BAKIING SCHOOL

Baking schools is not usually thought of as a chemical industry, but it relies on the interactions
of the various chemicals in flour and the other substances used and thus is chemically
based. Usually the properties of the various ingredients are known to the home cook,
but not why they behave in that way in Baking schools

These ingredients are used in varying proportions to produce different products. As
well as baking schools, these include commercial cake mixes and breads. The
commercial products and commercially produced raw ingredients are monitored in
laboratories to ensure consistent quality, and the New Zealand Institute for Crop and
Food Research in Christchurch provides services for monitoring the composition of all
wheat grown in New Zealand and all flours produced at flour mills.

There are not many people whose mouths do not begin to water when they are faced with the
delicious smell of home cooking, whether it is cakes, biscuits, scones, pikelets or some other
"goodies". This delicious smell, and the delicious baking, the baking schools are produced as a result of the interaction of various chemical and physical processes that can be adjusted by the cook to create a great variety of products. This article considers the chemistry of the common ingredients used in baking, and looks briefly at the effects of the physical processes of mixing
and baking.