Ok – my grade in English class is plummeting downhill faster than a spacecraft making its decent. For this reason, I am going to spend all of today to attempt to raise the grade. Ah, if only my blog posts don’t take an average of three hours to complete. Goodness, a day solely dedicated for English class. I guess is the sacrifice to make for failure to complete my work.
—Matter—
I have no idea particularly why I want to go into this subject on this post, but I want to blog about chemistry.
So, what is matter? In the most complex terms, matter is any material substance that occupies space, has mass, and is composed predominantly of atoms consisting of protons, neutrons, and electrons, that constitutes the observable universe, and that is interconvertible with energy.
In short, it is the “stuff” of which the universe is composed and has the two characteristics: it has mass and it occupies space.
To understand the nature of matter, it is classified in various ways. The three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas are defined by:
-solid: rigid; has a fixed shape and volume
-liquid: has a definite volume but takes the shape of its container
-gas: has no fixed volume or shape; takes the shape and volume of its container
The state of a given sample of matter depends on the strength of the forces among the particles contained in the matter; the stronger these forces, the more rigid the matter.
Substances have physical properties. Typical physical properties of a substance include odor, color, volume, state (gas, liquid, solid), density, melting point, and boiling point. A pure substance can also be described in terms of its chemical properties, which refer to its ability to form new substances.
An example of a chemical change is wood burning in a fireplace, giving off heat and gases and leaving a residue of ashes. In this process, the wood is changed to several new substances. Other examples of chemical changes include the rusting of the steel in cars, the digestion of food in the stomach, and the growth of grass in the yard.
In a chemical change a given substance changes to a fundamentally different substance or substances.
—Kinetics—
I still need to suck out one hundred words…so let’s continue with chemistry into the study of kinetics.
Chemistry is far more complex than mixing “stuff” and seeing what happens. In fact, chemistry is known as the central science as it focuses and links many of the other branches of natural and physical sciences. Without chemistry, the complex nature of biological functions would be difficult to explain. It is needed to explain reactions and interactions with the physical world – and thus physics.
So what is kinetics?
Kinetics is a branch of science that deals with the effects of forces upon the emotion of material bodies or with changes in a physical or chemical system. In short, it studies the effects of reactions. It also deals with the mechanisms or vehicles by which a physical or chemical change is effected.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Sugar II
When we think of sugar, usually the standard white granulated sugar that is seen in packets comes to mind.
But in the scientific world, sugar is a far more complex subject. Molecules of complex sugar molecules are more commonly known as carbohydrates, while more simple sugar compounds are plainly “simple sugars.” In actuality, all sugars are carbohydrates – they contain a carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in the empirical formula C_n (H_2 O)_n. The underscore _ indicates the location of a subscript. In this configuration, it can easily be seen that carbohydrates are hydrates of carbon molecules – hence the name carbohydrate. For simplicity, carbohydrates are usually written in the form C_n H_2n O_n with {n ∈ Z 3 ≤ n ≤ 7}.
Carbohydrates are the main energy source of all organisms. As I mentioned before, these sugars vary widely in chemical composition – from the simple monosaccharides and disaccharides to more complex oligosaccharides – which contain up to ten molecules of ‘simple’ sugars connected by bonds. The root -saccharide derives from the Latin saccharum and Greek sakcharon. The Greeks modified this from the Prankrit sakkharā and Sanskrit śarkarā – all to mean sugar or gravel. Mono-, di-, and oligo- roots all refer to the numbers of saccharides (one, two, and ‘few’, respectively).
So how do plants produce sugars that we consume?
All plants have an organelle chloroplast which contains a green photosynthetic pigment that produces the chemical compounds with the aid of radiant energy from the light of the sun. The photosynthetic pigment is also responsible for the varying colors of green in plants. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use radial energy from the sun (in addition to water and carbon dioxide) to form a simple glucose sugars molecule C_6 H_12 O_6. This process yields the energy plants need to survive – and it then can manufacture the more complex sucrose and fructose combinations. The photosynthetic process can be represented in a chemical equation 6 CO_2 + 6 H_2 O + sunlight →3 C_6 H_12 O_6.
In the culinary realm, because sugar does not occur in the form of glucose in plants naturally – it is usually modified from other sugar. Glucose is the main form of sugar in corn syrup. There is a distinct difference from corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup found in many processed foods. This difference is just how the syrup is produced and the enzymatic processes that occur in each.
