Tag: baking

Basic Baking Equipment

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date July 11, 2017

In yesterday’s post, I promised that today I would provide you with a list of the basic pieces of baking equipment you’ll need to start off in your baking adventures. So here is what I consider the bare minimum, plus a few handy “druthers.”

Measuring Cups and spoons

Your baked goods come out much better when you are able to carefully measure the ingredients. You’ll need a basic set of measuring cups that include 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 cup measurements. If you’re lucky, you can find one that includes a 2/3 and 3/4 cup measurement, as well.

Your measuring spoon set should include 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon and 1 Tablespoon.

For extra credit, get yourself a straight icing spatula to make sure your measurements are level.

And finally, you’ll want a glass measuring cup to measure liquid ingredients.

Baking pans

A basic set of baking pans will include:

A 9 x 13 pan, which is good for sheet cakes
A jellyroll pan or cookie sheet. A jellyroll pan has a side on it and can be used to bake cookies, jelly rolls, and brownies. A simple cookie sheet is flat and can be used to bake cookies, as well as some bread and pizza.
A bread loaf pan
A cake pan
A muffin pan

Sometimes sets will include a pie pan, as well.

Now you purchase all of these items separately and create your own set. However, I recommend that when you’re just starting out with baking equipment, you get a set until you know what you like to work with. Sets are often less expensive than purchasing separate items.

Mixing Equipment

You will definitely need a set of wooden spoons. You can probably get a decent enough set at your local dollar store. Buy new ones regularly — about once a year if you use them a lot; once every other year if you don’t.

You should also invest in a good hand mixer. A standing mixer is nice, but you can get by with just a hand mixer. You really don’t want to have to beat your ingredients with just a wooden spoon!

You’ll also need a rubber scraper to scrape ingredients from the sides of the bowl. Again, you can probably get a decent set at your dollar store.

Mixing Bowls

You’ll need a set of mixing bowls in a variety of at least two, if not four, sizes. You’ll use the large mixing bowl the most, but a medium and small bowl is great for when you need to mix dry ingredients separately from wet ingredients.

Cooling Racks

You’ll need a cooling rack to help your cakes, cookies and other baked goods cool off before you serve them. There are some that are single stack, others that are multi stack. You just need a basic one but feel free to go fancy with the stacked options if you think you’ll be baking a lot of cookies.

Advanced Baking Equipment

Well, there you have it! Those are all the basic items you’ll need to get started with baking. Now if you want to get a bit more fancy, here are few more advanced baking equipment items you might want to put on your wish list.

Standing Mixer

Image source: Wikimedia Commons [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0]

Sometimes holding that hand mixer gets tiring, especially when you have to hold it with one hand while turning the bowl with the other. With a standing mixer, you don’t have to hold the mixer for however many minutes you need to mix. It also turns the bowl for you. This not only takes less of your energy but also frees you up to do something else (like preparing the next ingredient) while your batter is mixing.

My favorite brand in KitchenAid, but there are other brands that are high quality, as well.

Specialized Baking Pans

Besides your basic cake and pie pan, you might want to expand your reportoire to Bundt cakes (my favorite!) and tarts.

Bundt pans come in a variety of shapes, but for a beginner you’ll want the traditional one. You can’t go wrong with Nordic Ware’s Bundt pans, but there are other options.

The difference between a pie pan and a tart pan is in the sides. A pie pan’s sides are sloped, a tart pan’s are not. Also, a tart pan’s sides are often fluted.

Specialty Baking Pans

It can be a lot of fun to bake “mini” versions of muffins, sweet bread, and Bundt cakes. You can also bake cakes in fancy shapes. If there’s a niche interest, there’s probably a cake pan to go with it! You can find these types of pans in your local Michael’s or hobby store, as well as on Amazon — basically wherever you can find Wilton brand baking supplies.

Other Helpful Accessories

There are other things that can make baking easier, but you probably won’t use them a lot. So I’ll just list them here:

Parchment paper: You can sometimes use wax paper as a substitute. This paper is used to line pans so that what you are baking won’t stick.
Cupcake/muffin tin liners: These come in pretty colors and patterns. You can find them made of paper (one-use only) or silicone (re-usable). I’ve posted some examples below. They prevent your cupcakes and muffins from sticking and make them looks pretty, too.
Rolling pin: This is used when baking pies or fancy-shaped cookies
Cookie press: This is needed for certain types of cookies and allows you to make some pretty fancy shaped cookies
Pie crust shield: You can prevent pie crusts from burning by covering them with aluminium foil or one of these.
Silcone baking mats: Like parchment paper, they help baked goods not stick to the pan. You can also use them as a surface for rolling and kneading.

