BAKING
Baking is the process that uses an oven or hotplate to cook a wide range of flour-based foods. The
main purpose is to produce products that have characteristic flavours, aromas, shapes, sizes, colours
and textures. The secondary purpose is to preserve the food by controlling the moisture content and
destroying enzymes or contaminating micro-organisms to extend the shelf life. There is a huge range
of bakery products as a result of combining a wide variety of ingredients and using different baking
techniques and conditions to produce the different products (Figure 1).
Hard wheat flour Soft wheat flour Wheat/other flours
Dough
Fermentation
Dough
Batter
Bread Pizza Doughnuts
and buns bases
Raising agent
Dough
Biscuits Flans/ Pastries Scones
Pie casings
Cakes
Flat breads
Single layered
Double layered
Leavened
(sour dough or yeast)
Unleavened
(or chemically aerated)
Dough
Batter
Ciabatta
Muffin
Lavash
Naan
Rye
Crepe
Dosai
Injera
Kisra
Pancake
Arepa
Chapatti
Matzo
Paratha
Tortilla
Crispbreads
Figure 1: Types of baked cereal products (from Fellows and Axtell, 2004)
Pitta
Baladi
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