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Baking Science (7)

Step by Step Yeast Bread
Learn how to make yeast bread the traditional way, step by step. Yeast bread baking tips.

How to Read a Baking Recipe
Baking is a skill with its own language. You need to learn how to read a baking recipe before you can successfully bake bread, cakes, cookies, pies, and other desserts.

How to Make a Traditional Cake
How to make traditional scratch cakes using shortening and the alternate flour method. How to make traditional cakes from scratch.

How to Measure Flour
Learn how to measure flour correctly and conduct an experiment to see how improper measuring can ruin a recipe. How to measure flour correctly.

Rolls 101
Learn how easy it is to make yeast rolls for holidays or everyday. In Rolls 101, learn tips, tricks, and great recipes so you can make yeast dinner rolls.

Frostings
Learn the different types of frostings used to top cakes, cookies, bars, and cheesecakes. Frosting types include butter cream, whipped cream, cooked, ganache, royal icing, and glazes.

Bundt Cakes Recipes
Bundt cakes aren't a flavor of cake - they're the shape! Bundt pans were first made famous by the Tunnel of Fudge Cake in the Pillsbury Bake-Off.

How To Make Pie Crusts
Learn how to make pie crusts with these pie crust recipes, instructions, hints and tips in the Basics of Cooking Lesson Series. Find traditional recipes and Hot Water Pastry recipe.

Step by Step - Hot Water Pastry
Learn how to make a pie crust, step by step with photo instructions, so you can make pies for your family and friends.

How to Read a Baking Recipe
When you bake, you must follow the recipe exactly and measure carefully. Let's go through a simple recipe step by step and learn what terms mean and why the order of words in an ingredient list is important.

Busy Cooks Glossary
Cooking is a science! When you bake and cook, you are using math, chemistry, physics and biology. As with any science or discipline, there is a language to learn.

Stock Your Kitchen
Most equipment is easily found at hardware and grocery stores. If you are a garage sale enthusiast, you can find many good quality baking items at tag sales. Here's a basic list of the tools you'll need to prepare simple recipes.

How to Measure
Home economists test recipes they develop by putting them through 'tolerance'. They measure ingredients precisely using metric scales, varying amounts and combinations, to make sure the recipe will work given the vagaries of home cooks. However tolerant a recipe is, you still must measure correctly for best results.

How to Make Airy Quick Biscuits
Light, fluffy buttermilk or quick biscuits take some practice, but you can do it! There are a few secrets you need to know before you tackle this recipe.

How to Measure Flour
Learn the proper way to measure flour, and discover through this experiment how improper measuring can add up to 25% more flour than the recipe calls for!

How to Work with Filo Dough
Filo dough is that wonderful tissue-paper thin pastry that is used in baklava and other fabulous dishes. Learn how to work with this exotic ingredient.

How to Make Quick Breads
Quick breads can be sweet or savory, and are wonderful additions to any meal. There are some tricks to a perfect product. Learn all about them.

How to Measure Sugar, Liquids, and the Rest
Learn how to measure sugar correctly. The three kinds of sugar (brown, white, and confectioners) all require different measuring techniques. Liquids require special equipment, learn how to measure shortening, and you must know the difference between tablespoons and teaspoons!

Ingredient Roles
Learn what the basic ingredients do and how they combine when you mix and bake cakes, cookies, and quick breads. These simple food science lessons will help make you a better baker.

How to Make Batter Breads
Yeast batter breads are very easy to make. If you have ever made a brownie mix, or stirred together some muffins, you can make yeast bread!

Substitutions and Equivalents
Substitutions are ingredients that will work in the recipes like other ingredients. Equivalents are measuring amounts of standard ingredients. For instance, one large egg yolk is the equivalent of 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon. These charts are valuable references.

Baking Doneness Tests
'Bake until done' is a pretty vague term. If you underbake or overbake your cake or cookies, the results will be pretty unpleasant. Learn doneness tests, from observing color to the fingertip test to measuring internal temperature.

Food Safety
Learn why you should wash your hands after handling some baking ingredients, how to properly chill and store food, and why I love paper towels.

Muffin Science
You can pack a lot of flavor, texture, and nutrition into a muffin. But how do you make them the best? If your muffins have turned out tough, with tunnels inside and a high peak, instead of moist crumb and slightly rounded shape, learn about the science behind the recipes.

Bar Cookie Science
Bar cookies may be very easy to make, but they can still turn out tough and dry. Learn the science behind the recipes and get my tips for making the best bar cookies ever.

Science of Popovers
Popovers seem mysterious and difficult. They're not! A simple batter is poured into well-greased popover molds or custard cups. When baked at a high temperature, the batter literally 'explodes' and rises to form a tall, mostly hollow, crunchy bread.

How to Make Yeast Bread
Read through this step-by-step How-To and get familiar with the basic order of following a recipe for yeast bread. These instructions are for the traditional method, where yeast is dissolved in warm water, then added to the remaining ingredients.

Step by Step Yeast Bread
Do you know what proofing is? Why is the dough allowed to rest after it rises and before shaping?Learn what different bread-making terms mean and why bread must be made in certain steps. You'll find directions to the one-bowl method of making bread, and some info about batter breads.

Pie Crust 101
Learn the basics to making a traditional cold water pie crust and my favorite hot water crust. You'll find directions to mixing, rolling, forming, and baking the perfect one or two-crust pie.

Basics of Cooking - Pie Crusts
Learn the waxed paper method for rolling out pie crusts, along with more easy recipe variations. Make sure to read this article and the first one too, so you thoroughly understand the science and basics of making pie crust.

Frosting Types
From Seven Minute to Buttercream, learn about delicious and creamy frostings for your light and tender cakes.

Cake Science
Learn why cake flour is better than all-purpose, why egg whites should be room temperature before beating, and the basic formula for making cakes from scratch.

How to Frost a Layer Cake
Get step by step tips about how to frost a layer cake. The most important tip, in my opinion? Have a lot of frosting!

Cream Puff Science
Learn about the basic method of making cream puffs and the science behind it. With a little practice, you will be turning out cream puffs with ease.