Raw gingerbread: cooking features, recipe, photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

According to many people, no type of pastry can compete with gingerbread. They are made mainly from natural ingredients such as honey, sugar, flour, molasses and water with the addition of fragrant spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger). Fat and eggs in the preparation of gingerbread are not used at all or are used, but in a minimal amount. The taste and aroma of the products is simply magical. In our article, we will dwell in more detail on how raw gingerbread is prepared. And in order to better understand the production technology, let's compare them with custard products. Below we will definitely offer homemade recipes for this type of baking.

Technology for the production of gingerbread according to GOST

Sweet and fragrant flour confectionery with a high calorie content (350 kcal per 100 g) has always been produced both with and without filling. In their manufacture, the simplest and most affordable ingredients, spices, as well as chemical leavening agents and essences in small quantities were used.

The gingerbread production scheme includes the following main steps:

1. Preparation of raw materials. The main ingredients for the production of gingerbread are wheat flour of the highest or first grade, sugar, honey, molasses, spices (ground cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, star anise). Some varieties include butter, eggs, almonds, stuffing.
2. Dough kneading. For this stage, dough mixers are used. However, in small pastry shops, the dough can also be kneaded by hand. In addition to the main ingredients, chemical disintegrants (ammonium carbonate and soda) are introduced into it. Yeast is not added to the gingerbread dough.
3. Product molding. At this stage, the dough is passed through special machines. As a result, a dough strip is obtained, from which gingerbread of a certain shape with or without a pattern is stamped on separate equipment. In some industries, products are cut by hand using metal cuttings.
4. Baking gingerbread. Gingerbreads are baked on metal sheets in special ovens at temperatures from 190 °C to 240 °C.
5. Product finishing. Separate batches of finished gingerbread are glazed with strong sugar syrup and dried. As a result, a shiny sugar crust forms on the products, which gives them an appetizing look and prevents them from drying out.

Raw and custard gingerbread: differences

These two types of flour confectionery are divided according to the way they are prepared. The main difference between raw gingerbread and custard gingerbread is the peculiarities of the production process. The first are obtained by traditional kneading of a thick and dense dough with or without syrup. ItIt turns out non-sticky and pleasant to work with. You can even make a tourniquet out of it, and then cut it into pieces with a string.

Custard gingerbread is cooked a little differently. First, the liquid ingredients are heated to a temperature of 90 ° C, and then this part of the dough is poured into the flour mixture, thereby brewing it. The result is a sticky and viscous mass, which is sent to special machines for molding.

The raw gingerbread production process is less labor intensive and more cost effective. At the same time, it is almost impossible to find visual differences between products prepared by the first and second methods.

Production of raw gingerbread with syrup

Dough for flour products of this type is prepared using syrup or water. Each of the methods has its own characteristics.

Raw gingerbread with syrup is prepared in this order:

1. Preparation of confectionery begins with boiling syrup. To do this, the amount of water provided for in the recipe will be heated to 70-80 ° С.
2. Sugar and molasses are introduced into the prepared liquid according to the recipe.
3. The syrup is boiled at a temperature not lower than 65 ° C and with constant stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
4. As soon as the syrup becomes homogeneous, it is cooled to 30-40 °C. It will thicken as it cools.
5. Chilled syrup is loaded into the dough mixer. All raw materials provided for in the recipe are also added here, with the exception of flour and baking powder. The mass is mixed for 2 minutes, after which it is loadedthe remaining ingredients. The total mixing time is no more than 12 minutes.
6. The dough is sent for molding.

