Formulating artisan baked goods: making artisan breads requires a broad knowledge of how ingredients complement and work together. Here is a primer on the main ingredients and how to work with them. Consumers appreciate artisan breads and are willing to pay extra for good quality

Prepared Foods, August, 2004 by Savithri Ramalinga

Due to rapid industrialization, the baking industry has experienced immense technological and engineering input. Thus, the market has evolved from street-corner bakery shops where people shopped for specialty items such as breads, rolls, buns, Danish pastry, cookies, cakes and pastries, to large supermarkets and wholesale stores where bakery products are available in mass quantities.

In the early 1990s, people paid more attention to the presentation and aesthetics of products. Thus, an assorted array of commercially manufactured pleated breads, rolls, iced cakes and pastries dominated the shelves. Eventually, convenience and availability played dominant roles in consumer choice.

Coming full circle, consumers again are demanding handmade, specialty baked goods. Artisan baked goods can be defined as handmade, individually shaped, baked items free of chemicals or additives, which contrast with mass-produced, commercial varieties sold in supermarkets. Local artisan baked goods shops deliver products based on the needs of clientele known to them personally. Cakes and pastries, particularly, are sold this way. Apart from the original recipes and gourmet flavors, even the pack size is chosen keeping the local customer in mind.

The key to making quality artisan goods is to use quality ingredients, and to understand each ingredient's role in the final product. A listing of the main ingredient players follows.

Flour. Wheat flour is the major ingredient in any kind of bakery product. The strength of wheat flour depends on the quality of gluten present. Weak flours contain less gluten than strong flours. Gluten helps the batter retain gas during fermentation, giving the bread a porous structure and facilitating loaf volume. The physical characteristics of gluten and protein content are responsible for good baking results. Wet gluten washed from a strong flour is elastic and can be stretched considerably without tearing or breaking, whereas a smaller amount of gluten washed from weak flour has a softer texture and is likely to tear when stretched. Hence, some high-protein flours do not produce good bread because gluten is tough and not readily extensible. Gluten in a strong flour forms a perforated colloidal gel (shown by its hydration capacity), as compared to gluten in a soft flour.

The flour's protein content is determined by the type of bread and finish qualities desired by the baker. Very high protein flour is not necessary to make good artisan bread. While manufacturers of white pan bread typically use flours with protein contents ranging from 11.5%-12.5%, true artisan bakers use flour with lower protein content. The lower protein content tends to give a flatter shape, while higher protein content results in a more rounded shape. High-protein flour develops into strong dough that can withstand rough handling by commercial baking equipment. For artisan bakery products, the protein content of flour typically ranges between 10.5%-11%. Proteins that can withstand a lot of water, long fermentation periods and that have high extensibility after mixing and resting, are desired by artisan bakers.

Flexible Fats. Fats are used in baked goods to add flavor to products, and they act as shortening agents in various preparations like biscuits and cakes. Shortenings serve as tenderizing agents. They act to interfere with the development of firm masses or strands of the wheat protein gluten, actually shortening the strands and imparting tenderness.

Butter, blends of vegetable and animal fat, and hydrogenated fats can be used as shortening agents. Hydrogenated oil used as a shortening agent is only partially hydrogenated, as complete hydrogenation would make it too hard.

Different shortening agents are used in different products. In biscuits, a hard fat should be used, so that the tat can be distributed to give the desired flakiness to the biscuit. Shortened cakes are made using a little "plastic fat," which combines readily with the ingredients in the flour mixture. Butter and commercial shortenings are used in cookie preparations. Fat also contributes to the incorporation and retention of air in the batter. Carbon dioxide and steam diffuse into these air cells during baking. Thus, fat contributes to the grain and volume of baked products.

Sugar. Sugar not only acts as a sweetening agent but is an ingredient helpful in the non-enzymatic browning of foods. It helps give color to items such as bread crusts and cakes. In baked goods, sugar also contributes to the development of volume and texture (with its ability to help aerate the batter) and acts as a substrate for yeast during fermentation. Sugar has the ability to stabilize egg white foam, producing firmness (as in royal icing).

Water. Liquid is essential in bread dough to hydrate flour proteins and contribute to the development of gluten. In addition, it is essential for the partial gelatinization of starch, making an important contribution to bread structure. It also acts as a solvent for sugar and salt, and is necessary in hydrating yeast when making bread. Water is essential for the formation of gluten, the protein of flour. The gliadin and glutenin form gluten when mixed with water. When starch granules are added to cold water, a small amount of water is absorbed, and it starts swelling. The liquid used in bread may be milk, water or whey water.