Nearly all baking goods call for one or two types of dairy products in their recipes. They are as much important to baking as the rest of baking ingredients are. Composition wise, dairy products consist of three main components: fat, non-fat solids and water; all of which play essential roles in a recipe. Whereas fat contributes to the tenderness, richness and the pleasant mouth feel of the baked product, non fat solids including lactose or milk sugar adds sweetness and provide rich golden-brown color to the baked good when caramelized at high heat. Water on the other hand provide moisture necessary for the success of all baked goods. Since dairy products are good source of protein, calcium and vitamin D, they add nutritional value to the baked product when used in a recipe. Among others, the following dairies are frequently used by pastry chefs and home bakers for baking, pastry making, and cake decorating:
Cream Cheese: is a soft un-aged cheese made of cow milk with approximately 33%-35% fat content. If you are concerned about calories though, you may use reduced fat cream cheese like Neufchatel as a substitute. Cream cheese is usually used for making cheesecakes, decorating cakes, and making cream fillings for different kinds of pastries including cookies, cupcakes, tarts and pies, and other pastries. When used for cake decorating, cream cheese is often combined with confectioner sugar, butter, and heavy cream.
Sour Cream: is a white, thick and tangy cream with approximately 18% milk fat content. Sour cream is produced when pasteurized and homogenized light cream is cultured with certain type of bacteria. Sour cream provide richness and a distinctive flavor to the baked product. This explains why pastry chefs often integrate sour cream into cheesecake recipes.
Yogurt: is a tangy and slightly thick fermented milk product, produced when milk is cultured by certain types bacteria, different from those used to produce sour cream. Fermentation of lactose or milk sugar by these bacteria produce lactic acid, which eventually acts on milk protein to create the texture of yogurt and give it its tangy characteristics. The nutritional values of yogurt exceed those of milk, for it is considered to be a great source of protein, calcium, vitamin B12, vitamin B2 and vitamin B6, not to mention the fact that it is a good substitute for lactose-intolerance people who are sensitive to milk sugar found in most dairy products. Yogurt is available in grocery stores in different fat varieties including: non-fat yogurt with %0 fat, low-fat yogurt with 2% fat and plain or whole yogurt with 4% fat content. Though yogurt is occasionally used in baking, it makes perfect cupcakes, tender bread, and moist semolina coconut cakes. People concerned about their fat intake may use yogurt instead of sour cream in baked recipes, and meanwhile save up to 48 grams of fat per cup.
Cream: another indispensable dairy product that is frequently used in baking, pastry making and cake decorating. Cream is usually made of the top fat layer skimmed from top of milk before being homogenized. Available in grocery stores different grades of cream that range from low to high fat content. Below are few types of cream that are commonly used among bakers and pastry chefs:
- Whipping Cream: The higher the fat content in a cream, the more suitable it is for whipping and the more stable the whipped cream will be. Furthermore, the higher the fat content in a cream, the richer the baked product will be. Whipping cream can be purchased in heavy and light fat varieties:
- Heavy Cream: is a very rich dairy product with fat content ranging between 36% and 40% or more. It whips quite easily, and holds its whipped texture longer than that of whipping light cream.
- Light Cream: a slightly lighter than heavy whipping cream with fat content ranging between 30% and 35%. It can be piped into pastry bag and used for pastry and cake decorating purposes.
- Light Cream: has a fat content that range between 18% and 30% or may be less. This kind of light cream is not suitable for whipping, yet it can be used for baking low fat desserts.
- Half and Half: is a dairy mixture composed of equal proportions of whole milk and cream, with fat content ranging between 10% and 18%. Though not suitable for whipping and thus decorating purposes, it helps make tender crumbs and flaky baked products.
