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Baking Tips
From TipThePlanet
[edit] What is baking
Baking is, simply, a cooking technique in which dry heat is applied to a food product in a closed environment, such as an oven. During the baking process, consistent temperature is maintained to ensure proper browning and doneness.
Baking is one of the most versatile of cooking techniques because it can achieve a variety of unique results-puffy soufflés, crispy baked Potatoes, creamy casseroles and delicate pastries-using one simple but exacting method. Put together your ingredients in the right proportions, select the appropriate oven temperature, and maintain that temperature consistently throughout the baking process, and your finished result should be perfect. (If it isn't, but still tastes delicious, serve it anyway !).
Cookie baking is a good place for a beginning baker to start.
[edit] Before you start: Ten Baking Safety Checks
- Wash hands for 20 seconds (before starting, when returning to food) with warm water and soap all over hands and wrists, rinse well, and dry with a clean towel.
- Clean dishtowels. Change daily.
- Work surface and sink cleaned before, after, and as needed (sanitize with 1 teaspoon bleach added to 1 quart water).
- Eggs stored in cartons (not refrigerator door) at 40°F. (Any raw egg drips cleaned up immediately).
- Hair tied or held back.
- Raw dough or batter is not to be eaten. Dough or batter should be covered and refrigerated if not baked right away.
- Oven rack is placed where it is needed before preheating the oven. An oven thermometer should hang inside.
- Two clean, dry oven mitts or pads available by the oven.
- Counter space and cooling rack ready for hot baked good when it is removed from the oven. Make sure there is a clear traffic path to it.
- Clean containers or new Plastic bags should be used for storing baked products.
[edit] Read through the recipe & gather the ingredients, make sure all pans and equipment are clean and dry, wash & dry hands before starting.
Remember: Always read through the recipe several times and make sure that you have all of the ingredients on hand. If you need to substitute anything, you can but, unfortunately its success is a hit or miss proposition.
- A recipe is only as good as the ingredients that are used to make it !! If you put top quality ingredients into your recipe, you'll get a top quality baked good. Use only the freshest and best ones that you can buy. Use real Chocolate when making Chocolate confections. Those chocolate-flavored morsels are cheaper, and that's exactly what they taste like. Store ingredients properly.
- Check expiration dates on ingredients, and discard any expired ones. Make it a practice to check the dates on leavening, such as Yeast, baking powder and baking Soda, and anything perishable, such as dairy. Make sure any fats being used, such as butter or margarine, are not rancid. Smell and discard if any are.
- Use the pan size as specified in the recipe. You can sometimes use another size; check my handy pan substitution chart to make sure.
- Have two dry, heavy-duty oven mitts that cover your wrist and part of your forearm. Baking pans, pizza stones, etc. get very hot in the oven. The longer mitt protects your arm, especially when it touches the hot baking rack in the oven, while putting or taking a pan from it. I should have followed my own advice sooner; I have many burn scars on my forearm from accidentally touching the edge of the oven rack when reaching in to put a recipe in or to take it out. Finally, I got smart.
- Before baking, completely wash, rinse and dry the bowl, beaters, spatula, baking pans and all other utensils, including your hands. Sometimes the slightest trace of grease, dishwashing detergent, hand lotion, or Cream will keep the recipe from working. Some cake recipes, such as Angel Food, require that pans and utensils be grease-free. Whipped egg whites, an important ingredient in the recipe, can even deflate from a tiny speck of fat.
- Clean up as you go. For cleaning utensils and equipment used for making bread dough, rinse first with cold water, then switch to warm. Why? Warm water melts the dough and makes it sticky and hard to clean off. Also, avoid using plastic scour pads--once dough gets caught in the holes, and it will, the pads will never come clean again.
[edit] Pre-measure the flour & other ingredients. Use the best & freshest ones you can find. Prepare any in advance, if necessary.
- The trick to a speedy and accurate recipe is to have all the ingredients ready, pans prepared, and the oven preheated before you start. Called "Mis en Place", its a French term for pre-assembling your wet and dry ingredients. It helps so that recipes can be assembled quickly and easily and helps to prevent your leaving something out.
- Choose appropriate containers to hold your measured ingredients so you don't have to clean up as much in the end. Place flour in a medium-sized bowl if being added to or on a piece of waxed paper if adding it to a recipe. If creaming butter with Sugar, place butter in a medium-sized bowl, with sugar in a smaller bowl; add sugar to butter when directed in the recipe. Use custard cups or ramekins to hold pre-measured flavorings, leavening and ingredients present only in small quantities. Keep everything close by and handy; line up in ingredients on your work area before baking.
