American (pastry)
An American is a fine baked product made from flour, sugar, egg and fat, as well as milk or water. As a leavening agent is ammonium bicarbonate or ammonium carbonate or baking powder used. The loosening agent ammonium hydrogen carbonate gives the pastry its typical flavor.
preparation
The soft mass is placed on greased and floured trays . After baking, a thick sugar glaze ( fondant ) is applied to the underside with a palette . Variants with a cocoa-based fat glaze or a combination of both are also offered.
etymology
There are various assumptions about the origin of the name "Americans" :
- The name is derived from ammonium hydrogen carbonate, the raising agent used in the baked goods ,
- The name is derived from the shape of the Brodie helmet used by the US Army in World War I.
The origin of the name is not clearly proven, but there are literature references in Germany from the time before the Second World War.
In the GDR , the term American was frowned upon by some. The pastry was then referred to as ammonium cookies .
literature
- Walter Krämer , Wolfgang Werner Sauer : Lexicon of popular language errors. Misunderstandings, wrong thinking and prejudices from Altbier to cynics . Piper, Munich / Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-492-25073-3 .
Web links
- What Does Ammonia Have To Do With Americans? on Prof. Blum's educational server for chemistry (Uni Bielefeld)
Individual evidence
- ^ IREKS Arkady Institute for Bakery Science (ed.): IREKS ABC of the bakery. 4th edition. Institute for Bakery Science, Kulmbach 1985.
- ↑ Peter Honnen : Everything cocoa? Words and word stories from the Rhineland. Greven Verlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7743-0418-5 , p. 10.
- ↑ Martin Ahrends: Trabbi, Telespargel and Tear Pavilion. The dictionary of the GDR language. Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-45302-357-9 , p. 18, online at Books.Google.de, accessed on December 24, 2018.