Baking and pastry glossary

Acetate sheets Acetate is a clear, rigid polymer strip that holds its shape and does not stick to a set… Agar-agar Agar-agar is a plant-based gelling agent extracted from red seaweed. It is the main… Albumen powder Albumen powder is dried egg white. It is produced by spray-drying liquid white, which… Autolyse Autolyse is a rest given to a mixture of flour and water before salt and starter go in…

Bain-marie A bain-marie is a method of heating in which the vessel holding the food never touches… Banneton A banneton is a basket used to proof a shaped loaf. The classic ones are coiled from… Bavarois Bavarois is the classic dessert cream: crème anglaise stabilised with gelatine and… Beurrage The beurrage is the prepared sheet of butter enclosed in the détrempe before rolling. The… Beurre noisette Beurre noisette is butter heated until the milk proteins caramelise. The name comes from… Beurre pommade Beurre pommade is butter worked to the consistency of an ointment: soft and pliable but… Biga A biga is a stiff Italian preferment, usually at 45–55% hydration, with a small amount of… Blending To blend, in the pastry sense, is to work a mass with an immersion blender until… Bread crumb The crumb is the interior of a loaf beneath the crust. It is judged on its cell structure… Buttering and flouring a mould Chemisage is a way of preparing a mould: the surface is first coated with softened…

Carrageenan Carrageenan is a polysaccharide from red seaweed, used as a gelling and stabilising… Chantilly cream Chantilly is whipped cream with a little sugar, usually with vanilla. What separates it… Chausson A chausson is a puff pastry turnover, folded in half and sealed at the edge around a… Chocolate bloom Bloom is the whitish film or streaking that appears on the surface of chocolate. The… Chocolate shell A shell is the thin chocolate casing of a moulded bonbon, cast in a mould and then… Clarified butter Clarified butter is butter with the water and milk proteins removed. What remains is… Cocoa butter Cocoa butter is the fat pressed from cocoa beans. Solid and brittle at room temperature… Cocoa butter crystallisation Cocoa butter is polymorphic: as it sets it can form six different crystal types, numbered… Cold retardation Cold retardation means holding a shaped loaf in the fridge, usually at 4–6 °C, for… Compote Compote is a fruit purée filling containing pieces of fruit or berries, set with pectin… Confit Confit is a dense fruit or berry filling set with pectin. It is noticeably firmer than a… Coulis A coulis is a fruit or berry purée of pouring consistency, lightly thickened with pectin… Couverture chocolate Couverture is professional chocolate with a raised cocoa butter content, at least 31%… Crème anglaise Crème anglaise is a pouring custard of milk or cream, egg yolks and sugar, cooked until… Crème diplomate Crème diplomate is pastry cream lightened with whipped cream, usually stabilised with… Crème mousseline Crème mousseline is pastry cream with butter beaten into it. The butter usually runs from… Crème pâtissière Crème pâtissière, or pastry cream, is a cornerstone of the dessert kitchen: milk, yolks… Crémeux Crémeux, French for "creamy", is a dense cream layer that sits between a ganache and a… Croûtage Croûtage — from the French croûte, "crust" — is leaving piped macaron shells in the air… Cutter A cutter is a metal or plastic shape with a sharp edge, used to cut pieces from rolled…

Dacquoise Dacquoise is a nut meringue layer: whipped whites and sugar folded together with ground… Deglazing Deglazing means adding cold liquid to a hot mass to stop it cooking and to dissolve what… Détrempe The détrempe is the base dough for lamination, into which the butter block is later… Dough hook The dough hook is the stand-mixer attachment for stiff doughs: yeasted doughs, bread…

Egg wash Egg wash is an egg mixture brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking, for colour… Emulsify To emulsify is to combine two immiscible liquids, usually fat and water, into a stable… Emulsion An emulsion is a system of two immiscible liquids in which one is dispersed through the… Enrobing Enrobing is coating an item in a layer of tempered chocolate by dipping or by pouring…

Fermentation Fermentation is the process by which microorganisms convert sugars, releasing gas, acids… Financier A financier is a small cake built on egg whites, almond flour and beurre noisette. It is… Flambé Flambéing means igniting alcohol added to a hot preparation. The flame burns off part of… French meringue French meringue is the simplest type: raw whites whipped with sugar added gradually…

Ganache Ganache is an emulsion of chocolate and liquid, most often cream. For all its apparent… Gâteaux de voyage Gâteaux de voyage, literally "travelling cakes", is a French category covering baked… Gelatine Gelatine is an animal protein derived from collagen. Heated in water it dissolves… Gianduja Gianduja is a paste of roasted hazelnuts, chocolate and sugar, refined to complete… Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is a viscous clear mass produced by hydrolysing starch, usually corn or… Gluten Gluten is the protein network that forms when glutenin and gliadin, both present in wheat… Guitar sheets A guitar sheet is a smooth polymer sheet of greater thickness and area, named after the…

Hydration Hydration is the weight of water relative to the weight of flour, expressed as a…

Italian meringue Italian meringue is cooked: the whites are whipped while hot sugar syrup, boiled to…

Lamination Lamination is the repeated folding and rolling of dough around a layer of butter…

