Kitchen Basics - How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking - Mark Bittman

How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking - Mark Bittman (2016)

Kitchen Basics

Ingredients, equipment, and techniques—these are the fundamentals of all cooking. Knowing more about each will make you comfortable in the kitchen and ensure confidence and success. Here I tackle the building blocks one at a time, in sections that include basic terminology, lots of illustrations, and guidance to help you learn which rules you really must follow and which you can bend or break—the real magic and fun of baking.

Ingredients

Baking is the ultimate form of pantry cooking. Many baked goods start with a core of the same modest and affordable ingredients—flour, butter, sugar, and eggs—with few obscure additions. If you always have these basics on hand, you can make a vast assortment of recipes, from cookies to layer cakes, with no last-minute grocery runs.

To me, the ingredients that follow are the essentials. Of course, the more you bake, the more your pantry will reflect preferences for particular spices or flavors, but certain items are staples in every baker’s kitchen.

More and more people have started paying close attention to the quality and contents of their food—a good thing—and with that come increases in alternative diets, like vegan and gluten-free, for reasons both practical and political. These diets obviously require pantry substitutions. Beyond that, buying the best ingredients you can comfortably afford is a good rule of thumb.

Baking staples are generally inexpensive, but it’s worth splurging on a few things. The differences in taste and complexity between low and high (or at least decent) quality chocolate (or cocoa powder) are huge. Good eggs, butter, and milk—as well as any flavoring like spices and real vanilla—also make a difference in the overall quality of your final product, so invest in those if you can afford to.

Beyond those key ingredients, it’s typically less about taste than about values. You are unlikely to be able to taste the difference between a brownie made from conventional flour and one made from organic flour milled on a small farm, but the second supports values that are better for our food system both long- and short-term. Whenever it’s possible and practical, consider supporting products—like dairy, chocolate, produce, or even flours—that are fair-trade, small-batch, local or regional, organic, and so on.

The Baker’s Pantry

These staples keep for a long time (some even indefinitely) if stored properly, in airtight containers. (If you’ve got the space, store flours and nuts in the freezer.) Have them around and you’re ready to bake almost anything at a moment’s notice.

  • All-purpose flour
  • Whole wheat flour
  • Bread flour
  • Cake flour
  • Instant yeast
  • Granulated sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Confectioners’ sugar
  • Salt
  • Unsweetened and dark (bittersweet or semisweet) chocolate
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Cornstarch
  • Cornmeal and/or almond flour
  • Neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
  • Honey
  • Corn syrup
  • Vanilla extract
  • Ground spices, especially cinnamon, ginger, and cloves
  • Whole spices, especially nutmeg and cardamom
  • Rolled oats
  • Chocolate chips, or bar chocolate for chopping into chunks
  • Nuts and dried fruit
  • Shredded unsweetened coconut
  • Peanut (or other nut) butter

The Baker’s Fridge

Obviously these have a shorter shelf life than flour and sugar, but consider them an extension of your pantry—they’re in heavy rotation for most baking, so most regular bakers will have no trouble going through them.

  • Eggs
  • Unsalted butter (keep a backstock in the freezer and thaw in the fridge as needed)
  • Milk, preferably whole
  • Heavy cream
  • Buttermilk and/or yogurt
  • Sour cream
  • Cream cheese
  • Maple syrup
  • Fruit, especially citrus

THE BASICS OF FLOUR

The backbone of all baking is flour—specifically wheat, although nowadays you can find flours made from all kinds of other grains and even nuts. All-purpose flour is the standard in most recipes, but the type of flour you choose can dramatically change a dish’s flavor and/or texture. In the days, not long ago, when “flour” meant “wheat,” protein content was the most important variable; the higher it is, the chewier and less delicate the end product, which is good for breads and sometimes even cookies, but not for cakes and pastry.

Here, then, are the primary flours you’ll need for baking, plus a few more if you want to experiment further, and plenty of information about how best to use them all. See Substituting Flours in Baking and Gluten-Free Baking for more of the nitty-gritty on making substitutions.

THE FLOUR LEXICON

WHITE FLOURS

A wheat kernel is made up of three parts: endosperm, bran, and germ. There are multiple varieties—hard and soft, spring and winter, red and white—all of which influence the flour’s color and its gluten content. White flour is milled from the starchy endosperm of soft wheat varieties, which makes it soft and fine. Use only unbleached flour; bleaching uses harsh chemicals (it’s actually illegal in some European countries), and is purely cosmetic. And unbleached flour itself is still white, so it will give your baked goods the same look and taste you expect.

ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR This is the workhorse of flours and truly all-purpose; with 8 to 11 percent protein, it covers all the bases. (If the protein content is not listed on the label, just check the number of grams of protein in the nutritional information; since that’s listed per 100 grams of flour, it’s a percentage. So 8 grams of protein means the flour is 8 percent protein.) Some brands may be enriched with vitamins and nutrients in an attempt to compensate for those that are stripped through the removal of bran and germ.

BREAD FLOUR Although it looks and can taste exactly the same as all-purpose, bread flour has more protein—up to 14 percent—which translates to more gluten. This makes it the flour of choice for elastic, easy-to-handle yeast bread doughs that produce chewy crumb and sturdy crust. It’s also a great cup-for-cup substitute for up to half of the all-purpose flour in recipes where you might prefer extra chewiness, like cookies or brownies. Check the label—avoid brands that are “conditioned” with ascorbic acid, which can make the finished product taste slightly sour.

CAKE AND PASTRY FLOURS Softer and more delicate than all-purpose (pastry is 8.5 to 9.5 percent protein; cake is 7 to 8.5 percent), these don’t develop much elasticity in doughs or batters; you get a tender, delicate crumb in cakes and pastries; there are instances in which these are really beneficial, and I note them. If you don’t have any or can’t find it, measure a level cup of all-purpose—see this illustration for the proper way to measure flour—then remove 2 tablespoons and replace with cornstarch.

SELF-RISING FLOUR Also called phosphated flour. This is essentially all-purpose flour plus salt and baking powder. It’s a silly concept, since it’s more expensive and cannot substitute for all-purpose flour; furthermore, it’s easy enough to add those two ingredients to regular flour. Skip it.

WHOLE WHEAT FLOURS

These are milled from all three components of the kernel of hard red wheat—the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. The bran and germ contribute more fiber and nutrients, up to 14 percent protein, as well as a brown color (less so with white whole wheat, below) and pleasantly nutty, wheaty flavor. For those of us who grew up eating white bread, whole wheat is a bit of an acquired taste, and anything made with 100 percent whole wheat flour is heavier and denser than its counterpart made with white flour; a combination is often ideal. Generally, you can use any whole wheat (see varieties below) to replace white flour in almost any recipe without making other adjustments.

The Truth About Gluten

As gluten-free diets have skyrocketed in popularity, the term has found its way onto labels for everything from bread to salad dressing, and if the clever marketing is any indication, gluten-free is synonymous with healthy. Not so: Gluten is simply a protein found in grains, specifically and most plentifully in wheat. We have it to thank for giving many great doughs their texture. Some people are incapable of digesting the protein, but for the rest of us, it’s generally harmless.

Some flours have more gluten (protein) than others; the label will always tell you. High-protein flours are best for sturdier, more elastic things—namely bread and pizza, but also extra-chewy cookies or brownies—while low-protein flours produce the finer, tender crumb you want in pastries and cakes. All-purpose, true to its name, is somewhere in the middle.

When flour is just sitting in the bag, the gluten is essentially inert; it comes to life when you wet the flour, and the more you work the dough, the stronger it becomes, for chewier results. That’s why you want to handle delicate things—cake, quick bread, and pancake batters, biscuit or scone dough, piecrusts—as little as possible and why you want to knead yeasted doughs for a while.

Gluten is complex, so as soon as you substitute gluten-free flour in a standard recipe you’re going to get different results. (You can get close with some gluten-free blends, developed specifically to mimic the flour; see this chart for more on that.) If you must avoid gluten, always check the label to make sure ingredients are truly gluten-free; some things, like oats, don’t naturally contain gluten but can pick up trace amounts if they’re milled at the same facility as wheat or even grown in a nearby field.

WHITE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR Milled from white wheat instead of red, this is milder (and, obviously, lighter in color), and perfect for people who don’t like the strong flavor of conventional whole wheat flour but want the nutritional advantage. As with other whole wheat flours, most baked goods made with it are on the heavy side, although a little less so.

WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR Milled from soft wheat, like its white counterpart, but includes bran and germ. Think of it as a hybrid: It produces a light crumb similar to what you’d get with white pastry flour, but with the characteristics of whole wheat, including nuttier flavor and slightly heavier, denser results. The rules for regular whole wheat flour apply here: Substitute it for only 50 percent of the cake or pastry flour in any recipe and expect the results to be a little less delicate, with more pronounced wheat flavor.

NONWHEAT FLOURS

Nonwheat, or “specialty” flours, are increasingly popular for both gastronomic and nutritional reasons. They come from other grains, nuts, legumes, or vegetables, any of which can be ground or milled into a powder. While some contain gluten, none have as much as wheat, so they’ll create different results and shouldn’t be treated interchangeably (see The Truth About Gluten for more info). But it’s easy enough to work them into your baking rotation, as long as you do so mindfully. This list is not comprehensive but includes the nonwheat flours I actually do use. For guidance about how to substitute them in recipes, see this chart.

RYE FLOUR Closely related to wheat but with more assertive, distinctive flavor and very little gluten. Rye flour is graded dark, medium, or light, depending on how much bran is milled out of the berries: the darker the flour, the stronger the flavor and the higher the protein and fiber. Any can be a good substitute for a small amount—up to 20 percent, say—of wheat flour. Even if you don’t use much, baked goods made with rye flour tend to be moist, dense, deeply colored, and slightly (deliciously) sour tasting. (Don’t try it for the first time in a cake!) Pumpernickel flour is made from whole grain rye berries and is coarser than dark rye flour, and makes a delicious addition to many breads.

BUCKWHEAT FLOUR Most commonly used in pancakes, waffles, blintzes, crêpes, muffins, and noodles, and distinctive in all. As with rye flour, the darker the color, the stronger the flavor. And, as with rye, it’s slightly sour. The plant itself contains no gluten, but the flour is often milled with wheat, so check the label to see whether it’s low in gluten or truly gluten-free.

CORNMEAL AND CORN FLOUR Ground dried corn, available in fine, medium, and coarse grinds and in yellow, white, and blue, depending on the corn. Coarser grinds are more texturally interesting, a little crunchy and a little chewy—these make good corn bread. All can be used interchangeably, unless otherwise specified in the recipe, and are gluten-free as long as they’re 100 percent corn. Stone-ground cornmeal—which is what you want—retains both the hull and the germ, so it’s more nutritious and flavorful than common steel-ground cornmeal, although also more perishable; store it in the freezer. And try it for more than corn bread; it imparts that mildly sweet flavor to breads, pancakes, pie and tart crusts, and even some cakes.

Corn flour is another name for finely ground cornmeal, but be careful: In recipes written in the UK it means cornstarch, a thickening agent. To make corn flour, grind medium or coarse cornmeal in a food processor for a few minutes.

SPELT FLOUR Spelt is related to wheat, with a pleasant, nutty, mildly sweet flavor; it may be a good wheat substitute for people who can tolerate gluten but are allergic to wheat. It’s high in protein, with some gluten for structure but a light enough crumb that you can start by subbing it for up to half of the wheat flour in a recipe. Comes in white and whole grain varieties.

RICE FLOUR Sometimes called rice powder or cream of rice, this is made from hulled, ground, and sifted rice. White rice flour, like white wheat flour, is processed to remove the bran and germ, so it’s mild-flavored. Brown rice flour has had only the outer husk removed, so it’s higher in protein, fiber, and other nutrients and nuttier in flavor. Both have slightly grainy, gritty textures, which some people enjoy, particularly in dishes like piecrust or waffles, where a bit of crunch can be good. It’s best to combine them with other flours, especially when you first start using them. Glutinous (sweet) rice flour is entirely different, producing a stickier texture for things like mochi. Despite its name, it—like all rice flours—is gluten-free.

Making Your Own Nut Flour

Making your own nut flour in a food processor is easy, usually more cost-effective than store-bought, and enables you to make flour with any nut you like (almonds and hazelnuts are best). Here are some tricks:

  • Almonds are most common; you’ll also have success with hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans.
  • Use blanched nuts (skins removed) for finer, lighter, more “flourlike” results; leave the skins on for darker color, nuttier flavor, and a mealier texture.
  • Temperature matters. The nuts should be room temperature, and the food processor bowl and blade should be dry and cool.
  • Pulse the blade. Don’t set it and walk away or you’ll get nut butter. You can add the sugar from your recipe and pulse it along with the nuts; this will help ensure a uniform consistency.
  • Between pulses, scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all the nuts are incorporated evenly.

NUT FLOURS Made by finely grinding nuts, nut flours (or nut meals) are gluten-free and high in protein, fat, and, of course, flavor. Almond flour is the most widely available, with a consistency that resembles cornmeal. Nut flour can also be made with hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, or pistachios (see the box above to make your own). Generally, you can substitute these for up to 25 percent of the wheat flour in a baking recipe without making other adjustments, but they contribute very little structure on their own, which is why they’re typically paired with other flours and/or egg whites. The oils released during grinding can turn rancid, so store extra in a plastic zipper bag in the freezer.

Substituting Flours in Baking

Use this chart as a quick reference for replacing a portion of the all-purpose or bread flour in your baked goods. You can mix and match, but don’t go over the maximum percentage for any one flour; if you need or want to avoid wheat entirely, see Gluten-Free Baking.

If you want to steer clear of math, put the estimated amount of alternative flour (or flours) in the measuring cup first, then fill the remainder with all-purpose wheat flour and level it off. Err on the more conservative side for anything that needs more structure, like cakes or cookies; you can be more liberal with the substitutions for things like piecrusts, crackers, or pancakes.

FLOUR

QUANTITY TO SUBSTITUTE IN RECIPES (BY VOLUME)

Whole Wheat

Up to half

Rye
light
medium
dark or pumpernickel


Up to half
Up to one-third
Up to one-quarter

Buckwheat

Up to one-quarter

Cornmeal

Up to one-sixth

Spelt

Up to all; then either decrease the total water/milk by one-quarter or increase the flour by one-quarter

Rice

One-quarter to one-third

Nut

One-quarter to one-third

Oat

One-quarter to one-third

Soy

Up to one-quarter

Bean

One-quarter to one-third

Sorghum

Up to half

OAT FLOUR Like rolled oats, this gives baked goods a moist, crumbly texture and nicely nutty-tasting flavor. You can grind your own by giving rolled oats a whirl in the blender or food processor; just know that it won’t be super-fine. Most oat flours are not gluten-free, because gluten can sneak in during the growing or processing if the oats are grown alongside wheat or the factories also process wheat; check the label and assume it’s not unless specifically stated.

SOY FLOUR Made from roasted soybeans, this has a noticeable bean flavor that makes it best in savory baking, and even then, not everyone likes it (I’m not wild about it myself). You can find it full-fat (sometimes called “natural”), which retains the natural oils, or defatted. Both are high in protein and gluten-free, but you should swap it for only 25 percent of the flour in most baking recipes and expect dense, moist results.

BEAN FLOUR Typically ground from dried chickpeas and/or fava beans; like soy flour, this is gluten-free and high in protein with a strong flavor; in some recipes, it’s mandatory (see Socca). If you want to experiment with it, swap it for one-quarter of the flour in a savory recipe, especially those from south Asia or the Mediterranean.

SORGHUM FLOUR Sorghum is a grass plant that produces both grain and a syrup similar to molasses. The flour tastes and feels like wheat flour—mild yet sweet—but is gluten-free, so it’s a great candidate for experimenting. Try subbing for up to half of the all-purpose flour, or even more for things like pancakes that don’t require too much structure.

POTATO FLOUR Made from whole potatoes that are dried, then ground. (Don’t confuse it with potato starch, which is a lot like cornstarch.) Too much will add an obvious potato flavor and can make your food gummy, but when it’s blended with other gluten-free flours, particularly relatively dry flours like rice, it can add incredible moisture and depth, particularly to breads and any recipe that isn’t too sweet.

