Posts Tagged ‘About’

Everything About the Most Useful Baking Equipment

Nov 8, 2010 Bread Bakeries

Baking not only requires skill but it also involves familiarity with a set of tools and devices. These products, aptly known as baking equipment, are divided into several types depending on their functions.

Absolutely gratifying is the feeling you would get when you serve your friends or customers with a cake you have made and you would receive a complement. This would truly motivate you to master the skill of baking. And as you hone your baking skills, you also need to understand and appreciate the pieces of equipment you need in this craft. These products are collectively known as baking equipment, and they are divided into a number of types.

The first type consists of equipment used in mixing. These products are where you would put the dough and other baking ingredients for your bread or cake. Examples of mixing equipment include the traditional mixing bowl and electric mixers. If you prefer using an electric mixer, you can choose among stationary, removable, and tilt-over mixers. Instruments for stirring such as wooden spoons are also included in this type of baking equipment.

The next type of baking equipment is used for handling and forming your bread. Generally known as makeup equipment, these products ensure that your ingredients are safe from being broken as they are being formed. Makeup equipment normally consist of dividers where you would place your dough which will then be shaped by the said device. Through these products, you can create perfectly round hamburger buns and breads of various shapes and sizes.

After mixing and forming the ingredients for your bread, you now have to proceed with the actual process of baking. For this purpose, you would use baking devices. The most common of which is the oven. Ovens are divided into a few types. First is the classic deck oven. Using stone and brick, this oven allows you to bake your bread the traditional way. Next, the rack oven is suitable for large bakeries. It has certain notable features such as the heavy-duty lifting system used in handling huge volumes of bread. Third is the revolving oven whose main advantage is flexibility. Its revolving pan system ensures that all parts of your bread are baked properly. This feature also lets you view the bread while it is being baked.

Moving on, once your product has been baked, you need to put it in a presentable pan, tray, or basket. These items are called smallware and they are the next type of baking equipment. Apart from breads, cookies and pastries can also be served using these pieces of smallware.

Another type of baking equipment deals with freezing and refrigeration. It is true that providing proper cooling to your product can prolong its life and enhance its taste and quality. Hence, should you decide on starting a business focused on baking, You have to obtain a specific refrigeration device for your breads. Types of refrigeration devices include reach-in refrigerators, roll-in refrigerators, and walk-in refrigerators. These devices differ mainly in terms of size.

Finally, once you have baked and provided cooling to your product, you now have to serve it. In addition to the aforementioned trays and pans, slicing equipment are necessary in this stage. For individual servings, you of course can use the standard knife and cutter. But if you would serve more people, using an electric slicer would be advisable.


Related Blogs

Tags: , , , , , ,

All About Eating Bread

Sep 21, 2010 Bread Bakeries

BREAD is sometimes defined as any form of baked flour, but as the word is commonly understood it means only those forms of baked flour which contain some leavening substance that produces fermentation. The making of bread has come down through the ages from the simplest methods practiced by the most primitive peoples to the more elaborate processes of the present day. In truth, to study the history of bread making would amount to studying the accounts of the progress that has been made by the human race. Still, in order that the production of bread from suitable ingredients may be fully understood, it will be well to note the advancement that has been made.

In the earliest times, what was used as bread was made in much the same way as it is today by many uncivilized and semicivilized people. The grain was ground between stones, usually by hand, and then mixed with water to form a dough; then this dough was formed into flat, compact cakes and baked in hot ashes, the result being a food very difficult to digest. Later on, some one discovered that by allowing the dough to stand until fermentation took place and then mixing it with new dough, the whole mass would rise, and also that by subjecting this mass to the action of heat, that is, baking it, the mass would be held in place and become a loaf of raised bread that was lighter and, of course, more digestible. It was this discovery that led up to the modern bread-making processes, in which substances known as leavening agents, or ferments, are used to make bread light, or porous. Chief among the substances is yeast, a microscopic plant that produces fermentation under favorable conditions.

