A. Title: English Toffee
B. Reagents:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
C. Procedures Outline:
1. Combine water and sugar in a large sauce pan. Add the butter and corn syrup.
2. Bring the contents to a boil, and gently stir until the butter has melted.
3. Brush down the sides of the pan if needed.
4. Allow mixture to continue boiling until the temperature reaches about 300 degrees.
5. Pour toffee out onto a prepared surface.
6. Dip in chocolate and coat with roasted almonds.
D. Actual Procedure:
My lab partner made me very nervous as we started this lab. Apparently toffee is her favorite candy and she has been looking forward to making this recipe since the beginning of class. She told me we could not mess this one up...or else. Pressure? I think so. However, I believe it turned out amazingly if I do say so myself. Brian gave us a bit of angst with his caution to ensure that we did not have sugar crystals in our mixture or on the side of the pan. The detriment was that simply one crystal could cause our gorgeous toffee to revert back into a sugary crystalline mess preventing us from consuming the yummy goodness. Combining the ingredients was a breeze as was the brushing of the crystals. I think we were a little too paranoid here and may have done this step more than necessary but it sure made is feel better. The mixture was a translucent-yellow color and upon boiling the smell became strong and very inviting. We continued to boil until all of a sudden our mixture changed to a beautiful caramel color and large bubbles formed in the liquid. We immediately took it off of the heat and poured it into the prepared cookie sheet. The colors formed incredible patterns that gave the toffee a very leopard/tiger-like appearance. This class is definitely changing me. I never before thought of toffee as beautiful but I can now say it with conviction. Gorgeous! Our toffee had a darker color to it which caused some concern as we thought we may have burnt it. However, upon discussion we learned that there are simply variations in flavor varying based on the color. The darker the color the richer the flavor and since I LOVE dark chocolate I apparently also like dark toffee.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
In general candy is made by cooking a sugar concoction (highly concentrated in sugar) to extreme temperatures. Add the sugar, syrup and water boil (the liquid phase), the mixture loses molecules through its transformation to the gaseous phase leaving the solids behind. Because this mixture is a sugar syrup, this means that the sugar molecules account for the greater proportion of all of the molecules that are left in solution. The syrup gets more and more concentrated in the mixture as the water is slowly boiled off. At a certain time point during the candy making process all of the water that has been added will dissolve, the mixture will boil and the mixture will become more concentrated with sugar as the boiling point increases. This is where the temperature becomes very important. The shorter amount of time that you allow a candy to boil, the softer it will be as you are preventing all of the water from boiling out. If you allow the candy to continue to boil until it reaches a higher temperature, you are allowing more of the water to boil off thus creating a harder candy.
Interestingly enough, temperature outside (the weather) has a huge effect on the success of the candy product especially when making toffee. On clear, dry days it works to simply follow the recipe and make sure that the sugar to water ratio is correct and there will be no problem in making the candy. However, on humid or moist days it is recommended that the boiling point be pushed a little more than you would have on a dry day to make the candy a bit harder than desired. The reasoning behind this is due to the moisture in the air. Believe it or not the moisture will be re-absorbed into the candy once the candy is finished! Crazy chemistry. I love it! Today was dry with a bit of overcast so our toffee ended up exactly where we wanted it. Had it been a wet and humid day we would have cooked it just a little bit longer allowing the boiling point to increase a tad higher causing more of the water to boil off just in case some of the moisture in the air was re-absorbed by the candy.
One thing that had me nervous this entire lab was the fear of crystallization. When you raise your candy temperature to 300 degrees and then cool it down to room temperature, having just one sugar crystal on the side of the pan can cause the whole batch to revert back to a crystallized form. This is caused due to over saturation. When the candy mixture is formed there is a perfect balance between the water and the sugar molecules bonding together that they are in perfect saturation and able to hold a tight bond making a solid mixture. This saturation limit depends on temperature and a hot liquid whose molecules are moving at such a rapid pace prevent foreign molecules from invading the mixture. If the mixture is cold and slurpy this can't be prevented and the mixture can fall apart. If there is the slightest change in that saturation bonding it will shift the balance of water molecules bonded to the sugar molecules and disrupt the saturation, causing the whole thing to fall apart...which would be a very sad sight. This actually happened in class and it was very neat to see it almost immediately separate. The chemistry behind toffee is amazing!