I hope this simple guide to baking equipment is helpful. It is not comprehensive but is a good place to start. If you still have questions, feel free to post them in a comment below and I’ll answer to the best of my ability.

Tags baking, baking accessories, baking equipment, baking tools

Cooking Techniques

How to Overcome a Fear of Baking and Learn to Love It

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date July 10, 2017

I LOVE baking! I love eating baked goods. I’ve been trying my hand at baking since I was about three years old. So, imagine my surprise when I learned that there are people who are afraid of baking!

For some reason, baking is one of the least common kitchen skills. Most people will learn to cook with the stove, fry things, and even use the oven to bake lasagnas or potatoes, but not how to bake cakes, cookies, and bread.

A lot of this has to do with how precise baking is. You need to measure out the wet and dry ingredients exactly, and you need to buy a lot of special items that you usually won’t use for other recipes. For example, cream is rarely ever used outside of cakes (unless you’re making some kind of creamy pasta sauce) and it takes a lot of patience and storage area to become a successful baker.

Public Domain image from Pixabay

As a result, it can sometimes become a daunting thing to learn and we simply don’t have time for it. After all, if we can just go to a store and buy a cake that would otherwise take a lot of effort and time, why should we bother learning how to bake? Stores and bakeries will do it better than us, and it can be a little harder to learn than other types of cooking.

However, learning to bake is a great way to boost your confidence in the kitchen. As it turns out, the preciseness of baking isn’t absolutely required. Even when something fails you (usually) get something that is still perfectly edible. For example, I once made a chocolate torte for my father. It used whipped egg whites for leavening. However, at the time, I had no idea that there were different sized eggs. My father had purchased medium sized eggs, and when recipes refer to eggs, they assume large eggs. So I didn’t compensate and the resulting torte did not rise. It was tasty — but not light and fluffy as it was supposed to be.

In contrast, if you under or overcook pasta, meat or vegetables, then you usually get an unpleasant texture and a pile of mess that isn’t very nice. Baking also becomes smooth and easy once you get the basics down. You can easily make your own recipes, adjust how sweet something is, and share your creations with friends and loved ones.

So to help you overcome any fear of baking you may have, here are a couple of simple tips, tricks, and pieces of advice.

Public domain image from Pixabay

Practice patience when you start baking

Patience is key when baking. Make sure you give yourself some time to prepare the ingredients and bake because the entire baking process is going to take a long time. And mixing everything will eat up a good chunk of your time and energy. Try to clear your schedule so there’s nothing planned after baking. You don’t want to feel like you’re being rushed and you need to reserve some time to have a second attempt if the first one doesn’t quite go as planned. An empty house is best so that you don’t get family members or roommates staring at you while you work.

Try simple recipes

There are plenty of simple recipes. Some (funnily enough) don’t require baking at all, but they result in delicious cake-like creations. This might seem counter-intuitive since you’re not actually baking, but the idea of making something like a cake and measuring out the exact ingredients is good practice for both your skills and your confidence.

There are also brownies you can make with very few ingredients, and there’s always the option of making an icebox cake if you really want to cut down on cooking effort. Simple recipes are a great way to get something delicious in a short amount of time. The boost of confidence it gives when you share your creations with friends and family is fantastic, and it will go a long way to helping you become more skilled at baking.

Buy the right baking equipment

Equipment in baking is important. You’ll need a variety of tools, such as food processors, mixers, pans, trays and even thermometers. Scales are also incredibly important due to how precise baking can be. You’ll need to measure out exact amounts of ingredients, and nothing accomplishes this as fast as kitchen scales. If you’re baking, you’re also going to need an oven. While most kitchens come equipped with an oven, many people see it as the main wall to overcome when learning how to bake. This is because the oven can get extremely hot or it might be located in a place that isn’t very comfortable to reach due to an injury or disability. This review can give some valuable information about the Wolf Gourmet Countertop oven which is perfect for anyone who wants a more stable, controlled and convenient oven to bake with. It sits on your countertops much like a toaster or a microwave, and it works almost the same way as a regular oven except you won’t need to bend down and kneel on the floor in order to get something in and out of the oven.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’ll post a list of the basic tools you’ll need when baking.

