Baking Basics
Crumb structure is decided by how much gluten you let form
· 4 min read
Sanaya Dastur
Features writer, The Last Bite
Sanaya writes the explanatory pieces on baking basics, chocolate & sugar, frozen and would rather show the working than assert the conclusion.
16 articles
Baking Basics
The first ten minutes in the oven decide the shape of a loaf
· 4 min read
Pastry
Lamination fails at the temperature where butter stops being solid
· 4 min read
Pastry
Shortcrust is a dough built to fail structurally on purpose
· 4 min read
Sweet History
Chocolate spent most of its history as a bitter drink
· 3 min read
Sweet History
White icing signalled money before it signalled tradition
· 3 min read
Frozen
A custard base is cooked for the emulsifier as much as the thickening
· 3 min read
Frozen
Serving temperature is a texture control and most freezers get it wrong
· 3 min read
Frozen
An ice lolly freezes from the outside in and the flavour follows the water
· 3 min read
Chocolate & Sugar
Compound coating exists because tempering is expensive and fat can be chosen
· 3 min read
Frozen
Alcohol in a frozen dessert is a solvent, a softener and a liability
· 3 min read
Sweet History
Iberian convent sweets are built on egg yolks because somebody wanted the whites
· 3 min read
Sweet History
Europe learned to make sugar from beet because it could not get any
· 3 min read
Chocolate & Sugar
A filled chocolate spoils because of the water in its centre
· 4 min read
Chocolate & Sugar
A gummy sweet is a gel cast into a mould made of starch
· 4 min read
Sweet History
Ice was once harvested, shipped and sold like any other cargo
· 3 min read