How is normal corn syrup useful?
Because of its different chemical structure, glucose is known as a preventative measure for crystallization in simple syrup.
Simple syrup:
Although I still do not know why exactly it may be called simple – I know it is a simple combination of sugar and water; it also just happens to be very simpleto make. Simple syrup has many uses in the kitchen where a liquid form of sugar is required. The best example is adding sugar to cold drinks. Notice how it just settles to the bottom of the container…? It just does not want to dissolve.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Reading
This is only a quick break from science and the chemistry of cooking. But this month and the end of February has been an extremely tiring and stressful. With the start of Literature Circles, my homework load increased three fold. Literature circles are the newest installment of my English class curriculum. It utilizes small groups of two or three who read a particular text of no less than two hundred pages. The reading is to be completed in three weeks at one week intervals. I chose a partner who is a good friend of mine. Initially, we were undecided upon which book we were going to read. Another friend of ours in the class had no partner, but a book he was interested in reading. Soon the three of us obtained copies of Octavia E. BUTLER’s book Parable of the Talents.
Far beyond high school, I realized that the pace at which I read is far slower than the usual pacing of my peers. I rarely read books in my spare time, not that I truly have any spare time nor do I read for pleasure. At its most basic, the only time I read fiction works are for English-Language Arts class or other education.
Now in my hands, I hold a four hundred page book that I must complete in three weeks. Unfortunately, there was no time to reassign myself to another group or attempt to persuade both partners to switch titles. Four hundred pages – three weeks. My group decided to divide the book into even thirds based on the number of chapters. Luckily there were twenty one chapters and twenty one divides into three seven times evenly. Therefore it reasoned that twenty one chapters should be dispersed in three seven-chapter intervals. And thus it was set, seven chapters were to be read each week (if it isn’t obvious, that roughly can equate to one chapter per day). In Parable of the Talents, BUTLER writes approximately fifteen pages for each chapter…fifteen pages of reading each day. Yuck. I knew I should not have agreed to read this book of four hundred pages. I understand that many avid readers scoff at the idea of ‘only’ fifteen pages, which they could read in ten minutes. I am the complete opposite; I cannot read quickly, possibly five pages in a half-hour at most – depending on how dense the material is presented.
Anyhow, one week passes. I should be starting the second installment of my book. I should be starting chapter eight. I should be at page 135. But what have I accomplished in seven days? Almost nothing, absolutely nothing. The only time I spent reading was during class and lunch. My marker rests at page thirty. One hundred pages behind pace.
I decide it is time for a meeting with my English teacher. My English teacher (whose name shall remain undisclosed) and I shared a valuable conversation. We both learned something new about me and my reading. He told me to take a half-hour of reading time, and take notes on what thoughts are going through my mind, what distractions are around me, and what else is possibly hindering my reading pace. My teacher explains that the issue is less likely a problem with reading itself, but other aspects which may affect my reading. The notes I took gave a framework to build upon…
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sugar
The human tongue can essentially detect five different flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory (also: umami). What substances taste sweet? Sugar, of course – but why do we have a natural attraction to sugar and sweets? When we are born, we have a natural attraction to sugars, because sugars (usually) mean energy. On the same token, at a young age, many children dislike vegetable. When cooked (and exponentially worse when over-cooked) enzymes react in response to the high heat to form extremely bitter compounds. And in many cases in the natural world, poisons and toxics are bitter. As humans mature, our food pallet becomes more sophisticated and becomes more comfortable with pungent, spicy, sour, and bitter flavors. It is for this reason why adults are more comfortable consuming vegetables; their pallets are less affected to the bitter components of a dish more than the other complex harmony of aromatics and spices of a fully-‘developed’ pallet.
Studies have shown that there is a relation between the ability (and severity) of tasting PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) paper and the flavor of vegetables. PTC is a chemical which is extremely bitter to some of the population, while virtually tasteless to others. This strange difference of two extremes is dependent on a genetic encoding to taste certain bitter compounds. Those with high sensitivity to PTC (myself included) showed an extreme disgust to vegetables (I can recall placing the PTC paper on my tongue and immediately spitting it out. That taste lingered for hours – if it helps, the paper tasted like chloroquine or quinacrine that you would take for prevention against malaria.). Conversely, those who seemed to have no effect from the PTC had no issues with vegetable consumption. Therefore, some children don’t eat their vegetables because they don’t want to, but because s/he is too sensitive to the bitter compounds or even become unpalatable…so it is not entirely the kids fault.
