Questions tagged [baking]

Questions about cooking by dry heat without direct exposure to a flame, typically in an oven.

Most questions in this tag will be about some type of leavened product: cakes, pastries, breads, and so on. However, any food cooked by convective heat at moderate temperatures may be considered baking.

If your question is about cooking meat, vegetables, or other non-rising food, especially at very high heat, consider using the tag instead. Other common oven techniques that are not baking include and .

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What does it mean to "fold in" an ingredient into a mix?

I see this in baking recipes, but I've never been quite clear on the difference between mixing and "folding."
Sam Hoice
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Is it okay to measure flour by weight by converting from volume?

I don't have a big jar to put my flour in so it's hard to measure by volume (you have to fluff the flour, pour it into a cup and then remove the excess - which cant be done outside of the original bag). It it okay to just look up the conversion (for…
Bar Akiva
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Order of combining wet and dry ingredients when baking

I've always learnt that you add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Looking at some recipes: "Combine the dry ingredients, the flour ... Add the other wet ingredients, melted butter ..." "Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just…
rbrayb
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Why can't these fish sticks be made in a toaster oven instead of real oven?

My toaster oven has a temperature gauge just like my oven 200-450 degrees. I opened a package of fish sticks and the instructions said "Do not cook in microwave or toaster oven." It only had instructions for cooking them in a regular oven. Do you…
user4296
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How do professional bakers handle rotating trays while mass producing cookies/muffins/cakes/etc.?

A widely-suggested tip is that one should (swap and) rotate their baking tray(s) half-way through a bake (to promote even cooking). I was wondering how professional bakeries (read: not factories, actual bakeries) handle this operation when mass…
StevieP
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How long does yeast live after baking?

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this, but I need to know for sure to settle an argument with someone... Is yeast still active after the bread has been baked and cooled?
LiddyLady
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Which side of the baking paper should face up?

My baking paper has two sides: one waxy looking silky-feeling side, and one clean looking side with more friction when you run your finger over it. Which side should face up against the food? I've had the paper stick to pizza several times & I keep…
Richard
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Advice for gingerbread houses?

I'm considering entering a gingerbread house contest with my mom this year. I might've done a few as a kid, but I've only done one before in my adult life, more than 10 years ago, and I remember having problems with the amount of spread of the…
Joe
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How can I make my scones rise evenly?

I've been making some scones and they are either falling away to one side or just sort of staying flat. I'm currently just baking them on a tray in the oven at 220C The recipe is: 450g self-raising flour 1 tbs caster sugar 80g butter, cubed, at room…
lomaxx
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Are there any substitutes for Shortening?

I was specifically thinking about the Crisco shortening that is used in baking.
AttilaNYC
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Best practices for baking experiment 'design'?

Is there a generally accepted best way to experiment with recipes? When starting with a recipe that is not 'quite right', if you wanted to tweak the quantities of various ingredients (and taste the results), what would be the most efficient or…
BoringVegan
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what does "draft-free" mean?

Almost every bread recipe I came across says to let the dough proof in a draft-free place. I was wondering what does "draft-free" actually mean? Looking at the dictionary, the closest thing related is something about air current and I'm not so sure…
Dat
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What does cream of tartar do in baking recipes?

I am making the following recipe for a birthday party: Pinata cookies!, and it calls for cream of tartar in the dough. This is the first time I've seen that in a cookie recipe and I can't figure out what the purpose of it is. Anyone know what cream…
amedinasmith
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Beating egg white and whipping cream

Both egg white and cream can be beaten until they form a stiff foam. So I tried mixing them and beating the mixture. The mixture will not rise (foam) no matter how hard I try. What is the reason behind this?
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Why grease the pan, then line with greaseproof/parchment paper?

Many recipes I've seen request this. Is it just to stick the paper to the pan to make it easier to work with?
jontyc
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