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This holiday season coming up is a good time to make some freezable breads, like cranberry/orange, date nut, zucchini or banana. It is nice to be able to pop these out at the last minute for guests or to take as gifts.
I'm an amateur baker, and the biggest advice I have is to follow the recipe to a tee, since baking is chemistry, and I bet if you go to a lab you're not just going to mix a bunch of random liquids and powders. I never used mixes before since a lot of recipes are really easy without them, like brownies only take ten-twenty minutes to put together from scratch, and it's worth it for the taste. My cheesecake, baked chicken and also flan always come out really good, but Im still trying to get better at cornbread, I heard it might be because of overmixing
Don't start out with anything complicated, like French pastry recipes. Start out with something easy, like muffins or an easy cake. Tarts are fun, and "easy as pie" is easy as pie.
There are a lot of time saving tips that you can find online. Non-stick pie pans are awesome. I also use silicone muffin "pans", I can even use them in the microwave. They make it easy to turn out the muffins (or cupcakes) without using greased paper cups. Quick way to test a cake to see if it's done: stick a toothpick into the centre if it comes out clean, it's finished, if it comes out with some wet batter on it, the cake needs more time in the oven.
You can get frozen pastry/pie dough that's great, you don't need to do everything from scratch when you're just a beginner baker.
Baking is so much more than cakes and pies, though. Spanakopita is very easy once you get the hang of how to roll the triangles.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,330 posts, read 54,400,252 times
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Originally Posted by weezycom
The most important thing about baking is proper measurement. If you live where most baking recipes are measured in g/kg, then get a scale. Otherwise, Nerys52SoSilver has a good list for you.
Most cooks start out as kids making cookies, so it's clearly a good path to starting a love of cooking!
I'm just getting into baking myself after many years of cooking. I couldn't agree more with the suggestion of getting a scale, Harbor Freight has a handy little digital one you can pick up with one of their readily available 20% off coupons for less than $15.00.
A lot of very good advice available as well the willingness to answer individuals' questions. There's a recipe for a 'no-knead' crusty white bread that can serve as a real confidence builder as well as putting a decent loaf of bread on the table.
I'm just getting into baking myself after many years of cooking. I couldn't agree more with the suggestion of getting a scale, Harbor Freight has a handy little digital one you can pick up with one of their readily available 20% off coupons for less than $15.00.
A lot of very good advice available as well the willingness to answer individuals' questions. There's a recipe for a 'no-knead' crusty white bread that can serve as a real confidence builder as well as putting a decent loaf of bread on the table.
I had never cooked till last year and I decided I wanted to bake a loaf of bread. I got a sourdough starter off the web and about a year later I have gotten to the point of being able to bake a decent loaf of bread. I now bake one loaf a week. All of it tastes good, some even looks good.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,330 posts, read 54,400,252 times
Reputation: 40736
Quote:
Originally Posted by Southern man
I had never cooked till last year and I decided I wanted to bake a loaf of bread. I got a sourdough starter off the web and about a year later I have gotten to the point of being able to bake a decent loaf of bread. I now bake one loaf a week. All of it tastes good, some even looks good.
Makes the house smell good too, doesn't it?
I've been cooking for a long time and taste along the way and can pretty much 'tweak' things to come out to my liking. Baking's a whole new challenge as once things go in the oven they're a mystery until they come out and cool enough to be tasted, but when you hit something right it's totally worth it.
Learning to bake bread gave me a whole new respect for cooks. And you are so right, it does make the house smell good.
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