Knowledge – Dairy

Dairy Overview

When looking at the key categories of ingredients for bakers and pastry chefs it doesn’t take very long before you get to Dairy. Understanding what the dairy category includes and how it is used in baking is a key piece of knowledge for any pastry chef of any level. Here we will look into exactly what dairy is, and give you all the information you need to understand this crucial component in baking.

Dairy products are defined as a food produce derived from or containing the milk of mammals. The most common mammals used in the production of dairy products are cattle, goats and sheep. The term dairy products covers a wide range of products, but all involve some process being applied to milk, and it is the specific process done to the milk that determines what dairy product is produced.

When looking at the key categories of ingredients for bakers and pastry chefs it doesn’t take very long before you get to Dairy. Understanding what the dairy category includes and how it is used in baking is a key piece of knowledge for any pastry chef of any level. Here we will look into exactly what dairy is, and give you all the information you need to understand this crucial component in baking.

gives the finished bread a softer texture. Milk also contains carbohydrates, which can really help in baking as it adds some natural sweetness to your product, and assists with the browning of products when baking. Milk is sometimes used alongside eggs to glaze baked goods to produce the desirable shine and colour.

Cheese

Cheese is a product made by coagulating the proteins within milk, specifically the protein casein. The milk is acidified, and then has rennet (an enzyme) added. This is the process that causes the coagulation of the proteins, and produces solid curds and liquid whey. The cheese itself is produced by taking the curd and pressing it into a mould, causing it to form a final solid form. It is during this process that some cheeses have aromatic moulds on the rind, and the preparation for this can be started at the stage of the cheese going into the moulding stage.
There are over 1000 types of cheese produced all around the world, with a large variety of textures, styles and flavours. One of the key things that can create differences in cheeses is the milk that the cheese is made from, which is most commonly cows, sheep or goats. There is also a significant variation possible by the use of pasteurisation, the animals diet and the use of aromatics and flavouring agents. The flavour profile of cheese can be hugely impacted by the ageing process, as the longer cheeses are aged they develop a greater depth of flavour, and different characteristics can develop over time and depending on the location that the cheese is aged.
Cheese is used in many different ways in baking, depending largely on the style of cheese. Softer cheeses tend to be used in dishes like muffins or cheesecakes, and in the case of things like ricotta used as a filling for items like cannoli. The most common of these is cream cheese, which also finds many uses as cake toppings, for example with red velvet or carrot cake.
The harder cheeses are mostly used in items like cheese scones for example, and are normally used for their flavouring qualities more so than the texture.

Cream

Cream is one of the most common ingredients used in baking, and is vital to the production of many different types of product, especially mousses, custards, sauces or cold set products like ice creams. Cream is simply the higher fat layer from the top of milk, before it has been homogenised. Which is skimmed from the milk, and then treated to produce the desired final fat content.
There are three major types of cream used in the UK, and the key differences between them lie in the fat content, and therefore what they are used for in baking.

Single Cream: Contains 18% fat, and is pourable like milk and used often for custards or for adding to drinks like coffee. It cannot be whipped, so cannot be used as a substitute for recipes using thicker creams.
Whipping Cream: Less common than the other types, this contains 36% fat, so double that of single cream. The increased fat allows air to be trapped when the cream is whipped, so is most commonly used for decorative purposes for example as a chantilly cream.
Double Cream:This is the thickest of the creams, with a 48% fat content. It is still pourable, and is often used for piping as with whipping cream. It is often used to add a richness and creaminess to recipes, like with mousses or ice creams. Some places you may find extra thick double cream, which is produced by heating and then rapidly cooling double cream, causing it to thicken to a spoonable consistency.

Derivative dairy products

Whilst there are several products derived from the main dairy products, we will focus here on three that are the most consequential in baking and most important to understand. These products all involve putting a more common dairy product through a process of some kind, which creates a change in their consistency, flavour profile and therefore use in baking.

Buttermilk

Buttermilk is the bi-product of the process of making butter. When the butter is churned, some of the liquid is pressured out of the mix, and this naturally cloudy liquid has a flavour like butter but with a definite tartness too. Nowadays buttermilk is thicker, due to the adding of an acidifying bacteria, and in some cases a flavouring too.
One of the most famous ways in which buttermilk is used in baking is Irish soda bread. The reaction between baking soda and buttermilk creates carbon dioxide, which causes the dough to rise (in much the same way as yeast in a conventional bread dough). This reaction is commonly used not only in soda bread but also in scones and waffles.