Do you tell people that you can’t bake?  But you really wish you could?  If you can read - you can bake!  It’s that simple.  Of course if you are a beginner baker I wouldn’t recommend starting with the Christmas cover recipe from Bon Appétit.  Start small, with a recipe with a few simple ingredients.  Then read and follow the instructions – it’s that simple!  No – it doesn’t always come out perfectly, but you’ll learn something and make it better next time. 

Baking is one of my ways of showing love to my family.  Plus it is much more nutritious to make homemade cookies than to serve chemical laden ones from a package.  Those are fine once in a while but I keep them in moderation. 

I love it when I get in the kitchen, put on some good music, crack open the cookbook and all of a sudden I am totally relaxed.  I am in the cooking zone – I am not thinking about laundry or bills or yard work, I am totally into the sights, smells and textures of the food.  First they are all separate, and then they slowly come together, add some heat and before you know it your family is enjoying a homemade treat made of love.  Yes sometimes a dessert that I will make for a special Sunday dinner will be elaborate and take a while to make it –only to be gobbled up in a few minutes….but it is so worth it, the taste of home baked treats and knowing they are eating healthy is worth the effort any time! 

Here are a few of my Baking Tips

• 1. Take your time to properly preheat the oven – don’t rush it!  Use an oven thermometer, as ovens can vary by up to 50 degrees.
• 2. Read through the entire recipe before you start.  Follow the recipe exactly. 
• 3. Use the best quality ingredients. They’ll produce better tasting cookies and cakes.
• 4. Properly store ingredients.  During my Christmas baking season I even replace the baking soda and baking powder to know I am starting with the freshest possible.
• 5. Always use large eggs at room temperature.  If you forget to leave them out – put them in warm water for a few minutes to bring them up to room temp.
• 6. Use unsalted butter as most recipes add salt based on you using unsalted butter.
• 7. I only use pure extracts of vanilla or almond – not imitation, as they taste like alcohol. 
• 8. Successful baking is not like cooking – it’s based on science, so be sure to measure accurately.
• 9. Measure dry ingredients like flour, in a straight sided measuring cup – Not a glass measuring cup for liquid.
• 10. Measure liquid ingredients in see-through measuring cups at eye level.
• 11. You don’t need to sift flour unless the recipe specifically says to do so.
• 12. It helps to fluff the flour with a fork and then measure the flour, and skim off the excess with the back of a knife.
• 13. Do not overmix and do not overbake.  When making cakes – run your mixer or handheld on low.  Too much air mixed in can ruin the batter.
• 14. For easy pie crust use almost frozen cubes of butter, ice water and mix in a food processor – then transfer to a board to roll out. 
• 15. Unless you are baking with non-stick cookie sheets, use a Silpat or parchment paper for stick-free baking and easy clean-up.
• 16. Chill dough for cut-out cookies for the time the recipe requires. Then soften it up at room temperature for a few minutes before rolling out.
• 17. Leave about two inches of space between cookies so they don’t spread into each other.
• 18. Adjust baking times to achieve the perfect cookie texture you are looking for. A little less time produces chewier cookies; a little more time makes them crispy.
• 19. For homemade brownies or blondies be sure to bake them in the pan size as indicated in the recipe.
• 20. For cake and loaf recipes that require unmolding, place the pan on a wire cake rack and let it stand for 10 minutes. Then unmold.
• 21. Cool cookies and cakes completely before decorating.
• 22. To smooth out frosting on cake, start by making homemade butter-cream frosting, and refrigerate cake after it’s frosted for a few minutes.  Then dip an offset spatula in a cup of warm water, dry off and then smooth out the bumps.
• 23. Place sprinkles on cakes immediately after frosting, before the frosting sets, otherwise they’ll fall off. 

Enjoy all those homemade treats!

 -Helping you achieve your Domestic Success!

Tags: baking cakes, baking cookies, baking tips, can't bake, tips for baking

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 21st, 2010 at 5:58 am and is filed under Chill'n in the Kitchen!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.