Health & Fitness
Top Three Baking Mistakes
Read my top three most common baking mistakes and how to avoid them!
Not only do I bake sweet things, I love helping people figuring what WHAT went wrong. Knowing what went wrong is half the battle. Talking with people I notice some very common mistakes that caused a soggy cake, burnt cookie, or overmixed brownie. Here are the top three most common baking mistakes I see in the kitchen:
#1: Subsituting a different ingredient when you do not have the one listed in the recipe.
This is very common. Why? When you set up to bake, and realize you do not have a particular ingredient, do you want to run to the grocery store? Most people do not and subsitute what they have, OR they just leave the ingredient out. Some ingredients can be subsituted or changed and the product will come out fine. Yet, mistakes happen and using a wrong ingredient will cause a bad baked good. A quick rule of thumb: anything chemical (like baking soda/powder) or acidic (like vinegar, buttermilk, cocoa powder) will change the structure of the baked good. Any flavoring ingredient (like using lemon zest instead of lime zest) will change the flavor of the baked good.
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#2: Not knowing your oven!
I have dedicated a past blog post about ovens. It is very important to know how your "oven bakes." New ovens = faster and hotter. Old ovens = slower and cooler. Convection ovens are about 25 degrees F warmer than conduction or deck ovens due to the heat.
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#3: Using the wrong/overused/cheaply made cook or bake ware.
Invest in some decent, heavy duty pots, pans, and bakeware. Any pure aluminum cookware will discolor the food, wrap, and slowly die away. Buy some non-stick and stainless steel pans. This also mean investing in decent kitchen gadgets, appliances and utensils. Buy what you need and use on a constant basis.
It is very easy to get confused with a certain recipe, ingredient, or pan. Cooking and baking has a wide vocab and language. Take notes when testing out a new recipe, record how fast or slow your oven bakes cookies in a small notebook, and check out cookware reviews online!
Happy Baking! -SC