- Be mindful of not keeping dairy and egg products out of the refrigerator for too long because they are perishable and can spoil. Move the some of the chilled ingredients to the countertop to come to room temperature (68 to 70 degrees F--no hotter), if called for in the recipe. It takes about 20 - 60 minutes depending on how much is in one bowl or container. Pie dough and pastry recipes require well-chilled ones.
- If components of a recipe need to be prepared in advance, do so at this stage. If you keep one or two steps ahead, you will get more done in less time and it will go more smoothly. However, some steps you cannot do in advance, such as whipping egg whites, because they start deflating after 5 minutes, but the eggs can be separated beforehand and then allowed to come to room temperature. Chilled Eggs will separate more easily than room temperature ones.
- When adding dried fruit like raisins or currants to the dough make sure they are soft, not hard and shriveled. To reconstitute, pour boiling Water over them, let sit 4 to 5 minutes, and then strain. Proceed as recipe directs.
- Toast nuts so they can be cool by the time you need them (Also taste or smell nuts before using to make sure they haven't gone rancid).
- Open a Coconut and prepare its fresh meat so it's ready to use.
- Melt Chocolate or temper, then place over hot warm, stirring occasionally to keep it fluid for your recipe.
- Chop ingredients, such as nuts and Chocolate.
- Buttercream icing can be made and tinted in advance. Cover it with Plastic wrap or a damp towel so it does not crust while it waits.
- Take the time to soften chilled butter or margarine if a recipe calls for "room temperature butter" or "softened butter". If you don't want to take the time to leave an entire stick at room temperate, simply cut it into small pieces and place in a bowl to warm to room temperature. On the other hand, if a recipe specifically calls for chilled butter, like some shortbread, be aware that the butter must be refrigerated until the last minute the recipe may fail. Cut into evenly sized pieces before refrigerating for the recipe.
- Take time for eggs to come to room temperature if the recipe calls for it. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature (68 to 70 degrees F - no hotter) for 20 to 30 minutes. Twelve egg whites take about an hour. Use immediately or refrigerate.
[edit] Use the appropriately sized baking pans & properly prepare them.
- Pan sizes can sometimes be substituted, but it's always best to use the exact ones. Some recipes are better baked with glass pans, such as pies, but metal is preferred in others. Dark metal is used when making tarts and light metal is best used when making Cakes or Cookies. (For more information about pans).
- Pans are prepared in different ways depending upon the recipe, which will be specified. Generally spray pans with canola or vegetable oil spray. Optionally line the bottom of a nonstick pan with a piece of parchment or waxed paper, and spray again. Generally, I don't recommend paper muffin liners, as some batters stick to them no matter what you do. But, if you choose to use them, also spray the insides of the liners with Oil.
- For baking cookies, contrary to popular belief, shiny, nonstick and NON-insulated cookie sheets work best.I prefer the rimless ones. They encourage even browning much better than insulated sheets. If your sheets don't have a non-stick coating, generously spray or line them with waxed paper or parchment paper. Silpat Liners can also be used, but not on insulated cookie sheets. If you like to use insulated ones, don't run out to the store to buy them; you can simulate them by stacking one regular cookie sheet over another. Be especially careful when you take them out of the oven; the top sheet should come first.
- For baking pies, I prefer ovenproof glass pie plates. They distribute the heat better than metal ones, and you can look underneath to see how the crust is browning. I also prefer ovenproof glass pans for fruit-based desserts, but you can use nonstick metal ones as well. Although glass manufacturers recommend reducing the oven temperature by 25 degrees F when using their products, I never do it, and my pies and fruit desserts always turn out fine. Generously spray any ovenproof glass pans with oil or grease.
- When making cakes, the pans have to be prepared according to the type of recipe; some are greased, while others aren't, especially when making an Angel Food Cake. Light colored metal is preferred when making cakes.
- Prepare pastry bags or parchment cones, if using.
[edit] Adjust oven shelves & preheat the oven. Use an oven thermometer.
- Everyone's oven bakes differently and you need to get to know your own oven. The older ovens can be less reliable while the electric ovens tend to cook hotter and faster while gas ovens tend to cook slower.
