A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING BASIC CULINARY TERMS
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Active dry yeast: A dry, granular form of yeast that must normally be rehydrated before using.
Aerobic: Requiring oxygen to live and grow; said of some bacteria.
All-purpose flour: Flour formulated to be slightly weaker than bread flour.
Allumette: French for “matchstick”; any puff pastry item made in thin sticks or strips.
Almond paste: A mixture of finely ground almonds and sugar.
Amylase: An enzyme in flour that breaks down starches into simple sugars.
Anaerobic: Requiring an absence of oxygen to live and grow.
Angel food method: A cake-mixing method that involves folding a mixture of flour and sugar into a meringue.
Autolyse: A resting period early in the mixing procedure of yeast doughs.
B
Bagged: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped and deposited on the pan or sheet using a pastry bag,
Baking chocolate: A chocolate product in which another fat is substituted.
Baker’s percentage: A method of expressing ratios of ingredients in a baking formula in which the weight of each ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the weight of the flour.
Bar: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into long, narrow strips and later cut crosswise into bars.
Batter: A semiliquid mixture containing flour or other starch, used for the production of cakes and breads or for coating products to be deep fried.
Bavarois (bah var WAH): French for Bavarian cream.
Benching: An intermediate fermentation and resting period for yeast doughs; completed after folding and before rounding or pre-shaping.
Biga: A yeast pre-ferment made as a stiff dough.
Biscuit method: A mixing method in which the fat is mixed with the dry ingredients only.
Blitz puff pastry: A type of pastry mixed like a very flaky pie dough, then rolled and folded like puff pastry.
Bloom: A whitish coating on chocolate caused by separated cocoa butter.
Boiled icing: Italian meringue used as a cake icing,
Bolting: The process of sifting flour, primarily to separate the bran.
Bombe: A type of frozen dessert made in a dome-shaped mold.
Bran: The hard outer covering of kernels of wheat and other grains.
Bran flour: Flour to which bran flakes have been added.
Bread flour: Strong flour, such as patent flour, used for breads.
Brioche: Rich yeast dough containing large amounts of eggs and butter; a product made from this dough.
Brown sugar: Regular granulated sucrose containing impurities that give it a distinctive flavor and color.
Buttercream: An icing made of butter and or shortening, blended with confectioners sugar, or sugar syrup, and sometimes other ingredients.
Butterfat: The fat in dairy products. Also called milk fat.
Buttermilk: The milky liquid drained off of cream after churning.
C
Caramelization: The browning of sugars caused by heat.
Caramelize: To change sugar into caramel by means of heat.
Cassata: An Italian-style bombe, usually with three layers of different ice creams, plus a filling of Italian meringue.
Cast sugar: Sugar boiled to the hard-crack stage and then poured into molds to harden. Also called poured sugar.
Challah: A rich egg bread, often made as a braided loaf.
Charlotte ring: A metal ring used as a mold for charlottes and other desserts.
Chemical leavener: A leavener such as baking soda, baking powder, or baking ammonia, which releases gases produced by chemical reactions.
Chiffon method: A cake-mixing method that involves the folding of whipped egg whites into a batter made of flour, egg yolks, and oil.
Chocolate liquor: Unsweetened chocolate, consisting of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Also called cocoa mass.
Ciabatta: A type of Italian bread made from a very slack dough deposite on pans with minimal shaping.
Cleanup stage: A stage of yeast dough mixing in which the ingredients become fully incorporated into a dough; so-called because the formed dough “cleans up formerly unmixed ingredients from the mixing bowl.”
Coagulation: The process by which proteins become firm, usually when heated.
Coating chocolate: A sweetened chocolate similar in appearance to couverture but with other fats substituted for part of the cocoa butter.
Cobbler: A fruit dessert similar to a pie, but without a bottom crust.
Cocoa: The dry powder that remains after cocoa butter is pressed out or chocolate liquor.
