The Clueless Baker. Evelyn Raab

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СКАЧАТЬ which are all secret code words for milk. If you see the word pareve on the label, you can be sure the product contains no milk or other animal ingredients.

      Sugar

      When a recipe calls for granulated sugar, that means ordinary white sugar. Comes in bags or cartons. The usual stuff. If a recipe requires brown sugar, you can use either light or dark brown sugar. Dark brown contains more molasses and has a stronger flavor; light brown (or golden brown) is milder but still flavorful — use whichever one you like. You may occasionally come across a recipe that calls for caster sugar. This is a finely granulated sugar often used in British recipes. You can substitute “instant dissolving” or “fruit sugar” for caster sugar, or just use regular granulated sugar — it’ll work out fine either way.

      Salt

      Oddly enough, a pinch of salt can bring out the sweetness in a sweet recipe. Other than that, it has no scientific purpose when you’re baking cookies or cakes, so add it if you want or leave it out. In savory (nonsweet) recipes — bread or focaccia, for example — salt really does enhance the flavor, and I recommend that you use it when called for in the ingredient list, although you can adjust the amount of salt to suit your taste.

      Whipping cream or heavy cream

      We’re talking cream with a butterfat content of about 35 percent. The luscious stuff that whips into fluffy clouds of deliciousness. If you’re not planning to whip the cream, however, you can usually substitute a lower fat cream (10, 15 or 18 percent), if you prefer.

      Flour

      Is nothing ever simple? You’ll definitely need flour. But what kind of flour? Or didn’t you know you had a choice?

      For general baking purposes, we mean wheat flour. It’s made from (surprise!) wheat and is available in many different types. Each type is best suited for a specific purpose.

      Here is a list of the most commonly used types of wheat flour:

      All-purpose white flour is the most widely available kind of flour. It comes in small bags or in bulk and is sold under many different brand names. If the bag says nothing else (such as unbleached or whole wheat), you can assume you’ve got all-purpose white flour. This product has been milled; the bran has been sifted out; and the flour has been bleached by chemical means to make it dazzlingly white. Vitamins and whatnot are added to replace some of the nutrients that were lost in the refining process. As the name suggests, all-purpose white flour is suitable for most baking purposes unless the recipe specifies another type of flour.

      All-purpose unbleached white flour is white flour that hasn’t been subjected to a bleaching process and therefore remains creamy white in color. All-purpose unbleached white flour can be used in any recipe that calls for all-purpose flour. Some people prefer to use it because it has undergone less processing than bleached flour.

      Cake and pastry flour is made from soft wheat — a variety of wheat that has a lower gluten (see below) and protein content. It’s often recommended for baking cakes and pastry, where you’re more interested in lightness and fluffiness than in sturdiness. With only one exception, regular all-purpose flour is perfectly adequate for every recipe in this book. The one exception is Angel Food Cake, which is just delicate enough to require cake and pastry flour.

      Whole wheat flour is milled kernels of hulled whole wheat. Period. Nothing has been taken out. The outside layer of bran and the wheat germ are both left in the flour. Whole wheat flour is darker in color than white flour, and has a hearty wheat flavor and a coarser texture. It contains all the nutrients found in wheat and provides a hefty dose of fiber. Use whole wheat flour by itself or mixed with white flour when baking breads or cookies — you may want to experiment with different combinations until you find a mixture that you like. Whole wheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer to prevent it from developing an off taste — the oil in the wheat germ can turn funny after a while at warm room temperature.

      Gluten-free all-purpose flour is a wheat-free product that can be substituted for regular wheat-based all-purpose flour in many recipes. Gluten-free flour is usually some blend of garbanzo flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, rice flour and/or cornstarch, among other things. Different commercial brands of gluten-free flour are made of different combinations of ingredients. As a very general rule, if a recipe contains ½ cup (125 ml) or less of regular flour, you can substitute the same quantity of gluten-free flour. The results will probably be slightly different from the original version of the recipe, but if you must avoid gluten, it’s definitely worth experimenting.

      Chocolate. Need we say more?

      Well, yes, actually. We need to say lots more. Because there’s lots to say.

      Chocolate is made from the fruit of a tropical bush. You pick the beans, whack off their shells, roast them and then squeeze out the juice — from which, eventually, chocolate is made. The juice, technically called cocoa liquor, contains both the cocoa solids (the chocolate-flavored part) and cocoa butter (the creamy smooth melt-in-your-mouth part). These two substances are combined in different proportions, with varying amounts of sugar, to make your basic hunk of chocolate.

      Unsweetened chocolate is a mixture of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. No sugar. It has an intense chocolate flavor and is often used in baking when you’re looking for a big chocolate hit without added sweetness. It comes in 1-ounce (28 g) squares (usually in a package of six or eight, which you can find in the baking aisle of the supermarket), or in chunks or squares in a bulk food store. It is absolutely not delicious until you do something with it — a fact that anyone who has accidentally taken a bite of unsweetened chocolate can confirm.

      Semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate is a mixture of cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar (along with various other ingredients added for flavor and texture). Semisweet chocolate contains more sugar than bittersweet chocolate does, but they’re both deliciously edible and are interchangeable in recipes. Semisweet chocolate is commonly sold in packages of eight 1-ounce (28 g) squares, or in the form of large and small bars meant for eating. It’s often better to buy a big bar of good-quality eating chocolate than a package of baking chocolate squares, but you’ll need an accurate kitchen scale to weigh the right amount for your recipe.

      Chocolate chips are usually semisweet chocolate specially formulated to hold its shape when baked in a cookie or cake. In general, you can usually substitute semisweet chocolate chips for an equal weight (hello, digital scale!) of semisweet baking chocolate chunks or bars in recipes where you melt the chocolate. See chapter 1 for equivalent amounts when using chocolate chips in place of semisweet baking chocolate (and vice versa).

      Milk chocolate is mild, creamy and very sweet. It’s made with more sugar than semisweet chocolate is and contains milk solids, as well as other ingredients for flavor and texture. Only occasionally used in baking, milk chocolate is usually just munched in the form of chocolate bars and Easter bunnies. Even though it doesn’t pack a huge chocolate wallop, you still gotta love it, because, after all, it is chocolate.

      White chocolate is pure cocoa butter mixed with sugar and a few other odds and ends for flavor and texture. The cocoa solids (the brown part that tastes like chocolate) have been left out of the picture. A good-quality white chocolate tastes rich and creamy, and is available in chips, chunks, disks and bars. White chocolate can’t be used as a substitute for other types of chocolate — it’s a different animal altogether.

      Unsweetened cocoa powder СКАЧАТЬ