Image Credit

Follow recipes properly

There’s nothing worse than thinking you know better than the recipe you’re following. At least while you’re learning, don’t substitute any kind of ingredients because you won’t know what you’ll end up with. It’s possible to do it as an experiment, but try your best to stick to a recipe and follow it carefully. Make sure your measurements are accurate, ensure the temperature of your oven is set to the right heat and don’t neglect to re-read important sections in the recipe to ensure you get the best results possible. Do things in the order they are written and pay attention to what the recipe asks for you to do. For example, if the recipe says to save some chocolate, then save that chocolate. If it asks you to mix, then you mix and you don’t fold — there is a difference!

Share your creations

Baking will always create portions that are larger than what a single person can eat — so why not share them? As mentioned before, it’s a fantastic way to boost your confidence and collect feedback on how you did. Some people might not like your creations, others might love them, but the mixed response and feedback you receive (as long as it’s constructive) will go a long way in helping you become a better baker.

Get over your fear of baking and learn to share your creations with people to make them smile. It’s a good source of motivation and it can be a lot of fun.

Tags baking, fear of baking

Cooking Techniques

Baking on a Budget

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date February 1, 2017

Baking brings up so many wonderful memories for me. There is something wonderful about the smell of freshly baked … well, anything filling up the room. Cookies, sweet breads, yeast breads, you name it. And the best thing about baking at home is that you can create fantastic treats on a budget. Here are some tips for baking at home on a budget while also making your sweets taste and look professional.

Saving with Baking Ingredients

Buy in bulk. Get ingredients like cocoa powder, rolled oats, flaked coconut, nuts and spices in bulk. These ingredients are easy to store and have a longer shelf-life.

Don’t be afraid to use things that are about to spoil. Do you have some bananas which are past their edible state? Use them in some banana bread. Do you have some leftover cooked rice? Turn it into rice pudding. Even leftover mashed potatoes can be used in your baking by making potato fudge.

If you have bananas about to turn but don’t want to make banana bread or muffins, freeze the bananas peel and all so you can use them for baking in the future.

Use your pantry. Just the basics from your pantry can be transformed into a great sweet treat. Here’s where you can be creative. Look at what you have in your pantry and refrigerator, look for recipes on the internet that use some of those ingredients and you’ll have a home-baked treat in no time!

For example, some peanut butter and brown sugar give you the basis for a peanut butter cake. Add some oats, flour, baking soda, shortening, egg, vanilla and chocolate chips and you’ve got what you need. Or what about peanut butter cookies that don’t even need flour? Just add some egg and vanilla and you’ve got a simple peanut butter cookie. Do you have some canned pineapple and some raw carrots? Then you can make a Pineapple Carrot Cake.

Use substitutions made from ingredients you do have. For example, if you don’t have buttermilk for a recipe, you can make your own sour milk (a good substitution for buttermilk) by pouring a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in a cup of regular milk. Let it sit for a few minutes. Check online for more substitutions when you’re missing an ingredient.

Use seasonal foods. During the fall and winter months when apples are in season, use them in your baking. Don’t forget pumpkin! You can get a lot of tasty sweet treats in the fall and winter out of pumpkin. In the summer, adding strawberries to things makes for a tasty treat. An angel food cake with strawberries is divine. Think strawberry shortcake — either traditionally with biscuits (you always have Bisquick on hand, right?) or with a quickly baked yellow cake (buy boxes at your local dollar store and keep them for last-minute treats).

Budget Baking Technique

Save energy. If you don’t need a huge amount of cookies, then use the toaster oven instead of the regular oven to bake it in. It uses much less energy. On the other hand, baking in bulk and freezing for later can be energy efficient too. Do all of your baking at once and have dessert from your freezer for months to come.

Baking on a budget can really be quite simple. It’s so easy to save by doing all of your own home baking, too. And don’t think that just because you haven’t been able to bake before that you can’t do it now. The more you give it a try, the better you will get. It’s like anything else that is learned – practice makes perfect. So keep trying; you just might find that you can make some really sweet treats.

Tags baking, budget, ingredients, seasonal foods, substitutions

Taste Tests Video Podcast

Product Review: Ready to Bake, Part 3, Chocolate Lava Cake

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date February 10, 2016

This is the third and final in a series demonstrating and reviewing Ready to Bake’s liquid batter product line. In this post, I bake the chocolate lava cake. In my first two posts, I baked blueberry muffins and brownies.

