Baking for Dummies

by Emily Nolan

  Chances are that, at some point in your life, you have happened on a cooking show and have seen the cook dumping in bowls of this and that into bowls or pans. Although you don’t see what these pro cooks do beforehand, know that they premeasure everything into these bowls, making it possible to throw together several dishes in a short time. If you premeasure everything (or, in cooking terms, prep everything), you will make baking the easiest thing in the world to do. Once you have your ingredients at your fingertips, ready to be mixed together, you may wonder why you ever felt intimidated by baking. Of course, you may dirty an additional bowl or two, but the payback in pleasure and ease of baking is worth the extra few seconds it takes to wash the bowl.

  If you know that you’ll be pressed for time, you can even prep in advance and store your ingredients in the refrigerator overnight. You will just have to take them out so that everything can come to room temperature before you use it.

  During this stage, you may discover that you’re out of materials. If you’re baking muffins, for example, make sure that you have liners for the tins. Also, you may be low on shortening to grease the baking sheets, or you may need more nonstick spray. These things may not be listed among the recipe’s ingredients, but they’re just as essential as any of the ingredients you add. Assembling the tools and going over ingredients are two surefire ways to ensure that you’ll have a successful baking experience. (But you can find useful substitutions on the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book if you get stuck without a necessary ingredient.)

  After you’ve assembled all the ingredients and equipment, it’s time to start baking.

  Use the right tools for the job

  When you read through a recipe, you also need to read about the equipment that’s called for. If you have to beat together butter and sugar, you’ll more than likely want to have at least a hand mixer available. If you’re making rolled cookies, you’ll need a rolling pin. The right tools make baking much easier and save you quite a bit of time.

  Before starting a recipe, be sure that you have the pan size that the recipe calls for. If you use a larger or smaller pan than is called for, your finished product will be different, and you run the risk of it burning or never cooking through. Certain pans can be fudged a little, though. Loaf pans, for example, come in 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 and 9 x 5 sizes, and, in most cases, either can be used with the same result. If the recipe calls for a covered casserole, you can create a cover with aluminum foil.

  Of course, much of baking can be done with just a few simple tools, so if you want to bake, you don’t have to go out and stock your kitchen with a variety of expensive pans and tools. The following is a list of what I consider the essential tools for baking. (Flip back to Chapter 3 for more detailed descriptions and for a more comprehensive list of baking tools and gadgets.)

  Measuring cups/spoons

  Wooden spoon

  Rubber spatula/plastic spatula

  Whisk

  Mixing bowls (at least two sizes)

  Knives (at least a cleaver and a paring knife)

  Pots/skillet (at least a 1-quart, a 2-quart, a stockpot, and a 10-inch skillet)

  Baking sheets

  Cake/pie pans

  Cooling racks (two racks are a good start)

  If you look around your kitchen, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of these items already there. I baked for several years without any electrical appliances; you don’t have to spend a lot of money when you’re just starting out. Hand mixers, stand mixers, and food processors certainly make quick work of preparing and mixing ingredients and are the workhorses in the kitchen, so if you really start to enjoy baking, invest in one or more of those appliances. They really do make baking a breeze.

  However, if you are a simple kind of person or can’t fit too many more appliances in your kitchen, try out these recipes from this book. They use a minimum of tools and don’t require special machinery to get the job done:

  Crisp Sugar Cookies (Chapter 7)

  Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Chapter 7)

  Granola Bars (Chapter 7)

  Martha’s Chocolate Cake (Chapter 8)

  Blueberry Muffins (Chapter 12)

  Timing It Right

  The recipes in this book include preparation times as well as baking times. However, not everyone bakes at the same pace, so be sure to give yourself ample time to prepare your baked goods. You’ll find it much more relaxing when you don’t have to play beat-the-clock.

  Certain times are not included, such as the 15 to 20 minutes it will take for a cake to cool enough to handle. If you want to frost the cake, you will need to allow even more time for the cake to cool so that you can frost it. What if you run out of an ingredient and have to run to the store? Allow for such mishaps. Even if you don’t need additional time, you’ll be better off having planned for it. I have cooked under relaxed conditions and flustered conditions alike, and when I’m under the gun in regard to time, the recipes inevitably reflect my rushed approach.

  Baking at High Elevations

  People who live at elevations above 3,500 feet face some interesting cooking challenges. Because baking is a science, the higher altitude (thanks to the change in air pressure and humidity) causes different reactions in baking. You may notice that once-dependable recipes baked at sea level become a bit out of whack up in the mountains.

  Air pressure is lower up there, so water boils at a lower temperature and liquids evaporate much faster. Gases also expand more rapidly, so you may find that your cakes rise so much that they actually collapse on themselves. This means that your tried-and-true recipes may start behaving poorly when the altitude increases.

  You have to adjust recipes to compensate for differences in altitude. Unfortunately, you’re left to trial and error for the most part. If you’re new to high-altitude cooking, you can contact your local U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service, listed in the phone book under county government, for help with any questions. Or contact Colorado State University’s Food Science and Human Nutrition Department or log on to www.colostate.edu/Depts/FSHN/ .

  Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re baking at a higher altitude:

  If you’re boiling foods, they will take longer to cook because the temperature at which water boils is between 203 and 207 degrees, not the usual sea level 212 degrees.

  You need to cream butter and sugar less and beat eggs less so that less air is incorporated into your finished products and they won’t rise as much.

  Most baked goods made with baking powder or baking soda will be better off if you make the following adjustments: Increase the liquid by 1 to 4 tablespoons, decrease the leavening by 1/4 (so if the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, you should use 3/4 teaspoon), decrease the sugar by 1 to 3 tablespoons per cup, and/or use a larger pan size (for example, if the recipe calls for an 8-inch square pan, use a 9-inch square). For butter-rich cakes, decrease the butter by 1 to 4 tablespoons.

  You may want to increase the oven temperature by 25 degrees and shorten the baking time to compensate for the loss of moisture.

  If egg whites are your primary leavener, beat them only to soft peaks so that less air is incorporated into them.

  Quick breads, cookies, biscuits, and muffins require the fewest adjustments. Experiment with increasing the liquid by 1/4 to 1/2 cup and decreasing the leaveners and sugar by 1/4 if necessary.

  Yeast breads rise more rapidly at higher altitudes, so shorten the rising time and be watchful of your breads because they may overrise. Also, they may dry out faster, so use the minimum amount of flour called for in the recipe, decrease the amount of flour by 1/4 to 1/2 cup, or increase the liquid by 1/4 to 1/2 cup.

  Cooked frostings become concentrated more quickly because of the faster evaporation of the water. Watch very closely and reduce the recipe temperature by 2 degrees for every 1,000 feet you are above sea level.

  Cleaning Up as You Go

  When I was younger and would bake at home, I
was always amazed at the large mess I would end up with. I seemed to dirty every single bowl, spoon, countertop, and article of clothing that came near me. When I entered college, I catered to earn a living. A huge sign in the kitchen read: Clean as you go. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I began that practice and wow, what a difference it made! Not only did I use fewer utensils, but my mess wasn’t nearly as large.

  Now, I have one of the world’s smallest kitchens, and I always seem to be getting in my own way. So, when I bake, I have no other choice than to clean as I go. Doing so not only makes my life easier (I’m not saddled with a huge pile of dishes at the end) but also frees up space on my counters.

  Here are some tips for cleaning as you go to make your baking easier and your cleanup time at the end shorter:

  Recycle bowls and utensils as you bake. If you use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl while you’re mixing, use it again to scrape the batter into pans. If a bowl had sugar in it and you need to beat eggs, either give the bowl a quick rinse or just use it as is. You might be amazed at how few utensils you really need, and you’ll save time in washing the dishes.

  Make use of your downtime. If you have to mix dough for 5 minutes, wash the bowls that held the ingredients for the dough while your electric mixer does the work. If the dough needs to chill, wipe down the appliances you used and put them away if you won’t be using them anymore. I always find it convenient to have a container of hot, soapy, clean water ready in the sink to wipe down counters, rinse off utensils, or soak things.

  Wash your hands often — not only for sanitary purposes at the start of baking, but also because your hands will become dirty or sticky while you bake. If you don’t wash them often (a quick rinse in soapy water usually does the trick), you’ll find batters and dough stuck to your refrigerator handle, on your appliances, and all over your clothes or whatever else you touch, which means more cleaning for you later.

  Keep cutting boards clean. The flavor of one food can be transferred to another if the foods share the same space. For example, if you chop onions or garlic, be sure to wash and dry (and even flip over) the cutting board before you set out to slice your strawberries; otherwise, your berries might taste like onions.

  Wipe down your countertops often. They’re the most likely things to have ingredients spilled on them and be messy. A quick wipe every so often will help keep whatever you put on them clean, too.

  Always check to see whether your garbage needs to be emptied before you begin baking. You may be amazed at the amount of trash you can produce, and you don’t want to pile the garbage so high that you run the risk of spilling it onto the floor or having to stop what you’re doing to take out the trash.

  Put away ingredients and equipment as soon as you finish using them. Doing so frees up quite a bit of counter space, giving you room to work with dough or spread out pans for batter, for example.

  Part III

  Ready, Set, Bake!

  In this part . . .

  Now comes the fun part of the book — making mouth-watering baked goods to serve your family or give away to friends and family. These ten chapters include a variety of baked products. You can find such diverse items as Dense Chocolate Brownies, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cran-Apple and Pear Pie, Fluffy Dinner Rolls, and Chicken Potpie. There’s even a chapter of low-fat recipes that taste so good you’ll never miss those extra calories. Each recipe includes easy-to-find preparation and baking times and yields. I also assign a level to each recipe: easy, intermediate, or challenging, so as you get more and more practice, you can advance to the next level of recipes. Easy recipes require nothing more than measuring ingredients and mixing them up. Intermediate recipes may have a trickier step or additional technique. Challenging recipes have specific techniques that, if done incorrectly, may affect the baked product. But, not to worry, because I’m here to guide you every step of the way.

