Hello My Friends! Holiday Baking is here! This is our Super Bowl and I’m here for it!
Listen. I know you don’t have a ton of time today. So I’m putting together a quick and dirty holiday guide for you to be your MOST successful with your holiday baking! Let’s get to it!
1. Test New Recipes
Friend, I know that some of my recipes are a bit…involved. With that said, I would never recommend making a new recipe and taking it to a holiday or family gathering without making it first.
From start to finish. And TESTING IT. Because Friend, the stigma of “Brenda brought that disastrous Jell-O mold last Christmas” will never leave you.
2. Use a Digital Kitchen Scale and Metric Measurement for Baking
Friend, a $9.00 digital kitchen scale will change your baking for the better. It will improve your consistency, and in turn your confidence!
Using metric measurement is key to professional results. For more on this, take a look at this article!
3. Properly Cream Butter and Sugar, Friends!
Perfecting this one step will immediately improve the quality of your baked goods; properly creamed butter and sugar give lightness to your baked goods that you simply cannot achieve with any other technique. You can learn how to do it here!
4. Temperature Matters!
There are two thermometers that will get you to baking greatness: an oven thermometer and an instant-read thermometer.
The oven thermometer will tell you the actual temperature of your oven. Because 350°F on the oven dial and an actual 350°F can be two very different things. My top oven? It’s cold by a whopping TWENTY FIVE DEGREES. #rude
An instant-read thermometer is one of the most valuable tools in your baking arsenal for cakes. Again, it’s the consistency factor. But there’s also the fact that if you properly bake a cake to the correct internal temperature, you will never ever have to worry about dry cake ever again.
NBD.
5. Test Your Yeast First. Always.
Friend, I understand the love of a quick yeast recipe. I get it. The temptation to dump all of your ingredients into a stand mixer and watch them work is great. I GET IT.
But you should always test your yeast before baking to make sure it is alive. Because there are few things more sad than pulling the cover off of a bread dough and seeing…nothing.
Like no rise at all. And there’s no recovering from that. It’s a whole do-over.
Want to know more? Check out this post about yeast!
6. More on Leavening…Make Sure You Use the Right One!
If a recipe calls for baking soda…please use it! Subbing baking powder for baking soda (or vice versa) can completely upset the apple cart when it comes to a recipe.
Leavening impacts taste, caramelization, texture…and much more. There’s a lot of power in that supercharged ingredient!
If you don’t have what you need, a trip to the store is in order. (sorry)
Want to learn more about leavening? Check out this post!
7. Check out the BwB Home Baking Academy!
Friends, the best way to improve your baking knowledge is to study and practice! For me, I found that finding a “baking mentor” (a textbook) and sticking with that reference helped me make great strides.
On that note, I have great news for you! The BwB Home Baking Academy is an amazing resource for you, where you can learn how to improve your baking skills in one place, from one instructor (me!) and have fun in the process!
Check out our classes to see what we have to offer!
I love y’all. This has been a truly amazing year, and you have been a huge part of that! Thank you for supporting Begin with Butter, and for being a part of this incredible community. ??