Top Baking Secrets to Know

Top Baking Secrets to Know will help you transform flour and sugar into culinary marvels, passed down through generations like cherished heirlooms. Discovering new tips to help you transform your baked goods into something even more delicious is a delightful journey, whether your’e just starting out or already a baking genius.

If you’re looking for more cooking tips, The Best Kitchen Hacks and Organizing Tips for Your Kitchen will help you on your journey.

Simple Baking Secrets You Need to Know  - Cutting board with flour, cookie cutter, almond, cookies, utensils.

“If baking is any labor at all, it’s a labor of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation.”

Regina Brett

There’s something so wonderful about baking homemade pastries and bread. The smell of freshly baked goods waft through the house and entice your family members down to the kitchen.

Whenever any of the grandchildren were going to my grandmother’s house, she would call ahead and ask what type of pie we would like. If all three of us went to her house, three different pies were cooling on a rack whenever we would walk in the door.

One time I asked for blueberry pie, and when I arrived, she apologized and said that she didn’t have enough blueberries to make a pie, so she added apples and made me a blueberry-apple pie.

From that point on, my favorite pie was that perfect combination. I love that I have that memory, and I treasure that I had a grandma that valued her grandchildren so much that she made them each a pie when we visited. It made each of us feel so special.

Family recipes are treasured keepsakes that nourish your loved ones. Baking is a learned skill, so make sure you know the best tips to create dishes that will have everyone amazed with your culinary skills.

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Here are the Top Baking Secrets to Know

Use a Digital Scale

When I worked at a large convention hotel, we hired a fantastic chef. The hotel didn’t have a digital scale to measure ingredients.

The chef was shocked that we didn’t have one, and he raced out to get it. He said it’s impossible to have correct measurements without the scale, and baked goods can taste off by just the slightest variation.

When you use a measuring cup, the weight of ingredients you use can be off by up to 50%. Most recipes call for ingredients to be measured in cups or tablespoons; you can easily convert quantities with the internet.

A digital scale is an inexpensive addition to add to any kitchen. Here’s the digital scale I recently purchased:

Review the Recipe

As obvious as this rule is, how often have you not planned ahead and made a disaster out of a delicious recipe by either not have an ingredient that you thought you had or messing up a step in the process?

My hand is definitely in the air.

Read the recipe thoroughly and take out all the ingredients ahead of time. You’ll be happy you did.

Use the Best Ingredients

There’s a definite difference in how your baked goods come out depending on the quality of ingredients you use. If you’re going to go to the trouble of making delicious home-baked goods, make sure the ingredients make them go from good to great.

I always use the best baking chocolate I can afford because there is such a difference in taste. You also want to make sure your ingredients are fresh. Spices, baking soda, and baking powder, lose their potency over time.

Dough

  • Once flour hits the bowl, you want to handle it as little as possible. The reason for this is the gluten in the flour becomes tougher the more you handle it. This rule does not apply if you add yeast. When rolling out pie dough, roll it out only once for best results.

Preheat the Oven

I live in a small town. We have a merchant market where everyone has booths where they sell their goods. Inside the building is a place that makes hamburgers from local meat and a coffee stand.

The building was never busy until the coffee shop hired a man who retired to our area to bake goods. He was a pastry chef in Paris, and the coffee shop convinced him to work with them.

Now, there are lines of people waiting for his sconces, cookies, and pies. How do I know this? Because I’m in line for my white cheddar chive scone.

My week is not complete unless I get my scone fix. I asked him what his number one tip was for a home baker.

Preheating your oven was his favorite tip. He said it is the MOST critical step in baking, and many people don’t do this simple step.

The oven has to be hot when the trays go in; otherwise, the items won’t turn out nearly as well. There you have it, advice from a master baker from Paris.

Perfectly Sliced Desserts

  • Use a sharp knife dipped in hot water. Make sure you wipe it clean before making the next slice.
  • You could also use a pizza cutter to cut brownies and sheet cakes. It cuts clean squares and rolls smoothly.

Easy molasses clean-up

Dust flour into your measuring cup before adding molasses. Now molasses will easily pour out, and clean-up is a breeze.

Use a cheese grater to make your cakes, cupcakes, bread, biscuits, or muffins perfect

A cheese grater will smooth all the bumps on your masterpiece and make imperfections obsolete.

