Scald
Scalding has two related meanings in cooking. Most often it means heating milk or cream until it is just below boiling, the point where tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan and a faint skin may appear on top. It can also mean plunging certain foods briefly into boiling water, close to what blanching describes, to loosen skins or halt enzyme activity.
Cooks scald milk to warm it for recipes and to change how its proteins behave, which helps custards set and yeast doughs rise well. Traditional bread and custard recipes often call for scalded milk cooled to lukewarm before mixing. Heat it gently and stir to keep it from catching on the bottom, and pull it off the heat the moment those edge bubbles appear rather than letting it come to a full boil, which can cause it to scorch or boil over.
Cooks scald milk to warm it for recipes and to change how its proteins behave, which helps custards set and yeast doughs rise well. Traditional bread and custard recipes often call for scalded milk cooled to lukewarm before mixing. Heat it gently and stir to keep it from catching on the bottom, and pull it off the heat the moment those edge bubbles appear rather than letting it come to a full boil, which can cause it to scorch or boil over.