Baking In Skills
Page 4
How to Know if Your Sourdough Starter Is Ready for Bread Baking
Sourdough for Beginners
There's one test that eliminates the guesswork.
Apr 1, 2020
6 Food-Stylist Tips to Make a More Beautiful Cake
Pretty Delicious
From trimming the layers to crumb-coating, here's how to create picture-perfect cakes.
Apr 1, 2020
Yes, You Can Toast Nuts in the Microwave — Here's How
It takes a fraction of the time!
Mar 2, 2020
The One Ingredient That Makes French Toast So Much Better
Hint: It might be on your bar cart.
Feb 29, 2020
Alton’s “Ooey” Brownie Trick: Bake Them *Twice*
Somewhere between hitting pause and baking twice!
Feb 20, 2020
Has Your Cake Batter Curdled? Here’s How to Fix It
Don't toss it out! It's still salvageable.
Feb 16, 2020
12 Secrets for Better Holiday Baking from a Professional Pastry Chef
From cookies and cakes, to pies and pastries, these little tips can make a big difference.
Feb 13, 2020
This $4 Ingredient Is the Secret to the Very Best Chocolate Desserts
Taste Makers
You need this in your pantry.
Feb 11, 2020
2 Simple Reasons Your Dutch Baby Didn’t Rise — and How to Fix Them
Here's what you can do to ensure tall results.
Feb 8, 2020
This Trick for Making Heart-Shaped Cupcakes Without a Special Pan Is Ingenious
The secret is in your pantry.
Feb 5, 2020
Word of Mouth: Chapati
Chapati [chuh-pah-tee] noun: Pan-grilled unleavened flatbread eaten in India, East Africa, and most of South Asia.Chapati is ubiquitous in Kenya; big golden wedges of this flat, chewy bread were served at almost every meal. We loved it; the fried golden taste is so delicious, and it’s handy for sopping up extra meat and sauce. We were already familiar, too, with chapati from Indian cuisine.
Jan 21, 2020
The Best Way to Get a Stuck Bundt Cake Out of the Pan in One Piece
Ever fill your favorite intricately-designed bundt pan with homemade cake batter and wait the 50-60 minutes for it to bake, only to have the cake stick to the pan? I know I have. There is nothing more crushing than trying to invert a yummy-smelling cake from its pan and having it stick or fall out it clumps. Well, those sad times are over! Try this “steam” method with your next stuck bundt cake.
Jan 21, 2020
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Baking a Bundt Cake
A Bundt cake is not your average cake. While all cakes strive to be delicious, the Bundt cake can be a little more fun and pretty than some other presentations simply because of the pan it’s baked in. To make sure you get the best cakes every time, avoid these five mistakes. Bundt cake recipes describe the Bundt pan by the number of cups of batter that it holds. Overfill it and your cake will overflow in the oven.
Jan 21, 2020
10 of the Most Beautiful Bundt Cakes We Could Find
If you’ve ever scrolled through the dozens upon dozens of beautiful Bundt cakes that fill up Pinterest, then you know how hard it is to come up with a list of just 10. Consider this list just the beginning of what’s out there. Sure, you could leave that hole in the center of a Bundt empty, or you could fill it with sweet stewed cherries and whipped cream.
Jan 21, 2020
Everything You Should Know About Making Beautiful Bundt Cakes
Bundts really are the queen of all cakes. They’re beautiful, easy enough to bake, and big enough to feed a party. Here is everything you need to know to master the beautiful Bundt cake and win at dessert every single time. Bundt cake recipes are given by volume, with 10-cup and 12-cup recipes being the most common. If you aren’t sure what size your pan is, you can find the volume by adding water and measuring it.
Jan 21, 2020
How To Freeze & Reheat Dinner Rolls
We here at The Kitchn are firm believers that the more you can do ahead of your dinner party, the less stress you’ll have at your dinner party. Dinner rolls fall squarely in that make-ahead category. In fact, dinner rolls are such a flexible and accommodating kind of recipe that there are multiple points in the process when you can stop, put the rolls on pause, and pick them up again when you want to — whether that’s a whole month from now or just a day.