Indeed, so important is this ferment that, in the United States, whenever the term bread is used alone it means yeast, or leavened, bread, whereas, when other leavening agents are used, the bread is referred to as hot bread, or quick bread, as is fully explained in another Section. It will be well to note this fact, for in all cases throughout these COOKING lessons yeast, or leavened, bread is always meant when the term bread is used alone.

References in the history of the ancient Hebrews show that bread made light by means of fermentation was known thousands of years ago, but it was not until after the accidental discovery of the action of yeast that the making of wholesome and digestible bread became possible. Through this important advance in the making of bread came a demand for better grains and more improved methods of making flour. Indeed, so much attention has been given to these matters that at present the three important processes relating to bread-making–the raising of wheat, the milling of flour, and the manufacture of yeast–are carefully and scientifically performed. These industries, together with the commercial manufacture of bread, occupy an important place in the business of practically all civilized nations.

Among people who are not highly civilized, bread forms the chief article of food and often almost the entire diet, even at the present time; but as man progresses in civilization he seems to require a greater variety of food, and he accordingly devises means of getting it. Since bread is only one of the many foods he finds at his disposal, it does not assume a place of so much importance in present-day meals as it formerly did. However, it still makes up a sufficient proportion of the food of every family to warrant such careful and extensive study, as well as such mastery of the processes involved, that the housewife may present to her family only the best quality of this food.

Although it does not have such extensive use as it had in the past, bread of some description, whether in the form of loaves, biscuits, or rolls, forms a part of each meal in every household. This fact proves that, with the exception of milk, it is more frequently eaten than any other food. A food so constantly used contributes very largely to the family’s health if it is properly made. However, there is possibly nothing in the whole range of domestic life that so disturbs the welfare of the entire family as an inferior quality of this food, which, besides proving detrimental to the digestion, adds materially to the household expense.

Of course, in many bakeries, bread of an excellent quality is made in a perfectly hygienic manner, and to be able to procure such bread is a wonderful help to the busy housewife or to the woman who finds it inconvenient to make her own bread. Still, practically every person enjoys “home-made” bread so much more than what is made commercially that the housewife will do well to make a careful study of this branch of COOKING. If it is properly understood, it will not be found difficult; but the woman who takes it up must manifest her interest to master a few essential principles and to follow them explicitly. After she has obtained the knowledge that she must possess, experience and practice will give her the skill necessary to prevent poor results and a consequent waste of material.

Tags: , ,

Wild About Cupcakes: Over 130 Recipes

Sep 8, 2010 Baked Cakes

51FUIepYx%2BL. SL160 Wild About Cupcakes: Over 130 Recipes

  • ISBN13: 9780764162770
  • Condition: NEW
  • Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
As a dessert or as a snack, cupcakes are one of America’s favorite comfort foods—and there’s virtually no end to the different kinds that cupcake lovers can make. The secret to imaginative cupcake creation is having a good cupcake cookbook, and Wild About Cupcakes is precisely that! Recipes galore include—

  • Chocolate cupcakes
  • Party cupcakes
  • Simple, healthy cupcakes that aren’t too sweet and are good for breakfast
  • Children’s cupcakes
  • Cupcakes for those special moments—Valentine’s Day, bridal showers, and other happy occasions

    Beautifully illustrated with full-page color photos accompanying each cupcake recipe, this book presents easy-to-follow, kitchen-tested recipes, each of them including directions for making the appropriate frosting. Here, for example are chocolate coconut cupcakes with a chocolate gananche frosting. . . children’s party cupcakes each topped with a big rosette of pink butter frosting. . . vanilla cupcakes with figs topped with a honey frosting and fig quarters. . . and frosted nutty cupcakes with coarsely chopped nuts topped with milk chocolate frosting and a pecan. Even cupcake aficionados on restricted diets will find wonderful cupcakes to please them in Wild About Cupcakes. A special health needs section includes approximately 30 recipes that are gluten-free, egg-free, sugar-free, or dairy-free. Large color photos on every two-page spread.

    Wild About Cupcakes: Over 130 Recipes

    • Tags: , , , , ,