Ready to Bake Chocolate Lava Cake Liquid Batter Overview

Summary
Chocolate lava cake is trending as a out-of-the-ordinary dessert. On the outside, it looks like regular chocolate cake, but when you cut into it, you find a gooey center filling. I don’t know if it is true, but baking legend says the cake was invented out of a cooking disaster — individual cakes were taken out of the oven too soon. The trick to making this dessert is to bake it enough for safety, but not so much that it is still liquid-y in the center.

This Ready to Bake Liquid Batter does most of the work for you because it comes in a convenient pouch, already to pour into your pans and bake. The pouch can keep in your cupboard for up to a year. The Chocolate Lava Cake batter makes about six cakes in individual cake pans and requires no additional ingredients.

Price: $9.99 and is available on Amazon.com

Who is Ready to Bake Chocolate Lava Cake Liquid Batter suitable for?

From my research, the batter for a chocolate lava cake is half the battle. A regular cake mix doesn’t do the dessert quite the right justice. So, if you’re not a baker, are too busy to spend much time in the kitchen, or have limited kitchen resources, this product may be just what you’re looking for to serve a “home-baked” cake with a touch of class.

Video Demo & Review

Overall Thoughts

Even though I botched the results on this pouch, it is my favorite of the three. The initial yummy chocolatiness lingered. It made a darn good cake, sans lava. On top of that, the product was quick and easy to use.

One caveat: I suspect baking it in a pan rather than individual cups probably let to the baking mishap. So, if want to do this product justice, I recommend making sure you have some ramekins on hand.

Tags baking, chocolate lava cake, liquid batter, Ready to Bake

Taste Tests Video Podcast

Product Review: Ready to Bake, Part 2, Brownies

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date February 9, 2016

This is the second in a three-part series demonstrating and reviewing Ready to Bake’s liquid batter product line. In this post, I bake the brownies. In my last post, I baked blueberry muffins.

Ready to Bake Brownies Batter Overview

Summary
Inspired by a French recipe for brownies, this Ready to Bake Liquid Batter comes in a convenient pouch and can keep in your cupboard for up to a year. The Brownies batter makes about nine brownies in an 8″ x 8″ pan and requires no additional ingredients.

Price: $3.99 and is available on Amazon.com

Who is Ready to Bake Brownies Liquid Batter suitable for?

Not a baker? Not a problem! This brownie batter is ready to go. Just grease your pan, open the pouch and pour in the batter. Pop it in the oven and you’ve got fresh-baked brownies in under 30 minutes. This product is good for chocolate lovers who are uber-busy, don’t like or know how to bake, or have limited kitchen resources.

Video Demo & Review

Overall Thoughts

The initial taste of these brownies, as mentioned in the video, is very chocolate-y. However, I (and my fiance) found that there was a strange aftertaste not to our liking. However, the folks at my work didn’t seem to have a problem with them at all.

The product was quick and easy to use (even easier than the blueberry muffins), so if you like brownies, and don’t like to bake from scratch, you might want to give this batter a try to see if you like their flavor.

Tags baking, brownies, liquid batter, Ready to Bake

Taste Tests Video Podcast

Product Review: Ready to Bake, Part 1, Blueberry Muffins

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date February 8, 2016

This is the first in a three-part series demonstrating and reviewing Ready to Bake’s liquid batter product line. In this post, I bake the blueberry muffins.

Ready to Bake Blueberry Muffin Batter Overview

Summary
Ready to Bake Liquid Batters use real ingredients and are inspired by actual French recipes. The batters come in convenient pouches and keep in your cupboard for up to a year. The Blueberry Muffin batter makes about six muffins and requires no additional ingredients.

Price: $3.99 and is available on Amazon.com

Who is Ready to Bake Blueberry Muffin Liquid Batter suitable for?

If you are uber-busy and even using a powdered mix requires too much time and effort, this product could be for you. Also, if you have very limited cooking and baking skills, this is about as easy a product to use as you can get. If you live somewhere that you don’t have access to a full oven, but just a toaster oven, this could be a boon to you, as well.

Video Demo & Review

Overall Thoughts

The batter is very thick and sticky, so it can be a little challenging to get out of the pouch.

Although my initial reaction, as see on the video above, was that it was very blueberry in flavor, I eventually found the muffins too sweet for my palate. That may not be a problem for you. I’ve been reducing my sugar intake and have lost much of my taste for sweets. Americans, in general, have a much higher taste for sweetness that Europeans and so products sold here often have a higher sugar content.

The product was quick and easy to use, so if you like a sweet blueberry muffin, and don’t like to bake from scratch, this is a good product for you to experience home-baked muffins without all the work.