The History of Baking

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
30 April 2009
Live Interaction

Summary:
I interviewed a women named Margaret who has worked at Cakes and Things for eight years under the watchful eye of Louise, the store owner. Louise has been in the baking business for over thirty years and has loved every minute of it. After I interviewed Margaret Walker at Cakes and Things I looked around the bakery at the different baked items. I was allowed to view Margaret decorate a strawberry that was covered in chocolate to look like a tuxedo.

Response:
I watched the detail that it took to decorate a strawberry that way. It took different tools to place the chocolate in such a pattern. The live interaction showed how technology has changed over the years, completely transforming the baking world. It showed how baking is truly an art form and not something to just make some food to eat. The way the food looks has a lot to do with why people want to buy it. Centuries ago people just baked bread to eat it for survival, they did not care what it looked like. Now that there are such creative ways to bake and decorate, people are attracted to buy those foods instead of the ones that do not look good.

Citation:
We are located in the Village In Lorna Shopping Center3309 Lorna Road Suite 2Hoover, Alabama 35216

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
30 April 2009
Baker Interview
I interviewed Margaret Walker who works at Mrs. Louise’s bakery, Cakes and Things, in Hoover Alabama. She is a middle aged woman who has been working there for eight years. I asked Margaret a couple of questions about her opinion on baking and what she thinks has changed about baking.
Since my project is on the history of baking and how it has changed I decided to interview a baker. The first question I asked Margaret Walker was what her favorite item to bake was. Her response was that it was a tough decision but that her favorite thing to bake would be pound cakes. The second question I asked Mrs. Walker was what her favorite recipe was. She said “Mrs. Louise secret cheese cake recipe”. The third question I asked her was if she thought baking has changed over the years and how. She said that it has definitely changed. Margaret said that it has gotten better with time and because of technology and knowledge in general. The fourth question I asked was what her favorite thing about her job was. She said that her favorite part was getting to learn from someone who has been in the business of baking for over thirty years. The fifth question I asked was if baking decorations and techniques had changed. Her response was that baking has turned into a more artistic field and now includes the imaginations of different people.
This interview with a baker has proved my research on the topic. Baking has changed into more of an artistic and creative field when it comes to decorating cakes and
all of the other types of baked goods. Also she proved that baking has changed because of the different technologies used now to bake.
Citation:
Walker, Margaret. Personal Interview. 28 April 2009.

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
30 April 2009

Bake Wise

Summary:
Bake Wise was written by Shirley O. Corriher. She wrote this book that contains the “mysteries of baking ”, as the book says. The book tells the secrets of why cakes and muffins deflate and become dry. She even reveals why cookies crumble. She describes many different techniques in this book. One is that brushing a puff pastry with iced water will make the pastry easier to roll, crating flakier, lighter, and more puffy pastries. In the book Shirley O. Corriher tells of the expertise of many different chefs that she admires, such as French pastry chef Gaston Lenotre. The book also contains some of Shirley’s and other’s recipes.

Response:
This book really shows how far baking has come. Looking back on the ancient times when bread was baked out in the sun on a hot rock baking has definitely transformed. It has gone from baking on that rock in Egypt to trying to figure out ways to perfect the puffy part of a pastry puff. Baking is most definitely an art now. It is now more than the taste but the way it looks.

Citation:
Corriher, Shirley . Bake Wise. New York City: Scribner Book Company, 2008. Print.

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
30 April 2009

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
10 April 2009
Baking and How it Has Changed Over Time
Summary:
Baking has been different cultures’ favorite way to create snacks, desserts, and other meals for many years. Today baking is known as a way to make sweets and many different kinds of delicious pastries. In ancient history the first evidence of how baking came about was when humans soaked wild grass in water. Then they mixed everything together mashing it into a broth like paste. After that they would cook the paste that turned into a bread-like substance. Later, as baking progressed, the paste was roasted on hot embers, which made baking much easier. Records show that the Egyptians baked bread in 2500 B.C. The Egyptians may have learned how to bake bread from the Babylonians. Baking spread throughout Rome. To bake bread, the Romans used an oven with its own chimney and had grain mills to grind grain into flour. Eventually the art of baking became widely known throughout Europe, and eventually spread to the eastern parts of Asia. Bakers usually baked their goods at home and then sold them in the streets. Eventually Paris opened up the first open air café that sold baked goods. After that baking became an art through out the entire world.
Response:
Tim Tanis’ article on the history of baking shows just how much baking has changed from how baked goods are made, baked, or even presented. Baking has changed from being baked “onto a flat, hot rock, resulting in a bread-like substance” to being baked over a fire to being baked in the modern day oven. The article shows how baking progressed over the years in different countries. It shows this by stating that it spread from the Babylonians to the Egyptians. Then it went to Rome and all over Europe spreading over to Asia. It all started with bread and now there is a world wide love of all the different creations of baked goods. There are pancakes, cakes, doughnuts, cupcakes, pastries, bread, muffins, cookies, brownies and so many more things. It went from pasty dough cooked on a hot rock to a stove to amazingly decorated and designed baked substances that we have today. In conclusion baking has completely evolved.
Citation:Tanis, Tim "History of Baking." History of Baking. 3 Aug. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 10 Apr 2009 <http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Baking&id=1379310>.

