Secrets of making biscuit at home. Perfect biscuit dough: cooking secrets

Hi all! In today's article, I want to talk about biscuit dough. More precisely, about how to cook the perfect biscuit for a cake at home. I tried to describe in detail all the secrets of its manufacture.

Biscuit, oh, this capricious comrade ... How much nerve cells and he added gray hair to almost every one of us. Since childhood, I remember how my mother closed herself in the kitchen and conjured over him. We were not allowed to go there because the biscuit does not tolerate loud sounds and temperature changes. So let's look into all the intricacies of its preparation.

Let's start with the fact that there are a lot of biscuit recipes, in this article I wrote the most popular ones. You can experiment and see which option is right for you.

In order to get an airy biscuit, all ingredients must be at room temperature. That is, an hour before cooking, you need to get it out of the refrigerator necessary products. When all components are at the same temperature, they are easier to mix until smooth and bake faster.

Eggs should be the freshest, if they are one or two weeks old, then it is better not to use them for a biscuit, baking may not rise. There is an easy way to check the freshness of eggs - dip the egg in water, if it remains at the bottom, then it is fresh, if it floats, then it is not.

The next moment, when separating the proteins from the yolks, then this should be done as carefully as possible so that the yolk does not get into the proteins in any case. You can use this tool:

I bought it at the FIX Price store and it cost about 17 rubles.

In order for the proteins to whip into a strong foam, I always add a pinch of salt to them, instead of salt, you can add lemon juice, but you can do it all at once :)

It is very important that the dishes and the whisk are dry, if even a drop of water gets in, the egg whites may not whip. Another important point- you should always start whipping at low speeds, gradually increasing the speed, if you immediately start working at high speed, this will also not lead to the result that we need.

All recipes say to beat the proteins to strong peaks, what is it and how to check it ?! Yes, very simple. Whipped proteins should not drain from the whisk and if you turn the bowl upside down, then the proteins will remain at the bottom of the dish.

Proteins should be added to the yolks in portions, first a third, gently mix with movements from top to bottom, add flour, and then the rest of the whipped proteins. So the dough will retain its splendor, and will not fall off during baking.

Separately, a couple of lines about the oven. Ovens everyone is different, and many are not equipped with temperature sensors. Here only experience will help you, the more often you delight your loved ones with desserts, the faster you will understand how much time is needed for baking. If your oven is too hot, and the top starts to burn quickly at the specified temperature, then you need to cover the product with foil, metal side up, so that the foil reflects excess heat. If, on the contrary, the bottom burns, and the top does not have time to bake, then you need to put a container of water on the bottom of the oven, arrange the so-called "water bath".

Separately, a few words about my oven. At the moment I have a normal electric oven, With temperature regime 100, 170, 200 and 280 degrees. So, if the recipes say to bake at a temperature of 180 degrees, I always set it to 200, because my oven at 170 can bake for half a day and the dough will still remain raw. So once again, everything comes with experience.

During cooking biscuit dough you can’t open the cabinet door for the first 10-15 minutes. And in general, you don’t need to look there often, because due to the temperature difference, the biscuit can fall off. Well, you need to put the biscuit only in a well-heated oven.

We check the readiness of the product with a match, insert it into the very center, and if it comes out dry or with crumbs, then the biscuit is ready. If the match is wet, then we bake further.

When the cake is cooked, it must be removed from the oven and allowed to rest. That is, for the first ten minutes he stands in his form, and only then we turn him over onto the wire rack. About the fact that it is necessary to cool the cake on a wire rack, I wrote in my article about the equipment needed in the kitchen. There I tried to explain why this is done.

The cooled cake should stand for at least 8 hours! No need to run and immediately smear the layers with cream, this will make the cake wet and fall apart.

After the cake has rested, it can be safely cut. To do this, you can use a special knife:

And you can cut with a thread. To do this, cut the cake a little, as if outlining the cut line. Next, we put the thread there, cross its ends, and pull them in different directions.

We soak the cut cakes with any syrup and cover with your favorite cream. This is how we get biscuit cake at home.

