E48 - 9 Baking Questions with Richard Charpentier

BAKED in Science

At BAKERpedia, we hear a lot of questions from bakers. And most of the time, we find that a lot of other people are wondering the same thing. That’s why we spend time each week answering questions on social media and our BAKERforum (https://bakerpedia.com/forums/) A few questions keep coming up. So in this episode, Dr. Lin Carson brings on Richard Charpentier to answer 9 of them. Since a very young age growing up in France, Richard has had a heart for baking. From an unpaid apprenticeship at 16 in a very tiny bakery to a commercial bakery, he learned the art of bread and croissant baking. After completing a Master Baker Program along with a marketing degree he moved to the Bahamas and fell in love with the science of baking. So, he went to study R&D at Kansas State University. From there, he worked in flour mills, created baked good MRs with a 3 year shelf life for the military, and worked on Twinkies at Hostess. Now, his company Baking Innovation helps smaller bakeries with R&D consulting so they can get where they need to be, faster. Richard and Dr. Lin discuss the following questions: - Should I be using deactivated dry yeast as a natural dough relaxer? - What is water activity, and why should I pay attention to it? - What should the standard water activity be for cookies, especially chocolate chip cookies? - Will Carboxymethyl Cellulose help bind water and decrease water activity? - What would be a good machine to make 800-1,000 tortillas per hour? - What are some shelf life preservatives for gluten-free dry mixes? - Can I make a pound cake with a shelf life of 6 months? - Do high dough temperatures make products collapse? - Does DATEM work for dough that keeps breaking down? Get your own answered questions! Join the BAKERforum, or work with Richard - https://bakerpedia.com/product/consultation-team/