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
3 April 2009
Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
Summary:
This recipe uses a wonderful dark chocolate colored dough. The dark dough comes from using ground semi sweet chocolate and cocoa powder. The hazelnuts are rich tasting and crunch which is what biscotti is all about. The oven must be set to three hundred and fifty degrees F. The hazelnuts must be toasted and set aside while preparing the dough. The oven then should be lowered to three hundred degrees F. The next step is to combine the coarsely chopped chocolate and brown sugar and process until the chocolate is very fine. There is a little more preparing then the logs of biscotti should be placed on the baking sheet spread apart. They must cook for thirty five to forty minutes and then placed to cool for around ten minutes. Then they must be cut and turned to cook for around fifteen more minutes.
Response:
This recipe is an example of one of the baked goods around today. It is something that has been around for years but is still around. Once a baked good is created it never gets old. People just can not get enough of their sweets and baked food. The chocolate hazelnut biscotti seems like an easy fun thing to bake.


Citation:
Jaworski, Stephanie & Rick . "Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti Recipe." Baking & Dessert Recipes & Pictures. 1977. JoyofBaking.com. 3 Apr 2009 .

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
April 3, 2009
The Way Baking Has Changed
Summary:
A video on you tube.com demonstrated a way to decorate a wedding cake with icing. The women in the video was from the UK. At first she introduced herself and shows what the finished product will look like. She started out with a cake already baked. She rolled out “sausage shaped” pieces of what sounded like “mossy palm” to place on the bottom of the cake to cover the cracks. Then she placed a layer of the same substance to prepare the cake for the icing decorations. Before placing the layer carefully she put jam on the cake so the “mossy palm” can slide a little to be placed in the right place. After that she rolls out some roll out icing and places that on the top of the cake as well.
Response:
This you tube video shows how baking has changed altogether. In the past baked goods were not so much as an art as they are today. The baker in the video decorated the cake with hearts ribbon and more decorative things. In the past a cake would have just been baked and that be all that was done to it. Now it is not quite a cake to most people until it has been decorated with icing and other decorations. In the past cakes and other baked goods may have been decorated in some way but not nearly to the extent that it is seen today. There were extravagant cakes but it seems more of a trend now than before.

Citation:
“Icing a Wedding Cake”. Cake Baker. Cakebaker.co.uk Youtube. 8 October 2007. 8 October 2007

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
27 March 2000
Pie and Pastry
Summary:
Food historians trace the genesis of pastry to ancient Mediterranean paper-thin multi-layered baklava and filo. Returning crusaders introduced these sweet recipes to Medieval Europe where they were adopted. French and Italian Renaissance chefs are given credit for perfecting the puff pastry. 17th and 18th century chefs introduced several new recipes, including brioche, and Napoleons cream puffs. Antonin Careme is said to have elevated French pastry to art. In Central and Eastern Europe, strudels evolved. Sweet yeast-breads and cakes share a similar history. Pies were considered the American Pastry. "As a favored dish of the English, pies were baked in America as soon as the early settlers set up housekeeping on dry land.”
Response:
This article will help me compare different types of baking dishes to the pastry. It will also help with stating the what the American pastry is and how it came about. This website goes into detail of the different ingredients of the pastry which I will also compare and contrast in my research project. This article directly correlates with the topic of pastries and the history of them for my research topic.
Citation:
Olver, Lynne . "Pie and Pastry." Food Timeline. 17 March 2009 . Food Timeline. 27 Mar 2009 http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html.

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
27 March 2009
The History of Baking and Pastry Cooking
Summary:
The History of Baking and Pastry Cooking by Fred Pfister is an article of the story of Fred Pfister becoming a baker/pastry chef and the history of baking. Baking is known to have began in the years of 2600-2100 B.C. Egyptians, who learned the skill from the Babylonians, baked bread. The Egyptians made breads and cakes in the shapes of animals in order to use them for sacrifices. The art of pastry cooking emerged in the Roman empire as a highly respected profession. In the time of Christ around three hundred independent bakers existed in Rome. Cato names different kinds of bread, sacrificial cakes “libum”, cakes made with flour, groats and cress “placenta”, tortes “scibilata”, pretzels “spira”, fritters, bowl cake, sweet cake, and sidrer-cake. Pastry cooking gradually spread throughout Europe and the world.
Response:
This article by Fred Pfister relates to my research topic perfectly. The research topic I chose was the history of pastries. The article states how the pastry came about and what they were used for. Such as, “ A relief representing the royal bakery of Ramses features bread and cakes, come of these were shaped in the form of animals used for sacrifices”. It states different types of baked items and pastries such as pancakes, bread, and pastries in general. Knowing which culture came up with the different types of pastries will help with my topic.
Citation:
Pfister, Fred. "The History of Baking and Pastry Cooking ." Pfister Consulting. Pfister Consulting. 27 Mar 2009 .

Kayla Cobb
Mr. Jenkins
Honors English 11
3 April 2009

History of Baking

Summary:

This article from joyofbaking.com has the history of different baked goods. One was the Amarettie Cookie. It is the Italian name for macaroons. They are crispy on the outside but are moist and soft on the inside. They “originated in Venice Italy during the Renaissance period” (Jaworski). They have almonds, sugar, and egg whites in them. They were often served with “a sweet dessert wine, or ice cream.” The angel food cake was named because of its lightness and because it was said to be the “food of the angels”. There are quite a few egg whites in the cakes to make them so light. Banana Bread recipes became very popular in the 1960s when hearty breads were all the rage. Biscotti is said to have originated during Columbus's time and credited to an Italian baker who originally served them with Tuscan wines. They became so popular that every province developed their own flavored version. Because of their long storage ability they were an ideal food for sailors, soldiers, and fisherman. There were more baked items included in the article.

Response:

The many different baked foods that were discovered in the past are still loved by people world-wide. The biscotti that originated during Columbus’s time, Angel food cake, and all of the other deserts mentioned in this article are still around today because people love baked goods and will never get tired of them. The different foods show the history of baking and how long ago baking started.

Citation:
Jaworski, Rick. "Baking History." Baking & Dessert Recipes & Pictures. 1997. JobyofBaking.com. 3 Apr 2009 .