Sunday, September 15, 2013

Cooking vs Baking: Estimation Doesn't Work



One day I decided I would bake my favorite cinnamon apple cake. I was so excited for my cinnamon apple cake to bake up perfectly soft and delicious, but when it came out of the oven it tasted like…well cardboard. It was too salty, not sweet, and just not like a cinnamon apple cake should taste. The problem? I wasn’t paying close attention to my measurements.


Baking is not very forgiving.  Estimating the measurements of an ingredient in a recipe spells disaster. By eye-balling flour, sugar, and over estimating a teaspoon of baking soda, the idea of a perfect cake will crash and burn. You’ll end up pulling a sheet of cardboard out of the oven.


Thankfully, after my apple cake disaster I learned my lesson.


Many people when they bake get the idea that estimation will work just fine. But do they really know exactly what a teaspoon looks like?


The most common baking problem I see with amateur bakers comes from the lack of proper measurement.  


A common misconception is “I estimate when I when I cook other things so why not these cookies?” Well you don’t cook cookies, you bake them. Baking and cooking are completely different things.


Baking is a combination of chemistry and physics. It’s a lot like science. Baking a cake gives the same results when the same ingredients and amounts are used, under the same conditions, following the same steps.


So while a “dash” of salt may work when you’re cooking chicken, it will not work when baking. A teaspoon is needed to make sure your baked good comes out perfect.


Point of the matter is USE MEASURING TOOLS!


                      

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