NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC

Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

OVERVIEW OF BAKING & PASTRY MAKING

Specific Objectives:
At the end of the topic session the students are
expected to:
• have a background and a brief overview of
baking and pastry making;
• identify and know the basic kitchen tools and
equipment;
• understand food safety and sanitation; and
• know the importance of mise en place.
Overview of Baking:
basic foodstuffs. The first bread products were firm
porridge made from grasses and grains cooked on flat
stones heated by an open fire. Triticum Diocum is the
earliest form of wheat used for bread making.
It is also believed that the Egyptians discovered the
effect of yeast in leavening bread and perfected bread
making to achieve consistent results. Bread making
and confectionery were the first labor activities

Understanding the basic concept and mastering organized into specialized trade. Pharaohs’ employed

certain fundamental techniques are obviously the two skilled bakers to provide bread for private

steps to be successful in baking. Since baking is not consumption.

just an art, it is a science that must be accurately

measured, carefully studied, and skillfully executed to
achieve the best result of baked products.

Baking, the process of cooking by dry heat, especially

in some kind of oven. It is probably the oldest cooking
method. Bakery products, which include bread, rolls,
cookies, pies, pastries, and muffins, are usually
Stone Age
prepared from flour or meal derived from some form of
grain. Bread, already a common staple in prehistoric
times, provides many nutrients in the human diet.
Mixing methods includes the following: beating,
blending, creaming, cutting folding, kneading, sifting,
stirring, whipping.
History of Baking
Baking originated thousand years ago and it is integral
• Swiss Lake Dwellers, more than 8,000 years
ago, learned to mix flour and water which
they cooked on heated stones.
• The Babylonians, Chileans, Assyrians and
Egyptians had used the same procedure of
breaking bread.
• Royal Egyptian household discovered
accidentally that the dough when set aside
flowed and expanded. Since then bread was
baked in this manner in 17th century
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to human history and still is the source of the most

01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making

 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Baking in Greece From the 16th century came the first cookery literature,
in which you start to see recipes for things we might
• Slaves started public bakeries somewhere in recognize today as small, yeasted cakes and buns.
Greece 300-200 BC and was took over by
Romans. The modern-day equivalent, in terms of the yeast-
• It was said that the quality of baked product bread-based dough, would be a lardy cake. Seed
cakes were also popular.
then was comparable to the quality of baked
products today.
Pastries, too, were considered fashionable in the late
17th century. The English prided themselves on their
16th and 17th centuries pastry-making and it was considered a skill all good
housewives should have, says Pennell. London
• Economic growth prompted an emerging cookery schools also began to teach pastry-making –
middle class, and baking ‘trickled down’, says it was a fashionable skill.
Walter. Amid growing wealth and social
change, people could think about eating
things other than bread, and imitate the
upper-class diet.
• Baking became more accessible, and so
more people started to bake cakes and
biscuits.
• By the late 17th century sugar was cheap,
and so you saw the emergence of mince pies
as we know them, made with sugar and
spices. And with the refinement of flour you
saw the development of gingerbread as we
know it.

An advertisement poster for Coombs’

aerated pastry flour. (Photo by
mooziic/Alamy Stock Photo)

Baking in America

• In 1604, baking was brought to America by

the Jamestown colonists. The industry
flourished with the country in the last half of
the 19th century. Construction of ovens and
mixing troughs was much improved. A variety
of baked products came out. Other baked
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products such as cakes and pies, biscuits,

