EMULSION IN BAKING

Tiffany Kang

What is emulsion

- Emulsion can be defined as“ uniform mixture of two unmixable substances”(Gisslen,2009,pg 378) that are combined while beating vigorously using the “shearing power.”

- It could be found easily around us like simple vinaigrette to mayonnaise

- For example, when mixing vinegar (water content) and oil (fat content), two substances do not mix together at first forming layers.

What is an Emulsifying agent

For example, egg yolk contains both water and fat particles which acts as the “ chemical bond with each liquid and be-comes a bridge between them.”(Christensen, Food Science) bond-ing substances between the two parti-cles.

Definition of emulsifying agent : something that stabilizes two opposing particles after mixing and also prevent them from separating.

Types of emulsion

Fat in waterThis mixture needs more wa-

ter than fat particles in or-der to keep the emulsion stable. “ must contain enough water-based ingre-dients to create the contin-uous phase of the emul-sion”.(Sofia, wilbur choco-late) . Also mixutre’s con-sistency is normally water-like.

Ex) hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, ganache

Water in fat the mixture that needs

more fat particles than water particles in order to keep the emulsion. How-ever, this texture is solid due to high fat content.

Ex) butter, chocolate

Method of emulsion

The “shearing power” is defined as “liq-uid in motion” which makes the two op-posing substances to mix together.

stir-ring

blend-ing

shaking

Examples of shearing power

Stirring : commonly using whisk to blend in the two opposing mixture. Ex) ganache

Blending: commonly using blender or mixer to create ho-mogenous mixture. Ex) cake batter

In baking….

Chocolate Chocolate is an exam-

ple of water in fat emul-sion which the milk con-tent of the chocolate is considered as a liquid particle and the cocoa butter is considered as a fat particle. There is more fat (cocoa butter) than the water (milk) so it solidifies.

In baking…

Ganache Ganache is made by pouring

hot liquid (commonly cream) over chopped chocolate, then Blending with a hand whisk. A well-emulsified ganache should create a smooth and silky mixture with the temperature of 85°-88⁰ F. Any cooler than this, some of the chocolate may not melt; any warmer than this, the ganache may re-sult in a grainy texture and separation of fat and water. An example of making a smooth

and silky ganache. (chocopedia,2012)

In baking…

Buttercream Butter cream is one of

the most common ex-amples of the emulsion in baking. By mixing the Italian meringue ,which con-sists of egg whites and cooked sugar (116’C) [water content] , and butter [the fat content] to smooth and fluffy spreadable texture.

An example of chocolate butter cream ;smooth and homogenous mixture

Another exam-ple of vanilla butter cream; smoothe and fluffy consis-tency

conclusion

Emulsion is commonly used in baking but it is one of the methods that is difficult to use. It requires to use certain balance of liquid and fat to create the desired texture and consistency. For example, ganache; depending on the amount of cream, it could be used as coating ganache or fill-ing ganache. As emulsion is a type of method that mixes two opposing particles, it could easily be separated.

Therefore, the key to make successful emulsion in baking is to consider the tem-perature, method and most importantly understand the logic of emulsion so if it separates, you know how to fix it correctly.

An example of broken emul-sion

reference

http://www.thekitchn.com/food-science-what-is-an-emulsi-45475

http://stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/what-is-a

http://www.wilburchocolate.com/wcm/groups/internal/documents/document/na3041999.pdf

http://www.this-is-chocolate.-com/chocopedia/emulsion n-emulsion-a-cooks-guide

http://www.plantandplate.com/2013/02/the-scientists-valentine/

Book Resource: Professional Bak-ing, Wayne Gisslen, 2009

http://www.wilburchocolate.com/wcm/groups/internal/documents/document/na3041999.pdf

http://www.this-is-chocolate.com/

chocopedia/emulsion/