The Baking Answer Book (16 page)

Commercial baked goods stay squeezably soft for weeks or even months also because they contain emulsifiers, substances that help two difficult-to-mix ingredients, fat and water, come together into a smooth mixture. Emulsifiers are molecules that have one water-friendly end and one oil-friendly end. When mixed with oil and water they bring the two together. Emulsifiers keep water where it needs to be to maintain bread’s softness or a cookie’s pleasant chewiness.

CHAPTER 4
Know Your Oven

No book about baking would be complete without a discussion of ovens — gas, electric, convection, and microwave. Herewith are questions and answers about getting the most out of your oven, however quirky it may be, caring for it, and accessorizing it with the latest in oven thermometers, oven mitts, and nonstick liners.

Q
What are the differences between gas and electric ovens? Is one better for baking?

A
Conventional wisdom has it that gas is better for stovetop cooking for the control it allows the cook (the heat coming from a gas burner can be adjusted instantly upward or downward, while adjustments on an electric burner take longer) while electric is better for baking (because electricity will heat an oven’s interior more evenly than gas). But the reality is that much depends on the quality of your oven, whatever its heat source. There are plenty of poorly built electric ovens with dangerous hot and cool spots, as well as a lot of high-end, wonderfully engineered gas ovens that maintain even temperatures front to back and side to side. With the help of an oven thermometer and some experience, you will be able to determine how evenly your gas or electric oven cooks, and how to respond if you do have hot spots or if your oven’s temperature is lower or higher than what its gauge indicates.

Q
How is a convection oven different from a conventional oven? Is it good for baking?

A
Conventional ovens, whether fueled by gas or electricity, feature a heating element on the bottom with racks above. With some exceptions, most baked goods must sit on the middle rack during baking to avoid the direct heat of the element, leaving the lower and upper racks empty. A
convection oven has three separate heating elements, on the top, bottom, and in back, and uses a fan to circulate hot air throughout the oven, heating the entire space evenly so that food can be placed on the lower and upper racks as well as the middle without fear of burning or undercooking.

Convection ovens cook foods more efficiently than conventional ovens. When adapting most recipes for a convection oven, you should reduce the cooking time by 25 percent and reduce the oven temperature by 25°F (4°C). A convection oven will not only save you time by allowing you to bake multiple batches of cookies at once — it will also save considerable fuel by cooking all of your food with less heat and in less time than a conventional oven.

In addition to making more efficient use of the oven’s interior and the energy output of the heating elements, the forced air of a convection oven helps brown foods beautifully. When hot air blows across the surface of cakes, cookies, breads, and pies, it draws away excess moisture, hastening the crustiness and caramelization valued in many of these items.

Q
What is the difference between a convection oven and the new “speed ovens” I’ve seen written up in food magazines recently? Do speed ovens produce good baked products?

A
These super-fast ovens, which can bake up to 15 times faster than conventional and convection ovens, were developed for commercial use in high-volume food service settings like ballparks and fast-food restaurants. The ovens use a combination of high-speed convection for browning and controlled bursts of microwave energy for even cooking of the interior. Recently, several appliance companies including GE, Electrolux, Sharp, and most notably Turbochef have introduced models for the home cook.

I’ve seen the Turbochef in action and must say that its ability to produce a soufflé in 2 minutes and a crusty artisan loaf in less than 10 is impressive. (It also cooks a mean roast chicken in under 15 minutes.) Whether or not your time is worth this much money is a question you’ll have to answer for yourself.

Q
What are the rules for positioning oven racks before baking different items?

A
If you are not using a convection oven, you should keep in mind that items will bake very differently depending on where in the oven they are placed. For even baking, the middle of the oven is best. Some recipes will direct you
to position the rack in the middle. If no direction is given, assume that your items should be baked here. Items that require an especially browned bottom should be baked in the lower third of the oven. Overall baking time will be the same as when baked in the middle, but the pan or baking sheet’s proximity to the heating element will promote browning on the bottom. A fruit pie requiring an especially crisp bottom crust that won’t get soggy from prolonged contact with a juicy filling should be baked in the bottom third of the oven. Placing items in the upper third of the oven will promote browning on top. This is the place to bake your meringue-topped pie so it gets good color quickly and without heating up the lemon curd underneath.