Macaron foot The pied — French for "foot" — is the porous ring at the base of a macaron that forms in… Macaronage Macaronage is the stage of mixing macaron batter where the meringue is folded into the… Meringue Meringue is a whipped mass of egg whites and sugar. Whipping turns the white into a foam… Mille-feuille Mille-feuille, French for "thousand leaves", is the classic French pastry of three sheets… Mirror glaze Mirror glaze is a high-shine coating that leaves a reflective surface on a cake. The… Mont Blanc Mont Blanc is a dessert built on chestnut purée piped in fine threads over meringue and… Mousse A mousse is an aerated dessert in which lightness comes from folding air into a…

Namelaka Namelaka is a cream built on chocolate, milk, gelatine and cold cream, distinguished by… Nappage Nappage is a clear, flavour-neutral coating brushed over fruit, berries and exposed…

Opéra The Opéra is a French cake of alternating thin layers — almond joconde sponge soaked in… Ovalbumin Ovalbumin is the principal protein of egg white, accounting for around 54% of its total…

Paddle The paddle, or flat beater, is the stand-mixer attachment for mixing without aggressive… Pailleté feuilletine Pailleté feuilletine is thin crisp wafer flakes, made by crushing a baked lace batter… Pain de Gênes Pain de Gênes is a French almond cake with a very high almond content, giving a dense… Palette knife A palette knife is a flexible metal blade without a cutting edge, used to smooth creams… Pastry brush A pastry brush applies thin even layers: egg wash on a shaped dough, syrup on a sponge… Pâte sablée Pâte sablée is a short, crumbly pastry of flour, butter, icing sugar and egg. The name… Pectin Pectin is a plant polysaccharide found in fruit cell walls. Commercially it is extracted… Pectin NH Pectin NH is a low-methoxyl amidated pectin that produces a thermally reversible gel… Perforated silicone baking mat A perforated mat is a silicone liner pierced with a grid of small holes across its whole… Piping nozzles Piping nozzles are conical tips for a piping bag that shape the mixture as it comes out… Poolish A poolish is a liquid preferment of equal weights of flour and water with a very small… Praliné Praliné is a paste of nuts caramelised in sugar and then ground until it flows. The… Proofing Proofing is the final rise of a shaped loaf before baking. What separates it from bulk… Puff pastry Puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) is unyeasted laminated dough that rises on steam alone…

Ramekin A ramekin is a small ovenproof dish with straight ridged sides, usually ceramic or… Religieuse A religieuse is a French pastry of two choux buns of different sizes, stacked and glazed…

Sabayon Sabayon is an aerated mixture of egg yolks, sugar and wine or another liquid, whisked… Sablage Sablage is a method of mixing shortcrust in which cold butter is first rubbed into the… Saint-Honoré Saint-Honoré is a classic French gâteau built on a puff pastry base ringed with… Sanding nuts Sanding nuts means coating roasted nuts, seeds or dried fruit in crystallised sugar. The… Savarin A savarin is an enriched yeasted cake baked in a ring mould and soaked heavily in syrup… Scoring Scoring is the cut made across the surface of a shaped loaf with a blade, immediately… Shaping Shaping gives dough its final form before proofing and baking. In bread it is structural… Sieve A sieve is a mesh-bottomed tool for sifting dry ingredients and straining liquids. In… Silicone baking mat A silicone baking mat is a flexible non-stick liner for a baking tray, usually glass… Soufflé A soufflé is a dish that rises in the oven through the expansion of air folded in as… Sourdough starter A sourdough starter is a living culture of flour and water in which wild yeast and lactic… Spatula A spatula is a flexible silicone or plastic blade on a handle, the primary tool for… Speculoos Speculoos is a thin crisp spiced biscuit from Belgium and the Netherlands, built on brown… Sponge A sponge is a baked base whose lightness comes from whipped eggs rather than chemical… Stretch and fold Stretch and fold develops gluten during bulk fermentation rather than at the mixer: you… Supreme A supreme is a citrus segment freed entirely of peel, pith and membrane. What is left is… Swiss meringue Swiss meringue sits between the two: whites and sugar are combined and warmed over a…

Tart A tart is an open pastry case with a raised edge and a filling, made from shortcrust or… Tempering chocolate Tempering is the controlled manipulation of chocolate temperature that steers cocoa… Titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide is a white pigment used for decades as the colourant E171, giving opaque… Tonka beans Tonka beans are the seeds of the South American tree Dipteryx odorata. The aroma is… Trimoline Trimoline is a trade name for invert sugar syrup, made by splitting sucrose into glucose… Tuile A tuile is a thin brittle biscuit shaped into a curve immediately after baking. The name… Turn A turn is one cycle of rolling and folding laminated dough. A single turn, or letter…

Velvet spray Velvet spray is a velvety coating applied by spray gun onto a frozen item. The mixture is… Viennoiserie Viennoiserie is the category of baking that sits between bread and pastry: yeasted dough…

Whipped ganache Whipped ganache is ganache stabilised by chilling and then whipped to an airy, creamy… Whisk attachment The whisk is the stand-mixer attachment made of fine wire loops, designed to introduce… Whisking Whisking introduces air into a preparation with a whisk or mixer. The mechanical action…

Yeast Yeast is a single-celled fungus that converts sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. The… Yuzu Yuzu is an East Asian citrus, a hybrid of mandarin and Ichang papeda. The fruit is small…