TAPIOCA FLOUR Also known as tapioca starch, this comes from the root of the cassava plant. Because it’s so starchy, it shouldn’t be used as a flour substitute, but small amounts—just 10 percent or so—are great in gluten-free flour blends because it contributes good texture. Also great as a thickening agent for sauces and fillings; teaspoon for teaspoon, you can use it as a cornstarch substitute.

THE BASICS OF SUGAR AND OTHER SWEETENERS

There are many kinds of sweeteners, some with their own distinct flavor or consistency (think: honey) and others that blend in seamlessly with the rest of your ingredients (like sugar, which is pretty much one-dimensionally sweet). Since they’re naturally quite shelf stable, you can easily stock your pantry with a wide range.

GRANULATED SWEETENERS

The easiest to use, measure, and store because they’re dry. The most ubiquitous option is white sugar, but there are other options that taste different and perform differently.

WHITE SUGAR The most common granulated sugar, made from sugarcane or sugar beets; highly refined, cheap, convenient, and effective, with a neutral flavor that won’t outshine other ingredients. White sugar comes in various granule sizes and types, each with its optimal uses, but granulated sugar is the equivalent of all-purpose flour: You can use it almost everywhere when recipes call for sugar. The grains are medium size and dissolve well when heated or combined with liquid. There are several other forms of white sugar:

  • Confectioners’ sugar (also called icing, 10x, 6x, or 4x sugar) is regular sugar ground to a fine powder (hence its informal name, powdered sugar), with cornstarch added to prevent caking. It’s used mostly in icings (it dissolves very easily) or for sifting over desserts.
  • Superfine sugar (castor, caster, or baking sugar) is somewhere between granulated and powdered sugar. Its fine crystals dissolve quickly, making it especially suitable for light cakes and sponges, sauces, meringues, ice cream bases, or anything that won’t be cooked but has some liquid. You can make your own by grinding granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds.
  • Coarse sugar (decorators’ or sanding sugar) is processed to small, roughly shaped grains, larger than those of granulated sugar and therefore slower to dissolve. Use it as a garnish on cookies, cakes, piecrusts, or sweet breads where some crunch is desirable. Crystal sugar is similar, although the crystals are pellet shaped. Pearl sugar has large, opaque crystals that won’t dissolve and are meant specifically for garnishing.

BROWN SUGAR Brown sugar is granulated white sugar with molasses added for moisture and a more complex taste. It can be light or dark, depending on how much molasses has been added. In a pinch, you can make brown sugar by stirring or beating a tablespoon or more of molasses into a cup of white sugar; beating it helps ensure that it’s fluffy and easy to work with. Always pack brown sugar into a measuring cup to eliminate pockets of air and get an accurate measure.

Dark brown sugar is more intensely flavored, but the difference is subtle, and I use light (sometimes labeled “golden”) and dark interchangeably. In most dessert recipes, you can substitute brown sugar for white cup for cup, as long as you remember the color and flavor will be different. To keep brown sugar from hardening, put it in a plastic bag, press out any excess air, and put the bag in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. To soften rock-hard brown sugar, put it in a heatproof bowl, top with a damp paper towel, and microwave it in 15-second intervals, just until it is loose again; use it immediately. Alternatively, you can grate the hardened rock of sugar on a fine cheese grater.

RAW SUGAR Made from sugarcane in a couple of different ways, these coarse-grained brown or golden sugars taste less sweet than more heavily processed sugars and have a distinctive caramel flavor. You can use raw sugar in place of white sugar in many recipes, provided the grind is fine (you can grind it finer in a spice grinder or food processor easily enough) or the cooking time is long enough to dissolve it completely; as with substituting brown sugar, don’t expect identical results. I like it best sprinkled on top of baked goods like scones and cookies to add a mildly sweet crunch. Here are the most common raw sugars:

  • Turbinado: Light brown, with a mild molasses flavor
  • Demerara: Originally from Guyana and popular in England; amber in color, toffeelike in flavor, and stickier than turbinado
  • Muscovado: From Barbados, darker brown and relatively fine-grained; moist, with an assertive molasses flavor

OTHER GRANULATED SWEETENERS You might have heard about evaporated cane juice (which comes from sugarcane) or coconut sugar (from the sap of the flowers of the coconut palm tree), which are comparable to light brown sugar in color and flavor. Both sound moderately wholesome (they’re only negligibly more so than white sugar) and are growing increasingly popular, albeit more so in packaged foods than as standalone ingredients. It’s fine to use either if you come across them; just don’t let yourself think they’re anything other than sugar by a different name.

Fructose, a simple sugar found in honey, fruit, berries, and some root vegetables, is often recommended to diabetics because it is metabolized differently than cane sugar. But it’s super-concentrated and loses power when heated or mixed into liquids, so it’s tricky to use; I don’t bother with it.

Nor do I recommend baking with zero-calorie sweeteners, like saccharin, sucralose, xylitol, and aspartame, which at best taste funny and at worst might be hazardous to your health—even the “natural” ones, like stevia. They can also be two hundred times sweeter than sugar, so it’s tricky to substitute them since you have to account for all the lost bulk. Their use should be considered only by diabetics, and even then carefully.

LIQUID SWEETENERS

These dissolve faster than sugar and can bring distinctive flavors to baked goods, but they are not directly interchangeable with each other or with granulated sugars.

HONEY There are more than 300 varieties of honey in the United States alone, including orange blossom, clover, and eucalyptus, and the good ones are all distinctive. Most commercial honeys are blends, and less exciting; but in any case, make sure you’re buying 100 percent pure honey and not flavored corn syrup. Honey never goes bad, but it may crystallize; to fix that, remove the top of the container, place it in a bowl of very hot water, and stir every 5 minutes until the honey reliquefies. (A microwave will work also, but be careful to use low power and very short bursts.)

Honey is about 25 percent sweeter than white sugar, so you would use less of it to achieve the same sweetness. But replacing sugar with honey can be tricky; cookies made with honey, for example, spread more than those baked with sugar. Start by replacing a small amount of the sugar in your favorite recipe (bearing in mind that the color of honey will darken food slightly) and see what happens. Some other guidelines for baking with honey:

  • Lightly oil the inside of your measuring cup so that the honey slides out easily, giving you an accurate measure.
  • Reduce any other liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup for each cup of honey; if there are no other liquids in the recipe, add 2 tablespoons flour for each cup of honey.
  • To balance honey’s acidity, add ½ teaspoon baking soda for every cup of honey.
  • When you substitute honey for sugar in quick breads, cookies, and cakes, reduce the oven temperature by 25°F to prevent overbrowning.

MOLASSES A heavy syrup produced during the sugar-making process. The first boiling produces light molasses, which can be used like honey; the second produces dark molasses, which is thick, full flavored, and not so sweet; and the third produces blackstrap molasses, the darkest, thickest, and least versatile of the bunch. You can cook and bake with blackstrap, particularly in things like quick breads that don’t need a ton of sweetness to begin with, although it’s best to blend it with light molasses or honey.

MAPLE SYRUP Made from the sap of maple trees, maple syrup is the most American of sweeteners. Colonial-era settlers used it to make desserts like Cornmeal Pudding; today it’s a favorite topping for pancakes and waffles. Use real maple syrup, never imitation, which is just flavored corn syrup; there is no comparison.

Maple syrup varies in color and flavor, depending on the time of year when it’s collected. There’s a grading system that’s meant to help you choose, although it often causes confusion. Until relatively recently, it consisted of Grade A (Fancy, Medium Amber, or Dark Amber), Grade B (darker, thicker, with a stronger flavor), and Grade C (darkest, with the most pronounced flavor; this was usually not sold retail). Now, it’s all Grade A—rendering the grade meaningless—but accompanied with descriptors. Grade A, Fancy, is now Grade A, Golden Color with Delicate Taste; Grade B is now Grade A, Very Dark with Robust Taste. Whatever you call it, the thicker, darker syrup is better for baking since its flavor is more pronounced.

CORN SYRUP Not to be confused with the controversial high-fructose version, which isn’t sold in supermarkets; this is a thick, sticky sweetener processed from cornstarch. Light corn syrup is clarified; dark is flavored with caramel, which makes it sweeter and, yes, darker. Neither contribute much in the way of flavor, but they’re useful for getting the right consistency in traditional Pecan Pie, Caramels, and some other candies and sauces like Hot Fudge.