In the next article, I described several options for making a biscuit. If you still have problems whipping proteins, then there you will find recipes in which you only need to mix all the ingredients.

Bon appetit!

To create desserts such as cakes, pies and cakes, different types dough: puff, shortbread, chopped or false puff, yeast. But the most commonly used can be called biscuit dough.

For a person who has not tried to bake a biscuit, it seems that there is nothing difficult in this, but biscuits capricious. They strive to fall and lose their splendor. And to cooking masterpiece has not turned into a hard gingerbread, the baker will have to try very hard.
There are many tips on how to bake the perfect biscuit on culinary forums and in thematic publications. But can they all be trusted? Which of them is true and which is myth? Only your own path of trial and error will help answer these questions, but also, of course, common sense.
So, guided by logic, you can find an explanation or refutation of some advice.

11 secrets of a magnificent biscuit

Council number 1. Biscuit flour should be sifted several times. flour for any dough, not just biscuit,
must be sifted before use. This will help prevent foreign objects that may be in the flour from getting into the baking, and enrich it with oxygen, which will have a positive effect on the splendor of the biscuit.

Council number 2. Part of the flour for the biscuit must be replaced with starch. The starch will make the structure of the dough more viscous and dense, which will reduce the likelihood that the biscuit will fall off.

Council number 3. Do not look into the oven and open its door until the biscuit is cooked and cool. A sharp temperature drop when opening the oven will cause the biscuit to fall off, so it’s better to be patient and trust your pastry chef’s instinct.

Council number 4. The egg white bowl should be a clean, fat-free lemon wedge. This advice, like the first one, applies to absolutely any test, and as practice shows, the quality of whipped proteins will not change significantly whether we degrease the mixer bowl with lemon or not.

Council number 5. The ingredients must be mixed strictly certain sequence. Yes, the sequence of operations exists, as in the preparation of any dish, but it is determined only by the recipe, and there are a great many recipes for biscuits.

Council number 6. The oven must be preheated to a certain temperature. The biscuit gets its splendor due to the air bubbles that formed in it during the beating of eggs or through the use of a baking powder (soda), and the sooner the dough will be affected hot temperature(indicated in the recipe), the more air bubbles and splendor the biscuit will be able to save.

Council number 7. Bake a biscuit at a temperature of 180 degrees, the dough should be put in the oven immediately after cooking.

Tip #8. If you see that the cake is burning on top, and the baking time has not yet ended, but not earlier than 25 minutes, put on a sponge cake soaked in water paper towel. This tip applies to any baked goods.

Tip #9. Many insist that the ingredients be at the same temperature. In practice, this does not always work, and it is not necessary. The main thing is that if the recipe requires separating the yolks from the proteins, they need to be held. They whip up better when cold.

Tip number 10. When the biscuit is ready, do not rush to take it out of the oven for about half an hour, let it reach there. Before carrying out any manipulations with it, let it cool down thoroughly for 7 to 10 hours at room temperature. Lay a clean towel or napkin on top.

Tip #11. If the biscuit does not come out of the mold, put it on a wet towel for 10 minutes, then turn it over and remove the cake very carefully.

The list of tips can be almost endless, but main advice is that just trying different recipes you can find your secrets perfect biscuit which will always work at 100%.

Everyone who has tried to bake biscuit cakes knows that the dough has a capricious and inconsistent character. It seems that it decides for itself when the biscuit will come out lush and tall, and when fallen and rubbery. In addition, a biscuit usually fails at the most crucial moments.
Is there really no way out of this situation? It turns out that there are some rules, subject to which the biscuit will always be lush and fluffy.

Food preparation

For a biscuit, you need to take only fresh and high quality products. Normally, flour should contain 28-34% gluten. If there is more gluten, then the biscuit will come out too dense. If the gluten is less than normal, then the cake will crumble.
All utensils must be clean, without the slightest trace of water and grease.
To make the biscuit fluffy, you need to beat the eggs well, dissolve the sugar completely, sift the flour well.
For big biscuit whip whites and yolks separately, and for a small one - all together. Also, the form of whipping depends on the quality of the mixer. If the mixer beats well, then the whites and yolks can be whipped together. If he whips not very high quality, then it is better to separate them, and replace the granulated sugar powdered sugar.
When cooking creamy biscuit butter is not melted, but softened.