Toffee is considered a noncrystalline candy as it is created by boiling the sugar syrup mixture at a very high temperature, high en ought that there is only 1-2% moisture. After which it is cooled very quickly without any mixing or disturbance preventing the crystals to develop. The 2% moisture is the reasoning behind the dry and brittle texture as well as the dark brown carmel color.
A. Title: Water Fondant
B. Reagents:
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
C. Outline Procedure:
1. Combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Cover the pan and allow the sugar syrup to boil for about 3 minutes.
2. Remove the lid and cook the fondant to 233 degrees.
3. Pour the hot sugar solution onto a buttered baking sheet. Allow the sugar solution to cool until it is warm but not hot to the touch.
4. Dampen a dough scraper with water and push the syrup into a pile in the middle of the baking sheet. Begin working the fondant by "creaming" it. Continue working the fondant in a figure eight ,scraping it back to the center of the baking sheet. Gradually the fondant will turn opaque and creamy. After about 5-10 minutes it will be come stiff, crumbly and hard.
5.When the fondant reaches this stage, moisten your hand and begin to knead the fondant like bread dough. Stop kneading once the fondant is a smooth ball without lumps.
6. When the fondant is smooth it is ready for dipping in chocolate.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
We added the first ingredients as described in step one and used the exact heat that was directed: Medium-high. Everything quickly dissolved into a clear mixture that appeared almost like water. We allowed the recipe come to a boil and then immediately covered the pan allowing it to boil for exactly 3 minutes. We inserted the candy thermometer (being careful not to allow the thermometer to touch the bottom or sides of the pan) and let it continue to boil for about 5 more minutes until it reached an exact temperature of 233 degrees, not one degree higher. We immediately removed the pan from heat and slowly poured it on the metal counter surface that had been cleaned and sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. It spread out to an area of approximately 2 feet by 1 foot and allowed it to cool. As we were pouring we were afraid that the batter would run on the floor so we poured very slowly and made sure we compensated for where the batter was running. It took about 20 minutes to cool to a warm but not hot temperature allowing it to be handled. We began creaming the watery mixture using the figure eight pattern back and forth for about 12 minutes. The appearance slowly changed from being entirely transparent to being a milky cream. Just as explained in the directions above, the fondant soon became very pasty and difficult to cream and soon became very crumbled and formed. As we began to knead it like bread dough it got softer and softer. The end product really showed through the following day as it was very soft and tender. I had no idea that fondant was responsible for the filling in chocolates and I was so happy to learn this. Maple chocolates are my absolute favorite and I think when I have a free weekend I am going to try to make them myself! Yum.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
The chemistry behind the fondants is practically identical to that of the toffee. The only difference is the temperature at which we allowed the mixture to boil. The toffee was raised to 300 degrees where as with the fondant we only allowed to boil to 233 degrees exact. The difference between these two temperatures is the moisture content that is allowed to boil out. Fondant is considered a crystalline candy producing very fine crystals maintaining about 10% moisture. This pure sugar fondant is made up of approximately equal portions of sucrose crystals which are the solids in the mixture and a thick syrup made up of sugar crystals representing the liquid. It's consistence depends on how much actual water is left after the boiling process (concentration), cooling and beating have occurred. Just as with the toffee, if this recipe is heated too high of a temperature it will become hard because of loss of too much water. Allowing the fondant to sit overnight allows it to continue to undergo change in a process called "ripening". It is thought that this process allows the smallest of crystals to dissolve back into the syrup form leaving more space for the typical sized crystal to move past each other.
A. Title: Cream Fondant
B. Reagents:
2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
C. Procedure Outline:
1. Combine the sugar, heavy cream and corn syrup in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Cover the pan and allow the sugar syrup to boil for about 3 minutes.
2. Remove the lid and cook the fondant to 233 degrees.
3. Pour the hot sugar solution onto a buttered baking sheet. Allow the sugar solution to cool until it is warm but not hot to the touch.
