The Science of Baking.

Baking is science as well as art. It is a very interesting activity and can produce amazing results when recipes are followed judiciously. Baking is a scienc such that slight changes in a recipe like too much baking powder or over mixing a batter; can make a difference. “There is definitely an art to baking", said Yael Vodovotz, a food science professor at Ohio State University. “There’s a science to it too".

Take cake, for example. Each ingredient has a job to do. Flour provides the structure; baking powder and baking soda give the cake its airiness; eggs bind the ingredients; butter and oil tenderize; sugar sweetens and milk or water provides moisture.

Combining the dry and wet ingredients puts them to work: the proteins in the flour bond and create gluten, giving the cake its flexibility. Eggs hold the mixture together. Baking powder and baking soda each release carbon dioxide, adding bubbles to the batter, helping it expand.

It is important to mix dry ingredients in the right order. Each dry element is competing for water. The water will favor the ingredient that competes strongly. Putting the wrong ingredients first will tend to clump the cake batter because then there is no enough water.

A cake batter that flows means that the hydration is consistent. But be careful not to over-mix because, when gluten aligns, the proteins align with strands. If you keep mixing, it will be too runny, and it won’t hold.

The ingredients change again when the batter is in the oven. The starch portion of the flour gels – with help from sugar – and creates a weblike structure that traps water and provides moisture. The carbon dioxide from the baking or baking soda will expand the cake. Gluten holds those bubbles in place while the fat from the oil or butter lubricates the process.

When it bakes, the whole protein network hardens and holds the bubbles in cakes. That is why when a cake is brought out early, it collapses because the structure hasn’t set yet. Also, if there is too much baking powder or baking soda, the bubbles will float to the top and pop, sinking the cake. Adding too much also can give a baked good a chemical taste also.

Sugar and fat also play a role when a cake cools. Sugar helps slow the cake from hardening. When a cake begins to go stale, the starch starts to crystallize. Sugar will draw the water and prevent the starch molecules from forming and crystallizing. Higher fat content will keep a cake moist longer, holding off staleness.

In all, baking is an exact science. If you know the ingredient and how it behaves, then, you have a better chance of baking.

The tip is to ensure that every ingredient is used in the right proportion and with the right techniques.