Q: I was wondering if you had any advice on how to create recipes for baked goods. I cook pretty much all meals without recipes, unless I'm trying out something brand new, but when it comes to baking I limit my edits to adding chopped up fruit, a pinch of cinnamon or putting less sugar than the recipe asks for.
Editor: Adeline, many bakers rely on specific ratios of flour, fat, eggs or liquid as starting points when they make cakes, muffins and other sweet recipes. Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio is a great resource for bakers (and cooks) looking to break away from recipes. Here's some more info and a link to the book on Amazon:
→ Cooking Without Recipes: Michael Ruhlman on Ratios
→ Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman
Readers, do you have any tips for baking without recipes?
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Related: How Can I Reduce the Sugar in Baking Recipes?
(Image: Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze/Faith Durand)
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You already posted my suggestion :) Learn the basic formulas given in "Ratio" and have fun experimenting.
That was my question, and thanks very much for the tip!
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get that book.. :P
There is such a thing as baking without a recipe? I would not dare! But then I am a new cook and baker so I rely a lot on recipes especially for baking.
@Thirzyl: It is possible! The German postdoc I used to work for baked based off experience and not off a recipe per se. She knew how a dough should look and feel for the end product she was trying to make. Granted, she had years baking with her grandmother and mother who baked with pinches of this, two bowls of that, a scoop of that, is the dough firm etc. I still remember the most delicious stollen and yeasty breads she'd often bring to work.
I bought Ratio to learn the basis of common baked goods and riff from there.
I too was going to suggest Ratio. Manda is right too, learning to bake by feel is a great way to do. That technique works best for doughs (breads and pasta) than for batters (cakes and quickbreads), however.
I agree with the suggestion to get Ratio -- an amazing book. Although I'm not adventurous enough to cook without recipes, it really opened my eyes to recipe development and the simplicity of something like a cookie or a cake.
I agree with the suggestion to get Ratio -- an amazing book. Although I'm not adventurous enough to cook without recipes, it really opened my eyes to recipe development and the simplicity of something like a cookie or a cake.
I agree with the suggestion to get Ratio -- an amazing book. Although I'm not adventurous enough to cook without recipes, it really opened my eyes to recipe development and the simplicity of something like a cookie or a cake.
Baking doesn't leave a lot of room for error, especially when it comes to cakes and breads... well never mind: it's important for almost any baked good! I agree with everyone on Ratio. I'd also try to narrow down why you want to experiment and what you want to get out of your baking that you currently aren't getting.
Good luck!
I'm from a family of bread makers who never use a recipe! So I would totally suggest bread to start your baking experiments. Much more forgiving than cakes.
The yeast, salt, and liquid amount per loaf is pretty set (and any recipe can give you that) but the rest they do by feel. I'm still learning and it takes experience to know what your dough should feel like, but you can riff whatever you want off a good basic recipe.
Want cinnamon/sticky buns? add extra fat, lots of sugar, and a couple eggs.
Feeling frugal or healthy? Minimal fat/sugar. But always leave some, I speak from experience.
Sub in any kind of kind of strange flour (but start with 1/4 weird stuff until you get a handle on it).
Extra sour cream, cream cheese, buttermilk - add it in!
Leftover oatmeal, rice, mashed potatoes - add them in!
It flabbergasts me that some recipes are so precise about weighing everything for bread and then tell you to add flour while kneading as required! I've had such swings in flour usage that any kind of measuring would have been useless.
Cookies are a good mix-it-up basic too. More flour, fat, or liquid completely changes them. I don't make them enough to remember which does what, but I know I like a couple extra TB of milk for my oatmeal cookies.
Whatever you do, if you do it in small enough increments it'll still be food! Have fun!