Tips and tricks: Part 1

As a child baker, I remember that every measurement was done in volume. If you needed flour you measured by the cup. If you needed water it was also by the cup or half-cup. Salt, give me a teaspoon. And so that list goes. Today I wonder why the baking turned out well, or was I not trained enough to notice the differences from one baking time to the next for the same product? I suppose it was the latter. With the weight in mind, I thought I would share my first part in a series of baking tips, from measures, to ingredients, and techniques.

Measuring

There are many important things about baking that I have learned over the years, and the foundation of those all comes from measuring everything by weight. On a Monday, a cup of flour may not weigh the same as it will on Tuesday. Maybe it was packed in more on one day, maybe there is a lot of humidity in the air that could potentially cause it to pack tighter. Maybe some flours weigh more than others? I find with baking it is essential to make sure the ingredients are the same every time. This helps me with repeating successes, and finding failures. What is a teaspoon to one person is not a teaspoon to another! I think you get my point. 

What is the point to this? Simple. Always, always, always measure every ingredient.

And these are not the only things we should think about when baking. For instance, how do some ingredients work?

Baking soda and baking powder

Do you know that baking soda requires an acid to activate? If you are baking cookies with baking soda and you are not introducing an acid, it is not likely you will get a rise out of your work. You can use any acid you want, but it is required. I generally use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Baking powder, on the other hand, baking powder, which includes baking soda, does not need an acid to activate, but instead, it needs liquid to activate and will rise during the bake when heat is introduced.  Once in a while, you may have a recipe that asks for both of these ingredients. One reason would be the recipe has an acid component that the baking powder alone will not be enough to rise.

Egg Replacers

Other ingredients that are of interest to me are those as replacers for eggs. I have seen so many different solutions. Soak flax seeds with a combination of 7 grams of flaxseed to 44 grams of water. Mix and let sit for at least five minutes and you have one medium egg replacer. Another trick is to use aquafaba which is the juice of chickpeas or white beans. It can be whipped and folded into a bakery item to gave that effect of fluffed egg whites. Of course, there are countless options on the market too, so you have plenty to choose from. For me it depends on the purpose of the egg. In many instances, it simply is not needed. I do not use eggs in my donuts, brioche, or croissants even though you will find them in many recipes. I imagine it is a combination of trial and error along with what works best for the baker. If you are reading my blog entries and you come across a recipe that you recollect uses eggs and you see no replacer, do not hesitate to ask me why. Or, why I chose the one I did.

Batter

I imagine anything I say here is common knowledge and you already know, but just in the slight chance you forgot, or because you love reading what I write, here are a couple for you. When mixing a cake batter, do not ever over mix it. I like to stop the moment I no longer see flour sitting in the bowl lonely, wondering why no one has asked it to play with the other ingredients. An important reason for this is flour has gluten (of course this does not apply to gluten free flour) and if you keep working it, you will in essence start forming the gluten strands that will turn your fluffy, light cake into a bread with cake ingredients. Yes, this holds true for lower gluten flours like all purpose flour. I also like to tap the tray my cake batter is in on the table to release any air pockets that may have built up. By not doing this you run the risk of air pockets in your cake. Will it taste the same? Of course. Will it look the same? Nope!  You can also sift your flour before folding in the ingredients, this will help minimize air pockets as well.

I love pancakes. I love the pancake batter too. No, I do not eat it raw, but when I see it in a bowl, mixed and ready to go, I always get excited. Let us not forget my bowl of strawberries and blueberries on the side which I also enjoy with my pancakes. One trick I have been doing for years is use carbonated water instead of still water. This will make the pancakes fluffier and seemingly lighter. Like a cake batter, do not over work the batter, just get it to where you see no flour. I realize, by the way, pancakes are not so much a baking item, but because we use the baking ingredients, I put them in my baking family.

