A few basic baking pointers

Before I get into a bunch of posts about recipes for cakes or sweets, there are a few basic things that I need to make clear. I use a lot of things that not everyone has in their kitchen.  Sorry... that's how I roll.  Because I have a bakery out of my home, I have splurged on a few things that make my life easier or ingredients that I know make the difference in the finished product.

Not everyone has these items in their pantry and for the most part, there's really no need for you to go out and shell out the Jeffersons for these items. (No, I'm not that flush that I'd be spending Benjamins on them!) But some of the ingredients do make a difference in the finished product and cannot be substituted. I'll try to explain the difference so that when you read my recipes later and I reference this post, you'll understand what you can and cannot substitute.  Capice?

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE...

COCOA POWDERS
This is a biggie. (I know! Who knew??) There are so many different kinds of cocoa powder out there it boggles the mind. However, they pretty much fall into two basic camps: Dutch processed cocoa  and Non-Dutch processed (or "regular" cocoa). (Read the label: If it says treated with alkaline" or "alkalized" those are synonymous with being Dutch processed.) Here's the scoop: Cocoa is naturally slightly acidic which can give it a bitter flavor and when it's been Dutch processed, some of the bitterness has been removed making it less acidic; the result is a darker, mellower cocoa flavor. However, because it's less acidic, it reacts differently with the other leavening agents (usually eggs, baking soda, baking powder, buttermilk or vinegar) and will result in a batter that doesn't rise as much, leaving you with cakes or cupcakes with more like pudding than a cake. What's the bottom line on this? Regular cocoa and Dutch-processed cocoa are not interchangeable in recipes and you need to pay particular attention to which type the recipe calls for.  I use a double Dutch processed cocoa from www.KingArthurFlour.com that is so dark I was once accused of dying my cakes dark brown! It's almost black and gives them a really rich chocolaty flavor. Just be sure to read your recipes closely and pick your cocoa accordingly. If it doesn't call for Dutch process specifically, use regular cocoa, but for goodness sakes, don't use stuff off the supermarket shelf. It really is worth it to go to Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table or www.KingArthurFlour.com and pay a few dollars more for a better grade of cocoa. If you don't believe me, make side-by-side batches of your favorite recipe with Hershey's or Nestle's cocoa and a batch with Droste or Valrhona or Guittard and taste test the difference for yourself. You'll be amazed and once you try the better cocoas, you'll never buy cocoa from the grocery store again!

FLOURS
All-purpose Flour. Cake Flour. Self-Rising Flour. Whole Wheat Flour. Gluten-Free Flour. Bleached Flour. Non-bleached Flour. Holy Mackerel - who knew you needed to decipher the label and have a degree in food science to know which flour does what!?!?! They're not all the same and can't be used interchangeably because some have added ingredients that you may be adding to your recipe and it will change your finished product. Also, depending on the brand of flour you use (I'm partial to (you guessed it, King Arthur brand flour!) they will have different protein contents, which affects their baking time and properties. Basically, what it narrows down to is this:

• All purpose flour- usually has 10-12% protein content, which traps a lot of carbon dioxide as it bakes and leads to a strong rise leading to an airy product. This is appropriate for most cookies, pizzas, and breads. It can be bleached or unbleached without difference in finished performance. You might notice that it says it's "enriched" or "fortified", but all that means is that iron certain B vitamins (mainly thiamine and folic acid or folate) have been added to the flour during processing to make up for the loss of nutrients during processing.  This was done partly to help prevent occurrence of babies born with neural tube defects by increasing the intake of folic acid by pregnant women and women prior to becoming pregnant. It's a good thing :-) (http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/birthdefects_neuraltube.html That's the nurse in me coming out to say "Hi!" there!)
• Cake flour - this is a more finely milled flour than the previous flour and has a lower protein content than all purpose or bread flour. Usually, cake flour has about 6-8% protein content (except KAF, which has a 9.4% cake flour and also contains some cornstarch,) which yields a denser cake than one made with all-purpose flour. The lower the protein content, the softer the flour, which is better for cakes, cookies and pie crusts because it doesn't trap as much carbon dioxide gas bubbles as it bakes leading to that denser, moister product. 
• Self-rising flour - this is a flour to which leavening agents have already been premixed.  The ratio is typically around 1 teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt per cup of flour. Because this is a premixed and fixed ratio, the end products tend to be consistent in the amount of rise they achieve and this is a good choice for biscuits, scones, and muffins. 
• Whole Wheat flour- flour that includes the whole grain - germ, bran, and endosperm (compared to refined or all-purpose flour, which is the endosperm only) which has a textured brownish appearance. Whole wheat flour goes bad (or rancid) much quicker than all-purpose flour because it has a higher oil content from the germ and bran of the wheat grain. You can store whole wheat flour longer by refrigerating it or keeping it in a cool area. Foods made with whole wheat flour require either additional yeast, a longer rising time or both due to the "heavy" nature of the flour. Most of the time whole what flour is used 50/50 with all purpose flour to decrease the density of the finished product.  
• Gluten-free flour - flours made from grains that do not contain gluten protein. Primarily used by those who had Celiac disease, it is now becoming more widely used for those with gluten sensitivity or suspected sensitivity or those wishing to avoid gluten in their diet for weight loss purposes. Gluten is formed by the strands of protein in wheat, rye, spelt, barley, and kamut grains. Technically, corn and rice also contain gluten, but they don't contain the type of gluten that causes reactivity in those with Celiac disease, so they are not on the list of "banned" grains. Care must be used when choosing a gluten-free flour for several reasons: careful reading of ingredient lists may be vital since gluten come in many forms: vegetable proteins and starch, modified food starch (when derived from wheat instead of corn, malt, malt flavoring, including maltodextrine, dextrine unless specifically labeled as corn malt. Many ingredients contain wheat or barley derivatives. Additionally, when baking with a gluten free flour, you'll usually need an emulsifier such as xantham gum (a thickener that works to bind the baked good together like the strands of gluten protein.)  
• Bleached vs non-bleached flour - almost all cake flours are bleached, with the exception of one KAF product. In the European Union, all bleaching agents have been banned. Bleaching serves no purpose to your finished product but only serves to make your flour look whiter. If you're not going for a pure white cake/bread/cookie (which you never will get the moment you add an egg... think about it!) there is no reason to purchase a product bleached with either chlorine dioxide, calcium peroxide or benzoil peroxide. (Yeah... the stuff that's in Proactive for acne!) Oh, and it breaks down the gluten formation when it's bleached, so it makes the flour less "effective", for lack of a better term, so why do we still do it here in the USA??? As for me, I just go ahead and purchase the non-bleached all purpose flour and the non-bleached cake flour. I'd rather be safe than sorry, but that's my $.02.

ESPRESSO POWDER
This sounds like just an "upgrade”  to instant coffee, but it's soooooo much more.  I buy mine from www.KingArthurFlour.com and it's a superfine powder that adds a boost to the chocolate flavor in recipes without overpowering it with a coffee flavor. It's not gritty like instant coffee but dissolves instantly and completely (it's the consistency of flour almost) and I usually sift it into my other dry ingredients so it's completely incorporated throughout the mixture. This is extremely sensitive to moisture and will clump and harden easily, so I keep it in a zipper lock plastic bag inside of a Tupperware or Rubbermaid plastic container. (Note: this picture shows the small size, but I buy the honkin' huge size that comes in a zippered plastic bag with a brown kraft paper exterior. Not pretty, but I'm paying for what's on the *inside*! Plus, it's cheaper in bulk!)

LYLE'S GOLDEN SYRUP
Ahhh. This British import is concentrated cane syrup and is delightfulness in a bottle (although it also can be found in a can, but I digress...) In some recipes it is used in place of corn syrup but the flavor is so much more. It's got almost a burnt sugar flavor taste to it that is so rich without being overly sweet. it's available at a lot of stores in their "international" section or can be found near the corn syrup. I've also found it in Meijer and Glen's and at www.KingArthurFlour.com. (Yeah, I'm addicted to that website and there shop a lot when they have free shipping, especially good for when I'm buying 50# of flour at a time!) Try it once and you will be amazed at the taste; and for those of you that are trying to cut out the amount of corn syrup in your diet, this is a way to do it without sacrificing taste. The bottle says it's great on waffles and pancakes - I could see that, but I'd want to use the whole bottle!

