SUGARS

Hello Sugar! The next chapter in our series "The science of baking" is SUGARS or sweeteners. Sugar is usually equivalent to dessert (unless ofcourse you are taking the alternate route). To understand the sugars or sweeteners better, we first need to understand its functions. There are 6 main functions of sugar in any form in a baked product: -Sweetness and flavour (flavour profile) - Texture profile - Crust color (Maillard reaction) - Increase the keeping quality of the product (hygroscopic) - Foaming agent with eggs and creaming agent with butter (Helps in leavening) - Food for the yeast Now, these functions are met in any form of the sweeteners, be it in liquid or granulated form. But the form of sugar definitely affects the texture profile of the product. Sugars are part of carbohydrates so as the starches. Sugars are further categorized as simple sugars and complex sugars. This depends on the chemical structure of the sugars. The level of sweetness also differs in different types of sugars. The property which remains the same is that sugar is "Hygroscopic", that means it retains moisture, which in return increase the shelf life of the baked products. When sucrose is heated with an acid, it breaks in two simple sugars dextrose and levulose in equal parts. This is invert sugar. It retains moisture and resist crystallization. Invert sugar is present in honey, molasses etc. There different types of sugar depending on their form. Table sugar, castor sugar, confectioners sugar, brown sugar, etc in granulated form. The granule size also plays a very important role. The castor sugar is highly recommended as it produces more even batter and can contains higher quantity of fats. It is also easier to mix evenly. Honey, molasses, corn syrup, invert sugar etc in liquid form. Also people who want to use alternate sugars or no refined sugars would use stevia, xylitol, erythritol etc. These are alternative sweeteners. There are also artisanal sugars, which are very less refined and closer to it's pure form like Gur or jaggery. The amount of sugar in a baked products like cookies can give different textures to the product. Like a cookie dough with high sugar content will give crispier cookies, whereas the one with low sugar and fats will result in soft cookies. The dough with high sugar and liquid content will result in chewier cookies. A cookie with brown sugar would be softer than that made of white sugar as brown sugar contains invert sugar, which is hygroscopic. They also affect the spread of the cookies. Sugars are a vast subject, it needs excessive research to understand each sugar and its properties. We, living in the era of diabetes, it's very very common question that students ask me, can we make xyz sugar free? Yes you can! Will it differ in taste or texture profile, again the answer is yes! But it would be closest as to the original recipe. Every sugar would have a different property as it should be interchanged accordingly. I would always suggest, instead of going sugar free or using alternate sugar in your baked products, use the refined sugar but consume the final product in very limited quantity if avoiding sugar is for weight management issues. If you wish to go sugar free for being a diabetic or want to bake for someone who is fighting diabetes, xylitol is a good bet. Happy Baking, Chef Gunjan