More Secret Baking Tips For the Home Baker you need to know before stepping into the kitchen, including best ingredients, types of flour, oil, sugar, baking tools and more.
Last year we started with 10 Secrets every baker should know and now we will go a little deeper into the kitchen.
Learn More Secret Baking Tips
Types of Flours for Baking
There are so many different types of flour. You might just read a recipe and think all flours are the same. There is All-Purpose Flour, Cake Flour, Bread Flour, Gluten-Free Flour, Wheat Flour, Self Rising Flour, Pastry Flour, Oat Flour, Coconut Flour, and oh so much more.
When Baking, you will probably use, All-Purpose and Cake flour the most. Make sure you read your recipe as the type of flour you use will make a big difference in the finished product. If you are making gluten-free recipes, there are many other flours that are gluten-free.
Types of Sugar for Baking
There are many types of sugar including, White Granular, Light Brown and Dark Brown Sugar, Raw Turbinado, Sanding, Confectioners, Course, Superfine. Again read your recipe because each one will affect your final product and texture. Beyond Sugar, there are other (natural) sweeteners you can use, Including Agave, Honey, Maple Syrup and Applesauce. Then you also have the category of Artificial Sweeteners. Unless you have diabetes or another health issue, I would not use artificial sweeteners.
Types of Oil
Have you ever went to the grocery store, and looked at all the shelves of oil there are. If you go into a gourmet store you would be amazed. When I was in culinary school, that was one of my assignments. I was shocked at what I found.
There are your basic oils, such as Vegetable, Canola, Corn and Olive Oil, then it goes from there to Coconut, and all the flavored olive oils, Extra Virgin, Peanut oil, palm oil, grapeseed, sunflower, avocado, sesame, etc. I suggest having Vegetable, Coconut, Sunflower and Olive Oil and EVOO. These are the ones you will use in baking.
One of the tips you learned in 10 Secrets tips every baker should know was to read the recipe twice. Make sure you have all the ingredients. If by chance you are missing an ingredient check with your Substitution Chart to see if you have something suitable.
Get your Free Baking Ingredient Substitution Chart here.
What are the Types of Pie Crusts
There are three types of Pie Crusts you can use in baking. All Butter, All Shortening and a Combination of the Two. I share my favorite in my Apple Pie Crust recipe.
Is there a Difference between Cocoa Powder and Dutch Cocoa Powder?
Yes there is and you can read about it in my article called “can you Substitute Dutch Powder for Regular Cocoa Powder“
What is a water bath and why do I need to create one to bake my cheesecakes?
Water baths help custard desserts cook at the proper time and heat setting. I created this article to show you how it’s done.
To find out what you need in your baking kitchen read about some of my favorite Baking Tools in the Kitchen.
Do you love Cupcakes? I wrote about Cupcake decorating tips right here.
I hope you learned some Secret Baking Tips for the Home Baker and found some new choices for ingredients.
Great post on baking! It answered some questions I had, like about the different types of cocoa! Thanks for sharing!