Kneading Dough

If there is one topic that I repeat more than any other, it would be that of how to knead dough. I try not to focus on the technique so much because it can vary from person to person while producing the same beautiful results. What I care most about is that you work the dough without tearing it so that the gluten strands form. And most importantly, you are not adding flour early on because the sticky dough annoys you. Only when you are in need of a door stop should you be adding lots of flour to your door. Ok, there is that other option of when the little piggy who builds the brick house runs out of bricks, you can always serve up some low hydration bread to act as brick replacers. Not the same as egg replacers, but will do the job.

It is important the dough has time to rest. This helps with flavor, along with developing the gluten. It also gives the dough a chance to relax between steps. This is extremely important when making croissants. Not so much the dough, but when the lamination starts. When laminating croissant dough, or any pastry dough for that matter, you are changing direction with each fold. If you force the dough to stretch when it is not relaxed it will either tear or shrink. In some cases, it will do both.

Extras in your baking goods

I think it is really important to have fun, and to experiment when baking, which includes different ingredients. I think you should start with a recipe and do it once and then see how it turns out. If you feel it was successful to the recipe then you have done well enough. Now you should think about, what you would like differently. For instance, I have a friend who is a master pastry chef and owns a baking school in Barcelona, he uses fresh squeezed orange juice to mix in with powdered sugar as the topping to his cinnamon rolls. Those ingredients work together so well for so many reasons.

Sometimes when I make breads, I like to use soaked sundried tomatoes and sliced olives from Seville. I will also include lavender or rosemary too.  I just thought one day, why not make a rolled-up roll and put those ingredients inside like I would when making cinnamon rolls, and like any bread, let them rise and bake. If you douse the top with some olive oil just before they go in the oven, you will be left with a soft, flavorful roll that you may never forget. A combination of the textures, and flavors are really special.

Sometimes when I make a two-layer chocolate cake I will use avocado in the creamy chocolate filling that is the layer between the bottom and top. You do not taste avocado, but it adds an amazing creaminess and softness that is hard to forget. One day soon I will post that recipe and I will include that creamy filling. I do warn you; it is so good that if you taste it with a spoon, you are likely to take one too many spoonful’s before it goes between the cake. Not a crime of course, but the chocolate all over your face will be a giveaway for your housemates.

I also enjoy adding a whipped cream inside of my donut holes. It is not normal, I know, but in the bakery, they would sell and I certainly loved them. Different than the Boston Cream that goes in a Boston Cream donut, but a fun taste just the same. I have been told that it seems strange, but as soon as they pop the donut hole in their mouth, I always see that smile and know I made a good choice. I do the same with jelly in the holes too. Not a typical berliner of course, but the taste and result are just the same.

Always remember

When baking you have to follow rules a bit more than when cooking. You should always be precise with your measurements and you should always have fun while experimenting.  Baking is not hard. I know it is cliché to say, but if I can bake, I know anyone can bake. In the end, no matter what happens when baking, even if you are making bricks for your little piggy friend, you are learning. That learning will make you want to come back, time and time again. Just wait until we talk about baguettes in detail and why we score the bread the way we do. Do you know, if you do not overlap the scores in a baguette, you get those bulges that appear? Do not worry, we will cover it in detail.

On a deserted island with only one food to eat...

If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that food be? The rules of this question are simple: You can pick your favorite food, it can be cooked, and it can be raw, but it cannot include condiments or sides. For instance, I love pasta with a red sauce and a nice crusty bread on the side. The pasta and sauce are fine, but no bread.  What would be your go to food?

I am always wondering what my favorite food is, and there are many times when I eat something and, in that moment, that food becomes my favorite. Early on in the pandemic, I had a span of five weeks where I was eating oreo cookies every day. Not just a few, but an entire sleeve and some days two. With that said, let’s be clear, if I am stuck on an island and can only eat one food, they would not be it. I actually got addicted to the sugar which was why I continued to eat them. It’s been two months since I have eaten an oreo.

For me, it is very hard to decide what would be that one food, only because I love so many foods from so many cultures.