AGAVE NECTAR More accurately called agave syrup—it’s processed from the starch of the agave plant’s root bulb. It has a little more flavor than corn syrup but isn’t as assertive as honey. You can substitute it for no more than half the granulated sugar in a recipe; for every cup of sugar, use only ⅔ cup agave nectar and reduce the other liquids in the recipe by ¼ cup.

THE BASICS OF BUTTER AND OTHER BAKING FATS

Fat, in some form or another, is the most important ingredient in many desserts, adding both flavor and tenderness. There is no good reason to reduce fat in recipes, but there are plenty of low-fat alternatives throughout the book, particularly fruit- and meringue-based recipes.

BUTTER

By far the most popular baking fat and my preference for almost everything, butter is an emulsification of about 80 percent butterfat with water and milk solids. In addition to having an unbeatable flavor, it contributes texture in a variety of ways. When it’s softened and beaten with sugar, it holds on to air for a light, fluffy texture; gently worked into piecrusts and pastries, it melts and creates steam, resulting in flaky layers; when more thoroughly worked into “short” doughs like tart crusts or shortbread, it gives a crumbly, sandy texture; and when melted, it creates a moist, chewy batter for brownies and some cookies.

Use unsalted butter exclusively. Salt is incorporated into butter largely as a preservative, which means salted butter may sit around longer than unsalted (also called sweet) butter before it’s sold. Since butter freezes well, and since salt is an ingredient you can add anytime, there’s no reason to buy salted. (If you do buy salted butter, eliminate added salt from your recipe.) Buy the best you can find and afford; good, fresh butter is an affordable luxury.

“European-style” butter, made with cream that’s cultured before churning, is becoming increasingly common. It has a more assertive flavor and higher fat content than standard butter; substitute it freely, and expect better results.

Many recipes call for butter at specific temperatures, because it behaves differently depending on its state. Here’s a rundown:

  • Melted: Completely liquid; warm but not scalding. Melt it in a saucepan over low heat or microwave it in 15-second intervals. Lends moisture and flavor but no structure—use it for extra-chewy cookies or brownies or in quick breads, waffles, and pancakes.
  • Softened: Cool room temperature; the butter should yield only slightly when you touch it with your finger. This is the “sweet spot” for creaming, beating with sugar to thoroughly combine and add pockets of air that create tender, light cookies and cakes. If you don’t have time to let cold butter soften on its own, you can cut it lengthwise into thin slices and use a rolling pin to roll the slices between two pieces of parchment paper into one malleable sheet.
  • Cold: Straight from the fridge or freezer. Necessary for “short” doughs that are minimally mixed: piecrusts, biscuits, pastries, and so forth. Cut cold butter into cubes and refrigerate again before using or grate frozen butter. Ice-cold butter is also best when using a food processor.

LARD

Lard, once the baking fat of choice, is finally back in style. (Health-wise, it’s equivalent to butter and better for you than most margarines.) It’s fantastic in pie and tart crusts and some pastries; use, for example, one part lard with three parts butter for the best piecrust you’ve ever tasted.

OILS

Any oil can be used in place of butter, but there will be significant differences in flavor and texture. Oils create moisture, so they retard staleness, but by themselves they don’t add loft as butter does. They work best in quick and yeast breads, muffins, and brownies, where rise comes from leavening like baking powder or yeast, but not so well in most cakes. Having said that, some oils—like olive and nut oils—have good (and distinctive) flavor that can be lovely in some cakes and pastries, as long as you’re looking to highlight that flavor, not hide it. If you want to use oil with a milder flavor, try high quality grapeseed, which is quite neutral.

Store all oil in airtight, preferably dark containers that don’t get hit with direct sunlight—the pantry is great, or even the fridge—and always check for freshness before using; if they smell rancid or metallic, toss them. (This is true not only in baking but in all cooking.)

If you’re looking for a solid, spreadable fat—something to cream with sugar, for example—coconut oil is your best bet. It’s solid at room temperature, although it melts quickly; for best results, premeasure and freeze it until right before use.

Vegetable shortenings and margarine, made with oil but solid like butter, function like butter or coconut oil, but their flavor is neutral at best and greasy or foul at worst. Don’t use them.

THE BASICS OF EGGS

The egg is a baking powerhouse: No other single ingredient adds flavor, tenderness, structure, lift, and binding as effectively. Some recipes call for whole eggs; others call for only the white or the yolk, and both white and yolk are so versatile and essential that you could consider them separate ingredients.

The white—or albumen—comprises about two-thirds of the egg (usually about 2 tablespoons) and over half of the egg’s protein and minerals. It has no notable flavor of its own, but the proteins trap and hold air. Beating them makes them inflate exponentially, giving the signature airiness and lift to meringues, sponge cakes, mousses, and soufflés.

The yolk contains all the fat, plus zinc, the majority of the vitamins, and the remaining protein and minerals. It adds a luxurious creaminess to baked goods and has a distinctive flavor that you can choose to highlight, as in custards, or allow to remain in the background. A blood spot in the yolk is not harmful (nor does it mean you have a fertilized egg) but is a vein rupture, actually indicating a fresher egg (the older the egg gets, the more diluted the blood spot becomes). If it bothers you, remove it with the tip of a knife.

BUYING AND STORING EGGS

Eggs come in different sizes based on weight. Extra-large and large eggs are most common, and most recipes, including mine, assume large eggs, although you can freely substitute extra-large with no detectable consequences.

The color of the shell varies depending on the breed of hen and has no bearing on the flavor, quality, or nutritional content of the egg. There are lots of other ways to label eggs, some of which matter, but most claims (free-range, natural, cage-free, vegetarian-fed … ) are unregulated, and therefore meaningless and misleading enough to be essentially useless. If you can get eggs produced by a local farmer, especially one whose practices are open, do so—they often have better flavor and vibrant orange yolks that can even add rich color, and it’s the best (often, the only) way to be an informed, conscientious consumer. Otherwise, USDA Certified Organic is as safe a bet as any.

Most cartons feature a seemingly arbitrary 3-digit number right next to the sell-by date. This is actually the pack date: Days of the year are ordered, 1 through 365, so that January 1 is 001 and December 31 is 365. It’s a small headache (and usually unnecessary) to mentally compute, but if you’re not sure of the eggs’ freshness, you can use it as a benchmark, since properly refrigerated eggs will keep for four to five weeks beyond the pack date. Before buying, take a quick peek inside the carton to make sure all the eggs are sound and check that the sell-by date has not passed.

Although in most baked goods it’s a non-issue, in a few desserts such as mousse or meringue (or raw cookie dough), eggs are not fully cooked; since raw eggs can carry foodborne illnesses like Salmonella, it’s good to be mindful of this, especially when cooking for children, pregnant women, people of old age, or anyone with a weakened immune system. A good option if you want to be extra-careful are pasteurized eggs in the shell. Like pasteurized milk, these are gently heated to kill any bacteria but are still raw. Note that they aren’t available everywhere and are more expensive than others, so you’ll want to plan ahead if you need them.

Separating Eggs

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Step 1
To crack the egg, smack the side definitively—but not too aggressively—on a flat, hard surface, stopping your hand when you hear the shell crack.

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Step 2
The easiest way to separate eggs is to use the shell halves, moving the yolk back and forth once or twice so that the white falls into a bowl. Be careful, however, not to allow any of the yolk to mix in with the whites or they will not rise fully during beating.

POWDERED EGGS You can find dehydrated whole eggs and egg whites in easy-to-use powders that, when reconstituted with water, serve all the same functions—binding, moistening, leavening—as their fresh counterparts, with a very similar texture. I prefer fresh whole eggs since they’re so easy to keep around anyway, but powdered whites are particularly useful for making meringues and anywhere you’d otherwise be left with extra yolks. Since they’re pasteurized, they’re also safer for use in raw recipes like Royal Icing. Powdered eggs are shelf-stable, so you may just want to keep them on hand to use in a pinch. Follow the package directions for reconstituting and use them as a one-for-one substitute. All that said, their flavor isn’t as good, so it’s best to stick with fresh eggs for custards and other recipes where the eggs’ flavor should stand out.

I do not recommend meringue powder—which combines egg whites with sugar, cornstarch, and sometimes other stabilizers and preservatives—since each brand varies and you can’t be sure how it’ll impact your recipes until they’re out of the oven.