MADAGASCAR BOURBON VANILLA EXTRACT
The good stuff!  If you've ever used imitation vanilla extract, smack yourself upside the head right now! There is no substitute for the real deal. I buy this by the quart for $40 at - you guessed it - www.KingArthurFlour.com. The floral overtones and the rich vanilla flavor cannot be recreated by any chemical imitators. It does tend to get some settling of the vanilla bean at the bottom, so be sure to shake before measuring. Sometimes I like to mix it up and try Tahitian vanilla or Mexican Vanilla for a different flavor, but this is my old standby and it never fails me and never disappoints. And really - at $40/32 oz, it's only $1.25 an ounce - cheaper than what you're paying for grocery store imitation!

BUTTERMILK POWDER
Now, when I bake for customers I don't use this because I'm usually baking enough to warrant a quart of buttermilk at a time; but when I'm baking for my own family or for a bake sale for school and I have a recipe that calls for cup of buttermilk, this powder is perfect. A couple tablespoons of this powder added to your dry ingredients and increase your wet ingredients by a cup of water and there's really no noticeable difference in the finished product. It tends to clump and get hard so I put the can inside a zipper lock plastic bag to keep the moisture out as much as possible and I do sift the powder in with the rest of my dry ingredients so it's incorporated well.

CAKE ENHANCER
This powder does exactly what its name says it will.  It makes your cakes lighter, fluffier and moister and stay fresher longer. It can be used with regular wheat flours and with gluten-free alternative flours without significant changes in performance. This product MUST be sifted into your dry ingredients as it has a tendency to clump and those clumps will NOT break down during ordinary mixing. Once way to help avoid that is to keep this in a zipper lock plastic bag inside a Tupperware or Rubbermaid container; by doing this, mine hasn't clumped so far.

A REALLY GOOD SIFTER

Yes, I sift *everything*. Some recipes call for sifting the ingredients before measuring (really... read the recipe all the way through before you even start making it to be sure you've got it in your head because some of these are a little convoluted!) Even if the recipe doesn't call for the dry ingredients to be sifted, I still do just to break up all the clumps; it makes for a much smoother batter and a lighter cake.  I also sift my confectioner's sugar every time so that my frosting never has any clumps of sugar in them.  It does make a difference in the finished product and, again, if you make a batch side-by-side the old way and this way, you'll be amazed at the difference. Trust me on this one. Most times, I don't even "sift", I just measure everything through a metal sieve/strainer set on top of the mixing bowl and that provides enough aeration to make a difference and the holes are small enough to break up any clumps. It's not rocket science... it's baking :-)

HEAVY CREAM, 1/2 AND 1/2, AND MILK
This is not the time to be using fat free products. I don't care if Paula Deen's son is writing a whole cookbook about how to "lighten up" the recipes, I'm serious! The fat content of your dairy product plays an essential part of your finished product and you need to use the full fat dairy.  I drink fat-free milk on a daily basis and I'll go buy a quart of whole milk to bake with (or a gallon if I've got a big order.) You can freeze milk without a loss of flavor if you don't use it all before the expiration date, just be sure to mix it thoroughly after thawing and before measuring. If I have a recipe that you can substitute Greek yogurt or something lighter, I'll let you know. But really, isn't it about having the most incredible dessert? You're not eating the whole darn thing yourself are you. (ARE YOU???!!!) You're sharing -right??? So it basically amounts to about an ounce of milk in your slice of cake, so the extra 8.4 calories (each) can be worked off by washing the dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher! Really - do the math and don't feel guilty; your taste buds will thank you and your hips won't care. (Math= 150 calories for 1 cup whole milk; 83 calories for 1 cup fate free milk. 67 calorie difference/8 people (huge-sized pieces!) = extra 8.4 calories each. I kid you not!)

BUTTER
Land o' Lakes unsalted. Seriously, that's all I'll use. I buy it at Christmas when it's on sale for the ridiculous low price of like $2.50/pound (instead of the normal price-gouging $3.99 or so) and stock up with as much as my chest freezer will hold (or my I can get away with before my husband does a double-take!) Honestly - a friend's son even did his science fair experiment on different butters and how they tasted and Land o' Lakes won hands down! So, it's been scientifically proven (at least to me and my taste buds) and I get consistent results. Whatever brand you choose to bake with, choose unsalted butter for baking.

