The blog of cooking-ez.com
For well opened (puffed) cakes
You have noticed, when you buy bread, a baguette for example, there are openings on the top of the bread, the "grignes". They are there because at the moment of putting the dough in the oven, the baker "blades" or "nibbles" the top, with a very sharp blade, so that when the bread is cooked it opens up well, and has that elegant and appetizing aspect, typical of French breads.
How does it work? It's very simple, the blade stroke on the dough creates a weakness on the surface, and when the bread swells in the heat of the oven, it will spread in the direction of this weakness, and thus accentuate the opening given by the initial blade stroke.
If the baker doesn't blade, the bread will burst during the baking, or rather it will split in an anarchic way, but this can also be desired for a "rustic" style, like here:
Anyway, all that to say that if you don't blade your dough, the bread is less beautiful, but that's not the whole point of this post
In fact, and this is not obvious, but it also applies to cakes like cake or 4/4. During the baking process, the same phenomenon happens as with breads, except that steam is pushing the cake, so the top of the cake will open more or less well. Now, we all want to have beautiful cakes well opened on the top, how to do?
Well, almost like the bakers, we're going to sift the cake, but since we're not dealing with a firm dough, but with a very soft one, we have to be a bit tricky.
Here's the idea:
- You make your cake normally, you pour the dough into a mould
- Just before putting it in the oven, you dip a maryse, or a spatula, or a simple knife, in a little neutral oil (peanut for example)
- You draw a line in the middle of the dough with the oiled spatula (note that the furrow remains thanks to the oil)
- Put the dough in the oven and bake it normally
And this is the kind of result you will get.
Some pastry chefs do things a little differently: they use a very thin piping bag to place a thin line of butter on top of the pastry.
You will have understood, it is always the same principle, it is enough to create a weakness in the paste, weakness which will be transformed into nibble under the action of gases of cooking, CO2 for the bread, and vapor for the cakes.
To sum up: If you want a nice cake, well opened on top, like this one, you have to "split" the top with a lightly oiled marysee.
Lasts posts
Toss the salad
When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...2,2175 March 8th 2024
Half milk, half cream
In a multitude of recipes, savoury or sweet, milk is used as the main ingredient, or at least as the main liquid ingredient. Milk is used instead of water, for example, because milk contains a proportion of fat, which adds roundness and softness to the recipe. This mellowness is very pleasant on...2,178 February 27th 2024
Cutting soft cheeses
As you may have already noticed, when you have to use a "soft" cheese in a recipe - their exact name is "soft cheese" - such as Camembert, Munster or Mont d'or, it's not easy to make anything other than thick slices.2,3305 February 20th 2024
It's spinning too fast!
When you need to grate or slice vegetables, you generally use an electric machine that does all the work: a food processor, a mixer with a "slicer" extension or similar. Are these machines really suitable? Generally speaking, yes of course, but there's one criterion that often poses a problem,...5,2075 November 12th 2023
When I was a kid, I didn't like...
Maybe you've already made this strange observation: when you were a kid, there were things you hated, but as an adult it's almost the opposite? For example, you used to hate spinach or chicory, but now you love it?4,8445 November 5th 2023
Other pages you may also like
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.53K 24.2 June 21th 2017
The right weight of pastry for a pie
Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...58K4.3 March 20th 2020
Kitchen ovens
You certainly have one in your kitchen, an oven, the essential tool for all kinds of cooking, whether in the kitchen of course, but also in pastry, bakery, pizza, and many others. Here is some information on its structure and operation.22K4.4 May 16th 2020
How to zest a fruit?
You will have no doubt noticed that many recipes call for the zest of citrus fruit. The zest is that outer layer of the skin which adds so much flavour to a dish. There are many different ways to peel off the zest and various tools are available. Here is a summary of the “dos and don'ts” of...40K3.8 November 5th 2013
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .119K 14.1 February 7th 2017
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.