CATEGORIES

Pastry Chef: Challenges & Opportunities

Unlike most chefs, pastry chefs cannot throw things together at a farmer's market and expect to have a consistent result. A slight variance in temperature, grams, humidity, or time makes all the difference in the world of pastry.

Patisserie Notes Making Good Pastries de

Pastries are the key product in any bakery or confectionery set up. Good pastries need special attention at every stage. Any good bakery is known not only by the whiff of its freshly baked bread but more often by the quality of its pastries that are the proverbial hot cakes of the establishment. However, there are many imponderables and subtle aspects that influence the quality of these savouries.    Following are some of those essentials.

It is Really Hot

Hotdogs, a snack delight for many. sounds like a puzzle that needs to be solved at once. When we talk about popularity of a dish a gourmet delight how far can one go in praise for it? May be by giving it a name that throws light on its importance; or naming it after a personality that gives it a new dimension; or can be stretched maximal to make it a dish for a particular occasion.

Smell the Coffee

Tea, once India's favourite brew, is being given run for its money with resurgence in coffee-drinking habits. With the advent of the twenty-first century, India has embraced myriad global influences in its culture. One of those influences to touch India in recent years is the coffee-drinking culture. Who would have thought that land which is famous for its heavenly teas from Assam and Darjeeling would fall under the aromatic spell of a primo, semi skimmed cappuccino? But it is true; the coffee-drinking habit, especially among the upwardly mobile populace of India, is growing rapidly and is here to stay. Over the last two decades, the café culture in India has gained not only momentum but also maturity. This can be attributed to the increase in disposable incomes among select but sizeable pockets of urban India, the growing influence of western culture, especially among our young demographics, and the increase in working population. Thanks to the changing habits and lifestyles, and the healthy disposable incomes, we now have a plethora of coffee shop outlets across the main cities of India.

Designer Cakes

Whether you are organising a party for birthday, wedding, anniversary, or for an official. celebration, you always add a cake to the plan. A cake is a priority to make the event more pleasurable and memorable. Regardless of the event being organised, people of every age expect a delicious cake, making the event complete. There are different cakes to satisfy the sweet tooth, but custom-designed cakes make event extra special.

Chocolate The Perfect Sweet

For the New Year, Valentine Day or for any other occasions one food product that will bring an expression of glee on the receiver's face is Chocolates! This sweet has proved popular over the years. Its popularity is expected to increase in the coming years. Indian chocolate market reached $ 2.4 billion in 2022 according to IMARC Group. The global chocolate market attained a value of $ 127.7 billion in 2022, driven by the impulse purchasing behaviour of the consumers. Aided by the new product launches, the market, according to EMR, is grow further in the years to come. What has made chocolate a popular sweet, at Valentine time? Ashok Malkani takes a deep look at the industry to gauge several factors like how it is made and also whether this product, which is also used extensively in bakery products, is healthy.

Rising Popularity Of Coffee Shops

Coffee consumption and trend is undergoing a rapid change resulting in the rise in growth of café chains. Several individual coffee shops have also proved popular. The popularity of cafes has been on the rise due to various reasons. India has become a popular destination for several coffee chains due to the increasing demand from the populace. This, in turn, has encouraged several entrepreneurs to venture into this field. Ashok Malkani examines the reasons for the growing popularity of cafes and tries to enlighten an enterprising businessman seeking to venture into this field on the pros and cons of café business.

Shape of Your Cake

As a consumer different shapes of cakes attract diverse individuals. While some individuals are happy to play around with flavours and icing, they remain faithful to the regular shape of round or square cakes. Shape of the cake still draws attention and if it was a mundane pineapple cake, some would rather take a slice from a guitar shape cake, or indeed the one shaped like a teddy bear, as compared to a plain round or square!

Packaging Bakery Products

Packaging is a priority for all processed foods. Attractive packaging helps the food to move off the shelves. But in the case of bakery products the packaging has to take several factors into consideration. The bakery products could get rancid or soft due to water vapour, and thus the packaging has to ensure that the water vapour neither enters the packaged products nor does it escape from it. There are several forms of packaging material used for biscuits and breads, based on various factors.

Mixing Intelligence with Dough

The liberating forces of machines have always been celebrated, and could never be overstated. For a business enterprise, machines with advanced technology perform two principal functions of saving labour costs and time consumption.

Just Doughnuts

Like everything else in this continually changing world, the Indian bakery industry is also changing. Thankfully, many of these changes are in the right direction. One of the welcome new-age features of this expanding and evolving Indian bakery industry is the growing popularity of doughnuts, which are often called donuts.

Aromatic Plants in Desserts

An herb is a plant that is appreciated for essence, aroma, or other intrinsic worth. Herbs are used in cooking, baking, as linctuses, and for pious functions. Gastronomic herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that, like spices, they are used in small amounts and provide flavour rather than substance to food.

