Baking is an art, which looks easy but can get overwhelming once you start. But the taste and aroma of freshly baked bread, cakes, and cookies are sure to give you enough reasons to keep trying until you master the skill. While you will gradually get better with your measurements and timing as you practice, the first few times can be tricky. Still, you can turn to mommy for some help if she is an expert. Alternatively, we have some healthy baking tips that can be useful for every newbie who wants to create the fluffiest cakes and flavorful cookies.
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians
Read through the recipe thoroughly
This one is a no-brainer but probably an area where most new chefs go wrong. The best piece of advice for the beginners is to take a few minutes extra for reading the recipe thoroughly. It is all the more important if you are planning to try a recipe with multiple ingredients as you wouldn’t want to fall short of eggs or creams right in the middle of mixing the batter. Go through the key points like temperatures and techniques as well.
Be extra careful with measurements
While baking is an art, it also has a scientific element when it comes to measurements. An ounce more or less can ruin the taste and texture of the dish, so you need to be extra, extra careful about the measurements. If you are serious about baking, a kitchen scale is a smart investment. Buy the right cups and spoons because you may need to measure by volume rather than weight while whipping up some recipes.
Invest in the right bakeware
If you plan to bake often, you cannot just stick to the good old tray that came with your oven, and investing in the right bakeware makes sense. You can pick ones of commercial-grade because they come coated with specialized material to prolong the life of the dish. You can learn more about the coating purposes for bakeware to understand how these utensils can make a difference. Buy a few shapes and sizes in dishes so that you have something for every recipe you want to try.
Learn the techniques
Baking is all about techniques, right from how you fold the ingredients together to the way you pour the batter in the dish. If you are cooking a low-fat recipe, avoid over-mixing the ingredients because you may end up with hard cookies or a tough-textured cake. Also, learn the pre-heating techniques because you shouldn’t put the batter straightaway into a cold oven. While you should follow the recipe carefully, you may need to apply common sense with temperatures because different ovens deliver different levels of heat. So checking the dish halfway through enables you to determine the optimal cooking time for your dish.
Although baking requires some learning and lots of creativity, it is easy to master if you pay attention to detail. Just be patient and consistent with your efforts, and you will be able to create the most delicious dishes eventually.
