Some Expert Baking Tips to Celebrate Announcement of New Bake Off Contestants

Posted on 17 Aug 2016 by Anna Scott
Yesterday the new crop of Great British Bake Off contestants were announced and to celebrate their future success, we thought we gather together a few top home baking tips from Bake Off queen Mary Berry as well as other baking pros as well as a few of our own too. So is you want to try and emulate some Great British Bake Off creations in your own kitchen, then here are a few things you need to consider…

 

Weigh EVERYTHING


Kitchen ScalesIt’s very tempting to estimate if you’re find yourself in a bit of a rush, but baking is one of those cooking disciplines that rises and falls on its accuracy – even the slightest discrepancy can affect the outcome of your final bake. And to achieve even more accuracy, it’s well worth investing in some digital scales rather than relying an old set that might be slightly temperamental depending on which direction the wind is blowing on any particular day.

 




Weigh Everything Out Beforehand


As well as getting that accuracy, it’s advisable to weigh everything out beforehand and put all the ingredients in separate bowls. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, no matter how well organised you consider yourself, any form of baking has the capacity to create chaos in your kitchen. Doing all the fiddly weighing and measuring in one go helps eliminate at least part of this and then you can concentrate completely on your baking technique. Secondly, some recipes require you to move quickly – for example, when you make certain types of pastry, your butter needs to stay very cold – so stopping to measure things out might mess up this process somewhat.

 

Sift That Flour


Sieve flourAlthough some flour manufacturers say there’s no need to sift these days, you should ALWAYS take your time to do this (not that it takes up too much time anyway). Not only will you get rid of any lumps – and there are always lumps – but you can add a lightness and airiness to the final bake.

 





Avoid Low Fat Butter


Not that anyone would ever consider using low-fat butter or margarine for their baking (we hope), but just in case you might be considering if for some bizarre reason, then don’t. Just don’t. It’s not just a matter of flavour – low fat spreads have a much higher water content and this will have dire consequences for your baking creation. And besides, baking cakes is inherently about forgetting the diet stuff for once.

 

Invest in a Mixer


KitchenAid MixerFor some reason, certain people frown on using electrical aids in the kitchen and insist everything must be done by hand. Clearly these people have never had to cream together butter and sugar or whisk up some egg whites, because even though these techniques are the equivalent of a good gym workout, they’re very hard work indeed and can take forever. AND the end result probably won’t be as good compared to using a mixer. These can get excellent results in a fraction of the time and you don’t have to invest in expensive (but undeniably great quality) KitchenAid stand mixers or similar. So if you want to upgrade without breaking the bank, Debenhams promo codes are offering 20% off home items right now, including not only stand mixers, but also handheld ones for those on a tighter budget. And believe us, they really are a game changer.

 

Use the Right Size Tin


If you want to get it just right, then don’t think any old tin will do. If the recipe stipulates a 22cm springform cake tin, then it does this for a reason. Those cooking times and temperatures are based on that particular size as well as the measurements of all those ingredients, and if you choose to use something else, just be prepared for your bake to turn out a little differently. Waitrose Kitchen discount codes and House of Fraser promotional codes provide great discounts on a wide choice of quality bakeware if you find you’re missing that elusive tin to create your recipe of choice, and once you build up your stock, you chances of getting every bake just right increase dramatically.

 

Buy an Oven Thermometer


You might be thinking ‘but my oven already has a thermometer. Because it’s an oven. All ovens have thermometers’. Well yes, but not all in-built thermometers are accurate. In fact, most of the time they’re not at all. Every wondered why your oven always burns things, even when you set it at the right temperature? The easiest way around this is to invest in a good quality oven thermometer that you can place in the oven to get a much more accurate reading, upping your chances of getting that beautiful bake.

 

At this time of year, we all like to flex our baking muscles and attempt to create our very own showstoppers, but if you follow these handy tips, you might find your chances of baking success will be significantly better. You never know, you could even find yourself entering next year’s competition…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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