17 Apr 2020

Finalised Experiment (Tracy)


FINALISED
 EXPERIMENT

How does the history of soufflé mixture between folding the whisked egg whites into the batter and place it in the oven affect the height of soufflé?



Before cooking...
What?
Ingredients: unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, cake flour, milk, vanilla extract
Tools: electric whisker, bowls, butter brush, plastic spatula, electronic scale, oven, sieve, saucepan

Who?
I do the shopping and cooking. 

Where?
I buy all the ingredients from baking material shop. I got all the tools at home so no need to buy. 

When?
I do the experiment on 18, 19th March. 

Why?
By doing this experiment, I can investigate how the history of soufflé mixture between folding the whisked egg whites into the batter and place it in the oven affect the height of soufflé. This experiment aims to find out the best timing to do the folding and baking so as to bake a soufflé with doubled its size. 

How? 
I will do five experiments by placing the soufflé mixture in the oven at different time. The amount of ingredients in every experiment will stay the same, except the history of soufflé mixture. For the first experiment, I will pour the soufflé mixture into the ramekins and cook immediately. For the others, I will place it in room temperature for 30 minutes, 2 hours, freeze for 6 hours and 24 hours, respectively. Once the soufflé is cooked, I will use a ruler to measure its height and mark it down as a record, and thus compare the result of all experiments. 

Independent Variables
Dependent Variable
Controlled Variables
l      The history of soufflé mixture
      - cooked immediately after folding whisked egg whites
      - place it in room temperature for 
      30 minutes
      - place it in room temperature for 2 hours
      - place it in the fridge for 6 hours
      place it in the fridge for 1 day
l   The height and fluffiness of soufflé

l      The amount of butter and sugar coverage in the ramekin
l       Brand of all ingredients (butter, sugar, eggs, milk, cake flour, vanilla extract)
l     The amount of other ingredients 
l      Speed of mixing the ingredients
l      Speed of beating egg whites
l      Time of beating egg whites (until stiff peaks)
l      Speed and time of mixing all the ingredients and egg whites
l      Baking time
l      Temperature of oven
l       Volume of soufflé mixture in each ramekin
l       Size of each ramekin


While cooking...


  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. 
  2. Butter the ramekins and sprinkle some sugar into each. Place in freezer. 
  3. Separate whites from yolks and set aside until ready to use. 
  4. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, the flour, until it forms a smooth batter. 
  5. In a saucepan, scald the milk, unsalted butter and vanilla extract over medium heat. Remove from heat when everything is melted.                                                                 
  6. Slowly whisk the hot milk into the batter. Keep stirring to combine all the ingredients. 
  7. Pour the mixture into the saucepan. Cook and stir the mixture with low heat until it has thickened. Remove from heat and let it cool until lukewarm.                                                                                                                                                   
  8. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed. Add sugar at a few times. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. 
     
  9. Pour half of the whipped egg whites into the batter at a time. Gradually fold and mix them well.
  10. Divide the mixture evenly into four ramekins. Rub your thumb around the inside of the rim to create some space between the ramekin and the mixture. This will help the soufflé to rise straight. 
  11. Place the ramekins into a baking tray and bake at 190°C for 10 minutes and at 180°C for 5 minutes. 
  12. Sprinkle powdered sugar on each soufflé and serve immediately. 

I have also shot a time-lapse video during the baking process. 
It is so healing to see the soufflé rise!😍💗

          

After cooking...
Measure the height of each soufflé! 👀
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th













Analysis
1. Result


2. Trend/pattern/correlation between the history of soufflé mixture(IV) and the height and fluffiness of soufflé(DV)
By comparing the height of the five soufflés, it is obvious that the soufflé cooked immediately is the highest. In other words, it is the fluffiest. When the soufflé mixture is placed in room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking, it only caused a slight drop(4mm) between the first one. For the soufflé that had been placed in room temperature for 2 hours, the height is only 7.1cm. The height of soufflés that placed in fridge for 6 hours and 24 hours are 6.7cm and 5.6cm respectively. Based on this observation, the history of soufflé mixture influences its height and fluffiness directly. It is better to cook the soufflé once we finished the folding so as to taste a fluffiest soufflé.

The result above shows that placing the soufflé mixture for a long period of time, either in room temperature or in the fridge, will directly affect the height of soufflé. Since the soufflé mixture contains a lot of large air bubbles, they are soft and foamy which are easy to break if it has been placed for a certain period of time.


Limitations/errors
After doing the experiments, I found that those controlled variables were not really kept controlled as I made some errors.

Temperature change is always a confounding variable. The room temperature is different by seasons which will directly affect the result. Since now is spring, the room temperature is around 21°C-23°C while it could be 15°C in winter. It is important to have roughly the same room temperature in every experiment so as to minimize outside influences on the dependent variable while ensuring that the effects independent variable are the only thing being measured.

The temperature of fridge will be slightly different as well by putting the soufflé in different positions. I put the soufflés in the top and middle shelves of the fridge which are 8°C and 3°C respectively. It is hard to compare when the temperature is not the same or similar as the condition of soufflé mixture will be different.

For the measurement, I used a ruler to measure the height of soufflés which is not accurate enough. This inaccuracy of measurement might affect the result of experiment.


Improvement
In order to prevent temperature fluctuations confound the experiment, I should use a thermometer to make sure every soufflé maintains a constant temperature either in room or fridge. Since there are many air bubbles inside the foamy soufflé mixture, it is important to have a stable temperature for every experiment as it might affect the breaking of air bubbles.

For the accuracy of measurement, I should put a bamboo stick into the soufflé once it is cooked instead of just using ruler. Use a marker to mark a small dot on the bamboo stick which representing its height, and thus use a ruler to measure it.


Reference
Cooking Tree. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJYvg1NhzMQ&t=342s.
Leiths School of food and wine. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.leiths.com/how-tos/how-to-whisk-egg-whites.
Hargittai, B. (2015). Culture of Chemistry: The Best Articles on the Human Side of 20th-Century Chemistry from the Archives of the Chemical Intelligencer. New York: Springer. 
Medrich, A. (2017). Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts. New York: Dover Publications, INC. 


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