Italian food. Well, it’s in my blood given half of my family tree is from Calabria, and I love everything Italian.  I love pasta so much I could literally get naked and roll around on the floor with it all day long.  I love all different sizes and shapes. I really enjoy when pasta is cooked that perfect 8 minutes and served with a nice sauce. Then, leave some in the refrigerator for the next day. Be clear, you can eat it cold, or fry it in a pan, which is also amazing. Lasagna is also a favorite of mine since I am a little boy. I know this one is not novel or inventive, but certainly I could eat pizza all day every day from here to eternity and back. I do not need anything special either, just make the pizza with a nice simple sauce and cheese and then safely get out of the way or you could lose a limb.

Chinese food. I do not think there is any other food that is so universally fantastic. My favorite could be General Tso’s tofu and yes, I could eat it for breakfast every day. I also love a good lo mein but please do not let there be too much extra liquid, I think that ruins the experience. Of course, fried rice with amazing veggies and freshly chopped spring onions. Also, please, if there is anything that is necessary, make sure there is plenty of duck sauce.

French pastries. Are they a food? For me they are. In the bakery I used to take the scrap dough from croissants and make chocolate filled rolls from them. Can you imagine those amazing flavors melting in your mouth? Of course, I would want croissants with an amazingly creamy cream cheese. Am I allowed to say creamy cream? I wonder if that is redundant.

There are many other foods too of course but I do not think they come in contact with those that are repeatable day in and day out for the rest of my life. I imagine even with croissants I could get tired from them over time. Interestingly enough, you will notice I have not listed veggies, or fruits. There is one in that category but I will save that for later.

I am not sure what the purpose of that exercise is or what good it does, but because I love food so much, I have no problem playing the game, my one food on an island alone for the rest of time.

•         •     •

Now that you have picked the food that you would want to eat every day of your life, morning noon and night, do you have a recipe that goes with it, or do you like when others prepare food for you? I have been cooking all of my life and I love it. I also have been baking all of my life too and have these same feelings. I think if I were to have one of the foods on the mention list every day, I would want someone else to prepare them for me. Of course, I am on the island alone so they would magically appear every day. I would though, give them my recipe and make sure it is done just the way I like. With pizza, I really love a thick outer crust with a thin crispy bottom. When the crust on the outside bubbles up, for me it is the best. I also love it cold so I have no problem with delivery being one time a day and I just continue to enjoy throughout the day cold.

Now that I give this some more though, and something that was never factored into my game before, I will have certain stipulations for the island as well. Mountains and beautiful sandy beaches are a must. If I am eating pizza all day long I will for sure need to go into the mountains on hikes to keep from becoming as round as those pizzas. Because I love swimming and the sea, I want to do some free diving too. My days need to be adventurous. This is the beauty of Mallorca. We have amazing mountains and there are two hundred sixty-two beaches. With that many, I think I could spend the year circling the island and spend nearly every day on a different beach. The longer beaches I spend two days and the shorter ones are passthroughs.  

I cannot say for sure why this is, but I am very hungry as I write this blog entry. I imagine writing a blog about food is going to put me in this cycle quite a lot but that is a journey I am happy to take.

And now, my ultimate choice. This food I have loved since I was very tiny. I have eaten it in competitions as a kid. I love all varieties of it and most of all, I love how no matter how full I can be from eating a large quantity, two hours later I am relaxed as it is ninety-two percent water. If you have not guessed by now, my go to food, the one I could eat all day, every day, for the rest of my life, without anything special added, changed, or done to it, would be watermelon. I love them all. With seeds, without seeds. Round or oblong.

Something that just occurred to me is if I am on a deserted island with watermelon, there is a good possibility that I could naturally extract some salt from the sea and sprinkle it on top of the melon. WHAT? Are you really telling me you have never had watermelon without salt before? Lucky for you this entry is just about over. Go and get some melon, make a few slices and very lightly sprinkle some salt. You can, and you will, thank me later.