Cocoa bean: Seed of the cacao tree, Fermented. roasted, and ground to make cocoa and chocolate products.
Cocoa butter: A white or yellowish fat found in natural chocolate.
Cocoa mass: Unsweetened chocolate, consisting of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Also called chocolate liquor.
Common meringue: Egg whites and sugar whipped to a foam. Also called French meringue.
D
Dark chocolate: Sweetened chocolate that consists of chocolate liquor and sugar.
Dark couverture: Couverture consisting of chocolate liquor and sugar; contains no milk solids.
Deci-: Prefix in the metric system meaning one-tenth.
Demerara sugar: A type of crystalline brown sucrose.
Dessert syrup: A flavored sugar syrup used to flavor and moisten cakes and other desserts.
Devil’s food cake: A chocolate cake made with a high percentage of baking soda, which gives the cake a reddish color.
Docking: Piercing or perforating pastry dough before baking, in order to allow steam to escape and to avoid blistering.
Double-panning: Placing a baking sheet or pan on or in a second pan to prevent scorching the bottom of the product being baked.
Dough relaxation: A period of rest in the production of yeast dough during which gluten strands become adjusted to their new length and become less tight.
Dough strength: An indication of the texture and gluten development of a yeast dough; a combination of elasticity, tenacity, and extensibility.
Drained weight: The weight of solid canned fruit after draining off the juice,
Dredge: To sprinkle or coat thoroughly with sugar or another dry powder.
Dried whole milk: A powdered form of whole milk with the water content removed.
Drop batter: A batter that is too thick to pour but will drop from a spoon in lumps.
Dropped: A cookie makeup method in which portions of dough are measured with a scoop or spoon and dropped onto a baking pan.
Durum flour: Flour made from durum wheat, a high-gluten wheat, and used primarily to make spaghetti and other dried pasta.
Dutch process cocoa or Dutched cocoa: Cocoa processed with an alkali to reduce its acidity.
E
Éclair: A cylindrical piece of baked éclair paste with a pastry cream filling.
Eclair paste: Paste or dough made of boiling water or milk, butter, flour, and eggs; used to make éclairs, cream puffs, and similar products.
Egg-foam cake: A cake leavened primarily by whipped eggs; it usually has a low percentage of fat.
Elasticity: The ability of a dough to spring back when it is stretched.
Emulsion: A uniform mixture of two or more normally unmixable substances.
Endosperm: The starchy inner portion of grain kernels.
English muffin: A yeast dough product made in the shape of a disk and cooked on a griddle.
Evaporated milk: Milk, either whole or skim, that has had 60% of the water removed.
Extensibility: The ability of a dough to be stretched.
Extract: A flavoring ingredient consisting of flavorful oils or other sub- stances dissolved in alcohol.
Extraction: The portion of the grain kernel separated into a particular grade of flour. Usually expressed as a percentage.
F
Facultative: Able to live and grow with or without the presence of oxygen; said of some bacteria.
Fat: Any of a group of compounds consisting of chains of fatty acids that supply energy to the body in a concentrated form.
Fermentation: The process by which yeast changes carbohydrates into carbon dioxide gas and alcohol.
Fiber: A type of complex carbohydrate that is not absorbed by the body but is necessary for the proper functioning of the digestive system.
Final development stage: The stage of yeast dough mixing in which gluten becomes smooth and elastic.
Flaky piecrust: A piecrust that has a flaky texture due to layers of fat sandwiched between layers of dough.
Flaky pie dough: A pie dough that has a flaky texture when baked. See Flaky piecrust.
Flat icing: A simple icing made of confectioners’ sugar and water, usually used for Danish pastries and sweet rolls.
Flooding: Covering a plate, or a portion of a plate, with sauce.
Flour-batter method: A cake-mixing method in which the flour is first mixed with the fat.
Foaming: The process of whipping eggs, with or without sugar, to incorporate air.
Focaccia: A flat Italian bread similar to a thick pizza dough.
