Principles Of Baking In Cookery
Baking involves the exposure of food to dry heat in an oven.
Three types of ovens – general purpose, convection and deck – are used for baking. Deck ovens are wide flat ovens made to accommodate one or two baking sheets side by side.
The heat is controlled by thermostats, often with separate controls for top and bottom heat. The ovens are heavily constructed and well insulated to enable them to build up a store of heat.
Humidity is controlled by a lever that operates a flue in the back of the oven. Baked goods such as bread and choux pastry require a steamy atmosphere, so the vent should be closed.
For meringues, biscuits and to finish off choux pastry goods, where a drying effect is important, the vent should be open. For items such as puff pastry and yeast goods, high starting temperatures are required to make the goods rise before the outside crust is set.
This is often called oven spring. The temperature may then need to be lowered so that the goods can cook through. Items such as baked custards and meringues require constant low temperatures for poaching in a bain-marie or drying as the case may be.
Principles
1. The oven must be heated to the required temperature prior to loading.
2. When laying out small items on a baking sheet, care should be taken to space them regularly. This will ensure a good distribution of heat and even cooking. It is good practice to set out a row along one side and one end, and then fill the sheet using these rows as markers.
3. A sheet of silicon paper may be placed on a baking sheet prior to piping some types of biscuits so that they do not stick and the bottoms don’t colour too much.
4. Large cakes which take a long time to cook should be insulated with several thicknesses of paper on the sides and between the baking sheet and cake tin. This will prevent the outside overcooking before the centre is done.
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