Baked goods are widely consumed foods; they are consumed abundantly in Europe, in Asia, in North America, in South America, in Australia and in New Zealand.
Bakery products are obtained by:
- the fermentation (if included) of the compound by some microorganisms (kingdom of fugi - type yeasts), better known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or by means of a well-defined chemical molecule
- cooking;
the greatest exponent of this category is bread.
Simple classification
Baked products can be differentiated on the basis of the presence, or not, of a fermentation process and based on the type of leavening agent (natural or chemical) used; then:
- Baked products leavened with natural yeast:
- Yeast fermentation
- Donuts, some cakes, cakes etc.
- Daily bread:
- Immediate fermentation
- Deferred fermentation
- Mixed fermentation:
- Sour dough bread:
- Some desserts (panettone, pandor etc.)
- NON-leavened bakery products (unleavened bread, piade, tortillas, etc.)
- Baked products leavened with chemical yeast - Sodium bicarbonate (some sweets, cakes, etc.)
Choice of Flour
The flour used in baked goods is generally obtained by grinding wheat or wheat: botanical name Triticum (most used varieties: vulgare, durum and Secale cereale); however, wheat is not the only cereal used in the dough for bakery products. Although many other cereals are NOT capable of supporting the dough rising, due to the absence of gluten, in other continents bakery products are also produced using rice, corn and sorghum based dough .
Yeast
As anticipated, the leavening of the bakery products proper takes place by the action of a specific type of mushroom (in its various strains); this microorganism can be introduced into the dough by:
- a dry or compressed yeast, widely marketed
- of a sour dough (or natural yeast) kept alive by the producer himself
- from the union of both
- from the use of microbial starters.
Italian legislation
Separate labeling, the bakery products most affected by merchandise regulation are: bread, panettone, pandoro, Easter dove, biscuits and biscuits and macaroon biscuits; for these, but also for many other foods sold in bulk, reference is made to the Ministerial Decree of December 20, 1994 : Single sign scheme for the ingredients of ice cream products, confectionery, bakery and gastronomy sold in bulk .
Bread
The most widespread bakery product
Bread is certainly the most widespread bakery product; it is obtained by cooking a leavened dough made from wheat flour, water and yeast, with or without the addition of sodium chloride (NaCl - cooking salt). The expiry date is NOT present on the bread label since it falls into a category of products that require consumption WITHIN the 24 hours; on the other hand, there is a wealth of information regarding any incomplete cooking and ingredients, with particular attention to the flour used: type 00 soft wheat - type 00 bread, type 0 soft wheat - type 0 bread, type 1 soft wheat - bread type 1, type 2 soft wheat - type 2 bread, whole wheat - wholemeal bread, durum wheat semolina - durum wheat semolina bread, durum wheat semolina - durum wheat semolina bread, semolina semolina - re-milled semolina bread, granulated semolina - regrind semolina bread. NB . It is also possible to mix the different flours and add other ingredients as long as they are indicated on the label.
Nutritional characteristics
Baked goods are processed foods, therefore manipulated by man; they all have a rather high energy value (as they derive from mixtures based on cereal flours) and are common to a considerable quantity of complex carbohydrates. Obviously, depending on the type of food, energy differences of up to 100% can be observed; this discrepancy is caused by various nutritional factors, mainly: addition or non-addition of seasoning fats, level of hydration and the presence or absence of sweeteners based on simple sugars (sucrose or fructose).
In the next article (bakery products: nutritional values) the chemical characteristics and the major differences between the various foods of the same category will be analyzed more accurately.