Fondant: A type of icing made of boiled sugar syrup that is agitated so it crystallizes into a mass of extremely small white crystals.
Food Danger Zone: The temperature range of 40° to 140’F (4.5* to 60°C), in which bacteria grow rapidly.
Formula: A set of ingredients and quantities and, usually, instructions for preparing a bakery product; a baker’s recipe.
Four-fold: A technique used to increase the number of layers in puff pastry or Danish pastry by folding the dough in fourths.
Frangipane: A filling made of almond meal, eggs, sugar, butter and sometimes flour.
French bread: Any of a variety of crisp-crusted yeast breads usually consisting only of flour, water, yeast, and salt.
French meringue: Egg whites and sugar whipped to a foam; also called common meringue.
Fritter: A deep-fried item made of or coated with a batter or dough Frozen mousse: À still-frozen dessert containing whipped cream.
Fruit gratin: A dessert consisting of fruit plus a topping, browned under a broiler.
Fruit pie: A baked single or double crust pie with a fruit filling.
Fruit torte: A layer cake topped with a decorative arrangement of fruit.
G
Ganache (gah NAHSH): Rich cream made of sweet chocolate and heavy cream.
Gâteau (gah tow): French word for “cake.”
Gelatin: A water-soluble protein extracted from animal tissue; used as a jelling agent.
Gelatinization: The process by which the starch granules absorb water and swell in size.
Genoise (zheh nwaz): A sponge cake made by whipping whole eggs with sugar and folding in four, and sometimes melted butter.
Germ: The plant embryo portion of a grain kernel Glacé (glah SAY): (1) Glazed; coated with icing: (2) frozen.
Glaze: (1) n. A Shiny coating, such as a syrup, applied to a food, 2) v. To make a food shiny or glossy by coating it with a glaze or by browning it under a broiler or in a hot oven.
Gliadin: A protein in wheat flour that combines with another protein, glutenin, to form gluten.
Gluten: An elastic substance formed from proteins present in wheat flours that gives structure and strength to baked goods.
Gluten window: A thin membrane of yeast dough made in order to test gluten development.
Gram: The basic unit of weight in the metric system; equal to about one-thirtieth of an ounce.
Granulated sugar: Sucrose in a fine crystalline form.
Gum paste: A type of sugar paste made with vegetable gum.
H
Half-and-half: A high-fat milk or low-fat cream containing 10 to 18% milk fat.
Hard meringue: A meringue baked until crisp.
Hard wheat: Wheat high in protein.
Hearth bread: A bread baked directly on the bottom of the oven, not in a pan.
High-fat cake: A cake with a high percentage of fat; distinguished from a sponge or egg-foam cake.
High ratio: (1) Term referring to cakes and cake formulas mixed by a special method and containing more sugar than flour. (2) The mixing method used for these cakes. (3) Term referring to certain specially formulated ingredients used in these cakes, such as shortening.
Homogenized milk: Milk processed so the cream does not separate out.
Hot milk and butter sponge: A sponge cake batter in which a mixture of warm milk and melted butter is mixed into the batter.
Hydration: The process of absorbing water.
Hydrogenation: A process that converts liquid oils to solid fats (shortenings) by chemically bonding hydrogen to the fat molecules.
I
Ice milk: A frozen dessert similar to ice cream, but with lower fat content.
Icebox: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into cylinders, refrigerated until firm, and then sliced.
Icing comb: A plastic triangle with toothed or serrated edges; used for texturing icings.
Icing screen: A screen on which cakes are set when iced or glazed, allowing excess to run off.
Improved mix: A yeast dough mixing technique that combines a medium mixing period with a medium fermentation period.
Initial development stage: The first part of the development stage of mixing yeast doughs in which the dough still appears rough and undermixed
Instant dry yeast: A dry, granular yeast product that does not require hydration before being added to doughs.
Instant starch: A starch that thickens a liquid without cooking because it has been precooked.
