Baking and cooking are two totally different skills, and they require different focuses to be able to achieve the perfect results time after time. If you find your baking efforts are falling rather than rising each time you give it a go, then maybe you can use a few baking tips and tricks in this department to help you get the best results and kick-start your baking prowess.

Measure Properly

Unlike cooking, where you can get away with sloppier measures, baking needs to be more exact. This is the golden rule when it comes to baking; you need to ensure your measurements are spot on, or you won’t get the desired results. The best way to measure anything is via digital scales to get the right amount; however, if you don’t have these, then using a cup and leveling off the top is the best way to achieve this. For liquid ingredients, you need to use a clear measuring cup or jug, and it needs to have a pourable spout to help you control the flow easier when adding to the mixture.

A Mixer Is Your Best Friend

In many cases, hand mixing is required for specific dishes, but for the most part, having a good reliable mixer will serve you well, especially as you get to grips with baking or you want to eliminate the risk of things going wrong.

Room Temperature

All of your ingredients need to be at room temperature. The consistency and how each ingredient will react when mixed with another depends on how hot or cold they are. And for baking, you need everything to be at room temperature for the best results. So don’t use anything straight from the fridge like eggs or butter; instead, leave them to reach room temperature or heat them a little using hot water (for eggs) or the microwave (for butter, for example) until they’re slightly warmed. But be careful not to overheat them, or it will affect your baking.

Follow The Recipe Exactly

So whether you’re making this old fashioned sour cream donut recipe or want to make a delightfully soft sponge cake, stick to the recipe strictly, or things might not go how you expect them to! This is especially important when first starting out. You can mix things up a little bit when you become more experienced, and you have gotten consistent results time and time again, but sticking to the recipe allows you to get things right the first time with less effort.

Preheat

Check your oven. You need to check the equipment you are working with has the correct temperature. Make sure it reaches the expected temperatures for each setting so you can cook with confidence. But also, you must ensure you are preheating your oven before adding your bakes to get the best results. Adding batter to a cold oven will affect how long it takes to bake and the texture and consistency of the cake after cooking. Invest in a thermometer to check the temperature, and always refrain from opening the oven door, as this will affect the temperature inside the oven and cause the cake to cook differently. This is unless you need to move things around if you’re cooking on multiple racks, then do so as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

Baking is all like a science experiment; you need to be careful what you add and how you add it to get the best results and avoid failure. Follow these baking tips and tricks, and you will set yourself up for The Great British Bake Off, not Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares! Next you can check out the foodie road trip article!

[All images were downloaded from unsplash]