Baking is a way of preparing food which usually employs dry heat, usually in an oven, to prepare food, but is also sometimes done on hot rocks, or in hot ashes. The most popular baked product is bread but other forms of food are also baked. The heat is slowly transferred from the outer surface of breads, cookies, and cakes to their core. This core is usually butter or oil. When this happens, as it does when bread bakers do their thing, the product starts to rise.
Baked at a temperature:
The rising product is then baked at a temperature which must be appropriate to baking. If the temperature is too high or too low for baking, then the result will either be disintegrated crumbs or tough cakes. To prevent this from happening, one must preheat the ovens for the purpose of baking a properly cooked product and keep them well ventilated and clean in order not to cause any damage to the baking equipment. Other factors responsible for baked product failure include incorrect mixing, warm baking times, using heated air, unbalanced ingredients, and poorly designed ovens.
Baking can be categorized into two main types, i.e. professional baking and layering baking. Professional baking can be classed as a professional pastry baking or more commonly known as chef baking. In professional baking, the baked goods are prepared and tested in a controlled environment, usually under the supervision of a qualified expert. Layering baking is usually done by amateurs and in a comparatively free manor.
Baking with heated air is also called roasting and is usually done at lower temperatures. Baked goods are usually cooked quickly in a hot oven. In roasting, the ovens are preheated and are left to heat up for a short time. The heated air is blown through the coals to provide even heating and therefore baking is done rapidly.
Ingredients of Baking :
The basic ingredients of baking are flour, salt, butter, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and baking oil. Flour, salt and butter are combined first by beating them until they become light and then add sugar. After this, the mixture is stirred slowly until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. The oven is preheated and then put in the ingredients one at a time. After that, the oven is checked and left to set for the prescribed time.
As the oven cooks, the ingredients are mixed thoroughly so that no one part is overcooked. After the baking period, the bread doughs are brushed and polished with oil so that the surface is shiny and clean. Yeast is fermented in a culture tank at a low temperature. This culture tank contains water, yeast, air, sugar, thyme, and other additives for the proper growth of the microorganisms responsible for baking bread doughs.