Intensive mix: A yeast dough mixing technique that combines a long mixing period with a short fermentation period.
Isomalt: A compound derived from sucrose, used as a dietary sugar substitute and as an alternative to sugar in decorative sugar work
Italian meringue: A meringue made by whipping a boiling syrup into egg whites.
J
K
Kernel paste: A nut paste, similar to almond paste, made of apricot kernels and sugar.
Kilo-: Prefix in the metric system meaning one thousand.
L
Lactobacilli: A group of bacteria primarily responsible for producing the acidity in sourdough starters.
Lactose: A form of sugar naturally present in milk.
Ladyfinger: A small, dry, finger-shaped sponge cake or cookie.
Lag phase: A period after bacteria have been introduced to a new environment and before they begin to grow and reproduce.
Laminated dough: A dough consisting of many alternating layers of dough and butter or other fat.
Lattice crust: A top crust for a pie made of strips of pastry in a crisscross pattern.
Lean dough: A dough low in fat and sugar.
Lecithin: An emulsifier usually derived from soybeans
Leavening: The production or incorporation of gases in a baked product to increase volume and to produce shape and texture.
Light cream: Cream with a fat content of 18 to 30%.
Liter: The basic unit of volume in the metric system; equal to slightly more than a quart.
Long-fermentation dough: A yeast dough that requires a long fermentation period.
Low-fat milk: Milk with a fat content of 2%.
M
Malt syrup: A type of syrup containing maltose sugar, extracted from sprouted barley.
Marble: To partially mix two colors of cake batter or icing so the colors are in decorative swirl.
Marzipan: A paste or confection made of almonds and sugar and often used for decorative work.
Mature (dough): The ideal stage of development for a yeast dough.
Meal: Coarsely ground grain.
Mealy piecrust: A piecrust in which the fat has been mixed in thoroughly enough, so the dough does not have a flaky texture.
Mealy pie dough: A pie dough that has a mealy texture when baked.
Meringue: A thick, white foam made of whipped egg whites and sugarMousse: A soft or creamy dessert made light by the addition of whipped cream, egg whites, or both.
Milk chocolate: Sweetened chocolate containing, milk solids.
Milk chocolate couverture: Couverture consisting of Chocolate liquor sugar, and milk solids,
Milk fat: The fat content of milk; also called butterfat.
Milli-: Prefix in the metric system meaning one-thousandth.
Mixed fermentation: A type of yeast dough fermentation utilizing both a preferment or sour starter and a commercial yeast.
Modeling chocolate: A thick paste made of chocolate and glucose that can be molded by hand into decorative shapes.
Modified straight dough method: A mixing method similar to the straight dough method, except the fat and sugar are mixed together first to ensure uniform distribution. Used for rich doughs.
Molasses: A heavy brown syrup made from sugarcane.
Molded: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into cylinders, cut into equal portions, and shaped as desired.
Muffin method: A mixing method in which the mixed dry ingredients are combined with the mixed liquid ingredients.
N
Net weight: The weight of the total contents of a can or package.
Nonfat milk: Milk with all the fat removed.
Nougatine: A mixture of caramelized sugar and almonds or other nuts used in decorative work and as a confection.
O
One-stage method: A cookie-mixing method in which all ingredients are added to the bowl at once.
Osmotolerant yeast: A type of yeast that can remain active even in a high concentration of sugar. Used for sweet doughs.
Oven spring: The rapid rise of yeast goods in the oven due to the production and expansion of trapped gases caused by the oven heat.
Overrun: The increase in volume of ice cream or frozen desserts caused by the incorporation of air while freezing.
Oxidation: The process that occurs when oxygen reacts with other com- pounds or elements. In the bakeshop, it usually refers to oxidation of components of flour during mixing.
P
Pain de campagne: French country-style bread.
Palmier (palm yay): A small pastry or petit four sec made of rolled, sugared puff pastry cut into slices and baked.
