Q: We added a small coffee shop to our bakery. While we trained our servers, we want to make them aware of allergy concerns. Do you have any trick we can use to remember the menu items we should caution our customers about?
A.G., McLean, Va.

A: Most allergies can be attributed to eight items: tree nuts, peanuts, dairy products, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish and soybeans. A simple memory device will assist your staff in remembering the “big eight.”

Never (nuts)

Prepare (peanuts)

Menus (milk)

Without (wheat)

Explaining (eggs)

Food (fish)

Components (crustaceans/shellfish)

to Servers (soybeans)

Q: We recently added artisan bread production to our cake shop. What is autolyse, and what is the reason for doing it?
A.A., La Mirada, Calif.

A: Autolyse is a technique in which flour and water are briefly mixed and allowed to rest for up to 30 minutes before the kneading process. This helps improve the dough-handling qualities throughout the bread making process. When water and flour are combined, gluten forms in a random, disorganized matrix that is very weak. As the dough is kneaded, the disorganized bonds are pulled apart and reattached into straight, strong, orderly sheets. The autolyse step reduces kneading time by allowing enzymes in the dough to break down disorganized bonds of gluten. Autolyse helps the gluten form a stronger, more organized network with less kneading and results in a slightly higher dough yield, due to the absorption of additional water by the flour.

Q: What flour do you recommend we use for making croissant dough?
D.A., Boston

A: I achieve very good results with unbleached, unbromated bread flour with 11.2 percent to 12.2 percent protein and about 0.5 percent ash content.

Q: What conversion should we use when using dry whole eggs to make liquid whole eggs?
Keryn, via e-mail

A: I normally use 25 percent dry whole eggs and 75 percent water to get the equivalent of liquid eggs. For example, 250 g dry whole eggs and 750 ml water or 4 ozs. dry whole eggs and 12 ozs. water.

Advantages of genoise

Q: What is the advantage of making a genoise?
Rosalinda, via e-mail

A: Genoise — French butter sponge cake or European sponge cake — uses the whole egg method. The genoise uses whole eggs instead of separated eggs (sponge) and contains butter, which makes a very flavorful and tender cake. It is not as sweet as the sponge cake because it contains less sugar. It can be dry, so syrup is sometimes used to moisten the cake layers for a soft and tender crumb. The syrup also adds flavor. Additional flavorings can be added to genoise batter, such as extracts, liqueurs, citrus zest and finely ground nuts.

Q: Should eggs be cold or at room temperature when used in baking?
A.W., Ayr, N.D.

A: Cold eggs are easier to separate, but room temperature eggs give more volume when beaten. Therefore, separate the eggs when they are cold, and then cover the egg whites and yolks with plastic wrap, which prevents them from drying out. Bring them to room temperature before using.

Q: What is the difference between yellow cake and white cake?
S.B., Omaha, Neb.

A: Yellow cakes are made with whole eggs, which give them their yellow color and their name. White cakes are made with egg whites, hence the white crumb color. Additionally, several other ingredients vary, such as sugar, shortening and emulsifier levels.

Q: During our laminating process of croissant dough, the butter does not spread uniformly. How do we achieve uniform spreading?
Kenneth, via e-mail

A: If the dough is too cold during the laminating process, the butter chills, which prevents it from spreading. The dough should be kept at about 64°F (18°C) to ensure an even distribution of the fat.

Q: We bake cakes from scratch, but the cakes collapse during baking. What causes this?
E.B., Northbrook, Ill.

A: Fallen/collapsed cakes can have several causes. Make sure that the cakes are not under-baked with too short of a baking time. Additionally, too much or too little liquid can cause cakes to collapse. Make sure that the cake pan is appropriately sized for the amount of batter. A pan that is too small, which makes the batter too deep, results in fallen cakes. Also, do not move or jar the cakes before the batter is sufficiently set.