Baking: More of a Science Than You May Think

By Kosi U.

Picture this: You’re a world famous baker. Most of your daily life is spent in the kitchen surrounded by the sweet and savory aromas that float around in the air. Whether it’s the fresh bread dough proving in the corner of the room, to the triple layer chocolate caramel cake baking in the oven, or the meringue you are mixing in the bowl at that very moment. Life seems perfect, until it’s not. The timer dings and you race to the oven just to see that the cake’s top layer has burned. From the corner of your eye, you notice that the bread dough has over-proved and is spilling out of the bowl and all over the countertop. After cleaning up the mess, and trying to salvage the small part of the cake you can, you return to mixing your meringue.

Ah, just a moment of peace, me here with my baked goods. Just like the old times.

Ring, ring, ring. One of your junior bakers, Jasmine, calls to inform you that the wedding you’re baking for needs 600 cream puffs instead of the original 300.

Great, I guess I wont be sleeping this weekend.

Every little detail matters, even if just one tiny thing is wrong, it can throw everything off.

These are the type of brownies my sister and I like to make. Soft, moist, and fudgy brownies with a nice chocolate center.

For many, baking is a stress reliever and the best way to spend time with those you love while filling your tummy with an unimaginable variety of treats. I myself love baking. It’s a ritual for me and my sister to gather together every Friday in our family kitchen and create our favorite dessert ever: fudgy brownies with extra chocolate. 

I mean, who doesn’t love brownies? They’re small, portable, delectable, square shaped, chocolate confections. I know for a fact that I along with many do.

Now, what exactly is baking? We all think of it as mixing different ingredients such as milk, sugar, flour, and eggs into a bowl and baking it in the oven until something tasty comes out. Well, the art of baking is a little more complicated than this. 

For example, everyone knows that bakers use yeast while making bread because it helps the dough rise, but why? When you add yeast to your dough mixture, it breaks down the large starch molecules into simple sugars that the yeast can eat. During this process, the yeast creates carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol, which creates air bubbles that cause the dough to rise and expand. Yeast fermentation is not only important for helping the dough rise, it also creates flavor as it starts to break down those tasteless starch molecules into sweet and sugary ones.

This reaction is one of many that happens while baking. Think about all the bakeries and cafes you may have gone to in your life, the cakes, macarons, pastries, bread, and savory dishes in the display cases. Think about all the ingredients, time, and energy that has gone into each and every one of those treats just to make them enjoyable for all the customers. 

So, the next time you bite into that slice of cake or mix some dough, remember, it was more than just combining all the ingredients, it’s the reactions, bonds, and love that makes it special.