  Chapter 7

  Understanding Cookies

  In This Chapter

  Looking at some different types of cookies

  Keeping your cookies fresh

  Turning plain cookies into fancier fare

  Recipes in This Chapter

  Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

  Chocolate Drop Cookies

  Classic Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

  Everything Cookies

  Chocolate-Coconut Macaroons

  Butterscotch Drops

  Poppy Seed Cookies

  Peanut Butter Cookies

  Crisp Sugar Cookies

  Gingersnaps

  Lemon Cookies

  Apricot-Date Half-Moons

  Poppy Seed Thumbprints

  Russian Tea Balls

  Anisette Biscotti

  Basic Cookie Press Cookies

  Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

  Tender Sugar Cookies

  Dense Chocolate Brownies

  Black-and-White Brownies

  Lemon Bars

  Crunchy Granola Bars

  Finding someone who didn’t like cookies in some form or another would be a difficult task. Cookies come in any shape or size, and they’re portable treats that are appropriate for just about every event. They can be dressed up or eaten plain, drowned in milk or quietly accompanied by a cup of tea. Most cookies are pretty easy to make and not at all intimidating when you’re just starting out. Cookies don’t need much equipment, they have a relatively high yield (as long as you don’t snack on too much of the dough for quality control), and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand — you may even have all the ingredients ready to go in your kitchen right now.

  Just as there is a cookie for everyone, there is an opinion about cookie making, too. Some people like thin, crunchy cookies; some like softer cookies; some like a crispy drier cookie; and some prefer them to be soft and gooey. You know who you are, so just take the time to find the perfect cookie for you.

  Despite the simplicity of making cookies, you do need to be aware of a few basics so you get the most from your cookie-baking experience. Some things can go wrong — maybe your cookies spread too much, maybe they spread too little, or maybe they’re too crunchy. Because you’re baking such small amounts of batter, it’s easy to see when the dough is not quite right — maybe it spreads too much or too little or it isn’t behaving the way you want it to. In this chapter, I explain the fundamentals of what makes your cookies crumble — in addition to providing lots of recipes to get you started.

  Making Cookies like a Pro

  Cookies are crowd pleasers on many levels. Also, if you’re a beginner baker, cookie recipes are a surefire way to experience success — just keep the information in the following sections in mind as you bake.

  Measuring accurately

  Always measure your ingredients carefully when making cookies. Too much or too little of just one ingredient will affect the outcome of your cookie. Because cookies are miniature baked goods, you’ll see right away if something is off. Remember, test your dough first and always bake a test cookie.

  Understanding the effect of fats

  You can interchange stick butter or margarine or shortening when you make cookies. Use vegetable oil only when it’s specifically called for in the recipe. Cookies baked with butter or margarine will flatten out more than cookies baked with shortening, but the ones with butter or margarine have a richer taste. Sometimes I call for half butter and half shortening when I want a round cookie with good flavor.

  Knowing the proper mixing technique

  If you like your cookies dense, mix the dough by hand. An electric mixer will incorporate more air into your cookie dough, giving it a lighter and crispier texture. Either way, be sure not to mix the cookie dough too much; it will toughen the cookies.

  Choosing the right pan

  Nonstick coatings are a boon for any cook, but you may find they brown your cookies on the bottom a bit faster than desired. If this is happening to your cookies, lower the oven temperature by 25 degrees, and
bake as instructed. If your cookies are still browning too quickly on the bottom, use two cookie sheets (one on top of the other) to create an insulated cookie sheet. If a recipe calls for a greased cookie sheet, don’t grease with butter or margarine. Use shortening instead; otherwise the area in between the cookies will burn onto the sheet, and it will be next to impossible to clean. No shortening? Then use a piece of parchment paper instead to prevent them from sticking to the sheet.

  When you’re baking cookies, be sure you have at least two sheets, so you can scoop out dough while another batch bakes. If you only have one sheet, be sure you let it cool between batches (at least 10 minutes) to prevent the cookie dough from spreading. Cookie dough placed on a hot sheet will begin to melt immediately, resulting in very flat cookies.

  Make sure your cookie sheets fit into your oven. You want to be able to leave at least 2 inches around all sides to ensure proper heat distribution while baking. If the cookie sheet is too big, you may find the cookies on the end of the sheet are burning, while the cookies toward the middle are too raw.

  Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time so that they bake in the center of the oven where the heat is optimal. If you’re pressed for time and need to bake two sheets at once, turn the sheets halfway around and switch the placement of the sheets halfway through baking.

  In praise of parchment paper

  When I worked in a bakery, we used parchment paper to line our large, industrial baking sheets. Parchment paper, available in many sizes in baking-supply stores and in some supermarkets, is a wonderful tool in the kitchen. It doesn’t burn or smoke like waxed paper sometimes can, and it comes in either precut sheets or in a roll. Cut the sheet to fit your pan and scoop the cookies onto it. When the cookies are done, you can slide the whole sheet of parchment paper (with the cookies on them) onto a cooling rack. Parchment paper is great because it keeps your baking sheets clean and mess-free. It also eliminates the need to grease cookie sheets.