What’s a dessert without sugar? Sugar literally adds sweetness to a dessert, which *some* might say is the most important and defining part of a dessert. So I think it’s safe to say that sugar is quite important when it comes to desserts and baking.
But wait, is that all sugar does? Give desserts their sweetness? Far from it.
Sugar plays quite a multi-faceted role in baking. While many believe its only job is to add sweetness, it does much more. It gives baked goods moisture, tenderness, and softness. It gives brownies that crackly crust and ensures that cookies are soft, even when they’re hard.
It’s also one of the most versatile baking ingredients. Cook it, and it forms a caramel. Brulee it, and it becomes hard. Whip it with egg whites, and you have a meringue. The possibilities with sugar are basically endless. And once you learn the chemistry behind how sugar works in baking, you will be able to use it to take your recipes to the next level and not just add “sweetness.”
Today, we’ll be taking an in-depth look into the science of sugar in baking – how it works and how it reacts with different ingredients to help you better understand the processes and give you the ability to develop your own recipes.
Welcome to Ep 3 of Baking Basics, a series where we will dive deep into the science of baking’s 4 key ingredients – eggs, sugar, butter, and raising agents- to help you develop your recipes and troubleshoot baking errors, and become a better baker.
Check out Episode 1: Baking Basics – Eggs In Baking and Episode 2: Baking Basics – Butter In Baking here.
So, what is sugar made of?
Up until I was 8 or 10, I believed that sugar was harvested the same way as salt, in the form of sugar crystals by the sea. Let me tell you, as a sugar-loving kid who imagined running on a sugar crystal seaside for years, I was disappointed to find out that sugar, in fact, grew in the fields.
Well, not literally. Sugar is made up of a molecule called sucrose, which is derived primarily from sugar cane or sugar beets. While almost all plants have some level of sucrose, only sugar cane and sugar beets contain it in enough amounts to be used to create sugar.
Sugar derived from cane and beets is very identical and is commonly sold in stores, so you have likely purchased and consumed sugar from both sources. They are almost exactly the same chemically and behave the same way.
Generally, you can say that regular table sugar or granulated sugar is made entirely of sucrose, and it’s the chemical components and reactions of sucrose that give baked goods not only sweetness but other features like texture and tenderness.
Sugar In Baking
So, now that we know that sugar is more than just…SWEET, let’s take a look at the different roles and responsibilities of sugar in baking.
Sugar gives baked goods moisture
Sugar (or sucrose) is a hygroscopic substance, which means it can bond with water particles quickly and retain moisture within the molecules. In simpler words, sugar quickly grabs onto moisture (provided by water or other liquids) in a batter and can hold that moisture for a long time. This moisture (held within the sugar) makes the baked goods more soft and moist, allowing them to stay soft for longer.
This also means that the more sugar a baked good has, the longer it can stay moist and not go stale. This is also why many store-bought sweet products like jam and puddings have high sugar – for preservation.
Sugar makes baked goods tender
Sugar’s ability to hold moisture also makes baked goods more tender. Now, if you’re thinking tender and soft are the same thing – they are not. A baked good can be hard but still tender. For example – shortcrust cookies, or any cookies for that matter, cannot be classified as soft, but they can definitely be tender. Get what I’m saying?
Any baked product needs structure to stand its ground and not fall apart, and that structure comes from gluten formation caused by proteins and starches in other baking ingredients like eggs and flour. Too much gluten formation can take a cake or any other dessert from firm to rock hard. The key is to balance the amount of gluten formation so that the baked good can hold its structure without being too hard.
This is where sugar comes in. The formation of gluten strands requires moisture, but as we mentioned earlier, sugar has a habit of holding on to all the moisture. This means that there there is less moisture available which eventually delays the gluten formation process. Only so much gluten can be formed with only a limited amount of moisture.
This is a key aspect of sugar to keep in mind.
While adding more sugar to a recipe can make it softer, it can also delay gluten formation even more, which can cause reduce a baked good’s structural firmness and may even lead to the baked good collapsing in the oven. Similarly, reducing the amount of sugar won’t just reduce the sweetness but also make the baked good more hard and dry in texture.
Sugar helps baked goods leaven
Leavening is the process of rising or expanding. Usually, leavening agents like baking powder, baking soda, or yeast are primarily used to help leaven baked goods, but sugar also contributes to the process in various ways.
When creamed with butter, sugar creates air pockets and traps air in between the butter molecules. This air expands while baking, helping the baked goods rise and become airy and fluffy.
Additionally, the moisture retained in sugar also helps in the leavening process as it expands during baking, once again helping the baked good rise better. Sugar also helps cookies spread more evenly while baking, applying the same principle we discussed in the section below – sugar creates tenderness, delays gluten formation, and reduces the hard structure of a baked product.
Sugar gives baked good color
Do you know the term “bake until golden brown”? That’s all thanks to something called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is a process where sugar reacts with proteins when exposed to heat, leading to a delicious, toasty aroma and a browned surface.
That perfectly golden brown crust on your cake, the browned cookies, and even the golden-brown bread crust? It’s all the result of the Maillard reaction.
Sugar makes caramel!
Probably my favorite characteristic of sugar – it makes caramel! When cooked, sugar goes through a caramelization process which changes its texture and turns it into a smooth, golden liquid and enhances and brings out more complex flavors.
Here’s the science behind the caramelization of sugar: When exposed to heat, the sucrose molecules break down into two other forms of sugar molecules – glucose and fructose. As the sugar continues to be heated, the water evaporates from the sugar molecules, causing them to react with each other and producing various different types of compounds which result in the deep amber shade and complex flavors of caramel that we all know and love.
The uses of sugar definitely don’t end at this. As I mentioned earlier, it’s one of the most versatile baking ingredients and can be used to create many different things, including frostings, meringue, and sugar decorations; the possibilities are endless.
But for now, I think we know enough about sugar to get started with creating our own recipes. Right?
Butter in Baking – Summary
After all that reading, here are the most important things to keep in mind about the science of sugar in baking.
- Sugar is made out of sucrose which is derived from sugar canes and sugar beets.
- Sugar is hygroscopic – it has the ability to attract and retain moisture.
- Sugar’s hygroscopic nature allows baked goods to be soft and moist and retain the moisture for a long period of time.
- The moisture retained in sugar delays gluten formation caused by proteins and starches in a recipe, leading to a more tender final result.
- Sugar encourages leavening in baked goods by creating air pockets that expand while baking.
- Sugar gives baked goods the golden brown color due to the Maillard reaction.
- Sugar caramelizes when heated, which helps us create caramel sauces.
And there you go, you are now fully educated about the science of sugar in baking. With this information, you can figure out how to use sugar when developing your own recipes or troubleshoot when things go wrong.
I hope you find this helpful! Stay tuned for the final episode coming next week – leavening agents!
Until next time!