Paper cone: A tool made of parchment paper formed into a cone and filled with icing, sauce, or other semi-liquid. Used for decorative work.
Paris-Brest: A dessert consisting of a ring of baked éclair paste filled with cream.
Pasteurize: To heat-treat substances, such as milk, to kill bacteria that might cause disease or spoilage.
Pastry cream: A thick custard sauce containing eggs and starch.
Pastry flour: a weak flour used for pastries and cookies
Pastry method: A mixing method in which the fat is mixed with the dry ingredients before the liquid ingredients are added, also called Biscuit method.
Pâte à choux (paht ah shoo): Éclair paste.
Pâte brisée: A type of rich pastry dough used primarily for tarts.
Pâte sablée: A rich, crumbly pastry dough high in fat. Also called short dough.
Päte sucrée: A type of pastry dough similar to pâte brisée but higher in sugar.
Patent flour: A fine grade of wheat flour milled from the inner portions of the kernel
Peel: A flat wooden shovel used to place hearth breads in an oven and to remove them.
Petit four (p’tee foor): French for “small oven,” it is a delicate cake, pastry, cookie, or confection small enough to be eaten in one or two bites.
Pithiviers (pee tee vyay): A cake made of puff pastry filled with almond cream.
Poolish: A thin yeast starter made with equal parts flour, water, and commercial yeast.
Pot de crème (poh duh krem): A rich baked custard.
Pound cake: (1) A cake made of equal weights of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs; (2) any cake resembling this.
Pour batter: A batter thin or liquid enough to pour.
Poured sugar: Sugar boiled to the hard-crack stage and then poured into molds to harden.
Praline: A confection or flavoring made of nuts and caramelized sugar.
Pre-ferment: A fermented dough or batter used to provide leavening for a larger batch of dough.
Profiterole: A small puff made of éclair paste. Often filled with ice cream
Proofing: A step in the production of yeast products in which the dough is allowed to rest and rise. During this stage, fermentation of the yeast is taking place, which adds flavor and improves texture.
Puff pastry: A very light, flaky pastry made from a rolled-in dough and leavened by steam.
Pulled sugar: Sugar boiled to the hard-crack stage, allowed to harden slightly, then pulled or stretched until it develops a pearly sheen.
Pullman loaf: A long, rectangular loaf of bread.
Punching: A method of expelling gases from fermented dough.
Purée: A food made into a smooth pulp, usually by being ground or forced through a sieve.
Q
Quenelle (kweh NELL): A small oval portion of food.
R
Retarder-proofer: An automated, timer-controlled combination of retarder and proofer, used for holding and proofing yeast products.
Retarding: Refrigerating a yeast dough to slow its fermentation.
Reversed puff pastry: A type of puff pastry made with the dough enclosed between layers of butter.
Rich dough: A dough high in fat, sugar, and /or eggs.
Rolled: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is rolled out into a sheet and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
Rolled-in dough: Dough in which a fat has been incorporated in many layers using a rolling and folding procedure.
Rounding: A method of molding a piece of dough into a round ball with a smooth surface.
Royal icing: A form of icing made of confectioners’ sugar and egg whites, used for decorating.
S
Sabayon: A foamy dessert or sauce made of egg yolks whipped with wine or liqueur
Sablage: See Sanding method.
Sanding method: A pastry and cookie-mixing method involving blending the fat with the dry ingredients and then adding egg.
Savarin: A type of yeast bread or cake soaked in syrup.
Scaling: Weighing, usually ingredients, doughs, or batters.
Scone: A type of biscuit or biscuit-like bread
Seeding: Technique for tempering chocolate by adding grated tempered chocolate to melted chocolate to cool it down.
Sheet: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is baked in sheets and then cut into portions.
Short: Having a high fat content, which makes the product (such as a cookie or pastry) very crumbly and tender.
Shortbread: A crisp cookie made of butter, sugar, and flour.
Short mix: A yeast dough mixing technique combining a short mixing period with long fermentation.