Cooking the dough

To obtain good biscuit you need to properly prepare the dough. First, beat the whites to a steep foam at the highest speed until the mass increases by 3 times. Add 2/3 of the sugar to them and continue beating until the sugar dissolves. Separately, beat the yolks with 1/3 of the sugar. Then the proteins are combined with the yolks and the sifted flour is added to the resulting mixture.
Eggs are best beaten at room temperature, while egg whites are best chilled. If eggs do not want to form lush foam, then a little boiling water or liquid honey is added to them. Honey in the biscuit plays the role of baking powder and makes the top crust soft and elastic. Therefore, it is recommended to add it little by little to any biscuit.
So that the biscuit does not settle, it is recommended to replace the fourth part of the flour with starch.
Flour must be mixed in little by little and by hand. If you use a mixer, the foam will settle.
If the dough contains at least a little fat, including cocoa, then baking powder must be added. But from a large number baking powder, the dough becomes heavier and compacted, and the biscuit becomes like a cake. It is recommended to add 1-1.5 teaspoons of baking powder for 6 eggs.
Slaked soda gives a weak effect, since all carbon dioxide, which raises the dough, goes into the air. If the test has dairy products, then they will extinguish the soda themselves. In their absence, soda is mixed with flour, and lemon juice is added to the liquid components.

Let's start baking

The dough is not defended, but immediately after beating it is laid out in a form that should be cold. The oven must be preheated before placing the dough in it.
When baking a biscuit, only the bottom of the mold is lined with paper, and the sides are not lined or greased. But some housewives claim that when lubricating the sides, the dough rises better. It is convenient to cover the bottom of the form with crumpled and moistened parchment paper.
If there are no suitable forms, then you can use a regular saucepan or a cookie box.
It is better not to open the oven until the smell of biscuit appears. If opened too early, the cake may settle. Also, you can’t jump, knock and shout near the oven.
baked biscuit cake 10-55 minutes depending on the thickness. Biscuit 25-40 mm thick is baked for 35-50 minutes at 180-200 ° C, and 10 mm thick - 10-20 minutes at the same temperature. Some biscuits are not baked, but "dry" at 150°C.
If the temperature in the oven is low, then the biscuit will turn out dry and brittle. If the temperature is too high, then the cakes will be burnt and underbaked.
If the cake is baked in a convection oven, then the temperature is set 20 ° C lower than recommended in the recipe.

Cooling down the dough

The finished biscuit is left for 20-30 minutes (and preferably 1-2 hours) to cool in the form. It is advisable to put the biscuit form on a damp towel so that the cake moves away from the edges more easily.
It is recommended to cool the biscuit upside down, placing it on a wire rack.
Then the cake is removed from the mold and left to infuse for 8-10 hours (at least 2-3 hours) at a temperature of 15-20°C. If it is soaked earlier, it will become sour and fall apart.
If it is not possible to keep the biscuit for a long time, then you can cool it for 2 hours at room temperature, and then place it in the refrigerator for 2 hours or in the freezer for half an hour.
Cut the cakes with a special string. You will find the link.
If it is necessary to keep the cakes for some time, then they are placed in the refrigerator (for several days) or in the freezer, where they can be stored for up to a month. But first, the cakes should be wrapped tightly with cling film or placed in a box from under the cake and shifted with parchment. Defrost cakes should be in the refrigerator.
If you follow the above rules, then your biscuit will always melt in your mouth and receive well-deserved praise from guests.

Biscuit is the basic element in confectionery business- it is used as independent dish and as an element of cakes, desserts.

A characteristic feature of a biscuit is an airy, porous structure that lends itself perfectly to impregnation and keeps its shape. How to bake fluffy biscuit, we will consider in this article.

Basics

By default, a biscuit consists of three products:

• flour;
• Sahara.

But, depending on the recipe or the preferences of the cook, the composition can be supplemented with flavors, oils, replace part of the flour with cocoa or nuts, and so on.