Jan 21, 2020
Our Ultimate 3 Tips for Mind-Blowing Chocolate Chip Cookies
Best of Kitchn 2019
Take any recipe, add these tips, and mind-blowing chocolate cookies are yours.
Dec 30, 2019
We Tried 6 Ways to Brown Pie Crust and Found a Clear Winner
Skills Showdown
We rated them based on color, sheen, and consistency of browning.
Dec 18, 2019
What’s the Secret to Perfect Coconut Macaroons?
Q: I work at a Jewish social service agency and would love a recipe for perfect coconut macaroons to bring in as a treat for my coworkers! Sent by mind_grapes The Gefilteria’s Liz Alpern: Wow, you’re an excellent coworker! I hope your colleagues appreciate your efforts. It’s great that you’re getting out of the processed food mania of Passover and doing it yourself. I ditched the packaged versions a few years ago and my family has been infinitely grateful ever since.
Dec 17, 2019
When It Comes to Bread, Less (Flour) Is More
When people who know about bread talk about bread, they often talk about ratios. A common ratio for bread is five to three, which importantly refers to weight (not cup) measurements — so 500 grams of flour to 300 grams of water, for example. But according to Adam Leonti, baker-in-chief at Brooklyn Bread Lab, less flour is more, or rather more water is more, if your goal is to make bread with big, beautiful holes.
Dec 17, 2019
Good Bread Takes Time (a Whole Lot of Precious Time)
You know that George Harrison song I’ve Got My Mind Set on You? It goes something like, “It’s gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time / It’s gonna take patience and time / To do it, to do it, to do it right.” I may have left out a few “to do its,” but you get the idea. The point is: Harrison may as well have been singing about bread. So how long should bread take?
Dec 17, 2019
Here’s All the Info You Need to Ship Cookies Before Christmas or Hanukkah
This year I'm not risking any late arrivals, and you don't need to either.
Dec 10, 2019
5 Savory Spices to Mix in Your Cookie Dough
A pinch of savory spice is my favorite trick for giving cookies an extra, and sometimes unexpected boost of flavor.
Dec 5, 2019
To Make All Your Holiday Baking Shine, Use Cultured Butter
One-Ingredient Upgrade
It adds a complex, almost nutty flavor to nearly any baked good.
Dec 6, 2019
The Best Way to Thaw Puff Pastry
If puff pastry isn't working for you, it may not be properly thawed.
Dec 2, 2019
The $3 Ingredient That Makes Baked Chicken Taste Fried
Weird, but it works.
Nov 21, 2019
4 Tips for Making a *Much* Better Apple Pie
No more shrunken filling or soggy crusts!
Nov 14, 2019
Not Sure What to Do with Leftover Pie Dough? Make Pie Scrap Cookies.
Cookbook Club
Pie scraps can be a problem. Fortunately, the solution is delicious.
Nov 12, 2019
The 2-Ingredient Topping That Makes Every Pie Look Amazing
This little tip from Sister Pie is totally changing our baking.
Nov 11, 2019
The Secret to the Best Ever Apple Crisp? It's Actually Miso.
No, really. You've got to try this.
Oct 29, 2019
Want to Make a Better Quick Bread? Try Using Muffin Batter
Goodbye banana bread, hello sour cherry chocolate chunk bread!
Sep 23, 2019
The Secret to a Far Better Pie Dough Is Already in Your Cupboard
One-Ingredient Upgrade
It helps enhance the flavors of nearly every kind of pie.
Sep 20, 2019
How to Make the Gooiest Stay-Soft-for-Days Rice Krispies Treats
One-Ingredient Upgrade
Try this for more flavorful, stay-soft-for-days Rice Krispies treats.