Moving onto another subject of sugars… (I understand the majority of the text above is about bitters, but I thought it was interesting and decided to do the extra research)
Albeit not as complex as salts and flour, sugar has a unique array of varieties. Apart from the normal white granulated sugar, there is brown sugar (golden brown and dark brown), raw sugar, and all types of sugar syrups (like corn syrup). So how does sugar arrive on our supermarket shelves?
It all begins with the sugarcane stock.
Sugarcanes are any of about twenty five species of tall grasses (like bamboo) in the Saccharum genus which originated somewhere in Asia. In many cases, the sugar found in the sugarcanes at the grocery store is a hybrid of the twenty five. Cultivators carefully select the best characteristics of the sugarcane and decide which best moves to the next generation of crop. It is not uncommon for stocks to grow from six feet to as high as nineteen feet in height.
After harvest, the cultivators have several options to produce a consumer product, all based on its final destination. In Costa Rica, I have had the pleasure of taking the whole sugarcane, pressing it through rollers, and straining the pulp to produce a pitcher of a sugarcane juice. This elixir was served in a shot glass and looked like a clouded mixed drink. The taste was concentrated – sweet, but not overwhelming and with a nutty flavor. It was an opportunity to enjoy a rich Costa Rican delicacy of cold pressed sugarcane.
Studies have shown that there is a relation between the ability (and severity) of tasting PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) paper and the flavor of vegetables. PTC is a chemical which is extremely bitter to some of the population, while virtually tasteless to others. This strange difference of two extremes is dependent on a genetic encoding to taste certain bitter compounds. Those with high sensitivity to PTC (myself included) showed an extreme disgust to vegetables (I can recall placing the PTC paper on my tongue and immediately spitting it out. That taste lingered for hours – if it helps, the paper tasted like chloroquine or quinacrine that you would take for prevention against malaria.). Conversely, those who seemed to have no effect from the PTC had no issues with vegetable consumption. Therefore, some children don’t eat their vegetables because they don’t want to, but because s/he is too sensitive to the bitter compounds or even become unpalatable…so it is not entirely the kids fault.
Moving onto another subject of sugars… (I understand the majority of the text above is about bitters, but I thought it was interesting and decided to do the extra research)
Albeit not as complex as salts and flour, sugar has a unique array of varieties. Apart from the normal white granulated sugar, there is brown sugar (golden brown and dark brown), raw sugar, and all types of sugar syrups (like corn syrup). So how does sugar arrive on our supermarket shelves?
It all begins with the sugarcane stock.
Sugarcanes are any of about twenty five species of tall grasses (like bamboo) in the Saccharum genus which originated somewhere in Asia. In many cases, the sugar found in the sugarcanes at the grocery store is a hybrid of the twenty five. Cultivators carefully select the best characteristics of the sugarcane and decide which best moves to the next generation of crop. It is not uncommon for stocks to grow from six feet to as high as nineteen feet in height.
After harvest, the cultivators have several options to produce a consumer product, all based on its final destination. In Costa Rica, I have had the pleasure of taking the whole sugarcane, pressing it through rollers, and straining the pulp to produce a pitcher of a sugarcane juice. This elixir was served in a shot glass and looked like a clouded mixed drink. The taste was concentrated – sweet, but not overwhelming and with a nutty flavor. It was an opportunity to enjoy a rich Costa Rican delicacy of cold pressed sugarcane.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Flour
Flour:
If you walk into your local Safeway or other supermarket and head over to the aisle for baking, you may come upon six, seven, maybe even eight different types of flour. With so many options, which one do you choose?
Do you purchase the flour with the prettiest design on the box or the cheapest per-pound value? Is the brand of the flour important?
The answer lies in what is your baked good destination. Most supermarkets in the United States carry at least three types of flour on stock: all-purpose flour, bread flour, and cake flour.
The all-purpose (as its name would hint) is by far the most popular and versatile of the three major varieties. If I were to choose one type of flour to store in my pantry, I would always keep all-purpose (AP) flour on hand.
At its most basic, what differentiates the flours is protein content.
Approximately seventy-five percent of the wheat grown in the United States is hard wheat (that is, wheat that is high in protein). Most flours composed of hard wheat are marketed as bread flour. The high protein is needed to form the plastic and elastic structure demanded by crusty baguettes and chew sourdough breads.
