Kitchen 101

Baking Tips and Rules of Thumb

I was cleaning out old computer files and discovered my baking notes from culinary school that I wrote in 2017. You probably know all of this already if you are a seasoned baker, but it’s a good reminder! And if you are new in the game, this should help you tons as it did for me. Ok, no more talking; let’s get baking!

• Start the oven at 300° and use a pan at room temperature.
• When coating a pan with oil, thoroughly oil ridges and edges where batter can stick to more easily.
• When using a sheet tray, just use parchment paper, but oil can also be used in the corners to glue paper to the tray.
• Always mix leaveners, like baking soda or baking powder, and sift with the dry ingredients first so that they are thoroughly distributed.
• If you want to add nuts into the bread, toast them at 200–250° beforehand and let them cool. Time depends on size.
• If you want to add nuts on top of the bread, don’t toast them since they will toast as the bread bakes.
• If you want to add additional large-sized ingredients such as nuts, chocolate chips, fruits, or cheese, they go in after dry ingredients are stirred with the wet ingredients.
• If you want to add additional small-sized ingredients such as herbs or juice, they go in when mixing the wet ingredients.
• If you lay out your batter and use a cutter to cut out pieces, do not reroll the scraps more than once. It will form too much gluten and make them less soft.
• Store butter in the refrigerator. Don’t melt and cool butter repeatedly.
• Chill cookie dough before baking for a nice, chewy cookie. The dough is so aerated and soft that it will spread and the outside will bake faster.
• Take out cookies before they are done because they will continue to bake on the sheet tray.
• Do not depend on the color of cookies to determine if they are done. If they are brown, they are over baked.
• Extra eggs in a batter or dough will cause more spread, more rise, a cakier texture, and faster browning.
• When rolling out wet dough, cover and chill for about 30 minutes to let fats harden and give time for the flour to absorb moisture.
• When whipping small batches of egg whites, don’t use a standing mixer and walk away. It will quickly over-whip.
• Additional ingredients in a soufflé must be cooked off before adding into the base. If it goes in raw, it will come out raw.
• Always add light ingredients to heavy ingredients and portion ⅓ at a time. For example, soufflés where you add whipped whites into the base ⅓ at a time.
• Whipped egg whites fall apart quickly, so work with them as fast as possible.
• Butter ramekins for soufflés so that they rise and slide up the ramekins easily and scoop out easily.
• Don’t add lemon juice as acid when whisking egg whites. It is too acidic and will cause whites to coagulate.
• Be extra careful and wear gloves when working with caramel. Sugar sits on your skin and burns.
• Always let the pie crust rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Use specific types of pie pans as directed. Don’t make a pie recipe made for a regular-sized pan in a deep-dish pie pan and vice versa.
• For tarts, use fingers to thoroughly press the dough into the edges. The sides won’t come out pretty if you aren’t completely thorough with it!