Despite the apparent simplicity, many housewives do not get a biscuit - it either does not rise or falls off after baking, resembling plasticine in consistency. We will study each ingredient separately in order to get a magnificent biscuit at the end, the recipe of which will not be difficult even for a beginner.

Eggs

This product provides airiness to your dish, so you should not neglect it.

So, in order for the biscuit to succeed, the eggs must be:

• pre-cool;
• beat in a completely fat-free bowl, avoiding drops of water;
• hold the whisks at an angle - this way the mass will be enriched with air faster and better.

Flour

Works as a stabilizer, fixing and maintaining the shape of the biscuit so that it does not turn into a pancake after baking.

But consider the following:

• Choose refined flours that are low in gluten. Luckily, our standard meal premium does its job very well.
• Before adding flour to eggs, sift it 2-3 times. This measure will further enrich the mass with oxygen, so that at the end you will get a magnificent biscuit, while the recipe is secondary.
• Be careful how you store flour. It should not be wet, as this will "kill" the biscuit. If in doubt, slightly dry the flour in the oven at 50 ° C and cool completely before using.

Sugar

In addition to the fact that this product gives the product the necessary sweetness, it also serves to stabilize the eggs - it is impossible to beat them into a strong foam without sugar. The main requirement for it is dryness. Wet sugar will ruin the whole dish.

elementary

Even novice cooks will be able to bake a fluffy biscuit for a cake or just a cake according to the recipe below.

Ingredients:

• chicken eggs - 4 pcs.;
• fine sugar - 120 grams;
• flour - 120 grams;
• flavoring to taste;
• salt - 1 pinch.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Separate the whites from the yolks. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with salt until fluffy, glossy foam. Continue whisking, gradually adding sugar until the latter is completely dissolved, and protein mass will not become strong, shiny. The required protein condition can be determined by slightly tilting the bowl - the proteins will remain motionless, not making attempts to "escape".

Continue beating while adding the egg yolks one at a time. You should get a thick sugar-egg mass with a slight yellowness. At this stage, you can already add flavoring. Moreover, the latter should not be on a fat basis, since a simple biscuit can lose some of its lightness from this.

Sift the flour into a bowl, mix gently by hand with a spoon or spatula, working from top to bottom, not in a circle. This method will allow you to keep all the air in the dough, obtained during whipping.

Put the resulting dough into a mold and bake until a test on a dry toothpick. Also, the readiness of the product can be determined by easily pressing the middle of the biscuit with your fingertips - it should spring easily.

Cool the product completely, wrap in cling film and let "ripen" in the refrigerator or cupboard for 6-8 hours. This is necessary so that the moisture is evenly distributed over the cake, and it becomes soft, with a uniform, finely porous crumb.

Some secrets

In order for the biscuit to be a success, you should adhere to the following tips:

• Do not grease the sides of the mold in which you plan to bake the biscuit. If they are slippery, then it will be difficult for the dough to cling to them in the process of growth, because of which it will not rise evenly, but with a hillock.
• Bake the biscuit on baking paper, this will facilitate the process of removing it from the mold - for success it will be enough to run a thin knife along the sides.
• One of the main problems in baking is falling off. finished product. In most cases, the initially fluffy biscuit (the recipe is successful and proven) forms a recess in the middle when cooled. To avoid this, cool it upside down directly in the mold on a wire rack.

Types of biscuits

In practice, there are a lot of biscuits, different in composition and method of creation:

• "Angelic Biscuit". It does not include egg yolks, it is baked on some proteins. At the exit you get gentle, air cake foam-like. However, some find it too dry, so it is recommended to serve it as an independent dessert along with low-fat cream and berries.
• Biscuit "La Gioconda". Delicate, tasty and plastic. Classic recipe topped with almond flour and butter. Of course, a fluffy biscuit for a cake will not work due to the abundance of fat in both nuts and butter, but it is ideal for a thin layer or roll.
• Chocolate sponge cake without flour, which is replaced by dark chocolate and cocoa. According to its characteristics, it is similar to the Gioconda biscuit.