On the contrary, soft wheat is that which yields lower levels of protein. Flours composed mostly of milled soft wheat are sold as cake flour. The lower protein content reduces the amount of elastic framework formed by hardier bread flours. This reduced protein is best suited to delicate baked goods such as light, airy biscuits, pastries, and (as the name suggests) cakes.
All-purpose (AP) flour is usually a mixture of soft and hard flours, which is why it is apt and versatile in the kitchen.
Less common flour includes self-rising flour. For the most part, self-rising flour is AP flour that has been laced with chemical leavening. This additional lift is best when working with dough that requires chemical leavening (usually baking powder) so that there is already carbon dioxide gas bubbles at work before the dough is completely formed.
Bleached or Unbleached:
You may also see several different variations of unbleached flours. They are identical to the flour of its original counterpart; except unbleached flour is void of the additional flour bleaching agents added to flour in order to make it appear whiter. Initially, when flour is processed at the mill it is slightly yellow in color. Most of the time flour is treated with calcium peroxide (CaO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), chlorine (Cl2), or chlorine dioxide (ClO2). Albeit this chemical nomenclature appears complex and dangerous, do not be frightened. These chemicals are added in small proportions and only used to whiten the flour.
So why not purchased unbleached flour to avoid the chemicals in its entirety? It would probably be safer to consume products made by them. I see no reason the flour needs to appear white.
Ehh, it may not be the best approach to purchase unbleached flour solely for the absence of chemicals. Consider the final aesthetics of the baked good. Using the unbleached yellow-tinted flour can make yellow-tinted “white” bread. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have strict regulations that govern the addition and application of chemicals to food products intended for human consumption. These laws permit only certain bleaching agents are used in precise quantitative amounts.
In the end, the choice of flour to use in your products greatly depends on the qualities sought to yield the proper processes needed to arrive at your final destination.
If you walk into your local Safeway or other supermarket and head over to the aisle for baking, you may come upon six, seven, maybe even eight different types of flour. With so many options, which one do you choose?
Do you purchase the flour with the prettiest design on the box or the cheapest per-pound value? Is the brand of the flour important?
The answer lies in what is your baked good destination. Most supermarkets in the United States carry at least three types of flour on stock: all-purpose flour, bread flour, and cake flour.
The all-purpose (as its name would hint) is by far the most popular and versatile of the three major varieties. If I were to choose one type of flour to store in my pantry, I would always keep all-purpose (AP) flour on hand.
At its most basic, what differentiates the flours is protein content.
Approximately seventy-five percent of the wheat grown in the United States is hard wheat (that is, wheat that is high in protein). Most flours composed of hard wheat are marketed as bread flour. The high protein is needed to form the plastic and elastic structure demanded by crusty baguettes and chew sourdough breads.
On the contrary, soft wheat is that which yields lower levels of protein. Flours composed mostly of milled soft wheat are sold as cake flour. The lower protein content reduces the amount of elastic framework formed by hardier bread flours. This reduced protein is best suited to delicate baked goods such as light, airy biscuits, pastries, and (as the name suggests) cakes.
All-purpose (AP) flour is usually a mixture of soft and hard flours, which is why it is apt and versatile in the kitchen.
Less common flour includes self-rising flour. For the most part, self-rising flour is AP flour that has been laced with chemical leavening. This additional lift is best when working with dough that requires chemical leavening (usually baking powder) so that there is already carbon dioxide gas bubbles at work before the dough is completely formed.
Bleached or Unbleached:
You may also see several different variations of unbleached flours. They are identical to the flour of its original counterpart; except unbleached flour is void of the additional flour bleaching agents added to flour in order to make it appear whiter. Initially, when flour is processed at the mill it is slightly yellow in color. Most of the time flour is treated with calcium peroxide (CaO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), chlorine (Cl2), or chlorine dioxide (ClO2). Albeit this chemical nomenclature appears complex and dangerous, do not be frightened. These chemicals are added in small proportions and only used to whiten the flour.
So why not purchased unbleached flour to avoid the chemicals in its entirety? It would probably be safer to consume products made by them. I see no reason the flour needs to appear white.
Ehh, it may not be the best approach to purchase unbleached flour solely for the absence of chemicals. Consider the final aesthetics of the baked good. Using the unbleached yellow-tinted flour can make yellow-tinted “white” bread. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have strict regulations that govern the addition and application of chemicals to food products intended for human consumption. These laws permit only certain bleaching agents are used in precise quantitative amounts.
