Baking Terms

Baking terms demystified:

There are a couple of basics to baking that will help you follow any recipe well.

Measure:

It is important to accurately measure your ingredients.  Flour, for example, should be scooped into your measuring cups and leveled with a knife, without packing it into the cup at all.  The same goes for white granulated sugar.  Brown sugar measurements, though, are called for “tightly packed,” which requires pressing it down into the measuring cup.  When you tap it out, it should come out like a sand castle bucket, retaining its shape.

Liquid ingredients should be measured in liquid measuring cups.  I don’t think there’s too much difference in a dry teaspoon versus a liquid teaspoon, but cups should be measured in a liquid measuring cup and not the same ones you use for dry ingredients.  Liquid measuring cups make it much easier to measure liquid accurately.

Mixing ingredients:

A well-written recipe will describe how to combine ingredients.  They may say “mix until just combined” or “beat well” or “beat until light and fluffy.”  In each case, be sure you’re paying attention to what is going on in your mixing bowl.  The first time I made cupcakes, the batter looked perfect until I got to the bottom of the bowl and found butter and sugar that hadn’t mixed with the rest of it.  I have since learned that that’s just what my mixer does, and I need to mix the bottom into the rest of it after each addition.

A lot of older recipes may ask for dry ingredients to be “sifted together” before added to the batter.  My mother had a sifter that we’d use for this, pouring the flour and baking soda and salt into it and cranking the handle until it was one big pile of dry ingredients.  The purpose of sifting is to both thoroughly mix the dry ingredients together and break up any lumps.  If you don’t have a sifter, combine ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork.

Other tips:

• Unless otherwise noted, most ingredients should be room temperature when you use them.
  
• Take your milk and eggs out when you take out your butter to soften
  
• When baking with a glass baking dish, the oven should be 25º less than what the recipe calls for.
  
• Always use unsalted butter.
  
• Read through the recipe from start to finish before starting and make sure you have what you need. I've run to the grocery store in my apron for more vanilla extract more times than I wish to remember!