Sep 17, 2019
10 of Our Favorite Ingredients for Italian Cooking
Do you cook with Italian flavors and ingredients? If so, how do you stock your pantry? Here are 10 pantry favorites for Italian cooking, with some no-brainers (uh, pasta) and other more exotic picks (ancient Roman fish sauce, anyone?), and with links back to some of our favorite brands. Pasta – Oh, pasta, where would we be without you? My (Calabrian, originally) husband would riot if we didn’t eat pasta at least once week.
Sep 12, 2019
5 Ways to Use Spent Vanilla Beans
Cooking with real vanilla beans is a beautiful thing; I love the flecks of vanilla flavor and scraping the concentrated vanilla seeds out of the fragrant beans. But after paying up for the real things, the last thing I want to do is throw away the scraped-out pod. Good news — there are plenty of uses for these spent beans, which still contain tons of great vanilla flavor. Vanilla sugar – Stash spent vanilla beans in a canister of sugar to give it a subtle vanilla flavor.
Sep 12, 2019
The Finishing Touch That Perfects Pies, Muffins, Scones, and Quick Breads
One-Ingredient Upgrade
This is *much* better than regular sugar.
Sep 11, 2019
Kañiwa: Is This the New Quinoa?
Like quinoa and amaranth, kañiwa is an ancient little seed with major nutritional benefits. Some are even calling it the new quinoa. Have you tried it yet?Cultivated in the Andes, kañiwa is a close relative of quinoa and has a similar nutty flavor without any of the bitterness. Though tinier and less fluffy than quinoa, it has a pleasant crunch and makes a satisfying grain alternative. It’s also higher in protein and packed with fiber, iron, calcium, and zinc.
Sep 11, 2019
Baking School Day 5: Sweet & Savory Soufflés
The Kitchn’s Baking School Day 5: All about dessert soufflés. Join The Kitchn’s Baking School: Sign up and see all The Kitchn’s Baking School assignments Soufflés tend to get a bad rap for being fussy and finicky — so why bother making them, you ask? Are they worth all the trouble? The answer is a resounding yes, and as you’ll learn in today’s lesson, they are not nearly as difficult as you might think.
Sep 11, 2019
What’s the Difference Between Marzipan and Almond Paste?
I remember wandering through department stores and Christmas markets in Western Europe and marveling at the displays of marzipan goodies: amazingly realistic-looking little fruits or tiny animals, all neatly lined up in the windows. I loved how they cheerily stood out against the gloomy weather outside. Then I started baking and seeing recipes calling for almond paste and got a little confused. If marzipan is a paste made out of almonds, are they just the same thing?
Aug 3, 2019
3 Stunning Ways to Shape Brioche
A plain loaf of brioche is wonderful, but sometimes it’s fun to put in a little extra effort to make it extraordinary. The classic braid makes an excellent sliceable loaf with flair, while the star and bouquet options are eager to offer their pull-apart charms to a brunch near you. I know this all looks like a ton of work, but I promise it’s not! With these three easy-to-memorize techniques, you’ll take your brioche game to a level that’ll make even your grandma jealous.
Jul 30, 2019
A Simple (Yet Ingenious) Trick for the Best-Ever Zucchini Bread
This smart tip totally surprised me — and it 100% works.
Jul 4, 2019
Everything You Need to Know About Toasting Sugar
It's the secret to better baked goods.
Jun 26, 2019
Word of Mouth: Oven Spring
Oven Spring noun: In bread baking, the final burst of rising just after a loaf is put in the oven and before the crust hardens.When the dough hits the hot oven, it can puff up to as much as a third of its size in a matter of a few minutes. This oven spring is a good indicator of the crumb of your bread: more oven spring means a light and airy interior and little oven spring indicates a dense, compact crumb.More on how oven spring works after the jump!
Jun 22, 2019
The Secret to the Best, Fluffiest Gluten-Free Muffins Is Already in Your Kitchen
This trick is a total game-changer.
