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BATTERS AND DOUGHS

QUESTIONS - p. 270

1. What are the characteristics of a muffin from understirred batter? Overstirred batter? Account for these effects.

Understirred batter: The muffins will have a coarse and crumbly crumb and be of low volume due to inadequate gluten development. The top will be flat and there will be brown specks of undissolved soda on the surface due to insufficient moistening of the ingredients for optimum CO₂ production. Overstirred batter: The gluten becomes overdeveloped resulting in a more elastic batter and tougher muffin. The surface becomes smooth with a pointed top. The interior of the muffin will have tunnels converging in the peak. These tunnels develop as steam and CO₂ collect in a few areas and begin to exert pressure on the cell walls. As the batter is heated more quickly near the outer edges and bottom of the muffin, these areas lose their ability to stretch first, whereas the center and upper region remain elastic. This continued elasticity permits the gluten in the center and upper region to stretch upward with the pressure from the leavening gases. Gluten that is overdeveloped will allow the expansion of these gases in an upward direction, resulting in tunnels and a peaked top.

2. Explain the result of the absence of various ingredients on the quality of
muffins as seen in part C.

No baking powder: The muffins have poor volume and texture and are tough. The absence of CO₂ gas for leavening has produced a structure that was not raised.
No egg: The muffins are tough and have a large crumb. The egg yolk is necessary to emulsify the fat so that it is evenly dispersed throughout the batter to give a tender product. The egg protein acts as a structural component, necessary to to get a thin wall around the air cells. The egg yolk also adds flavor and color to the crumb.
No fat or sugar: The muffin is less tender, less moist and has poor surface color. Fat tenderizes by coating the flour particles and forming masses that physically separate the developing strands of gluten and prevent them from coming together. With no fat, the gluten can become overdeveloped and result in a tough muffin. Sugar tenderizes by competing for moisture, thus retarding protein hydration and gluten development, and then by elevating the coagulation temperature of the

structural proteins so that there is more time for the cell walls to stretch and the volume increase before coagulation occurs to define the final volume of the product.
Extra fat and sugar: The muffin is very tender and cakelike due to the interference with gluten development by the fat and sugar. Crust browning in the oven is enhanced due to the Maillard reaction and in part to caramelization.

3. Why is it easy to overstir muffin batter?

The ratio of flour to liquid (2:1) is ideal for gluten development. If the formula is low in tenderizers, fat and sugar, it is easy to develop more gluten than is desirable.

4. Were tunnels prevalent in muffins made with cornmeal or whole wheat flour? Explain.

Cornmeal does not contain gluten forming proteins so products made with only corn meal will not develop tunnels. Gluten will be developed as a result of the addition of wheat flour to a corn meal product, but the incidence of tunnels will be low due nature of the corn meal and its capacity for interference with gluten development. Whole wheat flour does contain gluten, but the presence of bran, an interfering agent, greatly reduces the incidence of tunnels.

5. When you want to use rye flour or cornmeal in a recipe, how can a desirable structure be obtained?

Corn meal or rye flour can be mixed with equal parts of allpurpose flour which is high in glutenforming proteins. In order to obtain a quality product with good volume and texture, a certain amount of gluten formation is necessary to provide its gas retaining properties. Rye flour does form gluten, but may not in sufficient quantity to produce a desirable product.

6. Why is it possible and advantageous to stir muffinlike mixtures that contain relatively large quantities of sugar, longer than a plain muffin mixture?

Sugar interferes with gluten development. A large amount of sugar may interfere with gluten development to such an extent that more manipulation is necessary to develop enough gluten to retain the gases required for good volume and texture.

QUESTIONS - p. 273

1. How does the technique of making baking powder biscuits differ from the technique of making muffins?

The formulation for muffins differs from biscuits in the ratio of flour to liquid. Muffin batter has a flour to liquid ratio of 2:1 whereas biscuits have a ratio of 3:1.
The method of mixing the ingredients is also different.
a) With muffins, the dry ingredients are mixed together in one bowl and the liquid ingredients, including the fat, are mixed in another. The liquid ingredients are then added to the dry. With biscuits, the plastic fat is cut into the dry ingredients first, and then the liquid ingredients are added.
b) Muffins require very little manipulation of the batter. The liquid ingredients are stirred into the dry only enough to moisten the dry ingredients.
Biscuits require thorough mixing of the dry and wet ingredients and much more manipulation of the dough to adequately moisten the dry ingredients.

2. How is flakiness obtained in rolled biscuits?

Flakiness is obtained in biscuits by the following two steps.
a) Cutting the plastic fat into the flour results in the fat being subdivided into small particles. The surface area of the fat is increased and thus more flour can make contact with it. The end result is that there are layers of flour untouched by the fat alternating with layers of fat particles imbedded with flour. In the flour layers gluten is developed and in the fat layers the fat melts on baking leaving spaces between sheets of dough.
b) Manipulation of the dough, which involves kneading and folding the dough into layers of fat and flour, gives a layered crumb. The dough must be stirred adequately and kneaded sufficiently in order to develop gluten enough to obtain the desired flaky texture.

3. How is tenderness obtained in rolled biscuits?

Both the addition of fat and the method of manipulating the dough contribute to a tender dough. Fat tenderizes because it is insoluble in water and it is spread

throughout the flour mixture where it interferes with the cohesiveness of the structure. The proper amount of manipulation of the dough, a gentle kneading of 15-20 strokes, is necessary because of the comparatively slow rate of gluten development in biscuit dough. However, too much manipulation increases toughness.

4. What causes yellow spots on the crust of rolled biscuits? How can this be avoided?

Yellow spots may be formed when all of the soda has either not been dissolved or not been neutralized. When this soda is heated during baking, Na₂CO₃ (washing soda) is formed. This encourages theformation of yellowish spots on the surface of the crust. To prevent this from happening, it is important that the dough be stirred and kneaded adequately in order to moisten all of the dry ingredients. The dough can also be left to stand, covered to prevent drying, for 10-15 minutes. This allows time for moistening of the ingredients. Or the surface of the biscuit dough may be brushed with a milk or egg wash to prevent drying during baking.

5. Or what importance is balance of acid and alkali components in a product? Explain lab results.
The balance ofacid & alkalai components in a baked product is crucial as it affects the pH of the mixture, and in turn affects the final taste, texture, volume and color.
pH affects the following:
1) Color: Alkalai pH changes the flavenoid pigments in flour to yellow and increases the rate of browning via the Maillard reaction. In experiment D, the alkali only variation has a very yellow crumb and good surface browning. As the batter becomes less alkalai, the samples become whiter in color. The acid only sample has a very white crumb and little surface browning.
2) Flavor: When heated, the unneutralized baking soda produces Na₂CO₃, which has a disagreeable flavor, bitter and soapy. This was seen in the alkalai only sample. As the batter becomes less alkalai, the product becomes more agreeable in flavor.
3) Tenderness: At a lower pH the crumb is more moist and tender as acid tenderizes the gluten. The more alkalai samples have a drier more crumbly crumb.
4) Volume: In order to obtain sufficient CO₂ production, there must be a good balance between the acid and the alkalai component. In the experiment, the acid only sample displayed no volume increase as cream of tartar alone does not produce CO₂. The alkalai only sample displayed some volume increase but overall less than the high acid or high alkalai samples as there was no acid present to promote sufficient CO₂ production.