BAKING WITH EGGS

For most things, you can just take an egg straight from the fridge and crack it into your bowl. Room temperature eggs are a little easier to beat, but this is only important when they need to hold as much air as possible, as in meringues. (I’ll let you know when you need to take this extra step.) A fast and safe way to bring eggs to room temperature is to soak them in a pan of warm (not hot) water for 5 to 10 minutes.

It’s easiest to separate eggs when they’re cold. Start by setting out two bowls, one for yolks and one for whites. Gently tap the side of the egg on a flat, hard surface or the edge of a bowl to make a clean crack along the center of the shell, then pull it apart into halves. Transfer the yolk back and forth or crack the whole thing into your cupped palm, and let the white drip into one of the bowls, taking care that the yolk doesn’t break. (A bit of yolk will make it impossible for the whites to gain maximum volume.)

See tempering eggs and beating eggs.

THE BASICS OF CHOCOLATE

Like coffee and wine, you can spend too much time thinking about chocolate. I approach all these things similarly: I look for a delicious product of the highest quality I can afford and find without hassle. In a way, chocolate is simple: if it’s inviting when you bite into it, it’s good enough for cooking. This is why I generally avoid chocolate chips and premade sauces; they’re usually not delicious when eaten straight, and it’s easy enough to chunk, chop, or melt a good eating chocolate. Your desserts will be much better for that bit of extra work.

You can even use good-quality “candy bar” chocolate for cooking; you’re not limited to whatever happens to be on the shelf in the baking aisle. For most desserts—and for eating—I turn to dark chocolate, labeled either bittersweet or semisweet.

HOW CHOCOLATE IS MADE

Chocolate is made from cacao beans, the seeds of the cacao tree. Twenty to fifty of them grow in an oblong pod; it takes about four hundred seeds to make a pound of chocolate. There are different types of cacao trees, which influences the flavor of the finished product, but other variables—where the cacao is grown and how it’s processed and blended—are equally or more important in determining quality and flavor.

Once the ripe pods are collected, the seeds and their surrounding pulp are fermented, a process that changes their chemistry and develops flavor. The beans are dried by machine or, preferably, in the sun. At this point they can be shipped to chocolate makers, who sort, roast, and shell the beans. The resulting nib is ground and refined into a paste called chocolate liquor (which contains no alcohol but can be thought of as a straight “shot” of chocolate). Separating the solids from the fat in chocolate liquor results in two products: cacao solids, which give a bar its distinct flavor, and cocoa butter, which makes the chocolate creamy, smooth, and glossy.

To get to edible chocolate, the liquor is usually mixed with other ingredients—most often (not always) sugar, and sometimes additional cocoa butter, vanilla, milk, or (less desirable) vegetable oils or other additives—then gently stirred or “conched.” Before chocolate can be molded and sold, it is tempered, a heating and cooling process that keeps it from crystallizing and makes the chocolate hard, smooth, and glossy. (See this recipe to temper your own chocolate for Chocolate-Dipped Anything.)

Here’s the bottom line: The quality of the ingredients, the number of additives, and the level of attention during the production process are what distinguish the best chocolate from others.

HOW TO BUY CHOCOLATE

There are, essentially, four types of solid chocolate: unsweetened, dark, milk, and white. Within those categories, the percentage of cacao solids and milk solids varies. The lingo can get confusing, so just remember this: The higher the percentage of cacao, the less sweet the chocolate will likely be. (Generally, higher percentages of chocolate solids also mean higher quality.)

THE CHOCOLATE LEXICON

Here’s a quick breakdown:

UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE (Baking Chocolate, Chocolate Liquor) A combination of cacao solids and cocoa butter and nothing else; 100 percent cacao. Unsweetened chocolate is too bitter to eat but is useful for home chocolate making, cooking, and baking since it’s a blank canvas; you have complete control over the sugar content and flavors of whatever you make with it.

DARK CHOCOLATE (Bittersweet, Semisweet, Dark, Extra-Dark) This is the type of chocolate I use most often, good for everything from chopping for cookies to melting into ganache to eating out of hand. Most of the chocolate recipes in this book call for dark because it’s the easiest way to get strong chocolate flavor.

Dark chocolate must have at least 35 percent cacao solids, but usually that percentage is much higher, and no more than 12 percent milk solids (often there are none, but sometimes they’re added for texture). Since that leaves so much room for variation, look for an exact cacao percentage; 50 to 60 percent is a good all-purpose range. If none is mentioned, check out the ingredient list to see what else is included. A higher percentage doesn’t guarantee good quality, but it does mean there isn’t a lot of room for fillers and usually indicates more intense flavor.

All this can only tell you so much. To make any kind of informed decision about chocolate, you should try a few brands, then settle on your favorites. Good-quality dark chocolates coat your mouth evenly without any waxiness or grittiness and have a strong, pure chocolate flavor; they also snap cleanly when you break a piece.

A Note About Chocolate Chips

One way to make sure you don’t get the best chocolate is to buy chocolate chips. Most don’t taste very good, which is cause enough to avoid them, but there’s another reason: Most are specifically designed not to spread as they melt, so they’re not what you want in most baking.

Chocolate chips hold their shape because they have proportionately less cocoa butter (and more other stuff, like sugar) than chocolate bars with comparable cacao content. If you try to melt them for something like ganache, they may seize up or be gritty or grainy. If you’re intent on using chips, check the label and ensure cocoa butter is the first ingredient.

MILK CHOCOLATE If you like sweet, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate, this is it. Milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 10 percent cacao solids, 12 percent milk solids, and 3.39 percent milk fat, and can be as complex as dark chocolate. Don’t skimp: Make sure what you buy includes real, high-quality ingredients and tastes rich and almost buttery. You can substitute milk chocolate for dark chocolate in cookies or ganache according to your preference, but be prepared for different results, with flavors muted against a backdrop of creaminess.

WHITE CHOCOLATE White chocolate is technically not chocolate, but a confection made from cocoa butter. It must contain at least 20 percent cocoa butter, 14 percent milk solids, and 3.39 percent milk fat; the rest is sugar (and ideally not much else). Although you can substitute it for dark or milk chocolate, it’s really a completely different ingredient.

There’s a deep chasm between good white chocolate and the cheap stuff. To avoid the latter, check the label for strange-sounding ingredients and make sure cocoa butter is listed first (cheap knockoffs use vegetable oil in its place). Then taste it: Good white chocolate has a subtle flavor with an irresistible creaminess from the cocoa butter and isn’t waxy, gritty, or bland. At its best it melts very slowly in your mouth and is something like what you might imagine eating straight vanilla would be like, although it doesn’t necessarily contain any vanilla at all.

COCOA POWDER After cocoa butter is pressed out of the nibs, or separated from the chocolate liquor, the solids are finely ground into a powder. “Dutched,” “Dutch-process,” or “alkalized” cocoa has been treated with an alkaline ingredient to reduce acidity and darken the color. “Natural” cocoa powder—ground roasted cocoa beans and nothing else—is lighter brown, with more intense chocolate flavor and natural acidity. Cocoa powder is essentially distilled cacao, so it’s worth the extra expense to get the good stuff.

As long as they’re unsweetened, natural and Dutch-process cocoas are interchangeable in most of the recipes here. (Sometimes I specify one or the other.) As a rule of thumb, natural cocoa should be used with baking soda and Dutch-process cocoa with baking powder; see The Basics of Leavening for more on substituting.

STORING CHOCOLATE

There’s no need to refrigerate chocolate, but it’s best kept in a cool, dry place (the fridge is as good as any, as long as it’s well wrapped). Stored properly, chocolate can last for at least a year; dark chocolate can even improve as it ages.

Sometimes chocolate develops a white or gray sheen or thin coating. The chocolate hasn’t gone bad; it’s “bloomed,” a condition caused by too much moisture or humidity or fluctuating temperatures, which cause the fat or sugar to come to the surface of the chocolate and crystallize. The chocolate is still perfectly fine for cooking as long as you’re not making coated candy. It’s also okay to eat bloomed chocolate out of hand too, although it may be grainy.

THE BASICS OF DAIRY

Dairy products should always be refrigerated, ideally at 40°F (or even lower) and never on the refrigerator door, which is warmer and less stable than the fridge’s cabin. Use what you need, then return the rest to the fridge; never put unused milk or cream back in the container or it may cause the whole batch to spoil faster. Store cheese and butter tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. You can freeze unsalted butter for months at a time, then thaw it completely in the fridge, but don’t freeze milk or cream.