4. Dampen a dough scraper with water and push the syrup into a pile in the middle of the baking sheet. Begin working the fondant by "creaming" it. Continue working the fondant in a figure eight scraping it back to the center of the baking sheet. Gradually the fondant will turn opaque and creamy. After about 5-10 minutes it will become stiff, crumbly and hard.
5. When the fondant reaches this stage, moisten your hand and begin to knead the fondant like bread dough. Stop kneading once the fondant is a smooth ball without lumps.
6. When the fondant is smooth it is ready for dipping in chocolate.
We combined all of the ingredients just as with the water fondant but used the cream rather than the water as the liquid measurement. This syrup once we began to cook it was white in appearance, obviously due to the cream. We allowed the ingredients to combine at a medium-high heat and just before placing the lid we could see that the liquid was uniform and that the sugar molecules had dissolved into the milk and corn syrup making it look like thick milk. The lid was placed and the milk was allowed to boil for exactly three minutes at which point the lid was removed and a candy thermometer was once again placed (not touching the bottom or the sides of the pan) allowing the mixture to boil for about 8 minutes until it reached the exact temperature of 233 degrees. It was then removed from the heat and once again poured carefully upon the pre-prepared surface. It took another 20 minutes to cool the liquid until it was warm to the touch and then the creaming process began. This happened exactly the same as the previous fondant with exactly the same results although the creamy color began from the beginning rather that more toward the end of the creaming process. In our experience, this recipe was a little more easy to work with and seemed a bit creamier during the kneading process. Perhaps a bit softer.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
The chemistry behind this recipe is exactly the same as the water fondant but rather than having water in the mixture to work with there was cream giving it more of a fatty liquid material versus water. This pure sugar fondant is made up of approximately equal portions of sucrose crystals and milk solids which are the solids in the mixture and a thick syrup made up of fat and sugar crystals representing the liquid. This mixture differs from the water fondant in that it is more similar to that of a creamy fudge with the fat that has been added rather than just the water. All other chemsitry however is identical. The textures were very similar, especially the next day. The taste however was dramatic for me. I loved the water fondant and could have eaten a ton of it dipped in chocolate. I loved the simpled flavor of it and the simple sweetness to it. I could tell a huge difference in the creamy fondant as it had a dairy flavor to it which I did not care for.
A. Title: Roasting Almonds
B. Reagents:
2 Pounds Almond Pieces (amount may vary)
C. Outline Procedure:
Spread almonds evenly on a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until almonds are aromatic and golden in color.
D. Actual Procedure and Observations:
We did not get to actually roast the almods but were able to watch them in the oven at they baked during class. The procedure is exactly as described above. The almonds were place, single layer, on the baking sheet and placed in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. We could definitly smell when they were finished. It was a lovely aroma that made the kitchen smell so sweet and warm.
E. Discussion and Conclusion:
The almods did turn darker in color as they were cooked and this was due all in part to the sugars. This is a process called camelization which is the browning of sugar, a process used in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs sugars are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor. This is very similar to the Maillard reaction, caramelization is a type of non-enzymatic browning. However, unlike the Maillard reaction, caramelization is pyrolysis, as opposed to reaction with amino acids.
As mentioned above the maillard reaction is an important one that needs to be addressed as it will have an influence in many of the experiments that we will be completing in this class. The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar which will typically require heat. It is one of the key players in the preparation or presentation of many types of food, and, like caramelization, is a form of non-enzymatic browning. The reactive carbonyl group of the sugar reacts with the nucleophilic amino group of the amino acid, and forms a group of molecules responsible for a range of odors and flavors. This process is accelerated in an alkaline environment as the amino groups are deprotonated and, hence, have an increased nucleophilicity. The type of the amino acid determines the resulting flavor. In the process, hundreds of different flavor compounds are created. So not only do the sugars that are produced form a gorgeous color and tone to the food that we make but also are responsible for the different flavors that are created. Thank you Mr. Maillard (and wikipedia) for explaining this all to us!
No comments:
Post a Comment