- Before turning on the oven (conventional), adjust the rack to the position designated in the recipe. Placement of the oven rack is dependent upon the size and type of food being baked. Baked goods are more delicate and are placed toward the middle to avoid burning on the underside or topside. The exception are breads and pies, which are baked on a lower shelf in a gas oven. In an electric oven, place them on the middle shelf.
- Don't turn on the oven, yet !! First, hang or place an oven thermometer in the oven, which is a must; ovens are notoriously off, sometimes by even 50 degrees F. Some position two in the oven: in both the front of the oven as well as the back to find hot spots. Check the oven temperature to see that it matches the temperature set on the oven dial. Adjust the oven dial up or down to correct it. I keep mine in the oven at all times, as they are usually made to hang off of an oven shelf. If you don't have one, try a test cookie. If it burns easily or is underdone, the temperature may be too high or too low, or it could be from improper placement of the oven shelf.
[edit] Carefully follow each mixing step in the recipe. DO NOT Over- or Under-Mix. Each step has a purpose. Use a kitchen timer to help you keep track of how long to mix, etc.
- Be careful not to under or overbeat or mix the ingredients. Work through every step quickly because some of the ingredients, when moistened and stirred, are already at work and can be used up or deflate. For example, baking soda starts reacting immediately, and keeps on going. If left out of the oven too long, it will use up all it's "leavening power" and the recipe won't bake properly, right when it's needed. Gluten, present in wheat flour, starts forming when it is moistened and stirred; it can be good for the recipe or not, depending upon what you are making.
- Pay special attention to mixing times and techniques. Go to the Index, where you'll find every type of baked good with a step-by-step explanation of the techniques particular to it. Select any one for details. I keep a timer next to me whenever I am mixing a recipe. When it says to "knead the bread for 8 to 10 minutes", I set the timer to act as a guide; it really helps. Don't forget to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during mixing, if applicable.
- When done mixing, get the batter or dough into the prepared pans as soon as possible; the recipe will direct you. Make sure you scrape all of the batter or dough, with a rubber spatula, into the pan. You'll be surprised at how much can be left behind if you don't. After filling, get the pan into a well-preheated oven, immediately.
[edit] Don't crowd the oven & avoid opening the oven door during baking. With certain recipes, rotate pans halfway through baking.
- The more pans that are in the oven at one time, the more the batter or dough has a chance that it will bake unevenly. I like to bake with 2 or 3 pans in the oven at a time, maximum. Pans need hot air circulating freely around them, and you should allow for at least an inch clearance between them and the sides of the oven. If you need to use two shelves, don't stack pans on the shelf right above or below one another, instead stagger them.
- Avoid opening the oven door during baking because you will cause the oven heat to vary, causing problems, as well. Just as heat makes steam and Carbon dioxide expand, coolness causes contraction. Open the oven door before the crumb structure is set and a draft will burst the tiny bubbles and the cake, for example, will fall. Open only near the first suggested baking time in the recipe. For example, if a recipe says to "bake for 40 - 45 minutes", check on the recipe at about 35 minutes, by carefully and slowly opening the oven door.
- Rotate the baking pans during baking, except for cakes which should be left alone. The oven is broken up into three baking zones--the upper 1/3 of the oven, the middle 1/3 and the lower 1/3 (5 to 6 inches from the bottom of the oven). If the oven temperature is correct, the oven heats unevenly, with “hot spots. The back of the oven is hotter than the front. If baking with one pan, rotate it from front to back on the same shelf. When baking two or more pans at the same time, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. This is so the recipe will bake more evenly.
- Some pastry recipes require a pie to be baked on a baking sheet (it does not have to be nonstick) in the lower third of the oven. In a gas oven, this places the pie plate nearest the source of the heat so its bottom can bake through. In an Electric oven, place the pie in the center rack.
- When making Cookies, some people bake two sheets at a time, switching the position of the sheets halfway through baking. Place the racks in the top of the lower third and the bottom of the upper third of the oven before preheating. Stagger the cookie sheets so they are not directly on top of one another.
[edit] Pay special attention to baking times. Let your eyes, nose, as well as other indicators be your guide.
Watch out for overbaking - when in doubt, slightly undercook the recipe ! Overbaking is one of the major causes of failures, whether you are making breads, cakes, cookies or quick breads. The traditional way of testing for doneness can vary among each type of baked good
- To avoid overbaking, check for doneness at the beginning of the specified time range. A few ways to check for doneness are:
- Sometimes by just smelling, you can tell if it's done.