Areas of use

The basic cake recipe can be used to suit your needs and desires. For example, you can:

• Replace 1/3 of the flour with ground nuts or cocoa. Thanks to this, you will get a nutty or chocolate biscuit respectively.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon to the dough ground cinnamon and pour them with 1 kg of peeled and finely chopped apples (preferably sour). That's it, traditional Apple pie Charlotte is ready.
• During the baking process, blueberries (1 large handful) and grated lemon / lime zest (1 teaspoon) can be added to the magnificent biscuit, the recipe of which we gave above, which will allow you to get a berry pie.
• Sponge dough is deposited in the form of small oblong cookies "Ladies' fingers", sprinkled with powdered sugar to obtain a crispy crust and bake. It turns out home version"savoyardi", without which not a single dessert "Tiramisu" can do.

Every housewife knows that of all types of dough, biscuit is considered the most “capricious”. Of course, each test has its own subtleties and secrets of preparation, but it is the tender and air biscuit. And if, for example, choux pastry requires special attention during baking, yeast - when it “grows”, then in order for the biscuit to succeed, you need utmost concentration at each stage, starting with the selection of products and ending with the “final chord” - “connection” with cream or filling, if a roll is planned. But if you know all the secrets and secrets of the process of making a magnificent biscuit, no difficulties should arise. So let's start revealing the secrets.

Secret #1

Initial condition happy biscuit lies in correct proportion ingredients. For a medium-sized biscuit, 5 eggs are needed, 200 grams granulated sugar, 3/4 cup double-sifted all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup potato starch- also sifted, and a pinch of salt. You can add vanillin, turmeric, cardamom, etc. to the dough if you wish.

Secret #2

Absolutely all products must be at the same temperature, and the lower it is, the better. The same applies to the form in which we will lay out our mass - it must be cold.

Secret #3

Eggs must be "divided" into whites and yolks, which are beaten separately. Yolks - with sugar, and proteins - with salt. Don't forget that everything must be chilled.

Secret #4

It is in the yolk-sugar mass that we add all the other ingredients, gently and thoroughly kneading the dough. Only you need to knead in one direction - “clockwise” or “counterclockwise”, otherwise the dough may lose its airiness. We add the protein mass after all the components have already been mixed, 3-4 tablespoons each, continuing to knead.

Secret #5

By the time the biscuit dough is ready, the oven should be hot! If the dough in the form will “wait” for at least 5 minutes, then the likelihood that the finished biscuit will be lush decreases significantly!

Secret #6

A beautiful biscuit will turn out only when the baking dish is prepared accordingly. Perfect option- greased with butter and lined with parchment form. By the way, the parchment also needs to be well “oiled”. No breadcrumbs, nuts, semolina and flour can be sprinkled on a greased form - and appearance, and the taste of the biscuit only loses from this.

Secret #7

The time for baking a biscuit can be different - from 10 minutes if we bake on a baking sheet (for rolls) and up to 40 minutes if we cook in a deep form. But in any case, it is strictly forbidden to open the oven door in the first half of this time, otherwise you will get not a magnificent biscuit, but a flat cake.

Secret #8

Immediately after the biscuit is baked (you can check with a wooden stick to be sure), we take it out of the mold, since the hot biscuit is much easier to remove than the cooled one. For this, the form ready-made biscuit We put it directly from the oven on a wet cold towel, after 3-4 minutes you can get it.

Secret #9

But in order to finish the preparation of a product based on a biscuit, there is no need to rush at all. Ideally, you should let it lie down biscuit base hours 8. And only after this time, you can soak the biscuit, combine it with cream, and so on. But this secret does not work if you are preparing a biscuit roll.

Secret #10

For the roll, the technology is radically different. Apply the filling should be hot ready dough. It is desirable that the filling is neither too liquid nor too thick and with the maximum homogeneous consistency. After applying the filling, we roll the roll itself tightly, but try not to squeeze it, otherwise the dough will not be so airy, and the filling may leak out.

That's all the secrets of making airy tender biscuits! Cook and enjoy!