Baking

Baking is a skill or way of cooking food in an oven. Sometimes, though, baking can also be done in hot ashes, or hot stones. It is used for making bread, cakes, pastries, pies, tarts, cookies, and much more. Such foods made by baking are called "baked goods".

The ingredients used in baking include flour, water, leavening agents (baker's yeast, baking soda, baking powder), shortening (fats, oils), eggs, milk, and sugars. These are all mixed together to create dough or batter, which is then put into a pan or a sheet and heated. Leavening agents produce gas that becomes trapped in the dough. This makes it rise. Shortening makes doughs more easily workable and the bread that comes out in the end more soft and tender. Egg whites are used to help make a light, airy texture.^[1]

Baked goods are sold at a bakery. A person who makes baked goods as a job is called a baker. It is also used for making baked potatoes, baked apples, baked beans, some casseroles and pasta dishes such as lasagna, and various other foods, such as the pretzel.

1. ↑ "baking (cooking) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". britannica.com. Retrieved 14 April 2010.