MILK I only use whole milk for baking; it creates the fullest flavor and texture and the softest crumb. It contains 3.25 percent fat, which means 2 percent is an adequate substitute, though it makes no sense to me. One percent and skim milk will add no flavor or texture to your baked goods, only moisture.

BUTTERMILK This tangy, once-thick liquid was the by-product of churning butter. Nowadays it’s made from milk of any fat content that’s cultured with lactic-acid-producing bacteria, so it’s more like thin yogurt than anything else. Still, that added acidity makes an extra-tender batter for pancakes, some cakes, and biscuits.

HALF-AND-HALF Half milk, half cream, with a fat content that can range anywhere from 10.5 percent to 18 percent. It’s especially nice in puddings, custards, or ice creams if you want something richer than milk but not quite as heavy as cream.

CREAM Rich, thick, and unbeatable for everything from Whipped Cream to ice creams. You’ll see all sorts of confusing labels for cream, but the kind you want is heavy—not whipping and definitely not “light”—cream, without any additives or emulsifiers, and not ultra-pasteurized (this takes longer to whip and has a distinctive cooked flavor). Generally 1 cup of cream whips up to about 2 cups. The fat content of whipping cream ranges from 30 percent to 36 percent; heavy cream is 36 percent fat or more.

DIY Buttermilk

If you can’t find it in the store (or don’t want to buy a huge container of it), you can sour regular milk: For every cup of buttermilk, stir 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice into a scant cup of room-temperature milk (you can microwave it in 10-second intervals to warm it up quickly). Let the mixture sit until clabbered—thick and lumpy—about 10 minutes.

YOGURT Made from milk cultured with bacteria to produce its tangy flavor and thick consistency. Like buttermilk, its acidity tenderizes batters and doughs. Look for “live, active cultures” or similar terminology on the label and avoid any with gelatins, gums, stabilizers, or sugar.

Like milk, you can find it in whole, low-fat, and nonfat versions; strained versions like Greek yogurt are thicker. (You can make this yourself by putting regular yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer.) In general, whole-milk yogurt gives the best results.

You can warm yogurt gently, but be careful or it may curdle.

SOUR CREAM AND CRÈME FRAÎCHE Made from cream cultured with lactic acid bacteria to make it thick and rich. Sour cream is tangier, with about 20 percent butterfat (although there are reduced-fat and fat-free versions, which you don’t need), while crème fraîche is usually at least 30 percent butterfat and has a creamy, mildly sour, and nutty flavor. Both are wonderful in baking, adding lots of moisture and lovely flavor; both—but especially crème fraîche—are excellent dolloped straight over finished desserts.

Take care if you’re cooking them over direct heat, as they can curdle—although not as quickly as yogurt—so incorporate them with other ingredients only over very low heat.

Crème fraîche can be hard to find (and expensive). Fortunately, you can make your own: Let a cup of heavy cream come to room temperature in a small glass bowl, then stir in 2 tablespoons of buttermilk or yogurt. Cover loosely and let the mixture sit at room temperature until thickened to the consistency of sour cream, anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. Cover tightly, refrigerate, and use within a week.

CREAM CHEESE, RICOTTA, AND MASCARPONE These mild, soft cheeses add body, creamy flavor, and just a bit of tang to baked goods, frostings, and fillings. Cream cheese is the thickest. Always buy it in bricks rather than the whipped version in tubs, and let it soften to room temperature before you use it.

The best ricotta is milky, fresh, and soft, with such a light texture it’s like eating a cloud; cheesemongers and even some Italian delis make it fresh daily, and that’s best. If it seems especially runny, strain it in a fine- or medium-mesh sieve before combining with other ingredients. Commercially produced ricotta will do the job for batters and doughs (although you’ll be sacrificing some of the fabulously mild flavor and creaminess), but for pastries where it’s the filling or a main flavor, you’re better off using another creamy cheese—goat cheese is good for savory recipes and cream cheese for sweet. Ricotta varies drastically in quality, so check the ingredients and make sure it’s not packed with preservatives or chemicals.

Mascarpone, like crème fraîche, is soft, buttery, and only mildly tart, ideal both in batters or custards and as a simple topping or garnish; it can also be just as pricy and hard to find. Generally, you can use them interchangeably, but if you want mascarpone’s sweeter flavor and can’t find it, whip 1 cup softened cream cheese with ¼ cup heavy cream and 2 tablespoons softened butter until smooth and light.

THE BASICS OF LEAVENING

Baking soda, baking powder, yeast, and natural starters like sourdough are all leaveners, which means they give baked goods lift (the word leaven means “lighten”). They all work the same way: by producing carbon dioxide bubbles that are trapped by the dough or batter’s structure and, in turn, make it rise.

Baking soda and powder, typically used in quick breads, cookies, cakes, and the like, are chemical leaveners. They’re used very similarly but aren’t immediately interchangeable (if you don’t have the one you need, see the chart below for substitutions). Yeasts are actually living organisms that produce carbon dioxide as they feed on the natural sugars in bread and pastry doughs; they can be store-bought or cultivated from wild yeasts (as in sourdough and biga).

Be careful to add only the amount of leavener specified in the recipe. Baking soda and powder can taste quite salty and bitter, even soapy, if they’re not balanced by other ingredients, and too much of any leavener can cause air bubbles to grow too big and break, making your baked goods collapse.

Substituting Leaveners

Baking powder, double-acting

AMOUNT: 1 teaspoon

SUBSTITUTION: ½ teaspoon cream of tartar plus ¼ teaspoon baking soda; add ¼ teaspoon cornstarch if you’re making a big batch to store
or
1½ teaspoons single-acting baking powder
or
¼ teaspoon baking soda; replace ½ cup nonacidic liquid in the recipe with ½ cup buttermilk, soured milk, or yogurt

Baking powder, single-acting

AMOUNT: 1 teaspoon

SUBSTITUTION: ⅔ teaspoon double-acting baking powder
or
¼ teaspoon baking soda plus ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Baking soda

AMOUNT: ½ teaspoon

SUBSTITUTION: 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder; replace acidic liquid in recipe with nonacidic liquid

Yeast, instant

AMOUNT: 2 teaspoons

SUBSTITUTION: 1 cake fresh (⅗ ounce)
or
1 packet (¼ ounce or 1 scant tablespoon) active dry

BAKING SODA

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) produces carbon dioxide only in the presence of liquid and acid, like buttermilk, yogurt, or vinegar. Every recipe that uses baking soda must have an acidic component or it will not rise. Furthermore, baking soda releases all of its gas at once, so it’s best to add it with the flour, at the last minute before baking. Once it hits the acid and liquid, it goes to work, and you want those bubbles formed in the oven, not on the counter, so don’t delay baking delicate batters that contain it. (It’s okay, and sometimes even preferable, to hold off on baking denser things like cookies or bars.)

Take care when you’re baking with cocoa powder: Natural cocoa powder has enough acidity to activate baking soda, but if you’re using Dutch-process cocoa and there are no other acidic ingredients, you must substitute baking powder. If you use natural cocoa powder and there’s no baking soda in the recipe, add ¼ teaspoon to balance the acidity and improve leavening.

BAKING POWDER

Baking powder is simply baking soda with a dry acid added to it (along with some starch, which keeps the baking powder dry and therefore inert until it is added to a recipe). Single-acting powders generally contain cream of tartar as the acid, which is activated by moisture, so the batter must be baked immediately after mixing, just like those containing baking soda. Double-acting powder, which is more common, usually contains both cream of tartar and the slower-acting sodium aluminum sulfate, so it releases gas in two phases: The cream of tartar combines with the soda and produces the first leavening; the aluminum sulfate reacts to heat, so it causes a second leavening during baking. Therefore, a batter using double-acting baking powder can sit at room temperature for a few minutes before being baked, but just a few.