- Unless specified in the recipe, the top will spring back when gently pressed in the center.
- The edges will look lightly browned and are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. The top will also look browned.
[edit] When done, cool baked goods thoroughly.
- Some baked goods are meant to be eaten right out of the pan, and can be cooled in the pan on a wire cake rack. For cake and loaf recipes that require unmolding, place the pan on a wire cake rack and let it stand for 5 - 10 minutes. If a baked good is right from the oven, chances are it will fall apart or stick to the pan if taken from it too soon.
- After 10 minutes, run a dull knife around the inside of the pan to release the cake, bread or quick-bread from the sides and then invert it onto the wire cake rack to unmold. If the loaf pan has been lined with parchment or waxed paper, carefully peel it off the loaf. Turn the loaf right side up and cool completely on the rack. A few cakes and quick breads may sink slightly in the center when cooled. When they are sliced, the indentation won't be noticeable, so don't worry about it. Cool cookies on a wire cake rack.
[edit] Finishing Touches
- When serving your delicious frosted cake or even cookies, nothing gives a dessert more polish than a perfectly chosen garnish. It should be thought of as an accessory, one that enhances with the main dessert without stealing the show. Some can be simple, such as a dollop of whipped cream or more complex such as a Chocolate sculpture. In all, it's best to think creatively about your dessert and choose a tasty token that will highlight its inherent goodness from the plate to the palate.
Some possible ideas are:
- Melt chocolate and use as a decoration. Cool in sheets and break apart to make chunky abstract pieces or cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Try making chocolate curls by scraping a large hunk of chocolate with a paring knife or a vegetable peeler. Even grating a little bit of chocolate over the dessert before serving adds so much eye appeal.
- Sprinkle your dessert with Oranges, Lemon, or Lime zest or top with Candied Citrus Peel. They are made by cooking fruit pieces in a pot of simple syrup or purchased from gourmet food stores. Top Ice cream or sprinkled around the border of a plate, these edible peels encased in Sugar crystals really brighten things up.
- A properly placed sprig of mint or Lavender add color and flavor to any dessert. Whipped Cream can serve as the anchor for these natural beauties.
- Stencil a pattern with ground Cinnamon, Nutmeg, sifted cocoa powder or powdered Sugar on the top of your dessert. Even a dash adds so much color and appeal.
- Nuts, toasted, spiced, or candied, bring a welcome dimension to most every dessert.
- Edible petals, natural or crystallized, give rise to some of the most exquisite garnishes. Use Rose petals of all colors to sprinkle over the platter holding a special occasion cake. Their fragrance is unbelievable.
[edit] Store baked goods properly.
Always cool baked goods completely, on a wire cake rack, before storing. Generally, well wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in an airtight bag, baked goods can be frozen for up to 2 - 3 months, with some more or less in time. Store all cheesecakes, cream pies, whipped cream or anything perishable, well-wrapped in the refrigerator, where they will last for 2 - 3 days.
[edit] Bread Tips
Stale bread is ideal for making croutons, bread and butter pudding or breadcrumbs (these can be stored in an airtight jar or in the freezer). If you still have some left over after trying these ideas, don't forget to leave some for the birds!
[edit] Bread baking tips
Leavening
In order to rise, bread requires a leavening agent, such as yeast. This is mixed with Water and Sugar and set aside in a warm place to activate. It's ready when the mixture is frothing. The yeast mixture is then combined with flour and salt to form a dough.
Kneading
This ensures the dough will rise by lengthening the gluten strands and evenly distributing the yeast. Use both hands simultaneously in a pressing, folding and turning action until the dough is smooth and elastic. Kneading takes between five and 20 minutes, depending on the recipe.
Rising
Set the dough aside in a warm, draught-free place to rise for at least 30 minutes. Bread that hasn't had enough time to rise (or that has risen too quickly due to an excess amount of Yeast) can have a coarse texture. The dough is ready when it's at least one-and-a-half times its original size.
Punching
The dough now needs to be punched to remove any air pockets that may have developed. Simply make a fist and punch down the centre of the dough.
Proving
After forming the dough into rolls, scrolls, focaccias or loaves, you need to set it aside for a second rising (known as "proving"). When it has reached the size specified in the recipe, it's ready to bake.
