2007-01-23 21:57:50 · 8 answers · asked by jiggery_pokery 2 in Food & Drink ➔ Other - Food & Drink
That a good question to ask to a food technologist like me!
It all depend on the temperature and humidy of the air. If the air is very hot and dry, the biscuit will remain crispy, but the cake will even dry out faster. If the air is very cold and moist then the cake would probably remain moist and fresher for longer. Lets first assume the air temperature in you house is mild and humidity is not to high or not to low.
The Aw (water content) in biscuits is normally much lower than the water vapor pressure in the air surrounding it. This causes a gradient where water vapor travels from the air to the biscuit until equilibrium has been reached. Because of the extra moisture in the biscuit it is now softer and not so crispy anymore.
For cakes and breads it works differently. Breads and cakes have normally a much higher water vapor pressure than the water vapor pressure of the surrounding air and water will therefore travel out of cake or bread to the air (drying out, getting harder). This will also continue until equilibrium has been reached between the cake and the air.
Hope that make sense.
2007-01-23 22:31:57 · answer #1 · answered by The Desert Bird 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Biscuits tends to be dough with a high percentage of fat which basically fries the dough.
Yeast or levening serves to bind the biscuits, not significantly elevate their dough.
This oil and low rising condition attracts moisture in the atmosphere, if left out.
The new moisture combined with the oil keeps them soft.
Bread and cake also have a longer baking time, which further dehydrates the dough/batter.
The rising of bread and kneading, or the long beating of cake dough both incorporates air bubbles (which later dries out the dough/batter) and makes the dough hard and less permeable to asborb atmospheric moisture later, if left out.
2007-01-23 22:10:23 · answer #2 · answered by Marc Miami 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't . Biscuits get hard also. You can put them in the freezer and nuke them in microwave for quick biscuits.
For stuff like french bread at the grocery, it has holes in the plastic wrapper that makes it go stale fast. You can store in freezer until ready to use, if not using right away.
You can also add a sprinkling of water to french bread that is hard and nuke it in microwave for a few seconds and it will soften up (or break it up and use for stuffing or in soups).
2007-01-23 22:54:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
there are 2 ways of answering this.
1. because that is how you legally define what is a cake and what is a biscuit.
2. because biscuits absorb mosture from the atmosphere as they are drying than the air around them but cakes and bread, which have more mosture than the air around them, give it up and so they dry out.
2007-01-23 22:06:17 · answer #4 · answered by gerrifriend 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
My biscuits don't go soft, they dry out and get hard too.
2007-01-23 22:04:51 · answer #5 · answered by grahamma 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You know, this has bugged me a whole lot. And how come horlicks turns into taffy? and gum turns into rock? and how come I'm confessing that i'm not the tidiest person in the world?
2007-01-23 22:06:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Thats unclear there are actually more possible answers to this question..
2016-08-23 16:03:52 · answer #7 · answered by renae 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't think so
2016-07-28 07:54:40 · answer #8 · answered by Sally 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