Ingredients, Formulas, and Cost Control
Core Concepts
Master ingredient functions, formula conversion, and costing. Key topics: flour types (protein content), sugars (hygroscopic, sweetening, tenderizing), fats (shortening, mouthfeel, aeration), eggs, dairy, leaveners, and thickeners. Also, yield testing, portion control, recipe costing, and pricing for profit (food cost percentage).
Common Traps
- Using bread flour in cakes (too much gluten).
- Substituting active dry yeast for instant yeast without adjusting (instant requires less water and no proofing).
- Ignoring shrinkage or trim loss in costing.
- Miscalculating edible portion (EP) vs. as-purchased (AP) cost.
- Forgetting hidden costs (labor, overhead) in menu pricing.
Worked Example / Rule of Thumb
Costing: If a recipe uses 500 g flour at $2/kg, cost = $1.00. If the recipe yields 10 portions, portion cost = $0.10. To achieve a 30% food cost, menu price = portion cost / 0.30 = $0.33. Rule of thumb: Food cost percentage = (cost of food sold / food sales) × 100. Target 28–35% for pastries.
AP vs. EP: If 1 kg of apples yields 800 g peeled slices, EP cost = AP cost / 0.8.