What Makes Shortening Short?

The other day, I gave thanks it was 2016 and not 1996 when my brother-in-law wondered aloud, “Why is shortening called shortening?” I guessed it had to do with its common use in quick breads like banana bread, with the short being a reference to how long they take to make compared to yeast breads, but the real reason is far more interesting and coincidental. 

Notice it says “For Shortening”

(Cue flashback harp music here.)

Way back in the day, short was another way of saying tender. Ever eaten shortcake? Shortbread? Those pastries are tender and the short in their name told the eater what to expect. Originally, such pastries were made with butter, suet, or lard. With the advent of Crisco (1911) and the clever give away of free cookbooks (1912) filled with recipes that all used Crisco as an ingredient, shortening became the fat of choice in many pastries. 

But, why is this a coincidence? Prepare yourself for Science! Introducing fat into a flour mixture, and especially cutting in the fat rather in integrating it fully, interferes with the development of gluten, the protein of wheat which is what makes bread chewy (more on gluten later).

Every recipe in here uses Crisco, and it was free in 1912!

Pastries like biscuits and croissants are handled with extreme care to prevent the development of the gluten, lest they be chewy or hard, rather than flakey and light. So, introducing fat (the shortening!) into this kind of pastry (let’s say shortbread) interferes with the gluten and only allows it to develop short chains, rather than long chains. Which means less chewy for you!

But, shortening was called that long before we knew the chemistry of baking. Pastry chefs had centuries of empirical knowledge regarding fats, flours, yeasts, and other aspects of baking, but our understanding of the science behind it is fairly new. So, our coincidence is that shortening, which was named for an old way of saying tender can now also refer to the scientific reason for why using it makes the pastry tender in the first place!