Tips & Tricks From A Professional Baker

By Sidney Stone

Baking is a scientific art that eludes many home cooks. Baking at home is much different than baking in a professional kitchen. However, there are a few tricks that professional bakers rely on that can be applied to home baking. I have been baking at home for over 20 years, and in a professional kitchen for the last 10 years, so here's a few tips and tricks I have come to depend on.

Antique Touch

To achieve an antique look on the top of your cake, especially a chocolate cake, take a lace paper doily and lay on top of your cake. Then, sprinkle powdered sugar on it, and remove the doily. This technique adds a sophisticated look to your cake and is much less work than frosting it. It is easiest to sprinkle powdered sugar from a shaker. I keep shakers of powdered sugar and cocoa on hand always for these sorts of tasks.

Baking Powder Life Expectancy

Most bread products are usually leavened with either yeast or baking powder. If your recipe calls for baking powder, the freshness of the baking powder will determine the end result of your baked goods. Baking powder will start to lose its magic about 6 months after you open it. When you buy a canister of baking powder, take a permanent marker and write the date that you purchased it on the bottom of the container. Then, you will know when it is past its prime. Be sure to keep your baking powder and all your spices away from the heat of your stove. The constant heat from your stove will make them less potent much faster.

Best Results

To get the best finished product, always preheat your oven at least 10-15 minutes before you pop your bread in. Also, be sure to bake in the center of the oven to ensure even circulation of heat, which means even baking.

Biscuit Drama

Biscuit dough should only be worked just until the ingredients have come together and the dough rolled only once. If you work the dough too much, your biscuits will be tough and more like hockey pucks. Also, be sure to dip your biscuit cutter in some flour so that the dough won't stick to it while you cut the biscuits out.

Butter VS Margarine

If your recipe calls for butter, use real butter. If you try to substitute margarine for the butter, you will likely end up with a runny mess. This is because margarine is mostly oil and water with artificial colorings added that has been solidified by hydrogenating it. Additionally, margarine is chock full of trans fats, yuck! We have never used margarine in any professional kitchen I have worked in and it has no place in my home kitchen either.

Cake Flour

Using cake flour in a cake produces a lighter and more moist cake. Most professional kitchens exclusively use cake flour for baking cakes for this reason. No need to buy cake flour, you can easily make your own. Mix 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch into a scant 1 cup of flour and you have cake flour. Your cakes will be bakery quality.

Cooling Bread

When your bread is done and you take it out of the oven, don't cool it in the pan it was baked in. The bread will have a tendency to become soggy. Cool your bread on a cooling rack so that the bread can cool evenly without becoming soggy.

Creeping Dough

If you use a stand mixer for mixing your bread dough, then you have probably experienced your bread dough creeping up the dough hook. To prevent this, lightly oil your dough hook before you begin mixing and you will stop the creeping dough.

Egg Tips

Always use Grade A Large eggs for any baking recipes, unless otherwise specified. And always make sure to let your eggs come to room temperature before using them, unless otherwise specified.

Hard Bread Crust

If you do not want your bread crust to be too hard when it comes out of the oven, here's a simple fix. Place a small oven-safe bowl of water in the oven while your bread is baking. The added steam in the oven will keep your bread crust from becoming too hard.

Ingredients Accuracy

Most measuring cups and spoons vary slightly, which can mean disaster for your baked goods. To achieve professional quality every time, the best choice is to prepare your recipes by weight. All you need is a good kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients. For example, one cup of flour is equivalent to 112 grams. Weighing your ingredients ensures professional pinpoint accuracy of the final product.

Oops! Which Flour Is It?

I always have a variety of flours on hand and use large labeled containers for all my flours because I go through so much of it. Once, on a particularly humid day, the label for the unbleached flour and the self-rising flour fell off, and just by looking at them I could not tell the difference. If the same should ever happen to you, just taste the two different flours. The self-rising flour will taste salty due to the leavener and salt that is in it. Mystery solved.

Potato Water

Don't pour out your water from boiling potatoes. The potato water has a starchiness that works very well in bread baking. Substitute some potato water for the water you would normally include in your bread recipe. It will impart a unique flavor to the bread and keep the bread more fresh for a longer period of time.

Recipe Prep

Always read your recipe through a couple times to make sure you understand the full scope of what you will be doing. Also, be sure to get out everything you will need for your recipe from measuring tools, bowls, and ingredients. Doing so will make the whole process more fun and less hassle.

Tap Water Is Not Your Friend

Most tap water in the US is riddled with many minerals and chemicals which can significantly affect your home baked goods. Regardless of what you are baking, if it calls for water, use bottled water.

Temperature Accuracy

Most home ovens vary a few degrees from what you set them to, meaning if you set your oven to 350, it could easily be 370. These sorts of temperature ranges can affect the outcome of your baked goods. The best way to control this is to use an oven thermometer; get one that hangs in the oven that you can easily read it without opening the oven. Then, you can adjust your oven to the accurate temperature regardless of what you set the dial to.

Temperature Matters

The ingredients for pastry recipes should always be cold, and the ingredients for baking breads should always be warm, or room temperature.

Whole Wheat Issues

Whole wheat bread dough will usually never rise as high as your white breads. This is because the wheat flour has not been refined as much as white flour which makes it more dense.

Sidney Stone is the editor of FoodRap.com and an enthusiastic personal chef that specializes in artisan breadmaking and pastries.