Food Science B

[Beastybob12345]

Um, well I know that if you put to little leavening agents, the item will collapse...

[Skink]

That's why the rules recommend doing your own baking experiments to experimentally determine that for yourself! Impressively enough, one of the best team's binders includes pictures of top, side, and inside views of every manipulation you can think of. I was amazed by it. You probably don't have that kinda time. You can do searches for some of this, though be careful to check to make sure that they're talking generally and not for a specific recipe.

The one I'd worry about most is eggs because they serve several functions and aren't easy to just think through. On the other hand, doubling leavening agents has a VERY obvious effect. You could even guess what that is if you think through what leavening agents do for the baked good. You can think through a lot of these.

Here, I'll give you a sample (sorry, I forgot to take pics ) that teams had difficulty with at Regionals this season. I gave them many cupcakes to ID (with some parameters, of course) what manipulation I made to a basic recipe. For this one, I told them I didn't make any substitutions but, instead, halved something. The cupcake itself was a little browned on the top while a control isn't, and it didn't dome. What did I half? Try to think it through. It's actually a hard problem until you understand what happened. The recipe might help.
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees blah blah blah...

Actually, I lied. I forgot to take pics of all the others! I actually have this batch. Alright!

[PicturePerfect]

@Skink: Ok, first, lemme say: You are amazingly helpful.

Now...
Did you only halve one ingredient? I'll guess milk...? Or maybe baking powder.

Also, do you have any info I could have on eggs? Thanks in advance, even if I don't get any xD

And for leaveners, I meant taste-wise. I know too much baking soda will give a baked good a soapy, bitter flavor (who actually ate soap to figure out what it tasted like? xD), but what about baking powder? Or cream of tartar?

[Gemma W]

I would guess you halved the eggs, because egg helps the gluten hold the structure and the air in, so it would collapse without it, hence the lack of dome.

[Skink]

@Skink: Ok, first, lemme say: You are amazingly helpful. Uh, thanks. That's why we're here, right?

Now...
Did you only halve one ingredient? I'll guess milk...? Or maybe baking powder. Just one. If I did more than one, then we couldn't tell if any effects or changes observed were due to one ingredient or the other. That's why in science we only change one variable at a time. Anyways, let me drop the answer in a hide tag at the bottom for any passers-by to not get 'spoiled'.

Also, do you have any info I could have on eggs? Thanks in advance, even if I don't get any xD Eggs are the only thing on the McDonalds menu that are any good. They come from chickens. They have an air pouch in them. Eggs bought at the store should be refrigerated. There's an egg song, too.
...okay, okay. Eggs at a glance:
Eggs have more calories per serving than most of the other Approved Ingredients (some sweeteners notwithstanding). They have the most protein by a factor of 3 or more than most of the others. This should make sense.
I think I said this above, but eggs serve all of the following functions: emulsification, leavening, providing moisture, structure, and the obvious, like flavor. The rest of the information I have on eggs is a modified version of this Web page. It should be eggsactly what you're looking for!

And for leaveners, I meant taste-wise. I know too much baking soda will give a baked good a soapy, bitter flavor (who actually ate soap to figure out what it tasted like? xD), but what about baking powder? Or cream of tartar? Baking powder doesn't have any weird tastes that I know of. Maybe someone else can hop in. Cream of tartar gives a sweeter, citrus-y taste, the opposite of baking soda, you could say. That should make sense because cream of tartar is acidic.

I would guess you halved the eggs, because egg helps the gluten hold the structure and the air in, so it would collapse without it, hence the lack of dome.

The Halved Ingredient (Click to Show Hidden Text)

Gemma's answer is the one the 'good' teams gave me.  It's good reasoning but, unfortunately, still wrong because that's not what I did.
I halved the flour.  My understanding of what happened there is as follows.  Halving the flour gave the batter 1 1/8 cups flour.  There are 1 1/3 cups sugar in there.  The sugar-flour ratio is way off considering there's now more sugar than flour.  It browned like that because there's too much sugar relatively.
...at least, that's my guess, anyways.

[honeybunchesofoats]

@Skink:
And for leaveners, I meant taste-wise. I know too much baking soda will give a baked good a soapy, bitter flavor (who actually ate soap to figure out what it tasted like? xD), but what about baking powder? Or cream of tartar? Baking powder doesn't have any weird tastes that I know of. Maybe someone else can hop in. Cream of tartar gives a sweeter, citrus-y taste, the opposite of baking soda, you could say. That should make sense because cream of tartar is acidic.

Well, baking soda is a base, and bases tend to have a bitter, soapy flavor. Maybe that's why...

[PicturePerfect]

Thanks for everyone's help!
@Skink- Um... I think that makes sense

Oh, and, are teams ever asked to conduct the Benedict's Test, since it requires heating? Is there a chance that we could be asked to?

[Skink]

Of course, you CAN be. How often does it happen? I dunno. You could easily be given hot plates to heat a water bath to soak the test tube in to get it to the temperature needed to perform the test. At higher levels of competition, I could see it a definite possibility. Be also prepared for other chemical tests, density, and creative baking activities like baking a mini cupcake in an Easy Bake oven . That was done at an invitational before.

[Beastybob12345]

Hmm... we didn't have to bake cupcakes at our invitational... that would be cool though. And what is an Easy Bake Oven?

[geminicross]

Hmm... we didn't have to bake cupcakes at our invitational... that would be cool though. And what is an Easy Bake Oven?

my god...

You haven't seen the commercials?