Sometimes you’ll have more than one pan that you’d like to bake at once. Ideally, both pans should be baked in the middle of the oven unless otherwise directed. Two 9-inch cake pans can be placed side by side and then rotated at some point during baking after the cakes have begun to set (you don’t want to move them while they’re still in a liquid state and risk damaging their developing structure). If both pans won’t fit, as with two baking sheets of cookies, it’s possible to bake one on the top rack and one on the bottom rack, keeping an eye on them and rotating the pans halfway through baking to prevent overbrowning on either the top or the bottom. I recommend this only for items like cookies that require a relatively short baking time. With longer-baking items, the risk of burning is greater and not worth the savings in time.

Q
How long does it take to preheat an oven?

A
The time it takes to preheat an oven will vary depending on your particular oven, how efficiently it heats, and how well it holds the heat. If it were only a question of reaching the desired temperature for baking a cake or a batch of cookies, I would advise you to turn on your oven before beginning to assemble your ingredients, as most recipes direct, resting assured that in the 15 to 20 minutes minimum that it would take you to prepare your batter or dough, your oven would be preheated. But now that many of us have a growing desire to save energy, I’ve started to think of preheating in terms not only of getting ready to bake, but also in terms of using the least amount of energy necessary for a successful outcome.

Some environmental advocates have suggested that it isn’t worth the energy to preheat an oven, since opening the oven door causes it to lose so much heat. They argue that while putting food in a cold oven will add a few minutes to cooking time, the savings in energy over the long run will be well worth the time lost.

I am more persuaded, however, by studies showing that it takes more energy to get an oven up to temperature when it is cold than to return it to preheated temperature once it has already been heated. Casual experiments with my own oven have convinced me of this. According to the thermometer that hangs inside my oven, it takes my Thermador about 12 minutes to reach 350°F (180°C). After opening the oven for 30
seconds and closing the oven door, it takes only 3 or 4 minutes for the temperature to rise again to 350°F (180°C).

Furthermore, many baked items rely on contact with an initial blast of hot air to jump-start the process. While starting off in a cold oven may make sense when you are making baked beans, or in other cases where baking is simply a method for reaching a desired temperature that indicates doneness, with baked goods it is a different story. Bread dough won’t have any “oven spring” (see
page 343
) if it is placed in a cold oven; the baking powder in biscuits would lose its power if the biscuits didn’t immediately start to bake. If you are interested in energy efficiency, get to know your oven and how quickly it heats up. Then figure out at what point in the recipe you will need to turn it on so it is just hot enough at the moment you are ready to bake.

One suggestion for saving energy that may make more sense for bakers than starting with a cold oven is to turn off the heat without opening the oven door 5 or 10 minutes before baking is done. Most newer ovens will stay hot for at least this long, baking with residual heat. If this idea appeals to you, test your oven’s ability to hold onto its heat by placing an oven thermometer inside, preheating the oven, turning off the heat, and checking the temperature after 5 or 10 minutes to see whether or not there has been a significant drop.

Cold-Oven Coffee Cake

Traditionally, cold-oven cake recipes were developed to save money on fuel. Why have the oven on, the reasoning goes, when there’s nothing baking in it? It turns out that there are other reasons to start certain cakes in a cold oven. Doing so with a pound cake results in a wonderfully high rise (cakes have a longer time to rise before they set in an oven that starts cool) and a pleasantly chewy crust (a hotter oven will evaporate moisture on the surface of the cake before it has time to interact with starch, forming a crust).

In the following recipe, starting this very simple yeasted coffee cake in a cold oven allows the rapid-rise yeast, which needs only one rise, to actually ferment in the oven rather than during a separate rise on the countertop. Putting the cake in a hot oven would kill off the yeast in a matter of minutes, but starting it in a cold oven, where the temperature rises gradually, actually helps the dough rise at a faster rate than it would on the countertop in a cool kitchen, before baking it.

SERVES 8

¾ cup whole milk

2 envelopes (1½ tablespoons) rapid-rise yeast

1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup raisins

½ cup light brown sugar

cup dark corn syrup

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

1.
Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

2.
Heat the milk and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan until the butter is melted and the milk is very warm to the touch.

3.
Pour the milk mixture into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast to dissolve it. Stir in the flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat the dough with an electric mixer on medium-low until smooth. Stir in the raisins until incorporated. Pat the dough into the prepared pan.

4.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Smooth this mixture over the dough and sprinkle with the walnuts.

5.
Transfer the pan to a cold oven. Set the oven to 350°F (180°C). Bake until the cake is golden and set in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

Q
Why do my baked goods always seem to burn before they are baked through, even though I’m following the recipe directions?