`I’m not a cook, but I love to bake.” How many times do you hear that? Why are practitioners of the baking arts so fond of their subject?
Maybe it’s the alchemy factor. In all branches of cooking, the application of heat changes one thing into another.
In baking, this mystery is even more pronounced. You make a dough or a batter, put a wet, sticky thing into the oven and eventually remove a mouthwatering solid object that smells so good people will think Betty Crocker has been incarnated in your kitchen.
Baking is basic, but it can be tricky. It’s one of the more advanced kitchen arts, but you can learn it. Be forewarned right now: Baking can be addicting. Baking is awesome. And it can be easier, once you learn the basics.
In Baking 101, there is One Big Rule. You can’t fudge on it. Unlike other types of cooking, you can’t just add a little bit here or substitute a little bit there, until you are pretty advanced. The one big rule is, you must measure.
KITCHEN CHEMISTST
This is probably another factor bakers love. They are kitchen chemists, more than any other kinds of cooks, using measuring spoons and cups instead of test tubes and beakers.
You must measure accurately and have the right tools for it all to work. You need different measuring cups for liquids and dry ingredients. Flat-topped measuring cups are made to be filled to the top with dry stuff. Liquid measures are usually glass, with more space at the top to eliminate spills, and a pour spout.
A 2-cup Pyrex liquid measure is more useful than the 1-cup; a 4-cup measure is handy because it can also be used as a small mixing bowl.
Add liquids to the cup, set it on the counter, and look at it sideways, on its own level. If you hold it up in front of your face, the liquid sloshes around and is hard to read accurately.
One cup of flour weighs 4 ounces. You can buy a kitchen scale and weigh it, or you can properly measure flour: Stir the flour in a bag. Gently spoon flour into the measuring cup that you hold over a sheet of wax paper or the flour canister. Do not tap it or shake it to level the flour. Let the flour heap up. When the flour is over the top, use the flat side of a knife or spatula to level off the top of the cup.
The only dry ingredient you do pack into a cup is brown sugar. Solid shortening is packed, too, unless you purchase the stick form premarked in measured amounts.
Do you need to sift? Only if the recipe recommends doing so, because today’s all-purpose flour is presifted. If you do have to sift and you don’t have a sifter, use a sieve or strainer.
After you get your fix of measuring, you will arrive at the crux of baking magic. The alchemy all depends on leavening, the agents that make dough or batter rise. Leavenings can be yeast, eggs, baking powder, baking soda combined with an acid such as vinegar, or other more arcane things, such as sourdough starters and the artisan baker’s “old dough” saved from previous loaves.
Yeast can be a tricky beast, so for today’s Baking 101, we concentrate on the quicker, easier baked goods made with baking powder. Yes, there is every kind of mix these days, but you should know how to make basic cakes, muffins, biscuits, brownies and a loaf of banana bread.
OVEN SPRING
Why do recipes for baked goods always start out “preheat oven to …”? It’s because of “oven spring,” which is the initial leap that leavenings make when put into a hot oven. If your oven is not hot when you put the pans in, the mixture won’t rise as it’s supposed to. Most ovens will heat in 10 to 20 minutes.
You should also prepare baking pans according to the recipe. Cookies with a high fat content may not need to go on a greased surface. You can use a paper towel to smear shortening or butter into pans, and remember to coat those pesky corners well. Or you can spray with cooking oil. Reminder: Some non-stick pans can be ruined if you apply non-stick sprays.
The tips and recipes on this page come from a series of “Wooden Spoon” books by baking expert Marilyn M. Moore, a former downstate Illinois cookbook author now based in Scottsdale, Ariz. She points out that you can make almost anything with a wooden spoon and a bowl.
QUICK BREADS
– QUICK MIXING
The liquid, once added to the dry ingredients, immediately activates the leavening agents. Do not let batter sit for any length of time or volume will be reduced.
– Like muffins, quick breads are fast and simple. You don’t have to be quite as careful about overmixing, but all that’s needed is a light combining of wet and dry, Moore advises. Overmixing can cause bread to crumble. A crack down the middle of the loaf is characteristic of these breads. Don’t worry about it.
Quick breads often are flavored with fruits, such as pumpkin, or are great vehicles for using an excess of bananas or zucchini. Oil is most often the fat of choice. Applesauce can be substituted directly for the same amount of oil in fruit quick breads. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of oil, substitute 1 cup of applesauce. The texture may be a little heavier, but it will still be good. In most recipes for quick breads, you can reduce the fat by one-fourth or one-third. Or substitute two egg whites for one egg.
