The 12 Best Tips From Baking Influencers to See You Through 2024: Part Two

Elevate your baking game with these simple baking tips from baking influencers worth their salt.

Baking is a rewarding and enjoyable activity that allows you to share your creations with your loved ones. Whether you bake on lazy Sunday afternoons or every morning, whether you bake sometimes or all the time, and whether you're a homebaker or a professional baker, these tips and tricks from baking influencers are going to be vastly useful for you. Consider this a way of solidifying your foundation. With these tips and the corresponding details you’ll look out for, you're going to emerge as a better baker. Head over to part one first, to learn about some of the basics already discussed.

July: Dough and Batter Matters with Nina-Kristin Isensee

There are a lot of things to keep in mind when preparing the dough or batter for different desserts. For example, when ingredients are of a similar temperature, they bind together much better. While a batter for sponge cake, for instance, should be light and airy, overmixing can instead lead to one that’s stiff and chewy. So be mindful of what the recipe is calling for. Similarly, if you're baking a pie or anything that requires a flaky crust, you want to use cold everything. The butter should be cold, your hands when kneading the dough should be cold and your rolling pin should be cold. Basically, follow the recipe exactly and understand the science behind the textures and looks that come from different types of batter.

August: Scraping the Sides With Danilo Alfaro

Most recipes that call for blending with a mixer will remind you to stop every 30 seconds and scrape down the bowl, folding the ingredients back into the base. This makes your mixing as thorough as possible, which won't be possible if bits of butter, eggs or sugar are sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl. Just remember to stop blending every 30-40 seconds and scrape everything down so what you have in the end is a proper mixture of all the basic ingredients.

September: Sugar with Maryam

Switching between brown and white sugar might not seem like a big deal but it actually has huge consequences. This is because of their differing textures. White sugar is dry and leads to a lighter, fluffier texture when baking. Whereas brown sugar is moist and has molasses, which add moisture and lead to a denser texture to the final product. Also, while white sugar has a neutral taste, brown sugar has a slight caramel like flavor, adding another layer of flavor to your dessert, which you might or might not want. The choice of sugar also, naturally, affects the color of the dessert. Brown gives the dish a deeper color and white leads to a lighter color. So avoid brown sugar when baking a white cake.

October: Understanding Baking Powder with Rose Levy Beranbaum

It's important to look at the ingredients and choose the right brand of baking powder for your creations. Baking powder is essentially a chemical leavener, which makes air bubbles in the batter bigger, leading to volume and a softness in the cake. While some recipes call for leavening the dish through beating the eggs correctly, others use baking powder, baking soda, or both. Most baking powders are double acting, meaning they’ll release carbon dioxide when they come in contact with moisture during the mixing of the batter and also when exposed to heat during the baking. So make sure you understand the chemical composition of the powder you choose. Also, baking powder starts losing its strength after a year, so make a note of when it has been opened.

November: The Benefits of a Cooling Rack with Madeline Buiano

Once your goods are done baking, take them out of the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack so they can rest. They ensure proper airflow and let your dessert cool properly. On the other hand, leaving your dish in the pan or placing it immediately on a plate offers no place for heat to escape and it continues baking.

December: Salt in Sweets with Rochelle Bilow

You don't want to skip the half teaspoon of salt your dessert recipe calls for. Not having it is going to make the dessert taste flat and one toned or too sweet. Salt enhances the flavors of the other ingredients and is an important part of baking.