| Baking is more a science than art. Precise measurements have to be followed, from temperatures to volumes to ingredients. There is usually little room to improvise, but this means that if you can follow precise baking recipes, you can bake! Baking is a dry heat process, where heat is transferred from a pan to the food.
- Baking cakes: One of the keys to baking a cake is to use high-quality baking ingredients. Whether you are making a birthday cake, a wedding cake or simply dessert on the weekend, use fresh ingredients. Another critical component is to use exact measurements of your baking ingredients, as well as proper temperatures. Most bakers recommend that ingredients should be about 75 degrees when you start.
- Baking cookies: Use room-temperature butter and eggs. Why not make dough ahead and freeze it to bake the cookies later. Cook’s Illustrated Magazine suggests cutting out or rolling the dough into balls and freezing it on a baking sheet. When the dough has set, transfer the cutouts or balls to an airtight container and return to the freezer. Because you have already portioned the dough, you do not need to thaw it out; just add a couple of minutes to the baking time.
- Baking pans: The Home Baking Association recommends that you don't crowd the oven. Never let pans touch each other or the sides of the oven, or be placed over or under each other on the racks. You can grease pans with a paper towel by rubbing a small amount of shortening, butter or margarine evenly over the bottom and on sides of pans, if directed. Pan spray may be used instead and spread over the pan, also using a paper towel.
Baking bread: Betty Crocker offers these tips for bread-baking:
Use the loaf pan size specified in the recipe.
- To bake loaves with gently rounded tops and no “lipping” at the edges , spray or grease only the bottoms of loaf pans.
- Measure ingredients carefully to avoid coarse or crumbly texture and dryness.
- Chop or shred fruits, vegetables, and nuts before starting the batter so that batter does not stiffen.
- Keep the loaf light and allow heat to bake the bread all the way through by using the amount of fruits and/or vegetables specified in the recipe.
- Mix quick breads easily by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula . Most recipes don’t require an electric mixer.
- Cool quick bread completely before slicing. Cutting while warm causes crumbling.
- For easiest cutting, store bread, tightly covered, for 24 hours.
- Use a sharp, thin-bladed knife and a light sawing motion to cut cleanly through the loaf.
- After cooling, wrap loaves tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to three months.
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