Gingerbread dough without making syrup

Production of confectionery products in this way has its own characteristics:

1. The ingredients specified in the recipe are sequentially loaded into the bowl of the dough mixing machine: sugar, water, molasses, zhenka, invert syrup, various essences. They are mixed for 2-10 minutes, after which baking powder and water are loaded into the machine.
2. Dough kneading time is 5 to 12 minutes. At this stage, it is important to control its humidity. If this indicator deviates from the level of 23.5-25.5%, the quality of finished products decreases.
3. The temperature of the dough should be 22 °C. If it is higher, the kneading time should be reduced.
4. Gingerbread is baked at a temperature of 200-240 °C.
5. Finished products, after cooling to a temperature of 40-50 ° C, are glazed, if this is provided for by the technology for making raw gingerbread.

Features of the production of custard gingerbread

The production technology of the presented flour products includes three main stages:

1. Preparation of syrup. At this stage, sugar, honey and molasses are added to the water, the amount of which is indicated in the recipe. Then the ingredients are heated to a temperature of 65 ° C until the sugar is completely dissolved. As soon as the mass becomes homogeneous, the syrup willready.
2. Brewing flour. Hot syrup is poured into the bowl of the dough kneading machine, and all the flour intended for gingerbread is gradually poured in. If the temperature of the syrup is below 65 ° C, then the flour will not brew. The brewed dough is unloaded from the machine, transferred to special containers and sent for proofing.
3. Dough kneading. The brewed flour mass is again sent to the bowl and the rest of the raw materials are loaded, including baking powder dissolved in water. The dough is kneaded for 30 to 60 minutes. Then it is sent to molding and baking.

Gingerbread quality criteria

To evaluate gingerbread I use the following criteria:

1. Shape. It must be correct, convex, correspond to the name of the products.
2. Surface. It should be dry and even, without cracks, burns. For glazed products, the coating should be uniform.
3. Taste and smell. It is important that they correspond to the specified name. The taste should not be bitter.
4. Color. Raw gingerbread should be light, creamy, and custard - a dark shade. Porosity is good, without traces of undermixing.

Raw and custard gingerbread should be stored at a temperature of 18 ° C and humidity not higher than 75%. That way they won't dry out or get stale.

Assortment of gingerbread

The presented flour products are made from flour of the highest and first grade. Raw gingerbread can be glazed and without glaze. Both of them are equally tasty and fragrant.

So, from flourof the highest grade produce unglazed products with the addition of various essences. These are gingerbread "Mint", "Lemon", "Vanilla", "Children's" and others.

Products coated with glaze are made from first grade flour. They are made in the form of fish, birds, horses. Gingerbread with fillings has an interesting taste: "Tula", "Nizhny Novgorod", "Vyazemsky" and others.

Recipe for raw homemade gingerbread

The dough for these flour products is kneaded in one stage at a temperature of 22 °C. This recipe makes raw gingerbread cookies very easy to prepare, but nevertheless they turn out very soft and tasty.

The sequence of cooking at home is as follows:

1. Sift flour (1 kg) with baking powder (20 g).
2. Bring water (450 ml) to a boil, pour sugar (625 g) into it. Boil the syrup until the granulated sugar is completely dissolved, then cool it to a temperature of 20 ° C.
3. Add melted margarine (25 g), a small egg and mint essence (0.5 tsp) to the chilled syrup. Shuffle.
4. Add flour with baking powder to the resulting mass. Knead the dough quickly.
5. Roll out the dough into a layer. Cut out pieces using cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet. Bake gingerbread for 12 minutes at 180°C.
6. Cover cooled products with glaze as desired.

Custard gingerbread at home

For comparisonwe offer to cook flour products in a custard way:

1. In a saucepan, bring water (1/3 cup) with sugar (150 g) and honey (100 g) to a boil. Cool the resulting syrup to 80 ° С.
2. Add 125 g of flour, melted butter (30 g), egg, soda (0.5 tsp) and spices to the liquid hot mass. Mix. After that, add another 125 g of flour.
3. Knead the dough. Divide it into balls weighing 40 g each, flatten a little with your hand and put on a baking sheet.
4. Bake custard gingerbread for 15 minutes at 200 ° C, cool, then cover them with sugar icing.