Corn Tortillas What are Corn Tortillas? Corn tortillas are a round, thin, unleavened bread made with coarse masa flour (ground, dried and sifted masa dough) or “flourless” fresh masa made from corn that has been treated with lime in a process called nixtamalization. Due to their large surface area and small thickness, [...]
Flour Tortillas What are Flour Tortillas? Flour tortillas are flat and circular breads used as the base for traditional Mexican foods such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas and enchiladas. They are usually eaten warm with a topping that may include cheese, meat, and a variety of spicy sauces. Flour tortillas are different from [...]
Milling Also known as Grinding What is milling? Milling is a unit operation that transforms solid particles into smaller ones by applying forces such as shear, compression, friction, collision or impact. Milling processes can be used for making flour or for extracting gluten and starch (wet milling) from grains and cereals. In [...]
Sorghum What is Sorghum? Different varieties of sorghum range in color from white and pale yellow to deep red, purple and brown. Sorghum is used as a feed for cattle and poultry, as well as human consumption. It is often the only source of energy and protein in some parts of Africa [...]
Masa Also known as Corn Flour What is Masa? Masa is a dough made from ground corn that has been cooked in alkali. The wet masa dough is dried and ground, resulting in corn masa flour or masa harina. Masa is a staple food for many Latin Americans including individuals of Mexican [...]
Yeast Also known as bakers’ yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae What is Yeast? Yeast is a single-celled living organism widely used in baking, brewing, winemaking and other industries. Saccharomyces cerevisiae can ferment and metabolize a variety of sugars under anaerobic conditions with preference for glucose, fructose and maltose. As a result, it produces [...]
Shelf Life Extension What is Shelf Life Extension? Shelf life extension is an effort to make food safe for long periods, still keeping its original quality. Baked products beyond their shelf life can become: Stale, firm and dry Less resilient Not as flavorful Unsafe due to microbial growth Advances in bakery processing [...]
Baker's Percent What is Baker's Percent? Baker’s percent is a mathematical method widely used in baking to calculate the amounts of macro, minor and micro ingredients. It's based on the total weight of flour a formula contains. Instead of dividing each ingredient’s weight by the total formula weight, bakers divide each ingredient [...]
Vital Wheat Gluten Also known as gluten What is Vital Wheat Gluten? Vital wheat gluten, or simply VWG, is a highly functional protein that has been separated from wheat starch and other grain components. It is used almost exclusively in high-speed bakeries to improve dough strength and provide additional dough tolerance to [...]
Flour Also Known as Wheat Flour What is Flour? Flour is a fine powder made by grinding wheat kernels. It is the main component of foods such as bread, crackers, pasta, tortillas, cakes, cookies and pastries. Among other grains, wheat flour is unique due to its ability to form a gluten network [...]
