Let’s talk about cookies today! The consistency of the cookie dough and of the baked cookie is determined by the kinds and amounts of ingredients. A chewy cookie has a high egg content, a crisp cookie has a high fat content, and a cake-like cookie has a high liquid content. If cookies run together during cooking, the ratio of fat to flour may be too high. Cookies that are too hard after baking contain too much liquid and too little fat.
When using a new recipe, bake a test cookie first to determine its characteristics. Add more flour, for example, to dough that produces cookies that spread excessively. A test cookie can also provide information about spacing cookies on the pan, how much dough each cookie needs, and how long they need to be baked.
I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Food Science at Iowa State University. I love to quilt, sew, cook, and bake. I spent many years gardening, canning, and preserving food for my family when my children were at home.
A year ago this month I was busily baking cookies for my son’s wedding. I became quite proficient at making large batches of dough, shaping into cookies and freezing them to be baked at a later date (for fresh-baked cookies any time).
If you have an event coming up that requires a large number of home baked cookies, you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze to be baked fresh in time for the event. Dough can be shaped before freezing by arranging on cookie sheets, placing in the freezer for one hour to quick-freeze and then transferring the cookie balls to a freezer container or bag. Most cookie dough can be kept frozen for up to six months. Include baking time and temperature on the freezer label. To bake, place frozen cookies on baking sheets and bake, without thawing, as directed. A few extra minutes may need to be added to the total baking time.
I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Food Science at Iowa State University. I love to quilt, sew, cook, and bake. I spent many years gardening, canning, and preserving food for my family when my children were at home.
Flour is an ingredient that we often take for granted. Have you wondered what the difference is between conventional and stone ground flour? Conventional flour has the bran and germ removed as these will become rancid within just a few weeks. Stone ground crushes the entire grain, so the bran and germ remain in the flour, adding flavor but shortening shelf life of the flour. Store these types of flour in the freezer to keep them fresh.
Have you ever wondered why flour is bleached? Freshly milled flour will make a very dense loaf of bread. After the flour ages, it will produce a much nicer loaf. A chemical reaction occurs at the end of the glutenin (one of the two proteins that combine to make gluten) protein molecule; this change makes the gluten longer and more elastic. Starting early in the 1900s millers began to bleach flour which caused the chemical reactions to happen immediately instead of occurring over the course of a few weeks.
All wheat flour contains gluten; it is the protein in flour that provides structure in baked foods. Some flours contain more protein than others; bread flour can be 12-13% protein while all-purpose flour has only 11-12% protein. Pastry flour can be as low as 7-8% protein.
Whole wheat flour may be high in protein, but much of that protein comes from the germ and aleurone layer of the wheat. These proteins will not combine to form gluten; they do interfere with gluten formation. This causes a much more dense loaf of bread. Bread flour has very strong proteins that make a light, high, and chewy loaf. Pastry flour has weak gluten that makes a crisp and tender pie crust.
Much of the information in this post is taken from “On Food and Cooking, the Science and Lore of the Kitchen”, Harold McGee, 2004 chapter 10.
I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Food Science at Iowa State University. I love to quilt, sew, cook, and bake. I spent many years gardening, canning, and preserving food for my family when my children were at home.
Hi! My name is Beth. I am just starting my 5th year with AnswerLine. I graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Adult Home Economics Education. I started my working career with The Iowa Dairy Council after graduation as a Home Economist. There I served 19 counties in South Central Iowa working with schools, dietitians, health care professionals and consumers. I have also had experience with the Iowa Beef Industry Council and the Iowa Department of Agriculture.
My husband and I have three kids. Our oldest son has graduated from college, gotten married and is working full time. We also have a son who is a junior in college and a daughter who is a junior in high school. I enjoy volunteering for a number of organizations but I also spend a lot of my free time following my kids with their sporting activities in both college and high school. When I have free time at home my favorite place to spend it is in the kitchen.
I have always said if I wore hats I would have to get a bigger hat size since I started with AnswerLine since I have learned so much at this job! I look forward to sharing this knowledge with you!