Jun 7, 2019
It’s Pi Day! 10 Savory Pies, Quiches, and Pasties You Can Pack For Lunch
It’s March 14, and we all know what that means, right? It’s Pi Day! (March 14 = 3.14. Get it?) Every year we like to use this as an excuse to pull up pi(e) recipes from our archives, but this year we’re forgoing the sweet in favor of the savory. Even better: all of these pies, quiches, and pasties would make great lunches. So here’s to infinite pie possibilities!
Jun 6, 2019
Baker’s Tricks: Getting Steam into Your Oven
Steam is an essential component for getting a classic artisan loaf with good oven spring and a crackling crust, like the sourdough loaves we’ve been baking lately. Short of investing in an oven with steam-injection, home bakers have developed a few tricks over the years to generate a steamy baking environment. Here’s how! So far, the best method we’ve discovered is creating a steam “bath.
Jun 5, 2019
Our 15 Best Tips for Making Perfect Pies
We make a lot of pies here at The Kitchn — which is great, because practice makes perfect when it comes to pie-making. Along the way, we’ve picked up quite a few tips and tricks for the perfect pie, from rolling it to freezing it to cutting that tricky first slice. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a pie-baking pro, you’ll learn something new from these 15 tips.
Jun 5, 2019
How to Drizzle Chocolate: The Plastic Bag Method
We don’t know about you, but we have yet to encounter a tray of cookies that couldn’t use at least a little chocolate drizzled on top. If you do a lot of baking and a lot of chocolate drizzling, picking up a a squeeze bottle is definitely worth it. But if you’re an occasional baker and don’t want another thing rattling around your cupboards, this method using household items is just as good.
Jun 5, 2019
Banana For an Egg: Vegan Substitutions for 8 Common Baking Ingredients
• Butter: Margarine or olive oil are the best choices. For margarine, Annie recommends Earth Balance brand for the most “buttery” flavor, but any vegan brand can be substituted directly for butter. Don’t try to brown it in recipes calling for browned butter, though.Baking with olive oil also works well. (Use 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil for every cup of butter.) It can be used to grease pans as well, as long as the coating is very light.
Jun 5, 2019
How to Identify Real San Marzano Tomatoes
When it comes to canned tomatoes, one name reigns supreme: San Marzano. But how can a small town near Naples, Italy produce enough tomatoes to fill the supermarket shelves year round? Easy — it doesn’t. Here’s what to look for to make sure you aren’t paying premium prices for San Marzano fakes. Gusti Blog offers a few tips from the Cosorzio San Marzano for identifying the real deal when buying San Marzano tomatoes.
Jun 5, 2019
5 Tips to Avoid Soggy Summer Fruit Pies
It’s that time of the year again: summer berries, cherries and even peaches are starting to make their way into farmers markets and grocery stores. And with that comes summer pies! Recently I’ve had a few Marge customers write to me asking how we achieve fruit fillings that aren’t runny or overly gummy or starchy.
Jun 5, 2019
Egg Substitutes in Baking? Try Flax Seed!
Have you ever tried replacing eggs with ground flax seed in your baking? We spotted this tip on the Bitten blog last week and were instantly intrigued.We’ve been known to sprinkle flax seeds over our morning oatmeal or mix a few spoonfuls into bread dough for the boost of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. But this is the first we’ve heard that it can be used as an egg replacement!
Jun 5, 2019
Blogging the NY Times: The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
Leave it to the New York Times to take on the grand-daddy of all classic cookies and have the audacity to call it “perfect”! But from what we’re hearing around the blogosphere, “perfect” pretty well sums it up. Molly over at Orangette is ready to write love sonnets. Even PJ Hamel writing for the King Arthur Flour blog concedes the awesomeness of this recipe.
Jun 5, 2019
Baking Tip: Roll Out Cookie Dough With Powdered Sugar
You know how you’re not supposed to use too much flour when rolling out cookies? And if you do, you’re rewarded with a nice floury mouthful of yeerrk! when you bite into the cookie? We have a new solution: roll out cookie dough with powdered sugar instead of flour.We came across this tip in a cut-out cookie recipe we made recently and had to pause for a moment to appreciate its sheer simplicity – and obviousness.
