Baking 101: Questions and Answers
Welcome to Baking 101 series! This series is a little behind and I apologize. There has been so much happening around here, GREAT things, that I have gotten behind.
So, today I wanted to address some of the questions that readers had for me about baking. Again, I am NOT a professional, I have never had any schooling or classes. I am just a Mom and wife that loves to bake and share my tips and tricks for making it easier for you.
I will continue the series soon, with some more videos {I owe you a pie crust video}, but it will be a couple weeks while I get caught up. {I hope}
The following questions were from readers, if you have a baking question, please leave it in the comments and I will answer it, to the best of my knowledge.
Gigi asks…when a recipe calls for softened butter, do you melt the butter completely?
If I can remember to set the butter out to soften I do, it is better that way, but if you don’t remember, you can soften it in the microwave for about 20 seconds {depending on your microwave}, you can lay it on the warm stove or in the sun by a window. If the recipe calls for softened, you just want it SOFT not MELTED.
I am making a soup that calls for heavy cream…is that the same as heavy WHIPPING cream?
Here is what I found on Difference Between.net “Heavy Cream is a special dairy product that is made out of the top most layer of milk which is rich in cutter fat. On the other hand, the very term “whipped cream” or “whipping cream” refers to such cream that is subjected to a process of continuous beating till it gets fluffy and light.”
Now, with that being said, I personally use heavy whipping cream for both. I have never found JUST heavy cream.
Should eggs really be at room temperature before using?
I very rarely use eggs at room temperature. I have never really noticed a difference.
If a recipe isn’t specific about butter, should salted or unsalted be used?
I always use unsalted butter. Most recipes call for salt, and if you use salted butter you are doubling up the salt. In my opinion, you really don’t need it.
Why does the idea of using a simple candy therometer scare the daylights out of me? What is a good one to buy?
Honestly…I don’t use one. I’m not a big candy maker, but I do know it is important to use one on certain candies. Here is a good one I found from Wilton.
What is the best way to get recipes from friends that were handed down in their family? Or is this something that shouldn’t be asked?
I would absolutely ASK! I feel like if recipes are not handed down, the history of the family does not continue. I would compliment them on the recipe and tell them that you would be honored to give it a try.
Measuring: should dry items be measured in the pre-measured cups or can everything be measured in a measuring cup? You know, like i do.
Dry ingredients should be measured in a dry ingredient measuring cup and liquid should be measured in a liquid. I have a video on How to measure.
How do you know if a cookie or cookie batter should be frozen before it’s baked or after it’s baked?
I actually rarely freeze cookies, but that is just preference of taste. I have frozen cookie dough a few times with great results. Just scoop and place on a cookie sheet, and flash freeze {place in freezer for a few hours} and then place them in a resealable bag. Baking 911 has a great article on cookies.
If you have baking questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I will answer them soon!
I’m linking to…Works For Me Wednesday
i have a oatmeal cookie recipe that calls for 2 cups of sugar is it ok to cut the sugar in half and if so do i ADD MORE OATMEAL OR FLOUR TO REPLACE
Hi Joe, I would need to see the recipe. Typically the amount of sugar is based on the amount of the other ingredients. So if you take away 1/2 of the sugar, it will throw off all the other ingredients. If you are looking to cut back on sugar intake, you could try using Truvia or another sugar substitute.
Happy Baking!
-Liz
I have a recipe that says to grease and line a pan to bake a cookie cake. Why would you need to line a pan with parchment paper if you greased it? I don’t understand. The recipe is from 77 easy recipes for a chocolate-chip-cookie-cake.
Hi Christine, I would assume without looking at the recipe it’s so that the cake comes out clean, the parchment paper will make it easier to remove from the pan.
I typically do both, but not on all cakes. Some cakes that are very moist need both.
Hope that helps!
~Liz
I was about to make a rhubarb pie and realized I don’t have granulated sugar. But I do have powdered sugar. can I use that? And if I can use it, at what ratio?
Hi Linda, no sorry, powdered sugar will not work in the pie. Here is a good explanation of the different types of sugar – http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/types-of-sugar/#
-Liz
I’m a baking newbie and am having difficulty with even distribution of cinnamon in the dry ingredients of an oatmeal bake recipe. I mix the cinnamon with the oats, but they want nothing to do with each other, there’s no mixing. So the outcome has “pockets” of cinnamon in the oats. Help me.
Hi Lisa, can you send or link the recipe? That way I can see what the directions and say and be able to help, hopefully.
-Liz
Wow, thanks for getting back so quickly. Here’s the link
http://apple-of-my-eye.com/2014/05/02/baked-honey-berry-oatmeal/
Thank you very much for taking the time.
Lisa
Hi Lisa, Did the cinnamon clump after the oatmeal was baked? Or is it clumping prior to baking? Also, is your cinnamon fresh? Sometimes if a spice gets too old, it can react strangely.
By looking at the recipe, I don’t see any oblivious reasons why the cinnamon should not mix in well.
I mix the dry ingredients and what I get is oats with “silt” made up of the cinnamon, salt, brown sugar, baking soda. No mixing. And when I pour it in the pan, the oats go in followed by the silt. There isn’t an even distribution of cinnamon. It doesn’t clump…that happened when I tried putting the cinnamon in the wet ingredients. Won’t do that again.
Hi Lisa,
Yes I think that’s pretty normal. Did you bake the oatmeal? How did it turn out?
The thing with baking is that it’s a lot of trial and error (hopefully not much). The outcome has a lot to do with your conditions in your kitchen, the temperature of the oven and so forth.
I made strawberry bread last night and unfortunately took it out of the oven too soon. It isn’t baked all the way through in the very middle. Is there any way to salvage it? Could I put it back in oven and try to complete the baking?
