Bakery, Pastry and Confectionery
This section covers bakery, pastry and confectionery production: ingredient functions, bread-making, pastry types and basic confectionery. The exam tests why ingredients are used, how processes work and how faults are corrected.
Ingredients and functions
Flour supplies starch and gluten; strong flour has more protein and suits bread. Sugar sweetens, tenderises and helps browning. Fat shortens gluten, adds richness and improves keeping quality. Eggs bind, aerate and add colour. Yeast ferments sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. Salt strengthens gluten and controls fermentation; water hydrates flour and activates yeast.
Bread and pastry
Bread-making involves weighing, mixing, kneading, first proof, knocking back, shaping, final proof and baking. Pastry types include shortcrust, choux, puff and filo; each has a different fat-and-lamination method. Confectionery includes cakes, biscuits, sweets and chocolate work; accurate weighing and oven temperature control are critical.
Worked example
Why is strong flour used for bread, and what happens if the water is too hot? Strong flour has high protein, so kneading develops an elastic gluten network that traps carbon dioxide from yeast and gives volume. Too-hot water kills yeast, so fermentation stops and the loaf is flat and dense. Lukewarm water, roughly 27–35°C, is safe for normal yeast. The reasoning connects protein quality, gluten development and yeast viability.
Traps that cost marks
Do not use self-raising flour for yeast bread; it already contains chemical raising agents. Do not overwork shortcrust pastry or it becomes tough. Do not add salt directly onto yeast; it can inhibit fermentation. Do not open the oven repeatedly during cake baking.