YEAST

The process of leavening is as old as baking—that is, thousands of years—but it changed significantly when Louis Pasteur discovered in the mid-nineteenth century that yeasts are actually living, single-cell organisms that produce carbon dioxide through fermentation. Before then, most breads were risen with sourdough starters, which contain wild yeasts (see All About Sponges and Starters for more on wild yeasts). After Pasteur, commercial yeast began to dominate. There are a few kinds:

INSTANT YEAST Also called fast-acting, fast-rising, rapid-rise, and bread machine yeast, this is the yeast I use in every recipe in this book. It’s a type of dry yeast and by far the most convenient: It can be added directly to the dough at almost any point, and it’s fast and reliable. It has ascorbic acid added (and sometimes traces of other ingredients too); this helps the dough stretch easily and increases loaf volumes. In most doughs, you won’t notice any difference in flavor. Like active dry yeast, it comes in ¼-ounce foil packets or in bulk; it keeps almost forever, refrigerated or frozen.

ACTIVE DRY YEAST This type falls in between instant and fresh and was used by most home bakers until instant yeast came along. Active dry yeast is fresh yeast that has been pressed and dried until the moisture level reaches about 8 percent. Unlike instant yeast, it must be rehydrated, or “proofed,” in 110°F water (it should feel like a hot tub when you dip your finger in it); below 105°F it will remain inert, and above 115°F it will die. So if you must use active dry yeast instead of instant, use a thermometer! It is sold in ¼-ounce foil packets, which don’t need to be refrigerated. Like instant yeast, it’s also sold in loose bulk quantities, which should be stored in the refrigerator.

FRESH YEAST Also known as cake or compressed yeast, fresh yeast is usually sold in foil-wrapped cakes of about ⅔ ounce. It should be yellowish, soft, moist, and fresh smelling, with no dark or dried areas. Fresh yeast must be refrigerated (you can freeze it if you like); it has an expiration date and will die within 10 days of opening. It also must be proofed before being added to a dough. This means you must combine it with warm liquid; when you do, it will foam and smell yeasty (if it doesn’t, it’s dead).

THE BASICS OF SEASONING

Most baked goods are rich and sweet enough, but an extra dash of flavor can transform good into unforgettable or old standby into something new. Spices, extracts, and other seasonings add dimension, and often you can play around with them, adding them at will: Even if you’re not wild about the flavor someone else is likely to be.

Remember, though, unlike savory cooking, baking doesn’t provide many chances for you to taste and adjust seasoning, so think it through before you start randomly tossing flavors into your concoction. When I’m experimenting, I like to take notes as I go to log what went well (and what didn’t). Err on the side of less seasoning; you can always punch up the finished product with a sauce, glaze, or fruit.

SPICES AND SALTS

Whole spices are usually of higher quality than ground, keep well, and have the best flavor when they’re freshly ground. A spice or coffee grinder does the best job of this and need not cost more than $20; but they’re difficult (or impossible) to wash, so you might use separate grinders for spices and coffee. You can also grind spices by hand with a mortar and pestle; press in a firm and circular motion until powdery. Toasting spices before grinding deepens their flavor.

Preground spices are convenient, though, and often the difference is not huge in baked goods. Some pregound spices are better than others; check the list below for help. Store spices in tightly covered containers in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year; know that the flavor will diminish over time, so add a little extra whenever you’re using old spices.

ALLSPICE Berries from the aromatic evergreen pimento trees, these are small and shriveled; they look like large peppercorns, smell a bit like a combination of cloves and nutmeg, and taste slightly peppery. Available as whole berries or ground. Use just a pinch; a little goes a long way. Extremely useful in pies, puddings, and gingerbread.

CARDAMOM A hallmark of Scandinavian baking that’s also common in Indian and Middle Eastern foods. Whole pods may be green, brown-black, or whitish. Each contains about ten brown-black slightly sticky seeds with a rich spicy scent, a bit like ginger mixed with pine and lemon: great with most fruit, paired with other warm spices, or in quick breads. Available as whole pods, “hulled” (just the seeds), and ground. Ground is the most common but by far the least potent. I buy whole pods and mince or grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle. You don’t need much since the flavor is so strong and distinct.

CINNAMON One of the most widely used spices in baking, from the aromatic bark of a tropical laurel tree. Ground cinnamon is useful and flavorful, but it’s easy enough to grind the long, slender, curled sticks of bark. The whole sticks are also ideal for infusing liquids, as when poaching pears or making Simple Syrup. A classic pairing for apples and pears; also excellent with chocolate, in quick breads and cookies, and in custards and puddings.

CLOVES The unripe flower buds of a tall evergreen native to Southeast Asia. Pink when picked, they are dried to reddish brown, separated from their husks, then dried again. Whole cloves should be dark brown, oily, and fat, not shriveled. They have a sweet and warm aroma and a piercing flavor. Both whole and ground forms are common, and both are good but should be used sparingly—the flavor can be overwhelming.

GINGER Available fresh (a large, tan, slightly leathery rhizome that you peel and mince or grate on a Microplane), ground, or candied (also called crystallized). Ground is more suited to making batters and doughs and combining with other spices because it has a mellower flavor, but fresh is unbeatable for spicy, lively flavor—bright and potent. Fresh ginger should be stored, skin on, in the fridge; to prepare it, use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to remove the tough skin, then grate or mince it.

You can use ground and fresh interchangeably: figure ¼ teaspoon ground equals 1 tablespoon grated fresh.

NUTMEG The egg-shaped kernel inside the seed of the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree, dark brown and about 1 inch long. Available whole or ground; whole will keep forever and is easy to grate on a Microplane, with a far better flavor, so there’s no reason to buy ground. It’s strong and slightly bitter, so use sparingly—start with ⅛ teaspoon or even less before adding more. A sweet and warm spice, it’s lovely with fruit and in custards, puddings, and cakes.

SAFFRON The most expensive spice in the world; the threads are pistils of a crocus that has a short growing season. But it’s potent stuff, so you need only a small pinch in most instances. It’s highly aromatic, warm, and distinctive, and gives food a lovely yellow color. Ground saffron is useless, and probably not saffron at all; buy only the threads from a reputable source (saffron.com has been such a source for at least thirty years). Steep them in a bit of warm water, then add the water to batter or dough.

SALT As you know, essential everywhere, and in baking no less than elsewhere. There are a few kinds:

  • Kosher Salt: My all-purpose salt. The grains are coarse and as white as table salt, but the flavor is clean and slightly mineral, with no lingering aftertaste.
  • Sea Salt: Made by either heating salt water in pipes and tubs or open-air evaporation; connoisseurs will argue that heating the water destroys some flavor, so try a few and see what you think; I think the flavor differences are subtle at best, but the texture of sea salt can be lovely. Because they’re more expensive than other kinds of salt, I reserve them for garnishing—they’re phenomenal on cookies, caramels, brownies, and even ice cream. Two worth noting are:
    • Fleur de Sel: Literally “flower of the sea,” this is a prized salt from the Brittany coast; it is fine, grayish white, and slightly damp. Similar salts are made all over the world.
    • Maldon: Made by a special process in England, this salt is rolled flat and flaky. The result melts on your tongue like no other salt, leaving behind a pleasant flavor that builds slowly.
  • Table Salt (iodized salt): The common salt of shakers and paper packets across America. The fine grains dissolve faster than most coarse salts, which can be an advantage. Use it anywhere you’d use kosher—but because the crystals are smaller, it’s quite “salty”; be careful with it.

STAR ANISE The fruit of an evergreen tree native to China; pods are a dark brown, eight-pointed star, about 1 inch in diameter, with seeds in each point, perhaps the strangest-looking spice you’ll ever buy and quite lovely. Although it has a licoricelike flavor, it is botanically unrelated to anise. Available whole; steep it in cream or other warm liquid to use.

VANILLA BEANS From the seed pod of a climbing orchid, grown in tropical forests, this is probably the most widely used flavoring in baking. Good pods are 4 to 5 inches long, dark chocolate brown, and tough but pliant. Inside they have hundreds of tiny black seeds. Good vanilla is expensive, so be suspicious of cheap beans. Wrap tightly in foil or seal in a glass jar and store in a cool place or the refrigerator. Use a paring knife to split the pod lengthwise and scrape the seeds into batters, doughs, or cooking liquid. Vanilla extract isn’t as good, but it isn’t bad, either; see the following section.

Using a Vanilla Bean

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Step 1
Use a paring knife to split the vanilla bean in half the long way.

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Step 2
Scrape out the seeds with the knife.