SUGAR
I've gone back and forth between C&H when we lived in California and Domino when we've lived in Michigan and Pennsylvania. The only thing I can say is, don't buy generic or store brands. Once I started sifting all my dry ingredients, it became apparent to me that store brand sugars consistently had many more large crystallized sugar "clumps" than the major commercial manufacturers. I don't know why and I don't really care (well, yes, I do because they're making me spend more money on Domino right now!) but it will affect the finished product because these clumps can't be mixed out. If you don't sift your dry ingredients, these crystals will be pockets of crystallized sugar that can result in a burnt taste if they're against the pan or overly wet batter if they melt while baking. For consistent results, I'm sticking with a company that all they do is sugar processing - they seem to have it right, so Domino it is right now. If you're on the west coast, C&H is a fine product also.

Sanding sugars are something you may want to consider for cookie decoration or sprinkling on top of your cupcakes or rolling the edges of your cupcakes or the cupcake tops in. Williams-Sonoma has a line of sanding sugars that comes in a lot of really bright vibrant colors I love, are resealable, stackable, and aren't too big of a grain. They also have a larger style that is more of a decorative sugar that looks like a bugle bead that I use less often as more of an accent. There's also silver dragees which look like mini reflecting balls, and miniature pearls as well as decorative balls of every color and shape (they look like miniature gumballs, a lot of them!) Then, there's always edible glitter, which really isn't a sugar, but kind of falls into this category because there's not another one for it... It just adds a touch of, well, reflective glow or glitter to your frosting without adding taste or color. It looks like specks of translucent plastic that catch and refract light. That's not to be confused with Luster Dust, which is an edible powder that is painted on your product that makes it look silver, gold, pink, or whatever color you've painted it. This stuff is so concentrated that 1/4 ounce has lasted me a year! You need so little of it to get the effect you're looking for it's crazy, but this stuff will get on everything just like glitter... you will glisten in places you swore you didn't touch with this! I use it a lot on fondant or gum paste (like making a unicorn horn silver or coins gold.) A little goes a looooooong way.


LATE ADDITIONS!

Adjustable measuring cup! This thing is a life-saver for sticky or gloppy things like peanut butter, mayonnaise, honey, corn syrup or Lyle's Golden syrup. It can be adjusted anywhere from an ounce to two cups and the inner portion slides up and down so that all the ingredients are expelled and you get all your measured ingredients into your batter/mix. A lot of recipes will tell you to spray the inside of your measuring cup with non-stick spray and then measure your sticky stuff and "it will just pour out" but so will the non-stick spray; those chemicals I don't need in my baking, thanks! This is awesome and oh-so-handy and while it says "hand wash only" (Because of the gasket between the two "sleeves") I've never used it for more than about a cup's worth of ingredients so I've never had to worry about ingredients leaking so I just put it in the top rack of the dishwasher. (I know, I know... so lazy!!!) but again - when I'm baking, I'm mega baking, so forgive me!!

Digital Scale
I use this all the time to measure chocolates, dry ingredients, finished products, (for labeling, which is a requirement in Michigan...grr...!) and for those recipes by international chefs that are listed as "30 gm of butter" or "200 gm of flour". This has a handy-dandy ability to switch back and forth between standard (ounces and pounds) and metric (grams and kilograms) which is nice. It also makes it easy when your recipe calls for adding ingredients in divided portions, you can do more than guesstimate, you can be totally accurate! For a lot of things, I measure on a paper plate and you can zero out the weight (or tare) once the plate is on to get a completely accurate weight. The front plate is removable so that you can see accurately if your receptacle is bigger than the base of the weight, which is also handy-dandy. It weighs up to 11 pounds, which means you can also weigh ingredients in bowls, if need be, but it's precise down to small weights in such that I have a recipe that calls for 1/2 small box of vanilla pudding and I can weigh that precisely.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND FORGET ABOUT THE...

