11 Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Baking is a magical activity.  You take a handful of basic ingredients and turn them into craveable cookies, beautiful breads, creative cakes, and so much more!  As a beginner baker, it can be intimidating to step into the kitchen and tackle some of these recipes.  But, with a handful (or two) of baking tips and tricks up your sleeve, you’ll have the edge on any recipe that tantalizes your taste buds.

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Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners

 

These baking tips and tricks are perfect for getting some confidence in the kitchen.  Of course, there are very few rules in life that are without exception.  The more often you bake, you’ll learn even better how to handle each individual recipe.  I hope you enjoy these nuggets of information!

 

 

• Weigh Your Ingredients

  Measuring your ingredients by weight instead of by volume will be much more accurate, plus you don’t have to dirty a bunch of utensils!  All you need is a bowl and a scale.  Now, I still use cups if that’s what the recipe calls for.  But, a recipe written in weight measurements is much more reliable.

 

 

• Read the Recipe

  It sounds silly, but yes, reading the recipe is a tip. You should read the recipe multiple times to make sure you are properly prepared.  Some recipes, like this amazing Homemade Pumpkin Pie recipe, can require important time management. You need to have the basic road map of the recipe firmly in your head.  You also want to be sure that you have all ingredients and supplies.

 

• Mise en Place

  And that brings us to the next point.  You should always pull all of your ingredients out in advance and measure the proper amounts  A technique called mise en place. This ensures that you have the right amount of the correct ingredients before starting a recipe.  My instructors at the local community college make sure to drive this one home at every class.

 

 

• Properly Chill Butter

  If a recipe calls for cold butter, pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients.  (Dice it first, if necessary.) This is common for pastry, pie crust, and biscuits (like these drop or baking powder biscuits).

 

• Prepare Your Pans

  Parchment paper is your best friend.  Line your cake pans and cookie sheets with parchment paper for no mess release.  For cakes, I also like to use Baker’s Joy cooking spray before I place a parchment round in the bottom of my pan.  For baking sheets, I also love silicone baking mats.  I have these ones with a macaron template.

 

• Sift Your Dry Ingredients

  This is a great choice when you don’t want to over mix or if you want a light, airy texture.  Always sift powdered sugar, corn starch, cake flour, and cocoa powder.  Those clump really easily and can make your bake lumpy.  I like having different sized sifters, like these ones.  But no need to add extra work.  Cookies and bread recipes generally don’t need to be sifted.

• Move Your Stand Mixer Easily

       Place a kitchen towel underneath your KitchenAid stand mixer to easily slide and move the mixer. Don’t worry, it will still be sturdy on the counter while you work.  I keep my stand mixer in a side board outside of the kitchen and this little trick has made it sooo easy to move it around whenever I need it.

 

 

• Temperature Matters

  Ingredients will combine much easier if they are the same temperature.  For example, when a cookie recipe calls for room temperature butter, I pull out the butter and eggs at least an hour in advance.  I don’t like leaving milk out that long, so I’ll measure it as I gather up my ingredients.  Then I microwave it for about 30 seconds until it is just slightly warmer than room temperature.

 

 

Baking Resources

 

• Cookbooks

  I have several great food related books that can teach anyone about different methods and techniques. They are great books to have in any kitchen.  I have found so many baking tips and tricks in these pages!

  • The New Best Recipe by America’s Test Kitchen (Read my full review here!)
  • Joy of Cooking
  • On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee

• Bigger, Bolder Baking

  Gemma Stafford is a trained chef that bakes all sorts of sweet and savory recipes. She is another great source for learning baking basics.  I particularly enjoy her series on baking basics.  Her recipes also frequently list substitutes for different diets, such as egg free, dairy free, gluten free, vegan, etc.

 

 

• The Fit and Healthy Baker

  Catherine has tons of information on baking and living a healthy lifestyle.  Although a lot of her content is about cakes, this site is a great resource for any baker and health enthusiast.  What I love about this blog is the combination of baking, body, and soul. To me, baking is so much more than creating food to eat.

Now Get Baking!

 

Okay, now that you’ve read all of these baking tips and tricks for beginners, I want you to get out there and get baking!  The more you practice, the better your bakes will become and you’ll gain even more confidence.  Now, I have to tell you, you will still have some blunders, but that’s okay!  When one of your bakes flops, take time to figure out why.  Try googling the issue, or even send me a message and we can figure it out.  Ready for more?  Check out my cookie tips and tricks and cake tips and tricks!  You can also follow Bakes and Blunders on Pinterest for even more baking tips.

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