While more and more people are spreading the word about how sugar is unhealthy, and why it is important that you reduce your sugar intake, there are some who know that sugar is still important. In baking, sugar plays an integral role. It plays not only the role of sweetener but of other things as well.
When you say that a baked item is sugar-free, don’t assume that it is not sweet. It still is, but with the use of a sweetener that is not necessarily considered sugar (although some are just sugar that comes from a different source). You may notice however that some sugar-free baked items do not have some of the same properties and qualities of those made with sugar, and that is because sugar does not act only as a sweetener, as we mentioned earlier.
One thing sugar does is add texture to what you are baking. The kind of sugar you use also helps dictate what kind of resulting texture your baked product will have. This is why some recipes require you to use not just one kind of sugar when you bake.
An example of this is a chewy inside but crispy outside cookie. This occurs due to the use of brown and white sugar in the same recipe. The chewy texture can be credited to the use of brown sugar while the crispy texture is due to the presence of white sugar.
Aside from crispy/chewy results, sugar also helps make your baked items moist. This is due to the fact that sugar can aid in the absorption and retention of water in what you are cooking. Sugar also helps keep moisture at the right level when it comes to the creation of dough. This, in turn, helps keep gluten at a manageable level, which helps to keep bread and other dough-based baked items soft and not tough.
Apart from these effects, you will also find that sugar actually helps give food added color. This is because of the chemical reactions that sugar goes through when it is heated. Take for example the transition of white granulated sugar from its crystalline white form to the reddish-brown goodness of caramel when it is heated. This is why baked items take on a golden brown hue.
The kind of sugar you use in baking also has an effect on how your item looks and tastes. If you use brown sugar, for example, you will get more of a molasses and earthy taste in your product as opposed to when you simply use white sugar. White sugar will give you a clean crisp taste that will allow the other flavors in the baked item to shine through clearly.
