Baking Flavoring

Baking is a time-consuming but rewarding process. Many recipes call for flavoring that will add a distinct taste and texture to your end product.

These baking flavors include extracts, oils, emulsions and powders. All are all-natural and Kosher Pareve by Star-K, water soluble and super strong so a little goes a long way.

Extracts

Adding flavor is one of the simplest ways to enhance your baking products. With a wide range of flavors to choose from, you can create the right balance and intensity for your recipes.

Extracts are made by drawing out the oils of a showcase ingredient and infusing it into a liquid base, typically alcohol. Some of the most popular include vanilla, lemon, peppermint and coffee extracts. While these are the most common, they’re hardly the only ones worth trying. These highly concentrated ingredients can be used to supercharge desserts, cocktails and more.

While you might not be able to substitute extracts in some recipes, they’re an easy and convenient way to add extra flavor to a dish, drink or baked good. Using a flavor extract or oil in place of chopping up fruit, herbs or spices can save you time and effort while still giving you a tastier result.

For a more subtle and delicate flavor, you can also opt for a flavour emulsion. These products have a more water-based consistency than an extract and are infused with natural or artificial flavors. They can be used as a stand-alone flavor or as an additive to help other ingredients shine. These products tend to have a shorter shelf life than their alcohol-based counterparts, but they’re an excellent option for bakers looking for something a little less intense than an extract or oil.

Oils

A key ingredient in baked products like cookies, cakes and pastries, oils add moisture to the finished product, helping baking flavoring the baker’s creation to rise and hold its shape while providing a soft and moist crumb. Bakers often choose the type of oil to use based on its functional properties such as heat stability and flavor enhancement.

Some baking recipes specify the kind of oil to use, but for others it is up to the product developer to experiment with the best fats and oils to achieve desired results. Solid fats like butter, margarine and shortening are typically used in baked products while liquid oils such as vegetable, canola and sunflower can also be found.

Candy flavor oils offer a more concentrated and potent flavor than other options, so only a small amount is needed to add intense flavor to a recipe. These oils are also heat-stable, ensuring that the flavor stays intact even when baked into a dish or incorporated into a candy.

While a little goes a long way with flavor oils, they can quickly overwhelm a recipe, so it’s best to start small and then increase the quantity until the right level of intensity is achieved. These oils are suitable for a wide range of sweet and savory applications such as candies, desserts, frostings, soups and marinades.

Emulsions

Bakery emulsions are water-based alternatives to extracts. They contain flavor compounds micro encapsulated in natural stabilizers and suspended in water, allowing them to remain stable even when exposed to high heat conditions. Bakery emulsions can be used in a variety of applications such as cake batters, cookies, frostings, fillings and ganaches.

Because bakery emulsions are heat-stable, they release more potent aromas and flavors when used in baking products. Additionally, they are often more cost-effective than traditional extracts and are a great solution for formulators concerned about flavor fading or degrading due to heat.

Emulsions are thicker than extracts, making them ideal for use in baking. They also tend to deliver more intense aromas and flavors than traditional extracts, resulting in more pronounced baked goods.

To produce an emulsion, manufacturers combine two liquids that are immiscible (oil and water). The process involves slowly adding one product to the other while rapidly combining them, resulting in a suspension of one ingredient within another. The result is a rich, creamy consistency. Examples of emulsions include hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise and vinaigrettes.

When using flavor emulsions, bakers must consider the compatibility of the Flavor with their recipe. Certain Flavors pair well with other Flavors, such as citrus Flavors with vanilla or almond Flavors with chocolate. Additionally, bakers should experiment with various Flavor combinations to create harmonious taste profiles.

Powders

Baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents that work by creating gases, primarily carbon dioxide, through chemical reactions between acids and bases. When either is added to a liquid, it reacts with the wet ingredient to create gas bubbles that expand and cause batter or dough to rise. This provides the light texture of cakes, breads, muffins and cookies.

Kitchen acids, like lemon juice or vinegar (dilute acetic acid), can be used baking flavoring to simulate commercial baking powders. When these are mixed with baking soda, they enter a second stage of leavening once the mixture is heated by the oven. This delayed reaction is a result of the inclusion of an acid, like monocalcium phosphate (MCP) or sodium aluminum sulfate (SAS), that can’t dissolve at room temperature and is only made available when the solution is cooked.

While single-acting baking powders contain just baking soda and an acid, the majority of baking powders on the market are double-acting and include both an alkaline baking soda and a secondary powdered acid, often cream of tartar, along with a flour or cornstarch to help keep the two ingredients from clumping together or reacting too early. While the acidic component is not essential, it helps prevent the excessive loss of leavening gas that can occur when baking soda is exposed to air or moisture (try pouring boiling water over a baking soda sink and you’ll see what we mean). Adding an acidic element also reduces the chance of developing a metallic flavor in baked goods, as may occur if baking soda is left unpaired with another acid.