Have you ever created molten lava which seemed ready to engulf the world while trying to create a delicate cake? Did you ever try to create cookies which you expected to melt in your mouth but instead they could bring even the safest vault to its knees? Every step of baking should be executed with full attention and even the most basic procedures should not be avoided or else the result will always be disastrous.
Most home cooks don’t focus on the grammar of the recipe. They ignore the positions of punctuation marks present in the instructions. For example, “1 cup almonds, chopped” means that 1 cup of almonds should be measured and then chopped. Most people however, tend to chop them first and then measure the quantity.
Many home cooks tend to avoid the basic steps like flouring and greasing of the cake pan before pouring the batter in it. They also tend to skip the sifting of the flour. Flouring and greasing of the cake pan makes it easier to shift the cake onto the dish on which you are going to present it, otherwise it would just stick to the bottom of the pan. Sifting removes clump from the flour which would give a smooth texture to the bakery product. Home cooks tend to under mix or over mix the batter. Under mixing of the batter doesn’t give a proper texture to the bakery product while over mixing of the batter leads to too much air in the mixture which does not allow the cake to rise properly. Always remember to tap the cake pan to remove the air bubbles from the batter so your cake won’t fall out later.
Home cooks should avoid opening the oven door during baking. This tiny step releases enough hot air from the oven which changes its temperature. The bakery product would not be set properly in that case and it would lead to an undercooked or an unevenly baked product.
Another thing to avoid is using warm baking sheets while baking batches of cookies. Mostly home cooks do not cool down the baking sheet during the baking of cookies; to save time, they tend to use the same baking sheet for another batch of cookies instantly and do not bring it to room temperature. This makes the color of the cookies darker than the first batch or they get burned. When you mix something in a utensil, clean it thoroughly before mixing something else; no residue should be left behind. If you do not clean it properly, it would affect the taste of the mixture or it would not set properly while baking.
Baking is difficult but people learn from their mistakes and by making mistakes in baking you eventually become perfect at it.
Contributed by: Mavra Yawar Khan.