Jun 4, 2019
Why Won’t My No-Knead Bread Toast? Good Questions
Q: I’ve been using the batch recipe for bread in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for a few months now, and it’s been great. I can make pizza, pitas, baguettes, rolls, even sourdough if I wait long enough.But I have a question: Why won’t slices of a baguette or boule brown when toasted? The slice will crisp up nice in the toaster oven, but it won’t brown at all. It’s really strange. I’ve had this issue with some other no-knead recipes too. Any thoughts?
Jun 4, 2019
Gluten-Free Baking: How to Make An Easy Flour Substitute
As holiday baking projects take over my kitchen, I find myself thinking of friends and family with gluten intolerance who might not be looking at this time of year so favorably. I caught up with Geri Peacock of the gluten-free Cherbourg Bakery in Columbus, Ohio to ask for some expert advice. Here’s her recommendation for a flour substitute that’s simple to make and even easier to use.
Jun 4, 2019
Brunch For a Crowd? Poach Eggs Ahead of Time
We love serving poached eggs with hollandaise at brunch gatherings, but doing more than a few can end up feeling annoying and time-consuming when hungry guests are waiting out in the dining room. Luckily, eggs can actually be poached ahead of time and then reheated right before serving. Here’s what to do!Poach all your eggs as normal, but under-cook them slightly. A minute off of your normal cooking time should do the trick. Just make sure the whites are nearly set.
Jun 4, 2019
Quick Tip: How to Get the Best Chocolate Flavor
If you’re making something chocolaty – crinkle cookies, chocolate mousse, brownies, fudge – and really want to turn up the chocolate flavor, there’s a simple trick you can use with just about any recipe. Do you know the secret ingredient?It’s espresso! A shot or two of straight espresso or a few tablespoons of very dark coffee along with the liquids in your recipe have the effect of enhancing the chocolate without adding much discernible coffee flavor.
Jun 4, 2019
Bûche de Noël: How to Keep the Cake from Cracking
These holiday cakes are as beautiful to look at as they are yummy to eat! We’ve attempted making a few bûche de noël cakes at home over the years, and as fun as this is, getting them just right can be a challenge. Here’s one tip that will help keep the cake from breaking up as you roll:Bûche de noël are made by baking a thin layer of sponge cake, covering it with creamy frosting, and then rolling them up together into a log shape.
Jun 4, 2019
Conscientious Cook: Alternatives to Vegetable Shortening
Growing up, we always had a big can of Crisco sitting on the pantry shelf. It got used for everything from greasing pans to making the flakiest pie crust ever. Now that trans fatsFor many recipes, what you substitute depends on what your making. Lard is our first choice if shortening is truly necessary. It has all the same properties as vegetable shortening – makes flaky pastries, has minimal spread in cookies, and has a clean flavor.
Jun 4, 2019
Kitchen Science: Why Toast Nuts Before Baking?
Taking the extra step to toast nuts on their own when they’ll just be going back into the oven again as an ingredient in a baked dish can feel like just that – an extra step. As we toasted nuts for a batch of our Fruit and Nut Bars earlier this week, we started wondering if this step is truly necessary?Once we delved a little further into the issue, we realized that, yes, toasting nuts before using them really is a key step.
Jun 4, 2019
Perfectly Cooked Beans: Leave the Cover On or Off?
We picked up this tip in a blurb at the end of a recipe in one our favorite cookbooks, A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider:If you simmer beans in an uncovered pot, they will end up firmer and more intact. This perfect for dishes where you really want the beans to keep their shape without smooshing, like salads and pasta dishes.
Jun 4, 2019
How Can I Double A Batch of Cookies?
Q: Any tips on doubling cookie recipe batches? Do I need to add more eggs? I made snickerdoodles and doubled the recipe, but they came out flat and chewy, not puffy. Sent by Joyce Editor: The culprit to your flat cookies was probably the baking soda or baking powder. It’s one of the only ingredients that can’t always be doubled along with everything else.
