Sugar

Sugar, a seemingly simple ingredient, plays a complicated support role in the world of baking, cooking, and food preservation.

When I say sugar, you most likely immediately think of something that is used to sweeten your tea, coffee, or baked goods. But sugar is so much more than that.

Sugar adds taste, texture, stability, and color to the final product. Sugar even adds to the rising capability of those soft and tender cakes, cupcakes, and muffins.

What is Sugar?

Sugar is a generic term used to describe sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates. In the world of cooking and baking, it refers to the crystalized sucrose that we know as white and brown sugar.

Crystalized sugar, be it white or brown, is typically made from sugarcane or sugar beets. These are refined, which is a process in which granulated sugars and molasses are formed as a final product.

Granulated/White Sugar

White granulated sugar or table sugar is the most common sugar used in baking. This sugar is 99.8% sucrose and has had all of the molasses removed. It has a neutral flavor, with medium-sized, uniform crystals that dissolve fairly easily into batters.

Granulated sugar can be made from sugar beets or sugar cane.

Caster Sugar

Caster sugar (found in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) is a finer version of granulated sugar. It is also known as superfine sugar or baker's sugar.

When it comes to baking, most bakers prefer caster or superfine sugar. It can easily be used instead of granulated sugar in a recipe. However, granulated sugar cannot always be used instead of caster sugar in other recipes.

Superfine or caster sugar is a finer version of granulated sugar. This sugar is preferred when making meringues.

DIY Caster Sugar

If a recipe calls for caster sugar or superfine sugar you can make this at home by popping sugar into a food processor or blender and grinding it to a smaller sugar crystal.

Icing Sugar (Powdered or Confectioner's Sugar)

Icing sugar is granulated sugar that has been processed until it is super fine. A starch-like cornstarch or tapioca is added to the sugar to prevent the sugar from clumping together.

This sugar dissolves very easily, so it's perfect for icing, frosting, and glazes. Sometimes icing sugar is added as a sweetener to baked goods to add tenderness.

Brown Sugars

Brown sugar is basically white sugar with molasses added back to it. Globally brown sugars can be split between light and brown sugar. This just refers to the amount of molasses added to the sugar. The darker the sugar, the more molasses and therefore a deeper flavor.

Brown sugars are usually used when more flavor and softer, chewier textures are desired in the outcome.

As a general rule of thumb, light and brown sugars can be substituted for each other in recipes.

Brown sugars are also slightly acidic, which means they can activate baking soda in certain recipes.

Raw Sugar

Raw sugar is similar to brown sugar, except that this sugar hasn't necessarily been processed to white sugar first. This sugar is only partially refined, leaving some of the natural molasses content on the sugar.

Finishing Sugars

These are sugars that don't readily dissolve into batters, as the texture of these sugars can be fairly coarse larger granules. I like to use coarser sugars for sprinkling over the tops of cookies, muffins, or quick breads before baking. Examples of finishing sugars include demerara, turbinado, or coffee sugar.

Golden Syrup (or Light Treacle)

Golden syrup is commonly found in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. This syrup can be slathered onto pancakes, waffles, on a thick slice of bread with butter, and is used in a lot of baked goods.

I grew up with Golden syrup and was kind of amazed that something that was a regular old pantry ingredient in my house was not used across the world.

Golden syrup is a thick, beautiful amber-colored syrup that is essentially a by-product of the sugar refining process.

Alternatives or substitutions for golden syrup include honey or maple syrup.

Treacle and Molasses

Treacle and molasses are two similar byproducts of the sugar refining process. With molasses undergoing a longer boil time than that of treacle. Which means molasses is usually thicker, darker, with some bitterness. Treacle is lighter, sweeter, and more liquid than molasses.

Treacle and molasses can be substituted for one another in most recipes. However, I would stick to the darker treacle for a molasses substitution.

Treacle and molasses is commonly used in baked goods, sauces, glazes, marinades, etc.

What Does Sugar Do?

• It adds sweetness to a dish or baked treat.
• It enhances and elevates flavors such as cocoa.
• The sugar caramelizes at high heat which is what gives that delicious golden brown color to baked goods.
• It slows down gluten formation in wheat flour, which allows for that super soft and fine texture of muffins, cakes, and cookies.
• Sugar is hygroscopic which means it attracts water. This prevents (slows down) cakes, cookies, muffins, and other baked goods from drying out and becoming stale.
• It stabilizes the proteins in meringues and sponge cakes.
• It acts as a leavening agent when whipped into eggs and creamed into butter.