Hi Laura, yes you can put it back in and back longer. I’m not sure how long the bread has been out of the oven though.
Strawberry bread is a little finicky, in that the strawberries have a lot of water in them so it makes the bread very moist.
Happy Baking!
-Liz
Hi. I had a resume that states “add brown sugar and butter to a medium sized saucepan. Cook over medium low to medium heat for about 5 minutes or until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool for approximately 10 minutes.” When I did this during the 10 minute cooling period the sugar/butter mixture turned hard as rock (like taffy) and I was unable to do anything with it. Especially not add it to the flour mixture which was the next step. Any ideas what I did wrong? I do want to say it took about 10 minutes of heating until it became liquid like and thick, which I thought was the meaning of smooth (before this the mixture was very lumpy like). Thank you so much.
Hi Craig, what were you making? It’s sounds like caramel of some kind. My first thought, without knowing what you were making, is that the mixture heated up too quickly.
~Liz
Thanks Liz for the quick response. I was making cinnamon blondies. You basically take the butter and sugar mixture and add eggs and vanilla and then combine with flour and cinnamon and then bake in a brownie type pan. I thought maybe i should have stopped heating the sugar and butter sooner even though it was far from smooth. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of butter and 2 cups of light brown sugar. I only had 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar so I added a half of cup of dark brown sugar. Maybe the molasses in the dark brown contributed to the problem.
Yes it could have been the dark brown sugar. Here is a favorite blonde recipe of mine – http://hoosierhomemade.com/easy-butterscotch-bar-cookies/
You can substitute the chips or leave them out.
Happy Baking!
~Liz
Thank you so much. This sounds so much easier with almost the exact ingredients. If I want to make them cinnamon flavored how much do you think I should put in the mixture – 1 tablespoon or perhaps 1 and half?
I’m going to make these this weekend for sure.
Hi Craig, I wouldn’t put any more than 1 tablespoon cinnamon to start with, it has a pretty strong flavor and can easily overpower the other flavors.
~Liz
Hi can i add canned pineapple and the juice to dh pineapple supreme cake mix. My husband wants cupcaked with alot of pineapple. Do i need to cut down on the water or leave off. The last ones i made where good but very sticky please help
Hi Kim, you can mix 1 cake mix with a can of crushed pineapple including the juice. It will turn out fine.
Happy Baking!
~Liz
Three questions here… My recipe calls for brown sugar. Does it matter whether I use light brown or dark brown? Recipe says to bake at 350 degrees. My oven has the option of “bake” and “convect”. Which do I use; and if you say convect, should I then lower the temp to 325 (I thought if you use convect you lower the temp by 25 degrees???)? Last, How do I remove parchment paper from a cake made in a springform pan. Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be sure I bake my cake right 🙂
Hi Tara, in most recipes it does not matter if you use light or dark brown sugar, it’s usually a matter of preference for the taste you like, the dark brown is a little richer tasting in my opinion. I use light brown in 98% of what I bake. For the temperature – it’s best to bake at 350, the convection oven bakes a lot faster, and most recipes for baking need to be baked slower than the convection oven will bake.
For parchment paper, it’s easiest to turn the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack, then you should be able to easily peel off the parchment paper.
No reason to be sorry, I’m happy to help!
~Liz
Why do my cakes rise in the middle like a mountain and also crack?Siki
Hi Siki, there are a few things you can check – first make sure your oven is the correct temperature, test it with a thermometer. If it’s too hot, the cake is baking too fast on the outside. And be sure to not open and close the oven door a lot, that will change the temperature. The second thing is to make sure the pan you are using is the correct size. And lastly, be sure to not over beat the batter.
~Liz
Does adding an egg yolk to a cake recipe shorten the shelf life of the cake??
Hi Will, do you mean an “extra” egg yolk, above what the recipe calls for?
Is there a taste difference in the final product between using self rising flour and all purpose flour? My husband things my cookies made with all purpose flour don’t taste the same as his mom’s cookies made with self rising flour. Is there really that much of a difference in the taste?
Hi Erica, you should not be able to tell a difference in the taste, however, the flours will react differently to the other ingredients and the final result in the cookie will taste different.
Here is an article explaining the difference – http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/know_the_difference_between_all-purpose_and_self-rising_white_flour
~Liz
I make a recipe called war cake. Which was handed down from my grandmother to my mother. When my mom makes these loaves of bread, they come out soft all over. However, when I make them, mine come out with a soft bottom and a crunchy top. I use the exact same mini-loaf pans that she did. Literally. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Denisa, without seeing the recipe my best guess would be that you are either mixing it too much or your oven is not baking evenly.
~Liz
I have a recipe for chicken and dumplings handed through numerous generations. Th dumplings are made with a potato dough. It calls for enough flour to be firm but not stiff. If mine comes out gummy after the 15 minute boiling in broth, do I have too much or too little flour?
Hi Marsha, it sounds like maybe you aren’t cooking the dumplings long enough. Try 20-30 minutes cooking.
~Liz
I want to make a two layer cake. But my oven is designed to occupy only one tray. Can I just leave the 2nd tray (with the cake batter) out on the kitchen counter till the 1st one is baked? Or should I place it in the fridge?
Hi Patricia, the cake will be fine on the counter.
Happy Baking!
~Liz
Can u use oil ( 1/3c ) instead of 1 stuck of butter ? Making cookies from cake mix & I ran out of butter .
Hi Debbie, I am not sure that the cake mix cookies would work with oil. Butter has a different texture that is needed. You can certainly experiment with it though.
Happy Baking!
~Liz