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Cookery 101: Sweet Sugars
Posted By CindyP On June 10, 2011 @ 1:03 am In Blog,Cookery 101,Ingredients | 9 Comments
What does sugar do for baking?
Sugar used in baking not only adds sweetness, but also affects the volume, tenderness, texture, color, and acts as a preservative.
Why does a recipe tell you to cream the butter with the sugar?
To get air into the batter. The sugar rubs against the fat making air bubbles. Then when the leaven is added, it causes the air bubbles to become larger and makes the batter rise when baked. The amount of time you cream the butter with the sugar determines the amount of air in the batter.
Sugar also attracts moisture in the batter which reduces the amount of gluten formed in the flour making a lighter, more tender crumb. Because of the moisture, the shelf-life of our baked goods is also longer.
Sugar is also the culprit of why your baked goods brown. The reaction of sugar and protein (milk and eggs) when heated causes the cookies, breads, and cakes to brown in the oven.
Two of the most important factors of sugar in baking/cooking: 1) The larger the size of the sugar crystal, the more air will be incorporated into the batter during the creaming of the sugar and fat. 2) The smaller the size of the sugar crystal, the faster it will dissolve into the batter.
The average American consumes nearly forty-three pounds of sugar per year in its many forms. While there are many more forms of sugar, I’ve come up with what I think is the most common and popular forms, their characteristics and what they’re used for to help you determine how you could substitute a different form of sugar when you’re cooking and baking or duplicating a favorite store-bought food.
White Sugars are made from both sugar cane and sugar beets. Through different processes, we are able to use different types of white sugars for different types of cooking, baking, and eating.
Brown Sugars come from both sugar cane and sugar beets and is made by adding molasses back into the refined white sugar. In the past, when brown sugar was made from sugar cane, molasses was left in the sugar, but now, brown sugar made from both sugar cane and sugar beets are made the same way. The difference between light and dark brown sugar is the amount of molasses added in. Light brown sugar is most commonly used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. Dark brown sugar has a more rich, full flavor which makes it good gingerbread and baked beans. But it’s your preference which you use!
Raw Sugars are processed from sugar cane, but minimally. They have a higher molasses content and a coarser grain than granulated sugar, giving it a rich, complex flavor. Raw sugar is most commonly used for sprinkling on fruit, or rolling cookies in, as it’s much more expensive than normal granulated sugar. It can be substituted cup-for-cup for white sugar in most recipes if you want to.
Photo by Suzanne McMinn, Maple-Rum Raisin Cookies
Photo by Suzanne McMinn, Natural Sugars Left–Turbinado, Right–Demerara
What is the shelf life of sugar?
Sugar, if properly stored, has an indefinite shelf life.
How do you store the different sugars?
Brown sugar can be frozen to keep the moisture content intact; allow to thaw for 2-3 hours before using. If ice crystals form after long freezer storage, gently stir the sugar as soon as it thaws to prevent pockets of moisture from causing damage.
Place a “brown sugar saver” in your storage container to help keep the moisture intact to prevent hardening. A piece of terra-cotta that has been soaked in water, then buried in the brown sugar or a piece of bread are cheap easy ways to keep your brown sugar soft.
How to soften your brown sugar if it’s already a hard clump?
Oven method–(if you’re going to use it immediately, as it will harden back up again)–heat it in a 250-degree oven, watching carefully, until it is soft.
Microwave method–(if you’re going to use it immediately, as it will harden back up again)–place it in a microwave-safe container, cover loosely with a wet (but not dripping) white paper towel, set the microwave on high, and check every 30 seconds until it is soft.
Wet paper towel method–place a moistened paper towel (not dripping) over the open container and leave it for several hours.
Apple method–place a cut apple piece in the container overnight then remove the next day.
Bread method–just like preventing hard brown sugar, you can soften it by placing a piece of bread in the container overnight.
This is how/where I store mine–in airtight containers in my pantry.
My brown sugars aren’t hard (even without bread or a piece of clay). My powdered sugar isn’t any more lumpy than when I buy it from the store. My regular white sugar isn’t clumpy. My raw sugar is loose and free flowing.
These are the sugars I have on hand and actually probably have ever used. Do you have other sugars you use?
All of the substitutions mentioned above are included in Emergency Substitutions.
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