In the end, the choice of flour to use in your products greatly depends on the qualities sought to yield the proper processes needed to arrive at your final destination.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Genocide
Prompt 03: Human Nature – Who participates in genocide, and why? What does the commonality of genocide lead you to believe about humanity?
The expression genocide did not exist in type prior to 1944. It was not until Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder. However, genocide describes more than killing of Jews during the Holocaust and it has occurred throughout all periods of human history – far before 1944 and even today in the twenty-first century. Whether it is religious, political, racial, or cultural, genocide is a deliberate and systematic killing of a group associated by some common link. Some of the earliest genocides were recorded around 150 bce during the Third Punic War. And in recent news, the situations of Darfur, Sudan are genocide.
At some point in history, all societies have connection to genocide. What event is usually associated with genocide? Most often the holocaust is linked with genocide. The holocaust was during World War II, where Nazi Germany sponsored the systematic murder of over 11 million people, including 6 million European Jews. Much other genocide has occurred throughout history. In Asia during the thirteenth century, Mongolian Empire founder Genghis Khan had genocidal killings against the territories he conquered. Khan expanded his empire through his violence and killing of his enemies.
The Americas experienced an extensive genocide – most of which is disguised in thousands of social studies textbooks. When Columbus and the other explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries set foot on America, the natives welcomed these conquistadors with honor – as the Native Americans thought the explorers were gods returning to their sacred lands. However, these explorers were in for a different motive – power. Back then, for a country to be powerful, it had at least one of three mechanisms: land, spices, or money. With the Spanish in Central America, Hernán Cortés found the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan with plenty of gold. Eventually, he brought down the capital to take the gold –and did so by killing millions of Aztecs.
With the Spanish in Central America, the Aztec capital Tenōchtitlan was taken and overthrown in 1521 by Hernán Cortés. A similar set of events happened north of Tenōchtitlan in present-day Eastern United States. After Columbus set foot in the Americas in 1492, explorers from many countries in Europe traveled to the East Coast. Soon, they began to colonize and claim territory for their motherland – and started to force Native American tribes out of the region. More people arrived in the Americas and colonies were densely populated. Seeking more land, and more adventurous opportunity, individuals headed to the Wild West (American Old West) to see what the earth had to offer. To no surprise, the English pushed out, and in the process they had to ‘inconvenience’ thousands of Native American tribes. Some wars amongst the indigenous people and the colonizing English broke out because the Native Americans wished not to be forced into small reserves while watching the ‘foreigners’ take over their land, resources, and homes. Records of Indian wars are available from the mid-1500s to the early 1900s – and the summation of all these mini-war battles result in the Indian massacre.
Genocidal killings murder millions of people – and millions of homicides need people to participate. During the holocaust, Adolf Hitler was able to control the information outputted by media and use propaganda to persuade the common people of Germany to enlist in the military and kill off the European Jewish population. On the contrary, in the Rwandan genocide, two divisions – Hutu and Tutsi - did not choose to kill. Neighbors and friends were sometimes told to kill each other. People of all ages participated in genocide. Children as young as 12 years of age were able to pursue direct combat – whether voluntarily or involuntarily, depending on the situation. However, International Human Rights law mandates that the military use of children no younger than 18 years of age take part in direct hostilities - and those of who are between the ages of 15 to 18 years may be enrolled in the military.
What does this mean about humanity?
People will always find ways to differentiate themselves from other people. As mentioned in the Race Video, humans have always divided themselves into groups which they see have a commonality. This relates to a more primitive tribal society and is the basis of genocide-based killings. The killing of others may be just another sign of our primitive past. So have humans, the “most evolved” and sophisticated animals truly surpassed our chimp ancestors? And are our civilizations actually “civil”…?
The expression genocide did not exist in type prior to 1944. It was not until Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder. However, genocide describes more than killing of Jews during the Holocaust and it has occurred throughout all periods of human history – far before 1944 and even today in the twenty-first century. Whether it is religious, political, racial, or cultural, genocide is a deliberate and systematic killing of a group associated by some common link. Some of the earliest genocides were recorded around 150 bce during the Third Punic War. And in recent news, the situations of Darfur, Sudan are genocide.
