Baking Tips (Do's & Don'ts)

This particular post is dedicated to tips on those do's and don'ts that I have personally experienced and for somethings especially baking there are no substitutions. There are a few things that can however be substituted. 

1. FOLLOW EVERY STEP!

Fist and foremost please when trying a new recipe or idea read the ingredient and instructions to the end before attempting. This may sound funny but one time I jumped into a new recipe with excitement without doing such and ended up wanting to scream. This will allow you to see if you have all required ingredients and if not a grocery trip is needed.

 2. SET OUT ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS AND UTENSILS BEFORE MIXING

Ensure you have all the requirements for the process and have them readily available so you wouldn't be going back and forth. Neglecting this element can result in chaos. 

3. MELTED BUTTER & SOFTENED BUTTER IS BY NO MEANS THE SAME

Refrigerated/Hard butter can be difficult to mix with other ingredients hence the reason most recipes require softened or what is known as room temperature butter. At this stage it is still solid but soft enough to mix. Melted butter on the other hand is butter that has been brought to a liquefied state as seen below. 


 SOFTENED BUTTER


4. ENSURE YOUR INGREDIENTS ARE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

For ingredients that would usually be stored in the refrigerator ensure you take them out before mixing 15-20 mins depending on the temperature (some days tend to be hotter than others). This is extremely vital as it ensures consistency and the end results, fluffy baked goodies!

 5. A PINCH IS AT LEAST THREE FINGERS

 Whenever a recipe calls for a pinch (salt, spices or sugar) usually dry ingredients. use your thumb index and middle finger to pick up about that much. Now if you have big hands you may want to skip the middle finger part 😄.

6. FLOUR YOUR PANS WITH THE SAME DRY MIXTURE YOU WILL BE BAKING WITH

 This tip was discovered only recently and make so much sense, I don't know why I myself never thought of it. When baking a cake that requires you to grease and flour the pan after you combine all the dry ingredients you will be using, take a small amount of that mixture to flour the pan (flour, baking powder, spices, sugar, salt) just to name a few common ones used as dry ingredients.

Any excess can be returned back into your dry ingredients bowl, this life saving tip in the world of baking will ensure you never end up with that bottom bite that tastes like plain flour.

Keep visiting the blog for more tips in the kitchen. Do you have any questions?

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