apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I live at 7200 feet.

You don't always have to decrease your leavening, only when it's more than 1tsp of leavening per cup of flour and only down to that ratio. I rarely make any leavener adjustments except to underbeat eggs when they're the leavener.

I've never had a moisture problem in my baked goods (and I live in already dry Arizona). As for increasing the oven temperature....I found that getting a oven thermometer and making sure the oven was at the correct temperature was the key to my baked goods. Bread is done at a lower internal temp b/c of the lower boiling point of water.

The only thing I have problems with is beans, they take forever to cook.

I've got to give an enthusiastic second for Susan Purdy's "Pie in the Sky".

My husband has a temporary contract in rural mountainous Arizona (7000ft). I've been very glad to have the book. So far I've more been using it as a reference/guide on how to alter other recipes, but I've got plans to work my way through the yeast bread chapter recipe by recipe. Nearly all the recipes appeal to me.

This is great! I stick to fruit breads and stuff that doesn't have yeast in it because I made a whole variety of breads that ended up resembling bricks. I will have to test some of these out, I am only at 5000 feet but it makes more of a difference than I would have ever thought.

Also, I have a lot of acquaintances who love their bread machines - do they automatically compensate or something? Or are my friends probably just adjusting their recipes and not mentioning it?

I'm at 5000 feet as well.

For cookies: I leave the recipe as is usually. I do occasionally reduce sugar, but for diet reasons not outcome.

Quick breads: Depending on the recipe, I'll reduce leavening and sugar. My biscuit recipe I leave alone, except that I have to add more liquid if I'm making them whole wheat.

Yeast breads: I reduce the yeast or let rise an extra time. It's my understanding/experience that yeast breads rise faster at higher elevations (less air pressure.) The problem is when they rise that fast they have not time for flavor to develop.

Cakes: Usually I'll use a high altitude recipe. When adjusting recipes, I reduce leavening by 1/4, sugar by 1/3 and add a bit more liquid. Baking cakes in a tube pan seems to help too.

I have Pie in the Sky and I like it for the most part. The biscuit recipe didn't work for me and her cake recipes make too much batter for the pan size she indicates, but the results (except for the biscuits) are wonderful.

@explcurve: try soaking the beans in salt water overnight, draining, adding fresh water and cooking as normal. I moved from sea level to 7000 feet, it's the only way I've found to cut the time down. Just be careful about adding additional salt, as the beans will retain some saltiness.

I've never had problems with quick breads/cookies, but successful cupcakes from scratch elude me.

At what altitude do these modifications go into effect? What do you consider 'high altitude'?

cthom19-
I've always understood the general rule with cooking beans was not to add salt until the end of the cooking because it hardens the beans.

I leave near Mexico City, at about 2,700 meters (about 8,800 feet). I use my recipes with no changes whatsoever and never had a problem.

Have a good oven and watch the temperature and time, that's all.