Baking and Baked Goods Quiz

Question: French for “pastry cream,” what type of custard is used to fill an éclair?

Answer: Éclairs are traditionally filled with crème pâtissière, or pastry cream.

Question: Cinnamon sugar is an integral part of which baked good?

Answer: The snickerdoodle is a cookie rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Question: What is the main ingredient in meringue, which makes it light and fluffy?

Answer: Meringue is made by whipping egg whites with sugar.

Question: What measure is equivalent to 3 teaspoons in the U.S. and U.K. and 4 teaspoons in Australia?

Answer: A teaspoon is roughly equivalent to 5 milliliters in all three countries; in the U.S. and the U.K., a tablespoon is 15 milliliters, but in Australia it is 20 milliliters.

Question: From southern France and often shaped like an ear of wheat, fougasse is a type of what?

Answer: Fougasse is a type of bread associated with the Provence region of France. This kind of bread originated in ancient Rome and developed into fougasse in France and focaccia in Italy.

Question: Which of these grains does not contain gluten?

Answer: Despite its name, buckwheat is not actually related to wheat. It contains no gluten.

Question: Moon cakes, eaten during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, often include what at their center to symbolize the full moon?

Answer: The most common filling for traditional moon cakes is lotus paste with a salted duck egg yolk in the center.

Question: Which of these liquids can be combined with baking soda to become a leavening agent?

Answer: Chemically, baking soda is a base. For it to make the bubbles necessary for leavening, it needs to be paired with an acid, such as buttermilk. Egg whites are another base, and vegetable oil and water are neither.

Question: Ceramic beads or dry beans are used as weights during what baking technique?

Answer: Blind baking refers to baking a pie crust or other pastry without any filling. The crust is often filled and then baked again briefly. This is because some crusts take longer to bake than their fillings. Using weights in the crust helps it retain its shape.

Question: Because they are said to have a similar shape, choux pastry’s name comes from the French word for what vegetable?

Answer: Portions of choux pastry dough puff up when baked and resemble heads of cabbage. The term comes from the French pâte à choux, literally "pastry in the form of cabbages."