ASB Conference 2016

1. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BAKING.
BAKING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
RESIDENCY COURSE
Darren Hefford
August – December 2015

2. Summary
Section One – The Course
 Science
 Site Visits
 Cakes
 Bread and Roll Production
 Cookies and Crackers
Section Two
 Campus facilities / equipment, faculty, living
Section Three
 Overall course/experience summary

3. Science
 Key focuses
 Flour and types of flours (Theory and Prac)
 Cereals and grains
 Flour testing and reporting (Theory and Prac)
 Function of ingredient's and chemical reactions

4. Science
 Basic chemistry
 Wheat to flour
 Wheat milling process (flour treatment)
 Acids and bases ;pH and TTA; Water Activity
 Flour testing; flours variety (grains, ancient wheats)
 Emulsifiers and Enzymes
 Sweeteners/fats and oils
 Chemical leaveners

5. Science - Lab
 Demonstration of common flour and dough testing equipment
 We were given 2 flours in a canister and had to work out
what blends and % of blends they were using the testing
equipment.
 Experiments with fats, starches and gums, oils, chemical
leaveners

6. Science Summary
 Positives
 Very knowledgeable and approachable lecturer.
 The ability to understand the science behind baking
 Negatives
 Classes at times too close together between exams. E.g.
finishing one topic, moving onto another but the exam is a week
later. I found that the closer the exam was to finishing the topic
the easier it was for me to study.
 A lot of lecture material to memorise and study with homework
and exams in 4 months.

7. Site Visit
 K-State Mills Manhattan KS
 Used for student research
 Understanding the
milling process.

8. Cakes
• Definition of different types of cakes
– Batter Cakes (Shortening based - aerating properties, air and
water emulsion)
– Foam Cakes (egg based aerating properties)
– Chiffon Cakes (combination of batter and foam cakes)
• Function of Ingredients
– Tougheners - Structure builders
– Tenderizers
– Moisteners
– Driers
– Flavourings

9. Cakes
 Key focuses:
 Ingredient functionality
 Ingredient composition
 Interaction of ingredients
 Manipulation of ingredients

10. Cake Lab
 Donuts (cake and yeast raised donuts)
 Sweet dough's
 Danish Pastry
 Puff Pastry
 Croissants
 Fruit Pies

11. Cakes
• Cake Mixing Methods
– Single stage
– Creaming
– Blending
– Multi-stage
– Continuous Mixing
– High speed
• Advantages and disadvantages of different mixing methods

12. Cake Summary
 Positives
 Lectures and practical lessons taught hand-in-hand
 Group scoring.
 Trouble shooting from day 1 lets you see the function of
ingredients as well as reactions with too much of an ingredient or
not enough.
 Negatives
 Much of the practical was on bench mixers. There was a
continuous mixer which we only used twice. It would be good to
spend a full day producing different types of batters for larger
scale production.

13. Bread and Roll Production
• Key focuses:
– Dough development
– Functions of ingredients
– Makeup, proof, bake, finish
– Scoring

14. Bread and Roll Production
• Key focuses:
– Pan variety breads
– Hard and soft roll production
– Dough systems
– Hearth breads

15. Bread and Roll Production
Summary
 Positives
 Hands on approach to Breads.
 Focus on function of ingredients (not as in depth as Science),
dough systems and bread variety
 Work with bench partners for most of the classes. This is good if
you have a knowledgeable partner and things flow.
 Produced products in small dough's on benches and also in
teams using plant style machinery.
 Negatives
 Working with bench partners leaves room for the stronger partner
to do most of the work while the other glides through the pracs.

16. Cookies and Crackers
 Mainly troubleshooting against control formulations.
 Made changes to given dough's based on theory.
 Teams had to give presentations based on results.

17. AIB Facility
 Facilities and faculty

18. Manhattan Kansas
 Westchester Apartments
 Highly recommended for any future students
 10 minute drive to AIB
 Swimming pool, tennis courts, 24hr Gym.
 Transportation
 Very limited public transport as well as limited Taxis
 Recommend future students organise rental car services.
 Manhattan airport only 15minute drive.

19. Overall Comments
 Positives
 A Great experience, highly recommended.
 A great course for bakers wanting to learn the science of baking.
It really is the next step from trade school with more detail around
ingredient function in baking.
 The networking between international students. I made some
great friends/contacts at the course and in the community.
 Negatives
 Being alone in a foreign country is not for everyone. I was
completely out of my comfort zone although I do feel I have
personally grown from this experience.

22. Thankyou