Jun 4, 2019
Food Science: The Best Eggs for Meringue and Why
When we talked about making pavlovasAlthough they stay edible for quite some time, eggs begin aging as soon as they’re laid. Both the white and the yolk start off slightly acidic and with their chemical structures and membranes fully intact. In the white, the proteins are tightly folded and tend to cluster. As it ages, the egg – and especially the white – becomes more alkaline.
Jun 4, 2019
Recipe Rescue! What To Do If You Oversalt
How many times have we delicately salted a dish…and salted a little more…and a wee bit more…and then, oops! Suddenly our dish has gone from under-seasoned to tasting like seawater. Can anything be done to save a dish once we’ve added too much salt?Unfortunately, once it’s in there, there’s no getting it back out again – no matter how long you stare at the pot and curse under your breath!
Jun 4, 2019
Ingredient Spotlight: Tamarind
Tamarind is one of the not-so-secret ingredients in a lot of Asian cooking. Eating a bowl of pad thai or a spoonful of chutneyUntil we started researching this post, we didn’t realize that the tamarind tree is actually native to Africa. The ingredient is so ubiquitous to Southeast Asian cuisine that we assumed it was from there! Tamarind trees have also spread to the Pacific islands, Mexico, and parts of South America, and gets used in the cooking from those regions as well.
Jun 4, 2019
Top Five: Ways to Eat a Fried Egg
A nicely fried egg with crispy edges and a warm, runny yolk is one of life’s greatest simple pleasures. We realized long ago that fried eggs are just as delicious after 9am as they are before, and we’ve been sliding them onto our plates to round out a quick meal ever since. Here are a few of our favorite combos:A fried egg is our trick for turning an otherwise ho-hum meal into a great one.
Jun 4, 2019
Word of Mouth: Beurre Manié
Beurre Manié [bur man-yay], noun: A kneaded paste of butter and flour added to a soup or sauce toward the end of cooking in order to thicken.If your dish is nearly done cooking and you feel that it’s soupier than you’d like, a simple beurre manié can save the day. Here’s how it works!If you add flour straight into hot liquid, you just end up with a clumpy sauce, right?
Jun 4, 2019
Food Science: Why Some Flour Gets Bleached and Bromated
After listening to Evan Kleinman’s talk with Cindy Mushet about flour on the Good Food show this past week, we were left thinking about bleached and unbleached flour. Mushet is insistent that unbleached flour is best, and that made us wonder why it started getting bleached in the first place…Fresh flour straight from the mill isn’t actually quite ready to be used in baking and actually improves with a little aging.
Jun 4, 2019
Good Grains: What Is Millet?
Today, millet continues to be a staple for a third of the world’s population. Ground millet is used in flatbreads, such as Indian roti and Ethiopian and Eritrean injera (made from teff, a variety of millet). In Eastern Africa, millet is used to make beer. It is also an ingredient in Eastern European fermented drinks and porridges.In America and Western Europe, millet has mostly been relegated to bird and livestock feed.
Jun 4, 2019
Candy-Making Basics: The Stages of Cooked Sugar
When making candy, we most often just follow the temperatures in the recipe and pay little attention to the actual stage. But it can be interesting to look at the stages side-by-side and realize what can be made with each one. Do you know soft ball from hard crack?! See for yourself below the jump!As we learned the other week when we looked at how sugar cooks, the longer it’s on the heat, the more the sugar molecules break down and recombine.
Jun 4, 2019
Food Science: How Sugar “Cooks”
We all know that sugar will melt when heated, losing its granular form and turning into a liquid. This we can see with our own eyes. But how it goes from a simple sugar syrup to dark caramel (to burnt mess!) requires a peek under the microscope…Think of a pan of cooking sugar as made up of hundreds and thousands of molecules. Just like any other food, the molecules that make up sugar begin to break down under high heat or prolonged exposure to heat.
Jun 4, 2019