Eduqas GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition: Student Book

80 Understanding how ingredients work FLOUR provides bulk and volume in baked products and, through gelatinisation, will thicken liquids. FAT gives food products flavour, moisture, colour and traps air. EGGS add colour, flavour, will set a liquid and aerate cake and some dessert mixtures. SUGAR adds flavour, colour and texture to food. A biscuit will not be crisp if sugar is not used in the mix. BAKING POWDER with moisture and heat will produce carbon dioxide bubbles causing a cake/biscuit mixture to rise. YEAST given food, moisture, warmth and time produces carbon dioxide bubbles enabling bread dough to rise. Measuring Accurate measuring is vital especially with core ingredients such as flour, fat, sugar, eggs, raising agents and liquid. Recipes are simple science experiments: follow the instructions accurately and you should be successful. Many recipes are based on the ratio of one ingredient to another. If the ratios are altered because too much liquid is added and then more flour needs to be used, the consistency or texture of the final dish will be affected. An example is when too much water is added to shortcrust pastry. More flour needs to be worked into the wet, sticky paste. As a result the ratio of ½ fat to flour has been altered creating a hard, chewy and dry finished pastry. The final consistency will not be right because good shortcrust pastry should crumble and melt in the mouth. Make a mayonnaise You will need 1 mixing bowl 1 teaspoon 1 tablespoon 1 jug 1 mixer • 125ml oil • 1 egg yolk • ½ tsp powdered mustard • ½ level tsp salt • black pepper • 1 tblsp white wine vinegar Method Place the oil in a jug. Place the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well. Beat the oil into the mixing bowl one drop at a time. Once half the oil has been added drop by drop the rest of the oil can be added in a thin stream. Taste and season the mayonnaise. Activity Faults due to inaccurate measuring of ingredients Too much flour Cake, bread, biscuit, pastry Too little flour Baked products and sauces Too much fat All food products Too little fat Baked product Too much sugar Baked products Too little sugar Baked products and desserts Too much egg Baked products Too little egg Cake, custard, quiche Too much liquid Baked products and sauces Too little liquid Baked products and sauces Too much raising agent Bread, biscuit and cake Too little raising agent Bread, biscuit and cake CORE KNOWLEDGE