Frequently Asked Questions

• What causes surface problems on bagels?

  Over proofing – either in a retarder or a proof box – is one common culprit in this scenario. Proofing too long can result in blistering, in soft bagels, or even in bagels that collapse in the oven. Also, if your water temperature is below 200 degrees, or you don’t boil your bagels long enough, you can end up with dull-surfaced bagels.

• What is the difference between a Creme Cake Base and a Pillsbury Bakers' Plus Cake Mix?

  The first difference is that Creme Cake base is a mix requires that addition of eggs, oil and water, while Pillsbury Bakers’ Plus requires just oil and water. Secondly, Creme Cake is truly a multi-purpose mix that can be used for muffins, ring cakes, cookies, and many more items. Pillsbury Bakers’ Plus is premium quality cake mix, producing fine, delicate cakes.

• Why do cookie formulas state cookies should cool on the sheet instead of removing them to racks or plates?

  Cookies continue baking on the sheet even after they’ve been removed from the oven – they have small dough mass. By taking your cookies out of the oven when they’re slightly underdone, and leaving them cool on the sheet, you’re much more likely to get the rich, chewy consistency customers love. This can be especially important with “gourmet” cookies.

• What is the most important difference between “cake-” and “fudge-” type brownies?

  Think of it as a continuum. At one extreme is a product that’s just short of chocolate candie; at the other, it verges on cake. The difference is in the percent of flour. The more flour, the more cake-like the dessert.

• What is the difference between “extensibility” and “elasticity”?

  “Extensibility” refers to the way dough rises during fermentation; “elasticity” is about the degree to which a dough maintains volume and shape during and after baking. These are flour functions – and they are affected by the level or amount of gluten-forming proteins your flour contains. The more protein content, the stronger the dough.

• What is the difference between bleached/bromated and unbleached/unbromated?

  Bleaching and bromating are flour treatments. Bleaching whitens the color of the flour, but has no effect on the baking qualities of the flour. Bromating is the process of treating flour with potassium bromide to add strength to flour and its dough forming potential.

• When baking muffins is there an advantage to lining the tin with paper cups over pouring batter directly into a greased tin?

  Baking muffins in paper cups or liners results in a more portable product. It also improves shelf life, preserving moistness. On the other hand, it might not be the way to present product destined to arrive at the table in a basket.

• I don't understand the different machine mixing methods: short, improved, and intensive

  The short mix uses the lowest mixer speed and a relative short period of time, say, six minutes. It produces the least developed gluten structure, the softest dough consistency, and the most flavorful breads. At the other end of the spectrum is the intensive mix, which involves longer times and higher speeds. It produces a fully-developed gluten structure, stiffish consistency, and the least flavor.

• How do I interpret the code dates on bags of flour?

  The code date is printed on one gusset (side) of the bag. Format is Day/Month/Year (last number of year) and then other coding like plant information. For example, manufacturing date of 25NOV8 = November 25th, 2018.
  Best Used By date is 1 year from the manufacturing date.

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