Sweets for the Season

It is the festive season. Time to present and consume sweets! Diwali the festival that reminds one of victory of good over evil, right over wrong, also witnesses the exchange of sweetmeats among the happy celebrants. However, sweets or mithais are slowly being replaced by bakery products like cup cakes, cookies, biscuits, chocolates, et al. Ashok Malkani finds that there are various reasons for this. The shift in preference for bakery products over sweetmeats, could be attributed to, among other factors, people becoming more diet conscious. The trend definitely seems to be towards gifting of bakery products.

Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates Unveils Fabelle Finesse

Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates, the homegrown luxury chocolate brand from ITC Ltd., acclaimed for creating unparalleled chocolate experiences, introduces Fabelle Finesse the world's finest chocolate, crafted in India.

Speciality Workshop by Euro Foods

As the world is rapidly changing, there has been a paradigm shift when it comes to food preferences and eating habits.

Devyani Launches its 1,000th Outlet

Devyani International Limited (DIL), the fastest growing quick-service restaurant (QSR) operator in India, announced the milestone opening of its 1,000th outlet.

Slow Burger Opens in Bandra

After launching The Bandstand Pantry, Ranji Trophy Cricketer Sinan Kader is ready to take it slow when it comes to burgers.

AAKAR 2022

AAKAR 2022 will be held during August 1214, 2022 in hall 2-3-4-5 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

India Bakery Expo (IBE)

The 5th edition of India Bakery Expo (IBE) has been scheduled during September 9-11, 2022 at Chennai Trade Centre. IBE will be purely a B2B Trade Fair.

Ragi Is Right For Bakeries

Ragi or finger millet is native to the Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands. It arrived in India around 2000 BC. Ragi is a drought tolerant crop, though a moderate rainfall is conducive to its cultivation. The heat tolerance level of finger millet is also impressive. In India, Ragi is generally grown in the Himalayan region.

Monsoon, The Season for Te(a)totaler

Step aside, Coffee and Coca Cola, Tea is the most popular beverage in the world. With the rains lashing down on despondent people travelling to their offices, a refreshing cup of tea is ideal for overcoming cold and tiredness. Tea, today, is not just black or green but is available in various forms which help you maintain your health. Ashok Malkani examines the beneficial effects of different varieties of this nectar and how each variety can be prepared to give you an enhanced exquisite experience.

Positive by Instinct to Face Challenges!

Chef Abhinav Singh, Pastry Chef, Hyatt Regency Dehradun

Starting a Bakery

Running a bakery is a creative and challenging business, whether be it a stand-alone bakery, a retail bakery chain, or industrial bakery operations for that matter. However, in this feature we are concentrating on the points to be considered for the running of a start-up stand-alone bakery business.

Naturally Sweet

For quite some years, sugar has been blamed for the many health related problems that affect our lives and lifestyles.

Whipping up the Cream

Whipped cream is used as an integral ingredient in a number of a bakery items. Its main function is to whip up the products and endow them an enticing look. Whipped cream fabricates and stabilizes the cake to frost and acts as an accompaniment for icing.

Promising Growth

Mention chocolates and everyone, irrespective of their age, can start drooling. Many chocolate and other confectionery makers say that adult consumption of chocolates and candies is growing at the fastest pace in India, major corporate companies are launching new products and brands of chocolates which target the grown-ups.

Delightful Dairy Desserts

Mark Twain, after his visit to the Orient, declared: "Although there are 365 days in a year, India has 366 festivals." And each of these festivals, one may add, is celebrated with dairy desserts galore! Indians have a sweet tooth. And who can blame them? The delicious variety available is extremely difficult to resist. The delectable desserts, comprising mostly of dairy products, are tempting treats that are irresistible. The demand for these desserts has increased over the years. Ashok Malkani finds that packaged sweets have become more popular since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the pandemic.

Desserts That Will Make You Exclaim Go ManGo!

It is summer, the time when the king of fruits – Mango – makes its appearance and casts a magical spell on the entire populace, be they young or old. From children to senior citizens one finds everyone enjoying mangoes not only in its original format but also as desserts. Bakeries and F&B outlets vie with each other to create magical conceptions that will not only please the eye but also the taste buds. Ashok Malkani looks at the magical charm that mango desserts have not only in India but all around the globe. The list of desserts is endless and what is more – mangoes also have health benefits.

Probable Occupational Hazards in Bakery

Baking bread can become a dangerous career. The late and great cookery writer Margaret Costa cautioned that "Beware of making that first loaf." Bakers have to pay heed to the dangers prevalent in the small and as well as large bakeries, while working in them.

ITALMOPA Launch “Pure Flour from Europe” Campaign

ITALMOPA - the Italian Association of Millers has launched a strategic initiative to promote exports of soft wheat flour into India called “Pure Flour from Europe”. The campaign aim is to raise awareness of the versatility, high-quality, unadulterated and safe flour.