Top Ten Tips - Baking Basics
By Tip Diva | Mar 20, 2008
Categories: Activities, Appliances, Cleaning, Creativity, Difficulty, Eating, Food, Grocery, Hobbies, Home, Household, Kitchen, Shopping, Stores, Supermarket, Tips, Websites
Baking is fun and, ultimately, delicious. But if you’ve never been in front of an oven before, there are some tips that you should know before mixing your sugar and flour:
- Know Your Altitude - Most people don’t have to bother with altitude, but if you live high above sea level, your location will affect baking temperature and ingredient measurements. Here’s a good guide by Lauren Danver on high altitude baking.
- Have Proper Measuring Tools - A drinking glass does not count as a cup, nor does your cereal spoon count as a teaspoon. Make sure you buy proper measuring tools, which are quite affordable and can be found in the baking aisle of your supermarket or any housewares store.
- Know Kitchen Basics - Make sure you have the right gadgets and know basic tricks and terminology.
- Have All Of Your Ingredients - There’s nothing like getting through half of the recipe and realizing you have no eggs. Make sure you have all of your ingredients beforehand so you don’t have to make an extra trip (or two) to the store.
- Know Ingredient Substitutions - Sometimes either you or a store runs out of essential ingredients - but that doesn’t mean you have to stop baking. There are many substitutions you can make for common ingredients.
- Follow Recipes Carefully - If you don’t, your final product may not turn out the way you want it to be. So, do not take shortcuts or eliminate ingredients unless you are very sure it will not affect your baking.
- Experiment - Instead of chocolate chips, try butterscotch chips. Instead of almonds, try walnuts. Instead of vanilla extract, try almond. The possibilities are endless, and you never know what you may end up with.
- Make Sure You Time Your Baking - Don’t guess how long your baking should be in the oven. Use a kitchen timer or stopwatch - preferably something that beeps or rings. Don’t rely on watching the clock, because any distraction, such as TV or Internet surfing, can lead to burned food. If your food is not done when the timer rings, keep checking in three-minute increments.
- Make Sure Your Food Is At Optimal Temperature - When you take your food out of the oven, make sure you serve it hot or let it cool, depending on what recipes call for. Sure, you may like warm chocolate cake, but it’s likely to fall apart when you ice it.
- Clean Up Your Mess Promptly - The faster you clean up your mess, the easier it will be. Dried-out food is much harder to get off of pans and cookware.
Other Tips To Check Out:
Thanks for the great tips. I still need to work on the cleaning up afterwards part and be better about my timing. Your tips inspire me to try to be a better baker!
White On Rice - I force myself not to eat the cake until the cleaning is done. You’ll be amazed how fast you spiffy up the kitchen if chocolate is calling your name ;)