When it comes to baking, you should know that there are some essential basics you need to master and understand. You might be surprised to learn that many of these basics are not exactly recipes or baking strategies but information you need to consider to be a great baker. Let’s dive deeper into the world of baking and see what information you need to truly take your baking to the next level. You will see that there is a lot more to baking than many people think and there is a very scientific take to baking that a lot of people underestimate when it comes to actually getting in the kitchen behind the oven.
Following Recipes
If you’re baking for the first time you need to understand that measurements and recipes are your best friends. As you can imagine there is a little bit of chemistry involved when it comes to making proper baked goods especially since a proper ratio of flour and ingredients are required for your baked goods to have a perfect consistency. This is why if you are starting to bake you should make sure that you follow recipes to the letter for the best result. While there is a lot of room for experimentation once you are more skilled following recipes is a great way to understand what works and what doesn’t when you’re in the kitchen. While following recipes you should also make sure that you have all the ingredients since substitutions will not work in many cases since certain ingredients are required for the baked goods to have their normal consistency.
Tame Your Oven
When it comes to baking you need to understand that not every oven works the same way. That much becomes increasingly true if you are using an older model of oven which might have a few quirks. This is why using your oven often is a great way to understand how quickly it reaches its desired temperature. This might seem like a weird prerequisite when it comes to baking but the reality is that since your oven is your main means of creating baked goods you need to make sure that you understand if you need to preheat or where you need to place your baked goods inside the oven for a more uniform heat distribution. With time you will learn everything you need to know about your oven and how it bakes in the very specific ways that other ovens don’t.
Learn Your Ingredients
When you create baking mixes and baked things you will learn that many ingredients have a great potential to overpower the rest of your flavors depending on what type of products you use and if they are products made to be baked into goods. This is why you need to learn to choose the right chocolate powder for cooking while also weighing the appropriate amount of cinnamon to add to a mix without overpowering your other flavors. This becomes even more apparent when you’re dealing with fats like butter for example since it can completely change the texture and taste of your baked goods. As you bake and cook you will see many errors you make by using certain ingredients, but these are all part of the learning process which will allow you to become a great Baker in the end.
Leavening Agents
Whether you decide to incorporate yeast or elements like baking powder and baking soda in your cooking you need to understand the science between leavening agents. Many people seem to underestimate the fact that there is a lot of science going into the art of baking and understanding what makes these reagents be activated is very important since you want to properly balance the mix of ingredients to get the best result in the end. This is why you will see a lot of recipes include liquids or acidic ingredients as reagents to activate baking powders and baking soda when included in a recipe. This is a very important step to understand in baking because more often than not these baking products will not be enough to create a proper volume when it comes to lifting better and mixes. Baking is both a science and an art.
