Structure builders

Structure builders are ingredients that hold the volume and shape of baked goods in place. Structure forms when these ingredients interact, building a framework that holds the product together.

Flour and eggs are the main examples, and starch and cocoa powder also count. Gluten, the protein network of wheat flour, does much of the work in breads, and gluten and egg proteins coagulate, or solidify, as they heat to give baked goods their structure.

A certain amount of structure is necessary in all baked goods, but too much causes toughening. For that reason successful formulas are carefully balanced mixtures of structure builders (tougheners), tenderizers, moisteners and driers, and a baker who raises one must adjust its counterpart. Gisslen's cake text states the principle as tougheners should balance tenderizers.