Baking cakes rules
When baking Easter cakes, you must remember the basic rules, the observance of which largely depends on how the cake will turn out.
The main and indispensable decoration of the Easter table - Easter cakes, which are baked from butter yeast dough,
but tall and round. According to legend, the shroud of Christ, buried according to Jewish customs, was round.
This explains the traditional round shape of the Easter cake.
And it should be high because in the spring time of Easter everything in nature comes to life and stretches up
• The dough should not be liquid, because the cakes will spread out and will be flat, and should not be thick - the cakes will be too heavy and tasteless, they will quickly turn brown.
The dough should be of such density that it can be cut with a knife and does not stick to it, so that when dividing the cakes it would not be necessary to add flour. Cut the kneaded dough with a knife. The density is just right, if it does not reach for the knife, does not stick to it. Can be folded into molds.•
You need to knead the dough for a long time and thoroughly. According to ancient legends, you need to hit it 300 times, so that later the guests would praise the Easter cake 300 times. Knead the dough as long as possible so that it comes off hands, dishes or table.
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The dough should be suitable three times: the first time - when it will be dissolved; the second time - when it is kneaded, the third time - when it has already been divided and placed in molds or on a baking sheet.
• Kulichny dough does not like drafts, but loves warmth, so the cakes should be suitable in a warm place at a temperature of 30-45 degrees. In the room where the cake is prepared, the temperature must be at least 25 °.
• If the dough is opal - it's not scary. Will rise again.
• But here's a little advice - if you have already laid out the dough in molds and it rose well, but when you try to put it in the oven, the top seemed to deflate and become flat - do not expect it to rise again and become round in the oven. Better to wait with baking and wait for the dough to grow again. Otherwise, the cake may end up with a flat top. if the cake is not allowed to come up completely, it will turn out to be dense and juicy. Dried fruits must be pre-soaked, they will give moisture to the dough after baking. Dried fruits, raisins, candied fruits after drying and before laying in the dough, must be rolled in flour, and then sieved (remove excess flour)
• I kneaded the dough for cakes with my hands (the consistency of the dough turned out like for pies), but you can make a lighter dough by adding less flour - in this case, the dough should be kneaded with a mixer, since it should be thicker in consistency than for pancakes and more liquid than on pies and it is easy to lag behind the walls of the bowl - you cannot knead such a dough with your hands, but only with a spoon or a mixer until bubbles appear - this means that the dough is sufficiently enriched with oxygen
• In Russia, a lot of dough was usually prepared for Easter cakes, since in large volumes it is fermented better
• Cakes are baked in thin tin tins with a movable (removable) bottom.
• This form must be laid out with paper oiled with butter or ghee, and not just greased with butter
• It is advisable to cover the form from the inside with baking paper, then the cake can be easily removed from it.
• Lubricate your hands with oil too. Gather and tear off pieces of dough with your hands and lay out in a mold.
• Before placing the cake into it, the oven must be preheated well, because only in this case it will maintain a uniform temperature during baking, which is very important
• Determine the readiness of the cake for baking by volume: the dough should rise almost to the edges of the mold.
• In order for such a cake to rise evenly, a wooden stick is stuck in the middle of it before planting in the oven. After a certain time, the stick is removed. If it is dry, the cake is ready
• Ready-to-bake cake is greased with an egg, beaten with 1 tbsp. with a spoonful of water, and butter, sprinkle with chopped nuts, coarse sugar and breadcrumbs
• capricious Easter baking “does not like” when it is disturbed during baking, so try not to open the oven door unnecessarily, otherwise the lush dough will fall off from a sharp temperature drop. And if you notice that the top of the cake is burning, and it itself is not baked yet, cover it on top with damp parchment paper.
At what temperature to bake cakes?
• The cake is baked in a humidified oven, for this a container with hot water is placed on its bottom; temperature 200-240 ° C. (Average temperature for baking cakes 210 °, moderate temperature in the oven 160 ° -180 °).
• in large forms, Easter cakes are also baked well, just so that the top does not burn, after 10-15 minutes, reduce the heat by 20 degrees and tighten the top of the cake with foil.
• The duration of the cake baking depends on its size. A cake weighing less than 1 kg is baked for 30 minutes, 1 kg - 45 minutes, 1.5 kg - 1 hour, 2 kg - 1.5 hours. If the cake burns on top, cover it with dry paper.
• The finished cake is removed from the oven, placed on the side surface and kept in this position until the bottom has cooled.
• Ready-made cakes can be glazed and decorated with candied fruits.
The advice of a professional pastry chef Tortyzhka
At bakeries and bakeries there are "combi ovens" - e-mail. ovens in which there is convection (forced mixing of hot air with a fan) and steam humidification, that is, steam supply to the chamber.
In the technological instructions for baking products from yeast dough (any), they write:
so many minutes - steam supply 100% temperature such and such,
so many minutes -50% the temperature is such and such,
so many minutes without steam. the temperature is like that.
Convection is desirable so that the product is baked evenly from all sides.
In a home oven, this issue is not as relevant as in a bakery.
But steam ... We need it! Then, at the beginning of baking, a crust on the dough will not form (and then burst when the inner layers of the dough heat up and expand).
With steam, we must not allow the formation of a "shell" Therefore, for baking LARGE PRODUCTS from yeast dough (loaves, cakes, large closed pies), we use the general principle:
At the beginning of baking, we spray it in any available way (preferably a finely dispersed sprinkler or from the mouth), and put it in the oven at a low temperature (about 25-30% to the main one).
In the process, gently open the oven a little several times and quickly spray it again with warm water until the surface of the dough is completely moistened.
Then we raise the temperature a little and spray it again or 2. Then the temperature is normal, baking without steam, that is, we created such conditions so that the entire mass of dough could expand without being limited to baked crusts.
Slow heating ensures that the entire thickness of the dough is baked, not black on the outside, but damp on the inside.
And finally, when the dough has "taken out" all the power of lifting, we no longer spray. and let it bake and brown.
This is the technology. I’ll make a reservation right away that the paper forms will not become limp, the dough will not get damp and the heating elements will not burst.
Easter cakes, cottage cheese Easter, lambs and eggs for Easter.