Buttermilk: usually refers to the liquid left behind after the process of churning cream into butter is done. This kind of buttermilk is called traditional buttermilk. Nowadays, buttermilk is produced when pasteurized and homogenized skim or low fat milk is cultured by lactic acid bacteria, resulting in acidic milk with a thick texture. This type of buttermilk is known as cultured buttermilk. Since buttermilk is often used in small amounts in baked recipes, you may want to have powdered buttermilk on hand as an alternative. It has a longer shelf-life compared to that of liquid type, and only needs mixing water to get the exact amount required by the recipe. One cup of liquid buttermilk equals four tablespoons of powdered buttermilk mixed with one cup of water. In case you don't have buttermilk handy, you may very well use milk, yogurt or a combination of both as per the following measures:
- One cup of buttermilk = One cup of milk + One tablespoon of lemon juice. Make sure to let it sit for 10 minutes to thicken before using it.
- One cup of buttermilk = One cup of yogurt OR,
- One cup of buttermilk = 3/4 cup of yogurt + 1/4 cup of milk.
In baking recipes, buttermilk is often used in conjunction with baking soda; an alkaline compound used mainly to leaven batters and dough containing acidic ingredients. In the presence of moisture, baking soda reacts immediately as soon as it comes in contact with acidic ingredients such as buttermilk in this case. This chemical reaction releases carbon dioxide needed to leaven and lift whatever you are baking, and meanwhile neutralizes acids contained within your batter, so no longer, buttermilk for example or other acidic ingredients have their acidic tang in the final product. Baking powder is another baking leavener used to leaven and lift baked goods through chemical release of carbon dioxide, yet it is neutrally composed of alkaline-acidic substances (baking soda + one or more acids). While baking soda needs an acid to create a chemical reaction, baking powder already contains acids within its mixture, and thus react with itself in the presence of moisture like milk, eggs, water, etc. That being said, if you are to substitute buttermilk for milk or water in a baked recipe calling for use of baking powder, you need to carefully adjust amounts of baking leaveners... Why? Because buttermilk is highly acidic and baking powder has acids within its mixture...too much acids in a pastry batter or dough upsets the balance of alkaline to acid. This imbalance tends to reduce the release of carbon dioxide, and eventually ruin the whole leavening process. In case of substitution, follow below measures:
- For each cup of buttermilk used in replacement of milk or water, reduce the amount of baking powder by 2 teaspoons and add 1/2-1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Milk: another indispensable baking ingredient that is frequently used in cakes, bread, cream fillings and pastry recipes. Milk provides texture, flavor and nutritional value to the baked goods, and is available in skim, low fat and whole milk varieties. Since fat content is not the same in these types of milk, they can't be used interchangeably in all baking and pastry recipes. Bread and pastries made with whole milk are tender, rich and has a pleasant mouth feel whereas baked goods made with skim milk are dry and tough. If you decide to substitute skim milk for whole milk , you may want to consider adding a tablespoon of butter to the recipe so as to end up with acceptable baking results.
Dry Milk: is dry powdered milk that can be used in replacement of liquid milk in any baking recipe. It doesn't need to be reconstituted before use, and is available in different varieties including:
- Non-fat, low-heat treated dry milk: good for baking cakes, quick bread, and other pastries. If you are to substitute this type of milk for whole liquid milk, it is recommended that you add butter to your recipe for successful baking results.
- Non-fat, high-heat treated dry milk: widely used in commercial bakeries for baking yeasted products including bread. Certain milk enzymes that are likely to corrupt gluten structure in yeast-baked goods are destroyed while producing this kind of dry milk through high heat treatment.
- Whole dry milk: includes fat within, and easily perishable unless refrigerated.
Evaporated and Sweetened Condensed Milk: are produced by removing 60% of water from homogenized milk, and then sterilized and canned. Evaporated milk has a cooked flavor and slightly darker color, and it can be used as substitute for whole milk right after being reconstituted with exact amount water. Unlike evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk has a large amount of sugar and thus can't be reconstituted for evaporated or whole milk. Both types of milk are often used in baking and sweet dessert recipes.
