Differences in Chemical Changes

Heyho peoples!!!

What is the next thing you do after mixing all the ingredients?YES!You're right!
we baked it!!!But do all of you know what are the changes that takes place upon baking?hmmm...
In this post i'm going to explain to you what happen during baking,the hidden and the obvious changes that you might have noticed.

Baking is a dry-heat process in form of radiation or convection.Once heat is applied,the air and steam that has been incoporated in the dough will immediately expand and hence create pressure that will streched the elastic gluten network.The cake will then rise constantly till the heat melts the fat,gelantinizes the starch,coagulation of sugar and flour as well as the browning process also known as MAILLARD REACTION.


MAILLARD reaction is a process when the protein that can be found in egg and flour react with carbohydrates that are present in sugars causing the changes in colour-from pale yellow to dark brown.maillard reaction also affect the flavour and odour.

AIR & STEAM
Air and steam are also known as physical leaveners.Air is incoporated into all flour mixtures during mixing,for spongecake, the more air incoporated in the dough either by whisking the egg,sifting the flour or creaming the mixture-the better as it will help the dough to rise.In this recipe we did not use any other leavening agent such as baking soda or even yeast.We solely make use of the whisking techniques to incoporate the air into the mixture.

SUGAR
The main fuction of sugar is obviously to sweeten the product.Sugar also help to raise the temperature at which gelatinization and coagulation occur hence allowing the gluten to have more time to stretch.This lead to a further increase in volume and finer texture.Sugar also increase the moistness and tenderness of the baked product-sugar will compete with starch for available water necessary for hydration of flour proteins and eventually gluten development.It also help to brown the outer crust of the product through CARAMELIZATION and MAILLARD reaction.sugar also helps to delay staling due to its hygroscopic properties.

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT
There are 3 type of wheat protein present in wheat flour-gliadin,glutenin and non-gluten.Gliadin and Glutenin forms gluten which is ideal for preparing baked product.There are two major steps in gluten formation which through HYDRATION and KNEADING.When water is added,the higher the protein content in the flour which in this case is the wholemeal flour,the more water will be absorb.The water will draw out the gluten forming proteins from the crushed endosperm cells and once hydrated,the proteins will form gluten complex-an interwined network which is filled with water in its inner space.Therefore,wholemeal flour provides more characteristic texture as compared to plain flour.

FATS
fat act as tenderizing agent.


ArT Of mAkiNg sPoNGecAkE: NUTRITIONAL INFORMATIONS,UNDERSTANDING FOOD;Principles & preparation third edition, Amy brown.