ABSTRACT
Baking is a millennia-old process, and bakery products range in complexity from the simple ingredients of a plain pastry, to the numerous components of a cake. The term baking applies not only to the production of bread, but to all food products in which flour is the basic material, and to which heat is applied directly by radiation from the walls and/or top and bottom of an oven or heating appliance. More particularly, baking includes the production of items such as bread, cake, pastry, biscuits, crackers, cookies, and pies, where flour is the essential and principle ingredient for the base product; baking also includes the toppings, frostings, fillings, and so on that finish the baked product. Despite the fact that many differences in bakery products exist, both important issues of baking technology-baking materials/ingredients and techniques for combining and baking them, will be introduced in this chapter.