High Altitude

  • I belong to a homesteading group, and one of the members said her top baking tip was to buy the book “Pie in the Sky.” She said living in high altitude areas your baking comes out different and this book “Saved her biscuits!” Go here to get your resource into high altitude baking

Clean as you go

If you are cleaning as you work, it will make the baking process go more smoothly.

Since you won’t have a big mess to clean up at the end, you will be more likely to want to bake again soon.

That’s a good thing.

Butter

  • If your recipe specifies soften butter, grate the amount needed of cold butter, and it will soften in minutes.

Brown Sugar

  • Brown sugar tends to get hard. To soften it, add a slice of bread to the container. It takes about one day for the brown sugar to absorb the bread’s moisture, making it soft again.

Citrus Zest

  • If your recipe calls for orange, lemon, or lime zest, it is easier to do if your fruit is at room temperature and the fruit you pick has a rougher texture skin. Smooth-skinned fruit is harder to grate.

Egg wash

  • To make an egg wash easier to apply in a single layer, add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water. This will thin out your wash.

Dried Fruit

  • To prevent dried fruit from sticking to your knife while chopping, freeze the dried fruit for one hour beforehand. By chilling the dried fruit, there’s less moisture, which makes it less sticky and easier to chop.

Garnishes

Make your dessert even more special by adding special garnishes.

  • You can make chocolate curls with a vegetable peeler to top your desserts. Pull the peeler firmly down on a chocolate bar, and it will make perfect curls.
  • For a beautiful garnish, dip maraschino cherries in melted chocolate.

Nuts

  • Put nuts in a plastic bag and roll them with a rolling pin to your desired fineness. It’s quicker than chopping the nuts and doesn’t make as much mess.
  • Dust your nuts with flour before chopping them in a food processor. The flour prevents them from sticking to the bottom of the processor.

Raisins

  • If a baking recipe calls for raisins and you like the taste of softer raisins, boil them for a few minutes until soft, and then proceed with the recipe instructions.

Salt

I was surprised what an important step this is because table salt has twice the potency of kosher salt. This is the reason why most recipes call for it instead of regular salt. Do yourself a favor, and always have Kosher salt on hand to use for your cooking.

Wax Paper

  • To keep your wax paper from slipping when you’re rolling out the dough, you’ll want to sprinkle a little water on the counter and then place your wax paper over it.

Cookie Baking Secrets

Let cookie dough “rest”

It would help if you let your cookie dough rest for a period before baking it.  Ten minutes should do it.  The reason for this is to let the sugar dissolve in the liquid ingredients before baking.

Use ice cream scoops to make perfect-sized cookies

The best thing to do is have an array of ice cream scoop sizes to make perfectly formed cookies. Ice cream scoops come in sets now with all different sizes so you can make the right size for each recipe.

You can find a set of three scoops here:

Use a muffin pan to form perfect cookies

Dorie from Dorie’s Cookies knows the 411 on creating perfectly round cookies – she uses a muffin tin to bake the cookies.

You can find Dorie’s cookie cookbook here:

Cool down

Allow your cookies to cool down completely before serving or storing.   The cooling process is what makes the true texture develop and the steam will make your cookies turn soggy when enclosed.

Separate containers 

You don’t want to store crisp cookies and soft cookies in the same container.  The crispy cookies will absorb moisture from the softer cookies.

Dusting wand

Did you know there’s a dusting wand that will allow you to dust each cookie or bar individually?

You’ll love this little magic baking tool, and the reviews agree.  You can find it here on Amazon.  

Cool off cookie sheets between batches

Let your cookie sheets cool off between your batches.  When you place your unbaked cookies on hot metal, it will cause the cookies to spread, and they will end up being too flat.

Cut-out Cookies

To help cut-out cookies keep their shape, place cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and place them in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before baking.

A better roll-out

Instead of rolling out your cookie dough on flour, use sprinkled powdered sugar instead.  It works as well as flour and tastes better.

Less Mess Mixing

A simple way to prevent splashes from using your handheld mixer is to poke two holes in a paper plate in equal distance apart as the beaters. Slide the beaters through the holes in the plate before adding them to the base.

Presentation

Use cupcake liners to nestle cookies in for a sweet display of your special treats.  Place the cookie-filled liners on a tray.