01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making

 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte
• crackers and cookies were introduced. Wheat
and baked products were shipped and
introduced to the East.
18th century
• Cake-making soared in popularity in the 18th
century, but the industrial revolution from
1760 saw a return to more stodgy baked
goods. The 18th century was when cake-
making really took off.
• The Art of Cookery, written by Hannah Glasse
and published in 1747, contained a catalogue
of cake recipes. Integral to this was the
development of the semi-closed oven. “The
development of baking is as much to do with
technology as it is taste.
• Fast-forward to the industrial revolution and
Britain saw a return to heavy baking, where
the working class ate bread and jam.
Christmas and other seasonal occasions, a
richer diet would be available to even the
poorer members of society. Merchants and
shopkeepers could afford ovens by the 18th
century.
19th century
• Convenience food grew in popularity in the
19th century, and the advent of baking
powder saw cakes become lighter
01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making
• American occupation brought in flour. In
1958, the first Philippine flour mill became
operational. Wheat, instead of flour was
brought to the country. For several years, the
Philippines depended upon the U. S. for
wheat supply.
• In 1962, the U. S. Wheat Associates, Inc.
came to the Philippines not only to market
wheat but also to improve the baking industry.
From 1976 to 1985, eight flour mills were
established in different parts of the country.
Since then, the industry has provided a
means of livelihood for many Filipinos.
• Schools have included the offering of baking
courses in the curriculum.
Baking in the Philippines
• As more working-class women were
employed in the 19th century, they had less
time for elaborate food preparation, food
culture’ as being a recent thing, but women in
Britain in the 19th century increasingly relied
on convenience food such as pasties and
pies.”
• Meanwhile, the introduction of baking powder
saw the style of cakes change from dense,
yeast-based bakes, into cakes made with
flour, eggs, fat and a raising agent.
FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESSFUL
BAKING
1. Have a genuine desire for baking.
2. Understand the properties and characteristics of
your ingredients.
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3. Know the correct methods/ techniques in mixing
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batters and dough according to the desired products.
 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

4. Use good quality ingredients.

5. Use standardized recipes - means the recipes have Bread Maker – he or she makes the breads, rolls and
been tried and tested as to method of mixing proportion make dough.
of ingredients used and the expected quality of the
bake products; Following correct baking procedure Confectioner – he or she makes candies and petit
6. Measure or weigh ingredients accurately.
fours
7. The use of appropriate tools and baking utensils.
Use the right size and kind of pans.
Cake Decorator – he or she makes showpieces and
8. Follow the correct temperature and baking time.
special cakes.
Common Malpractice in Baking
Ice cream maker - he or she makes all chilled and
1. Inaccurate measurement frozen desserts.
2. Wrong hand mixing technique
3. Substitution of quality ingredients
4. Use of inappropriate tools and utensils
5. Failure to follow the correct temperature and
baking time.

BAKING AS A PROFESSION

Career opportunities for Baking & Pastry Executive

Chef
Professionals. Bakers may be, specialized creating
one thing over and over, or they may produce small
batches of many things.
Pastry Chef
Kitchen Brigade:
Today, most food service operation uses a
simplified of Escoffier’s kitchen brigade. Brigade is a Bread Cake
confectioner
system of staffing in a kitchen so that each worker is Maker Decorator
assigned a set of specific tasks.

Pastry Chef is responsible for developing recipes and ice cream

maker
for preparing desserts, pastries, frozen desserts and
breads. He or she reports directly to Executive Chef
and is usually responsible for purchasing the food
items used in the bakeshop. He also supervises the
bread maker, the confectioner, ice cream maker and
decorator.
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01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making

 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

The following are the most influential people in

Baking: Auguste Escofier
Marie Antoine Careme

He opened London’s Savoy Hotel with Cesar Ritz. He also

created the cuisine Classique or classic cuisine, a refined
version of Careme’s grande cuisine.

Gaston Lenotre

1783-1833
He was known for advancing the art of patissier, French for
Pastry Chef, be creating elaborate show pieces, made with
pastillage and pulled sugar. He perfected nougat,
meringue, croquem bouch and millefeuille.

Charles Ranhofer (1836-1899)

He made inroads by taking the classic pastries of grande

cuisine and adapting them to a brighter, fresher style or
pastry making.

Lionel Poilane

He was the first internationally renowned chef of an

American restaurant. He published his “Franco American”
Encyclopdia of cooking. The Epicurean, containing more
than 3,500 recipes.
He sought to return the simplicity to quality bread making.
Using a blend of whole meal flours and rising times, he
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learned to bake bread on the stone floor or wooden-fired

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ovens.

01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making

 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, INC
Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

MENTAL CALISTHENICS 1

Complete the bubble diagram below to trace out the

evolution of baking industry.

Period Contributions

Primitive

Egypt

Ancient Greek

Roman Empire

Middle Age

Americans

French Revolution

Modern Era
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01 Overview of Baking & Pastry Making