Simple fold: One part of the procedure for making Danish and croissant dough, which requires folding the dough in thirds. Also called three-fold.
Simple syrup: A syrup consisting of sucrose and water in varying proportions.
Sodium bicarbonate: Baking soda; a chemical that releases carbon dioxide gas when combined with an acid.
Soft meringue: The type of meringue traditionally used for pie toppings usually with a low percentage of sugar.
Soufflé: A baked dish containing whipped egg whites, which cause the dish to rise during baking.
Sourdough: A dough leavened by a sourdough starter.
Sourdough starter: A dough or batter that contains wild yeasts and bacteria, has a noticeable acidity as a result of fermentation by these organisms, and is used to leaven other doughs.
Sponge: A batter or dough of yeast. flour, and water that is allowed to ferment prior to mixing.
Sponge cake: A type of cake made by whipping eggs and sugar to a foam, then folding in flour.
Sponge method: A cake and cookie mixing method based on whipped eggs and sugar.
Spread: The tendency of a cookie to expand and flatten out when baked.
Spun sugar: Boiled sugar made into long, thin threads by dipping wires into the sugar syrup and waving them so the sugar falls off in fine streams.
Stencil: A pattern or design cut from plastic or cardboard, used for depositing batter for thin cookies made in decorative shapes.
Stollen: A type of sweet yeast bread with fruit.
Straight dough method: A mixing method for yeast goods in which all ingredients are mixed together at once.
Straight flour: Flour made from the entire wheat kernel minus the bran and germ.
Stream: The portion of flour that is separated in any one of the stages in the roller-milling of grain.
Streusel: A crumbly topping for baked goods, consisting of fat, sugar, and flour rubbed together.
Strong flour: Flour with a high protein content.
Strudel: A baked item consisting of a filling rolled up in a sheet of strudel dough or phyllo dough.
Strudel dough: A type of dough that is stretched until paper-thin.
Sugar cage: A lacy dome of hard or caramelized sugar.
Swiss meringue: Egg whites and sugar warmed, usually over hot water, and then whipped to a foam.
Swiss roll: A thin sponge cake layer spread with a filling and rolled up.
T
Tablage: A technique for tempering chocolate by cooling it on a marble slab.
Tart: A flat, baked item consisting of a pastry and a sweet or savory topping or filling; similar to a pie but usually thinner.
Tarte Tatin: An upside-down apple tart.
Tempering: (1)The process of melting and cooling chocolate to a specific temperature to prepare it for dipping, coating, or molding. (2) When combining two ingredients with drastically different temperatures, the colder ingredient is slowly warmed by adding small amounts of the hotter ingredient until the two are compatible.
Tenacity: The resistance of a dough to being stretched.
Three-fold: A technique used to increase the number of layers in puff pastry or Danish pastry by folding the dough in thirds.
Torte: German for various types of cakes, usually layer cakes.
Tunneling: A condition of muffin products characterized by large, elongated holes; caused by overmixing.
Turntable: A pedestal with a flat, rotating top, used for holding cakes while they are being decorated.
Two-stage method: A cake-mixing method that begins with the blending of flour and high-ratio shortening and is followed by the addition of liquids. Also called the high-ratio method.
U
V
W
Wash: (1) n. A liquid brushed onto the surface of a product, usually before baking. (2) v. To apply such a liquid.
Weak flour: Flour with a low protein content.
Whipping cream: Cream with a high enough fat content, usually above 30%, to enable it to be whipped into a foam.
White couverture: A confection consisting of cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar. Sometimes erroneously called white chocolate.
Whole milk: Milk with 3.5% fat content.
Whole wheat flour: Flour made by grinding the entire wheat kernel, including the bran and germ.
X
Y
Yeast pre-ferment: A dough or batter fermented with commercial yeast and used to provide leavening for a larger batch of dough.
Z
Zest: The colored outer portion of the peel of citrus fruits.
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