Sticky cookies

If you left your cookies sit too long on the baking sheet after taking them out of the oven, your cookies might stick to the pan.

Place the baking sheet bake in the oven for a minute to loosen them.

Make all the Frosting at Once

One clever baker makes all the frostings she needs during the holidays at once and stores them in little containers in the refrigerator.

Whenever someone is in the cookie decorating mood, they simply take one of the containers and create their cookie masterpiece.

If you’re looking to make your own food dye for frosting from natural ingredients, my friend Tessa at Homestead Lady has a recipe for you.

Cupcake Baking Secrets

No Waste

Did you know that they made reusable cupcake liners made out of silicone? You can find them here at Amazon.

Pie Baking Secrets

The Best Baking Secrets to Know - Peach Pie
The Best Baking Secrets to Know – Pie Making Secrets

Waiting Period

  • A professional pie baker suggested waiting a day before serving your freshly baked pie so all the flavors have a chance to blend.

Great Pie Crust

  • One of the secrets of a great pie crust is to cover the edge for half the baking time, so it doesn’t over brown.
  • To make a quick homemade graham cracker crust, add 24 graham crackers to a plastic zipped bag. Roll them until the crumbs are a fine texture. Add 6 tablespoons melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar and mix together. Press into pie plate.

Custard Pies

  • When you bake custard pies, bake at high temperatures for about 10 minutes to make sure the crust doesn’t get soggy. Finish the pie at lower temperatures.
The Best Baking Secrets You'll Love - Frosted Cake with Fresh Berries
The Best Baking Secrets – Tips for Cakes

Cake Baking Secrets

Cake Pan Batter

By filling your cake pans only halfway with batter and spread well into the corners, you ensure the cake doesn’t spill over the edges. The cake will also bake evenly.

A Professional Nonstick Bakeware 3-Piece Round Cake Pan Set by Cake Boss.  You can find it here:

Moister Cakes

  • Grandma knew a secret or two about baking. To get a moister cake, place a pan of water on the rack under the cake during baking.

Perfect Layers

  • Keep your cake layers from sticking in the pan. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan and then line the bottom with wax paper. Create the perfect-sized wax paper by tracing the bottom of the pan and then cut out.
  • After the cake has finished baking, invert the cake layer on the rack to cool. Gently peel off the wax paper while the cake is warm.

Frosting Cake

  • Cakes shouldn’t be frosted until the cake is completely cool.
  • For a cleaner cake plate, place three pieces of wax paper on the cake plate, hanging the edges over the ends. Place the cake on the plate and frost it. When you’re done, carefully pull the wax papers out.
  • To make sure a frosted cake stays beautiful, refrigerate it for one hour before slicing. Refrigerating the cake will give the frosting time to become firm.

Cake Decoration

  • Before writing or drawing designs on a cake or cupcakes, use a toothpick to write out your message or draw the design before piping on the frosting. If you make a mistake, you can always smooth it over and start over before putting on the colored frosting.

Cake Storage

  • Store your cake in an airtight container and add two sugar cubes that will absorb moisture.

Cake Done

  • Instead of using a toothpick to check if your cake is done, use a food thermometer and take it out of the oven once it reaches 205 degrees. This will result in a moist cake.

Weโ€™ve reached the end of the Top Baking Secrets to Know. I hope you enjoyed it!

Let me know in the comments below how you liked this Top Baking Secrets to Know and what your favorite baking tip is.

Make sure you join our Creating a Cozy Life group. Youโ€™re not going to believe how amazing it is.  Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

I created a pin for this post below so you can place it on your baking board on Pinterest.

Thanks for stopping by.  Iโ€™m so happy you found us!

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15 Comments

    1. My cousin bakes amazing cookies and says to never melt the butter for cookie dough as they turn out flat but to blend in the coldest butter possible. She also taught me to freeze extra cookie dough in perfectly equally sided balls and set on cookie sheets and bake at top rack at 380-90 degrees. Make a few at a time more often than one big batch at once so they are always fresh for guests. Result: crispy outside and soft insideโ€” amazing professional cookies! My other friend shreds her butter and keeps in the freezerโ€”her secret to amazing scones. Butter has to stay cold!!!

  1. Pingback: Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe In Karo Syrup - Yogitrition