CAKE BATTER PEN
This is basically a hollow plastic tube with a writing "tip" and one end and the other end screws off to fill with batter. Don't waste your time.  Really - mine was ten bucks down the drain (in more ways than one!)  Too much batter sticks to the inside of the "pen" for my liking and I've found that you need to fill it several times to fill it for a batch of cupcakes. (One standard batch of cupcakes being 24-30 cupcakes. I, on the other hand, normally bake 60-90 cupcakes at a time, so this thing is even more useless for me.) So, what can you use instead that will make filling your cupcake tins quick, painless, and relatively uniform? A standard ice cream scoop; one with the lever for clearing the bowl of the scoop is the preferred kind. One scoop of batter (slightly rounded) is the perfect amount to fill each well of a standard cupcake tin and makes uniform cupcakes or muffins. It still allows room for crumble topping on muffins and a good amount of frosting on cupcakes. Save the batter pen for playing around with fancy pancakes if you so desire but even then I'd use dollar store condiment bottles, being the cheapskate I am.

NUTMEG GRINDER

Okay, so I bought one last year with the Williams-Sonoma gift card my daughter gave me for Christmas. It was really cool to pull it out and put freshly ground nutmeg right on top of my eggnog. But then when I was drinking it, I noticed it was really nutmeg shavings and not ground nutmeg like you're used to, so that was odd.  Then, the next time I went to bake something, I tried to grind it into the measuring spoon and it was all over the paper plate I had under the spoon (instead of all over the counter, thank goodness!) and I noticed that those were some pretty big shavings of nutmeg compared to what you get commercially.  Now, no doubt they're fresher and so the taste is much more flavorful (robust? pungent?) than you're used to, but really - how often do you use nutmeg anyway? These six little nuts are going to last me until I retire and I consider myself in the Martha Stewart baking category.  Save yourself the $28.50 and go with McCormick - I doubt you'll regret it. Besides, it's kind of annoying that it takes up so much room in my cabinet and it "leaks" nutmeg out of the bottom into my cabinet.

WILLIAMS-SONOMA SPATULA AND SPOONULA

Okay, I have been, in the past, a huge fan of their silicone spatulas with the wooden handles. Two years ago when I opened my bakery, my husband bought me for Christmas a set of engraved spatulas with my bakery's name on the handles. I don't know where they're getting their handles from these days, but you'd think for $30 they'd last longer than the ones I've had for 5 years! They're splitting, they're warping, they're bowing when I scrape out the bowl... in short, I don't even use them because I'm afraid the stupid things are going to snap in two one of these days! What a waste! Not to mention the fact that I have to take the head off to put it in the dishwasher and wash the handle by hand because it can't go in the dishwasher.  Now, I like the fact the head is heat resistant up to 500 degrees so I can use it when I'm melting chocolate, when I'm stir frying, when I'm making soup or when I'm mashing potatoes. But, what good is the head if the handles are flimsy? They've just come out with new spatulas with stainless steel handles, BUT the handles are made in CHINA and they still say that "the removable head is dishwasher safe"! So, again, tell me why you make something that the head and handle can't just be plunked into the dishwasher together and are made in the USA??  The quality of the newer products just aren't what they used to be so I've switched my allegiance to Sur La Table's brand. They're prettier (they have Ladybugs on them!) they still are heat resistant, and they've got a better feel in my hand and I'm not getting splinters using them. (Really, I was from the W-S product!) For the same price, they've got my business. Sorry, W-S, your cost-cutting has lost you sales not only from me, but look on your website and you'll see from other reviewers that we all feel the same way. Now, why they can't just make an integrated plastic handle like they do at the dollar store, I'll never figure out; maybe they're afraid someone will rest it on the edge of their 500 degree saucepan and melt it. That, I'm thinking, would be *their* problem.

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR...
Okay, and just to be clear, no... I am not a paid sponsor nor do I receive free products (I wish!) from King Arthur Flour or Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table or any other website I have mentioned on her. I pay them for their products because I think they're superior. They're not paying me. I'm not being compensated for my views on my blog. I do, however, get a professional discount at W-S, but so does any professional chef who applies for and receives their professional card. Now, if I could get that at KAF, I'd be a happy camper...