits, choose five types of grains, including red beans, black beans, black rice, purple sweet potatoes, corn, etc., to increase dietary fiber. At the same time, cranberries, blueberries, and bergamot fruit pieces are sprinkled on the surface. Cranberries contain vitamin C, blueberries contain anthocyanins, and bergamot fruit has the same medicinal and food origins. While enjoying delicious food, you also get more health.

Advantages: Some formula biscuits can add a certain amount of calcium, iron, etc., which is more nutritious than some biscuits.

Note:

Children with partial or picky eaters often have certain benefits from eating biscuits fortified with calcium, iron, and zinc. But as an ordinary person, if you can maintain a balanced diet and have no obvious nutrient deficiencies, or you are already taking nutritional supplements, then you must be wary of two situations when choosing biscuits with fortified nutrients: First, the nutrients are not absorbed; Wasted in vain; second, excessive absorption of nutrients will have adverse effects on the human body.

Keep in mind the four elements

□ Products should be purchased in larger shopping malls and supermarkets. Because dealers in these places have stricter controls on purchasing channels, product quality is more guaranteed.

□Look carefully at product labels. Check whether the factory name, address, phone number, and implementation standards are complete; whether the product is within the shelf life; pay attention to whether there is a "QS" mark on the product; and whether the ingredient list is detailed. Pay more attention to accumulating knowledge of chemical terms such as food additives, and do not let the ingredients stated on the label become a bunch of meaningless unfamiliar terms.

□ Check the packaging. In addition to checking whether the packaging is damaged, if conditions permit, check whether there is moisture on the inner layer of the packaging, because biscuit products are prone to moisture. If the moisture content of biscuits is too high, it is easy for bacteria and mold to breed, especially during the rainy season in Guangzhou. Oxidation of oils will shorten the shelf life of the product.

□Be careful to save. Good-quality biscuits should have a complete shape, clear patterns, no shrinkage or deformation, and have the unique crispiness of the product. It should be consumed as soon as possible after opening the package. If it is not finished at one time, it should be stored in a sealed container and placed in a cool and dry place.

The harder the biscuits, the less oil they contain

Cookies, digestive biscuits, soda biscuits, sandwich biscuits... various flavors and types of biscuits in the supermarket can fill up two corners of the room. Three shelves. With so many different types of biscuits, do you know how to choose the healthiest one?

First let’s take a look at what biscuits are made of.

1. Flour. If you want to make the texture of the biscuits particularly crispy, the key is to choose "low-gluten flour", which is wheat flour with less protein.

So, biscuits are low-protein foods, not as high in protein as steamed buns.

2. Grease. Among the fats used in making biscuits, ordinary vegetable oil is relatively good; while animal fats such as beef tallow, lard, and butter have low nutritional value due to high saturated fat; and "shortening" and "vegetable butter" containing trans fatty acids ", "Hydrogenated vegetable oil" is the most harmful to health.

3. Sugar. Whether it is white sugar or glucose syrup, or maltose syrup, "starch syrup" or "corn syrup", they are all simple sugars containing energy, and the health effects are the same. Be careful that some companies use other syrups instead of white sugar and then claim to be "sugar-free foods".

4. Other ingredients. The various flavors of biscuits basically come from flavors and pigments. Cookies with richer and more novel flavors may be less healthy. In order to facilitate storage and reduce costs, chocolate biscuits are likely to use imitation chocolate made from cocoa butter, which often contains trans fatty acids.

Lefting agents are ingredients that must be added to many biscuits. They make biscuit products crispy and delicious, such as waffles and soda crackers. Raising agents may contain aluminum, and excessive consumption can promote the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease.

So if you want to choose the healthiest biscuits, the key point is to choose types with light taste and low fat content. You can tell whether the taste is light or not by tasting it, but it is a little more difficult to choose the type with less oil.

The easiest way is to choose biscuits with low crispiness, that is, harder ones, such as the "animal biscuits" and "calcium milk biscuits" that we used to eat. Or wrap the biscuits with a piece of white tissue paper, press it with a heavy object, and check how much grease is on the paper after 20 minutes. The more grease there is on the paper, the higher the fat content. Overall, cookies that contain vegetables, are less salty and sweet, and are lower in fat are healthier. Soda biscuits have high calories and fat content, so they should not be eaten in large quantities. If you need to use biscuits to satisfy your hunger, it is best to choose "whole wheat biscuits" that are high in fiber and easy to digest.