BROWNIES
– LOSE THE LUMPS
By shaking confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and salt through a fine meshed strainer you can remove lumps from sugar and evenly mix the ingredients.
– “Brownies are a chocolate cake with very little flour, which is what makes them so chewy and good,” Moore said.
– The commercial fat substitute based on prunes can be used in most recipes for brownies, because it’s dark and the flavor of dried plums blends well with chocolate. Check the label for substitution directions.
BISCUITS
– FAT AND FLOUR
Cut shortening into dry ingredients with pastry blender until size of small peas. The small clumps of fat and flour give the biscuits a lighter texture.
– Shortening or butter is cut into biscuit doughs and pie crusts, instead of being melted or softened and mixed in. The intact bits of fat separate the flour into layers during baking, creating the biscuit’s characteristic flakiness. To “cut in,” you can use a pastry cutter, which dices up the fat, or you can use two knives, sawing at the shortening in a crisscross motion. Soon, the fat and flour will bind to form crumbs. The recipe should say what size these crumbs should be: “the size of peas” or whatever. When the crumbs are that size, stop. Add liquid, and knead very lightly. Biscuits need what our foremothers called “a light hand.”
MUFFINS
Why are the breakfast muffins in your local java joint so delicious? They’re cake, that’s why. But homemade muffins for breakfast and snacks don’t have to be laden with fat and sugar. They actually can be healthful treats.
“A muffin is like a cake that is not too sweet or too high in fat,” said Marilyn M. Moore. “You usually mix liquid in one part and dry in the other, and combine them very quickly. A few little lumps are fine.”
If you don’t measure carefully, they can turn out dry or heavy. Muffins are mixed easily by hand, with one bowl of stirred-together dry ingredients and one bowl of liquid ingredients. Most recipes call for muffin cups to be filled two-thirds full, but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule.
CAKES
– WHITES GIVE LIFT
Beat egg whites until they reach the stiff peak stage and stand straight up when the beaters are lifted. The air trapped in the whites provides more volume and makes the cake lighter.
– When making cakes, sift flour and baking powder well to remove lumps. If sugar has lumps, sift it too. Accuracy in measuring is essential for cakes.
Ingredients usually are separated into wet (eggs, milk, liquid flavorings) and dry (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Incorporate them gradually for easy mixing and to prevent lumps. When recipe calls for beaten egg whites, use a clean, grease-free bowl (when separating eggs, don’t let even a speck of yolk get into your whites or the fat will prevent proper beating). Beat whites until stiff but not dry. They should appear glossy.
SUBSTITUTIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE
Adventurous souls: Now read this. Where many beginners go wrong in baking is trying to substitute one ingredient for another. “I want to make this more healthful,” they think, “so I’ll just put in whole-wheat flour instead of white flour.” Then they wonder why they have baked a brick.
Whole wheat is heavier. You can substitute half of the flour amount in an all-white-flour recipe with whole-wheat flour, but, more than that, and you’re risking your teeth.
One of the most frequent baking mistakes is the use of breakfast spread instead of butter or margarine. This is a guaranteed way to wind up throwing your results in the trash.
“Spreads” that are less than 60 percent fat have a lot of water included and will make cookies spread too thin or otherwise mess up recipes. If the first ingredient on the label is water, don’t use it for baking.
Stick margarine that is at least 80 percent fat can be substituted for butter. For best results, use butter if the recipe calls for butter. Eat smaller pieces.
Baking powder cannot be substituted for baking soda. They are not the same thing.
Bottom line: Don’t mess with the basic ingredients, the flour, liquid, salt, fat, leavening.
In one area you may unleash your creativity. It’s in the add-ons. Nuts and dried fruits can be substituted freely. Out of almonds? Use pecans. Or use dried red cherries instead of apricots in a scone. Coconut counts as a dried fruit.
However, substitute dry for dry. Fresh fruit cannot be used in place of dried fruit because the extra moisture in the fruit will change the finished product.
Spices and extracts can often substitute for each other, too. Try nutmeg for a change instead of cinnamon, or use almond extract instead of vanilla. Remember, however, that too much of any spice will overwhelm instead of complement. Go for subtlety.
In general, don’t make more than one substitution per baked recipe.
“Of course, you can put chocolate chips in anything,” said Marilyn M. Moore. “Subtract or add. They’re a health food, aren’t they?
GOT BAKING QUESTIONS?
