So here is my #1 Tip: ROOM TEMPERATURE EVERYTHING (unless otherwise stated). This can really make or break a recipe.
- So you need room temperature butter... thankfully there are microwaves around because this is how I do most of my butter. I don't really plan my baking ahead of time and don't wanna wait the normal 30 minutes for butter to get room-temp. Also, sometimes room-temp isn't always perfect because of these things called seasons, and it tends it get kinda roasty during the summer in my whereabouts. So for my butter, I just toss 1 stick into the microwave for 7 seconds, flip it, and then do another 7 seconds. This normally gets me the consistency that I like.
- Room temperature eggs -- can't really toss these guys into a microwave, but what you CAN do is to put them into a bowl of lukewarm warm water and wait for the magic to happen... well, it's not really magical, the eggs just get to room temp faster.
- Milk -- you can microwave this... or take out the amount you need and it reaches room temp pretty quickly.
Tip #2: No buttermilk? No problem. Just take 1 cup of milk and add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar, then let it set for a couple minutes. Wham! There you got your buttermilk! As with all substitutions, you won't yield perfect results, but its better than nothing.
Tip #3: I love love love this website for all my substitutions: Joy of Baking Substitutions. They've got almost everything in there!
Tip #4: If you want a quality product, use quality ingredients. Now I don't do this with all of my baked goodies because I kinda don't care. I only care when it is 1 flavor and it needs to make an impression, for example: chocolate pie. Gotta use the good stuff to make a wonderfully delicious chocolate pie!
Tip #5: Always, always, always add hot stuff to cold when it involves eggs. And do it slowly while whisking... unless you're going for the cooked scrambled egg flavor ;)
I'll slowly add to this list as I think of things!
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