At some point in history, all societies have connection to genocide. What event is usually associated with genocide? Most often the holocaust is linked with genocide. The holocaust was during World War II, where Nazi Germany sponsored the systematic murder of over 11 million people, including 6 million European Jews. Much other genocide has occurred throughout history. In Asia during the thirteenth century, Mongolian Empire founder Genghis Khan had genocidal killings against the territories he conquered. Khan expanded his empire through his violence and killing of his enemies.
The Americas experienced an extensive genocide – most of which is disguised in thousands of social studies textbooks. When Columbus and the other explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries set foot on America, the natives welcomed these conquistadors with honor – as the Native Americans thought the explorers were gods returning to their sacred lands. However, these explorers were in for a different motive – power. Back then, for a country to be powerful, it had at least one of three mechanisms: land, spices, or money. With the Spanish in Central America, Hernán Cortés found the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan with plenty of gold. Eventually, he brought down the capital to take the gold –and did so by killing millions of Aztecs.
With the Spanish in Central America, the Aztec capital Tenōchtitlan was taken and overthrown in 1521 by Hernán Cortés. A similar set of events happened north of Tenōchtitlan in present-day Eastern United States. After Columbus set foot in the Americas in 1492, explorers from many countries in Europe traveled to the East Coast. Soon, they began to colonize and claim territory for their motherland – and started to force Native American tribes out of the region. More people arrived in the Americas and colonies were densely populated. Seeking more land, and more adventurous opportunity, individuals headed to the Wild West (American Old West) to see what the earth had to offer. To no surprise, the English pushed out, and in the process they had to ‘inconvenience’ thousands of Native American tribes. Some wars amongst the indigenous people and the colonizing English broke out because the Native Americans wished not to be forced into small reserves while watching the ‘foreigners’ take over their land, resources, and homes. Records of Indian wars are available from the mid-1500s to the early 1900s – and the summation of all these mini-war battles result in the Indian massacre.
Genocidal killings murder millions of people – and millions of homicides need people to participate. During the holocaust, Adolf Hitler was able to control the information outputted by media and use propaganda to persuade the common people of Germany to enlist in the military and kill off the European Jewish population. On the contrary, in the Rwandan genocide, two divisions – Hutu and Tutsi - did not choose to kill. Neighbors and friends were sometimes told to kill each other. People of all ages participated in genocide. Children as young as 12 years of age were able to pursue direct combat – whether voluntarily or involuntarily, depending on the situation. However, International Human Rights law mandates that the military use of children no younger than 18 years of age take part in direct hostilities - and those of who are between the ages of 15 to 18 years may be enrolled in the military.
What does this mean about humanity?
People will always find ways to differentiate themselves from other people. As mentioned in the Race Video, humans have always divided themselves into groups which they see have a commonality. This relates to a more primitive tribal society and is the basis of genocide-based killings. The killing of others may be just another sign of our primitive past. So have humans, the “most evolved” and sophisticated animals truly surpassed our chimp ancestors? And are our civilizations actually “civil”…?
Friday, February 5, 2010
The Chewy
This is the final installation in this three-blog series on cookies. I have taken the chocolate chip cookie further past the ingredients, past the procedure and technique, and into the science! Again I propose the question “How do variations in the proportions of ingredients affect a final product?”
The chewy cookie variation is my favorite. It provides the best characteristics of the Thin and the Puffy – a flat, dense consistency from the Thin, yet a moist interior from the Puffy.
For the chewy, the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe must be modified to support more moisture. If you have become a dedicated reader to this series, you will remember the most important factor in cookie baking – the fat. Chewy cookies require something in order for it to have a slight chew. If you look at the ingredients list, none of them are chewy. Flour, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, white granulated sugar, butter, and chocolate are all powdered or soft solids. Vanilla extract and eggs are liquids. So where does the chew come from and why do the other cookies (which follow similar ingredient lists) not have such a defined chewy texture?
The answer lies in the flour. The starch in the flour is contains of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to the flour and agitation is applied, the two proteins cross-link to form this water-insoluble network of proteins called gluten. This gluten is responsible for the chew in baguettes, sourdoughs, bagels, and other breads.
Water is still needed to activate the production of gluten. So instead of using softened butter, it will be melted to take advantage of the water phase in butter. Therefore, when the flour is introduced to the batter, more gluten will form leading to a chewier cookie.
