Foods and Nutrition · Lesson 9

Flours, raising agents, batters, biscuits, cakes, pastries, yeast mixtures and icing

WAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

WAEC: Flour cookery and confectionery: types of flour, ingredients and uses of flour; basic ingredients (flour, fat, sugar, eggs); raising agents (steam, carbon dioxide, air; sources); batters (types, uses, dishes); biscuits (rubbed in, creamed, whisked, melted, sponge); cakes (rubbed in, creamed, whisked, melted, sponge); pastries (shortcrust, suet, flaky etc.; principles; dishes such as turnovers,…

NECO: Flour cookery and confectionery: types of flour, ingredients and uses of flour; basic ingredients (flour, fat, sugar, eggs); raising agents (steam, carbon dioxide, air; sources); batters (types, uses, dishes); biscuits (rubbed in, creamed, whisked, melted, sponge); cakes (rubbed in, creamed, whisked, melted, sponge); pastries (shortcrust, suet, flaky etc.; principles; dishes such as turnovers,…

What you will learn

Describe types of flour, gluten and uses of flour.
State functions of basic ingredients in flour cookery.
Explain raising agents and their use.
Make batters, biscuits and cakes by the main methods.
Identify cake faults and their causes.
Apply principles of pastry making.
Describe yeast mixtures and stages in bread making.
Prepare and use icings; cost flour products.

Key points

Flour types, gluten, uses, composite flours.
Functions of fat, sugar, eggs, liquids.
Raising agents: air, steam, CO₂; rules.
Batters and puff-puff.
Biscuits by method; chin-chin.
Cake methods and Victoria sandwich proportions.
Cake faults and causes.
Pastry principles, types and dishes.
Yeast mixtures and bread stages.
Icing types and use.
Costing flour products.

Start here: Types of flour and their uses

Flour is finely ground meal of cereals, roots, tubers or legumes. In flour cookery, “flour” usually means wheat flour, because only wheat has enough gluten-forming proteins to make light, risen bread and elastic doughs.

Composition of wheat flour

Starch (about 70% of white flour), protein (about 8 to 14%, mainly gluten-forming gliadin and glutenin), water (about 14%), small amounts of fat, sugar, minerals and B vitamins (more in wholemeal), and enzymes (amylase). Fortified flour in Nigeria contains added vitamin A, B vitamins, iron, zinc and folic acid.

Gluten

When flour is mixed with water and kneaded, gliadin (stretchy) and glutenin (elastic, strong) form gluten, a network that traps gas, stretches as the gas expands, and sets on baking to form the structure of bread and cakes. Strong flour is chosen when much gluten is wanted (bread, puff pastry); soft flour when tenderness is wanted (cakes, biscuits, shortcrust). Overmixing cake batters or overhandling pastry develops gluten and makes them tough.

Uses of flour

Structure in baked goods: bread, cakes, biscuits, pastries.
Thickening: sauces, gravies, soups (roux, blended flour).
Coating: dusting fish and meat before frying; with batter.
Binding: fish cakes, meat balls.
Dusting and rolling: preventing sticking of dough on boards.
Swallows and dishes from non-wheat flours: amala (yam flour), lafun, plantain flour, tuwo from rice or maize flour, semovita.

Non-wheat and composite flours

Cassava, plantain, yam, maize, millet, sorghum, acha, soya and bambara flours lack gluten (except soya protein, which does not form gluten), so bread made from them alone does not rise well. They can replace part of the wheat flour (composite flour) in bread, cakes, chin-chin and biscuits, or be used alone in gluten-free products such as cassava-based cakes and plantain flour pancakes. Nigeria has encouraged inclusion of high-quality cassava flour in bread and confectionery to reduce wheat imports.

Storage

Airtight, cool, dry; do not mix old and new flour; check for weevils; wholemeal flour has a shorter life because of germ fat.

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Practice questions

1. Strong (bread) flour is rich in

gluten-forming protein
sugar
fat
fibre only

Show answer

A: gluten-forming protein
Gives elastic dough.

2. Soft flour is best for

bread
pasta
chapati only
cakes and biscuits

Show answer

D: cakes and biscuits
Low protein.

3. Baking powder releases

nitrogen
steam only
carbon dioxide
oxygen

Show answer

C: carbon dioxide
Bicarbonate plus acid.

4. For 450 g plain flour at 2 tsp baking powder per 225 g, use

1 tsp
4 tsp
2 tsp
9 tsp

Show answer

B: 4 tsp
450 ÷ 225 × 2.

5. Yeast is killed at about

55–60 °C
25 °C
35 °C
5 °C

Show answer

A: 55–60 °C
Ideal 25–35 °C.

Key words

Gluten: Elastic protein network from wheat flour.
Strong flour: High-protein bread flour.
Self-raising flour: Flour with baking powder.
Composite flour: Wheat blended with other flours.
Raising agent: Substance introducing gas.
Baking powder: Soda plus acid and starch.
Batter: Pourable flour and liquid mixture.
Creaming: Beating fat and sugar.
Rubbing in: Rubbing fat into flour.
Whisking method: Eggs and sugar whisked, flour folded.
Shortcrust: Half fat to flour pastry.
Choux: Cooked paste pastry raised by steam.

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