This is the ninth year for the Land O’Lakes Holiday Bakeline. The help line can answer any baking questions and will be in operation this year from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24.
Call 800-782-9606.
Or visit their Web site: landolakes.com
BANANA BREAD
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 loaf (8 servings)
Banana bread From “The Wooden Spoon Bread Book.”
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon each: baking soda, salt
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup each: vegetable oil, milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
This bread is easier to cut the second day. From “The Wooden Spoon Bread Book.”
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl; set aside.
2. Stir together eggs, bananas, brown sugar, oil and milk in medium bowl until well blended. Add dry ingredients and walnuts to banana mixture; stir to combine.
3. Turn into greased and floured 9- by 5-inch loaf pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Turn out onto wire rack; cool completely. Wrap in foil to store.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………. 340 Carbohydrates .. 46 g Saturated fat … 2.1 mg
Sodium ……… 475 mg Cholesterol … 55 mg Calories from fat .. 39%
Fat ………….. 15 g Protein ……… 7 g Fiber ……….. 1.7 mg
SERIOUS BROWNIES
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 22 minutes
Yield: 24 brownies
From “The Wooden Spoon Book of Old Family Recipes.”
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup each: all-purpose flour, chopped pecans
Frosting:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons hot coffee or milk
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine chocolate and butter in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high (100 percent) until melted and smooth when stirred, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add sugar and stir until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in vanilla and salt. Stir in flour just until mixed; fold in pecans. Spread batter evenly into greased 13- by 9-inch baking pan. Bake until brownies just begin to pull away from edges of pan, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly on wire rack.
2. For frosting, shake sugar, cocoa and salt together through sieve into medium bowl. Add butter, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the coffee or milk; stir to mix. Add additional liquid if needed to make mixture spreadable. Spread frosting on warm brownies. Wait until brownies are completely cooled before cutting into squares.
Nutrition information per brownie:
Calories ………. 245 Carbohydrates .. 28 g Saturated fat ….. 7 mg
Sodium ………. 45 mg Cholesterol … 45 mg Calories from fat .. 53%
Fat ………….. 15 g Protein ……. 2.7 g Fiber ……….. 1.9 mg
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Yield: 8 large or 16 small biscuits
From “The Wooden Spoon Bread Book.”
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup shortening or butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Cut shortening or butter into dry ingredients, using pastry blender or two knives, until the size of peas. Stir in buttermilk with fork just until dough cleans sides of bowl.
2. Knead dough about 10 times on lightly floured surface. Pat or roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured biscuit cutter; place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
Nutrition information per large biscuit:
Calories ……. 200 Carbohydrates .. 25 g Saturated fat … 2.3 mg
Sodium …… 405 mg Cholesterol …. 1 mg Calories from fat .. 41%
Fat ………… 9 g Protein ……… 4 g Fiber ……….. 0.9 mg
GRANDMA’S POUND CAKE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Yield: 10 servings
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup each: granulated sugar, confectioners’ sugar, milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter, egg yolks and both sugars in bowl of electric mixer until well mixed. Add milk and mix well. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg yolk mixture. Beat well. Add lemon zest and juice and vanilla; beat until smooth.
2. Beat egg whites in clean bowl of electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold gently into flour mixture. Spoon batter into greased 9- by 5-inch loaf pan generously sprinkled with granulated sugar. Bake until top is golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let sit in pan 10 minutes; turn out and cool on wire rack.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ……. 230 Carbohydrates .. 30 g Saturated fat ….. 6 mg
Sodium …… 105 mg Cholesterol … 70 mg Calories from fat .. 41%
Fat ……….. 11 g Protein ……. 3.7 g Fiber ……….. 0.6 mg
BEST-EVER BRAN MUFFINS
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins
From “The Wooden Spoon Bread Book.”
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cups all-bran cereal
1 cup scalded milk, see note
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large egg
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; set aside.
2. Combine cereal, milk, brown sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir until butter dissolves. Let cool until just warm. Beat egg into cereal mixture. Add dry ingredients to cereal mixture, stirring only until dry ingredients are moistened.
3. Spoon into greased 12-cup muffin pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.
Note: To scald milk, heat in small saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear around edge. Do not boil.
Nutrition information per muffin:
Calories ……. 150 Carbohydrates .. 26 g Saturated fat … 2.9 mg
Sodium …… 295 mg Cholesterol … 30 mg Calories from fat .. 28%
Fat ………… 5 g Protein ……. 3.7 g Fiber ……….. 3.8 mg
