Experimental cookery

Extent of mixing. Both the manner of mixing the ingredients and the length of time of mixing the dough influence the texture obtained in doughnuts. Doughnuts, like cakes, seem to have a finer, more even texture TEMPERATURE AND LENGTH OF TIME 559 if the eggs are thoroughly creamed with the fat and sugar. Adding the flour and milk in different portions may also affect the texture. Too little mixing after the flour and liquid are added gives a coarse, harder, rather crystalline texture, for the ingredients are not thoroughly blended. With over-mixing the doughnuts are tougher and more compact. The tempera- ture of the ingredients affects the amount of mixing required to obtain a tender doughnut. As the temperature increases less mixing is required; at too low a temperature, the fat does not blend with the other ingredients. The length of time of mixing the dough also affects the amount of fat absorbed by doughnuts. In general, the longer the dough is mixed the more the gluten is developed unless mixing is extremely long. The development of the gluten by mixing forms thin filaments of gluten throughout the dough that probably tend to prevent fat absorption. The longer mixing produces a more uniformly mixed dough, which has a smoother crust. The smoother crust has less surface for fat absorption than a dough with a rougher surface. Kind and brand o£ flour used. The amount of fat absorbed by dough- nuts varies with the kind or brand of flour used, if other conditions are standardized. In general, the strong flours show greater decrease in fat absorption with longer mixing. The soft-wheat flours tend to increase the fat absorption. The amount of flour, that is of bread or soft-wheat flour, to give a soft tender doughnut also varies. This is apart from varying the proportion of flour. The amount of flour. As the amount of flour in the recipe is increased the amount of fat absorbed by the doughnuts is decreased. This is shown in Table 62. TABLE 62 Effect of Amount of Flour in the Recipe upon Fat Absorption in Doughnuts {Average 13 tests) Experi- ment 94A Number of strokes used for mixing Weight of uncooked dough- nuts, grams Weight of cooked dough- nuts, grams Fat absorption Amount flour, cups Grams Per cent 4^ 5 5>< sy2 80 80 80 80 142.6 140.6 143.2 149.0 192.3 182.4 182.5 182.8 72.5 60.9 59.0 51.3 37.4 33.6 32.5 28.2 The cooking temperature and the length of time of cooking. In general, the longer the time of cooking the greater the fat absorption. Table 63 shows rather typical results. 560 FATS AND OILS TABLE 63 Effect of the Cooking Temperature and the Length of Time of Cooking Upon Fat Absorption in Doughnuts. Dough Mixed 80 Strokes with Wooden Spoon. Six Doughnuts in Each Lot Weight of Weight of Fat absorbed Experi- ment Time of Temp, of cooking uncooked cooked cooking. dough- dough- 94C minutes fat, °C. nuts, grams nuts, grams Grams Per cent 1 2 155-160 184.0 219.0 44 20.1 2 3 155-160 168.0 194.0 49 25.2 3 4 155-160 170.0 201.0 53 26.4 4 2 175-180 168.0 190.0 44 23.2 5 3 175-180 168.5 193.5 47 24.3 6 4 175-180 169.0 196.0 51 26.0 7 2 195-200 176.5 195.5 38 19.4 8 3 195-200 179.5 197.5 39 19.7 9 4 195-200 165.5 181.5 42 23.1