While on the note on flour, the type of flour matters just as much as what kind of fat is used. There are many varieties of flour, but at its most basic, three flour varieties will be available at the local supermarket: all-purpose [AP] flour, bread flour, and cake flour. The only difference amongst these varieties is protein content. Bread flour (as the name suggests) is excellent for baking bread because it has higher protein content. High protein is directly proportional to high gluten production. Conversely, cake flour contains low protein content, and thus lower gluten potential. And all-purpose is the middle-of-the-road flour, a balance of both worlds.
Because of the high demand for gluten, using bread flour that is high in protein will increase the chewiness of the final product. Also, bread flour has the ability to absorb more liquid, so more moisture will remain in the cookie.
In contrast to the increased white-to-brown sugar ratio for the Thin, we want more moisture to be in the cookie. Brown sugar is coated in molasses – and molasses loves moisture. The more brown sugar (and less white sugar) added to the batter will increase the moisture content and will be more likely to attract moisture from the air.
Recall in the Puffy that more egg whites make a cookie ‘puff’ more. Also, egg whites dry out batters and in order for a chewy cookie to live up to its reputation, it has got to stay moist. Removing one egg white and replacing it with two tablespoons of milk would be an appropriate modification to keep the cookie moist. Other than that, follow the procedures to make a standard chocolate chip cookie.
Follow some simple guidelines and you can modify any recipe for any food to your liking. That is what the science of cooking should encourage – taking a foundation of a well known recipe and adding the personal decorations to make that product your own.
I hope in this series of blog posts, I have opened your eyes to the science of the chocolate chip cookie and that anyone can make their own, unique cookie from slightly tweaking a few ingredients to produce Good Eats.
With that note, I bid you good eating...
The chewy cookie variation is my favorite. It provides the best characteristics of the Thin and the Puffy – a flat, dense consistency from the Thin, yet a moist interior from the Puffy.
For the chewy, the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe must be modified to support more moisture. If you have become a dedicated reader to this series, you will remember the most important factor in cookie baking – the fat. Chewy cookies require something in order for it to have a slight chew. If you look at the ingredients list, none of them are chewy. Flour, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, white granulated sugar, butter, and chocolate are all powdered or soft solids. Vanilla extract and eggs are liquids. So where does the chew come from and why do the other cookies (which follow similar ingredient lists) not have such a defined chewy texture?
The answer lies in the flour. The starch in the flour is contains of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to the flour and agitation is applied, the two proteins cross-link to form this water-insoluble network of proteins called gluten. This gluten is responsible for the chew in baguettes, sourdoughs, bagels, and other breads.
Water is still needed to activate the production of gluten. So instead of using softened butter, it will be melted to take advantage of the water phase in butter. Therefore, when the flour is introduced to the batter, more gluten will form leading to a chewier cookie.
While on the note on flour, the type of flour matters just as much as what kind of fat is used. There are many varieties of flour, but at its most basic, three flour varieties will be available at the local supermarket: all-purpose [AP] flour, bread flour, and cake flour. The only difference amongst these varieties is protein content. Bread flour (as the name suggests) is excellent for baking bread because it has higher protein content. High protein is directly proportional to high gluten production. Conversely, cake flour contains low protein content, and thus lower gluten potential. And all-purpose is the middle-of-the-road flour, a balance of both worlds.
Because of the high demand for gluten, using bread flour that is high in protein will increase the chewiness of the final product. Also, bread flour has the ability to absorb more liquid, so more moisture will remain in the cookie.
In contrast to the increased white-to-brown sugar ratio for the Thin, we want more moisture to be in the cookie. Brown sugar is coated in molasses – and molasses loves moisture. The more brown sugar (and less white sugar) added to the batter will increase the moisture content and will be more likely to attract moisture from the air.
Recall in the Puffy that more egg whites make a cookie ‘puff’ more. Also, egg whites dry out batters and in order for a chewy cookie to live up to its reputation, it has got to stay moist. Removing one egg white and replacing it with two tablespoons of milk would be an appropriate modification to keep the cookie moist. Other than that, follow the procedures to make a standard chocolate chip cookie.
Follow some simple guidelines and you can modify any recipe for any food to your liking. That is what the science of cooking should encourage – taking a foundation of a well known recipe and adding the personal decorations to make that product your own.
I hope in this series of blog posts, I have opened your eyes to the science of the chocolate chip cookie and that anyone can make their own, unique cookie from slightly tweaking a few ingredients to produce Good Eats.
With that note, I bid you good eating...
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