In my years of growing up, it was baking that got my love
for sweets. Whether it was my mother’s cheesecakes, breads and cookies, or my
father’s cakes. My family, including my extended family did a lot of cooking
and baking. To this exact day, we’re still continuing that tradition. So with
this blog, I want to go ahead and write up some tips to follow.
Break Away from the
ordinary.
First,
let’s begin with using quality ingredients when it comes to baking. When I was
little, I would always buy flavored boxed cake mix. It was great as far as easy
to read step-by-step instructions. With using only eggs, oil and water, that’s
all that it was called for. Cakes were good at the time, but then it was about
how to take it up a notch with using cake flour combined with other dry and wet
ingredients. If you’re using regular store bought Pillsbury and Duncan Hines,
try to break away from it from time to time.
Science and
Knowledge.
Read a lot
of “Baking” cookbooks and study the recipe that it’s asking. Follow it
step-by-step, and understand the technique of making it. Remember, a recipe is
used as a guideline. Feel free to substitute ingredients, but also remember
that Baking is a science. You have to be precise in knowing how much to measure
out, what to measure, and what order you combine everything in. It all makes a
huge difference.
This is where knowledge is very important.
It’s great to study things such as, types of flours, texture, structure, and
content of ingredients. It’s great to know it step by step so that when you’re
testing out a recipe, you know how to work around it, and work with different
tools. Sometimes, you can pick and choose alternate methods like Mayo can be a
substitute for oil and eggs. Brown Sugar, if you have light brown sugar, add
some molasses to make the flavor rich.
Breads, for example, if you are making any type of “Sweet Bread” such as
Apple or Banana, you can substitute sugar for Applesauce for a light sweetness
that can add some moisture. Ovens
also play a key role in baking. Convention and Convection are different because
at times, you’ll have to adjust temperature and times.
Plan Ahead
Before I do
any sort of baking, I have to know in advance what ingredients I have. If not,
I have to buy some. If I do go out to buy the ingredients, I also have to be
precise in the quality of ingredients. Don’t always think that buying the “name
brand” product will make a huge difference. Most of the time, they’re
recommendations, and by that, you can use the knock off brand. So if you think
buying the name brand is a MUST, It’s most likely not going to be the case.
I do
however recommend that you should compare the products that you buy. I have
formed a habit to check what the product ingredients say, only to make sure if
it’s the same, what’s most likely the first item being put into the product,
and what type of preservatives are in the product. Checking and testing your
products can make a huge difference. For example, there’s regular vanilla
versus imitation vanilla. Hershey’s Chocolate versus Nestle Toll-House
Chocolate.
Compare
your ingredients because even though it may smell and look the same, it can
also taste different. So always know to get the best ingredients and when not
to get the best ingredients. Also, If you ever think that you have an
ingredient at home, buy it again. You don’t want to bake something at home and
find out that you ran out of something.
Passion with
Perfection.
Many people
who bake from their homes, will tend to bake for others. Those who study and
bake constantly will always try to bake something new to please their
customers. The one key ingredient that I find many people lack nowadays, is
love. If you truly love baking, you’ll need to spend time perfecting your
craft. I urge you to bake the same thing over and over until you get what you
want, right. You may succeed, and you may fail. But it takes passion and
dedication to continue perfecting your craft. Also, don’t be afraid to branch
out from your own recipes for a bit. Bake from a variety of recipes that you
find delicious and most rewarding. Make some tweaks, take notes, and always
document exactly what it is that you do to it. Until you perfected your craft,
you have already invented your own. Also, don’t ever let your pride get to you.
Everyone has their own style of baking, so don’t ever be that person where your
dish is better than someone else, or that your dessert isn’t met to another
person’s standards. You are your own, you create your own. The only people who
should urge you to be a better baker, are the customers who buy from you, that
loves your dessert dish no matter what. Until then, their word will spread
around.
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