Using the Whole Vanilla Bean

Don’t discard spent vanilla pods after scraping out the seeds; they’re still full of that fantastic, unmistakable vanilla flavor. Here are a few ways to reuse them:

Vanilla sugar Put the pod in a jar filled with 2 cups of sugar and seal tightly. Keep a jar going all the time, adding vanilla beans and topping off with sugar. Use in your baking, as a garnish, or in coffee or tea.

Vanilla salt Follow the same process, using kosher or sea salt instead of the sugar. Sprinkle over cookies and bars, in candies, or over ice creams and puddings. Nice, and unusual.

Vanilla simple syrup See Simple Syrup. Add the pod to a saucepan with the sugar and water and follow the recipe. Use right away or refrigerate the syrup with the pod in it.

Vanilla extract This is great to keep in the kitchen or give as gifts. Combine 6 pods with 1 cup vodka in a glass bottle or jar; cut the beans if necessary so that they’re completely submerged. Cover tightly and let steep for a month or two, shaking the container every so often. Keep adding pods and vodka as you use it.

Tea or coffee Steep the pod in a pot of tea or coffee for 5 to 10 minutes.

EXTRACTS, OILS, AND WATERS

These concentrated infusions of flavor are easy to incorporate into all sorts of doughs, batters, and custards and often more effective than using the original ingredient.

Extracts are made with alcohol, so they’re not very heat stable and will eventually start to evaporate and lose flavor; wait to add them to warm liquids until they’re off the heat and have had a minute to cool down. As a rule, steer clear of “flavorings”—as opposed to extracts—which may be pure but are often synthetic and/or diluted.

VANILLA EXTRACT The most popular and cost-effective way to bake with vanilla. Use it in just about anything, whether you want the vanilla front and center or just to round out the other flavors. Look for “pure” on the label; imitation vanilla is weak at best, bitter and chemical tasting at worst.

You can sometimes find vanilla paste, which is more expensive than extract but contains the intensely fragrant seeds you’d find in a pod. Generally you can use the same quantities as you would of extract, but check the label beforehand.

ALMOND EXTRACT Like almond to the nth degree, this is a great way to add sweet, nutty flavor to almost anything. Use it to complement pistachios, pecans, walnuts, or any stone fruit, but a little goes a long way, so never add more than ¼ teaspoon at a time.

PEPPERMINT EXTRACT A perfect match with dark or white chocolate in brownies, candies, and even frostings. The extract is made by combining peppermint oil with alcohol, but you may prefer to buy the oil itself (see below) for a more potent and intense flavor. Extract, however, is a bit more forgiving.

FLAVORING OILS The most potent way to add flavor, since it’s just the essential oil of the base ingredient; make sure it’s pure and food grade. You can find peppermint, almond, orange, lemon, and lime oils and more in specialty shops.

ROSE WATER AND ORANGE BLOSSOM WATER Produced from the distillation of roses or orange blossoms in water. Rose water’s delicate flavor is an excellent match for stone fruits, berries, melon, and pistachios; orange blossom, citrusy and just slightly bitter, goes especially well with honey, warm spices, nuts, and dried fruit.

Both are highly aromatic, imparting exotic floral flavors that are beguiling in puddings, custards, even cakes and frostings, and many Middle Eastern and Indian desserts. Be careful not to use too much, or your food will taste like perfume; a couple of drops are enough to add just a suggestion of something floral.

OTHER SEASONINGS

You can use solid ingredients by grinding, mincing, or chopping them, or by infusing any of them into liquid. This is an unusual way to capture the flavor of your favorite teas or flowers, and the most reliable way to add coffee to your baking.

TEA Tea is an overlooked ingredient for many baking recipes. As with chocolate, start with something you’d enjoy on its own, whether black tea, scented tea like Earl Grey or jasmine, or green tea. (Matcha, a Japanese green tea, is already finely ground, so you can incorporate it as easily as ground spices.) Generally, there are three ways to add tea in baking:

  • Grind in a spice grinder or with sugar in a food processor until the leaves are totally pulverized. Start with 1 tablespoon tea leaves and add more if necessary.
  • Finely mince with a good knife. A coarse texture can be unpleasant here, so aim to get it as fine as possible.
  • Infuse hot cooking liquid for custards, puddings, sauces, or cakes: Remove the pan from the heat, add the tea, cover, steep, and strain. Use a couple tea bags’ worth, leaving the leaves in the bags or removing them, to be sure the flavor translates. Steeping time will vary, so taste as you go.

Food Coloring

Some people get up in arms about artificial food coloring, but I think it’s much more of a cause for concern in processed foods, when it may be used to make things look fresher than they are or mask other ingredients. In your home cooking, when you’re just adding a few drops here and there to otherwise whole ingredients, it’s harmless—and there’s no denying it’s fun when you’re baking with kids or for the holidays.

You can make your own natural food coloring. Just be aware that if you add a substantial amount to a recipe, you might change the consistency and flavor of the finished product. But here are the best natural alternatives I’ve found; start with the recommended amount and add a bit more as you need. For fresh fruit and vegetables, purée in a blender or food processor (use a bit of water to loosen them up if necessary), strain, and use the juice:

COLOR

SUBSTITUTION

Red and pink

At least 1 tablespoon beet juice, fresh or from a can of beets
1 teaspoon dried hibiscus, steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water

Orange

At least 1 tablespoon carrot juice

Yellow

At least ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

Green

At least 2 tablespoons spinach juice

Purple

At least 1 tablespoon blueberry or blackberry juice
At least 1 tablespoon grape juice concentrate

COFFEE Substitute freshly brewed coffee for up to half of the liquid in recipes for sauces like Simple Syrup or Caramel Sauce or add 1 or 2 shots of espresso to any dough or batter. An alternative, if you have it around, is adding a bit of instant coffee directly into the other dry ingredients.

HERBS These don’t just play a prominent role in most cooking—in baking, too, they add an unparalleled freshness and depth of flavor that sets a recipe apart. Of course, they’re perfect in a savory application with cheese, eggs, or vegetables, but they’re also a natural match and pleasant surprise with many fruits and sweet custards.

Fresh herbs keep best when stored in the refrigerator; put them, stem side down, in a glass of water as you would a bouquet, with a plastic bag over the leaves; change the water every day. Sturdier herbs, like rosemary and thyme, can simply be wrapped in damp paper towels and slipped into a plastic bag, but be sure to change the towel regularly so it doesn’t mold. The stems are usually bitter, and for some herbs, like rosemary, they’re practically inedible, so strip the leaves from the stems before using.

You can find dried versions of nearly any herb, with varying degrees of success. As a rule of thumb, softer herbs—like parsley, cilantro, mint, basil—should always be used fresh; those with woody stems and sturdier leaves—think rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage—are fine dried. Store dried herbs in sealed lightproof jars (or in a dark place) for up to a year. Their flavor will get weaker over time; taste before using and you’ll know when it’s time to replace them.

Dried or fresh, herbs can be incorporated into your baking in a few ways: minced and stirred directly into batters, doughs, custards, or fruit and vegetable fillings; infused into warm liquids and then strained out; or chopped and scattered as garnish. I especially like basil paired with peaches or berries; fresh mint with chocolate or fruit; and rosemary with apples, pears, and warm spices.

THE BASICS OF FRESH PRODUCE

Produce can be a star or play a supporting role alongside bigger flavors; it adds color, moisture, and flavor. The wonderful thing about baking with fresh fruits and vegetables is that when they’re good, they’re good, and often interchangeable. A tart, jam, or other fruit dessert that features excellent summer berries will be just as fabulous if you make it in the winter and substitute apples or pears; and vegetables are excellent in all kinds of baking, whether they’re filling savory pastries or grated into Zucchini Bread or Carrot Cake.

In general, in-season is best, but it’s a mistake to think “fresh or nothing.” Some frozen produce is not only good enough to eat but sometimes better than what passes for fresh, especially, of course, in winter. The same can sometimes be said of canned items like pumpkin. No matter what you get, do be picky when you buy: Fresh produce should be neither too firm nor too soft, and frozen and canned varieties should have no added ingredients like sugar.

When buying fresh produce, check for damage or rotten spots and make sure the color is close to ideal. Pay attention to where it came from, keeping in mind that miles traveled are a good indication of how long ago fruits and vegetables were harvested. Virtually all produce is available year-round, but seasonal selections are usually just better. (You may naturally gravitate to what’s seasonal anyway, since that’s what’s both tastiest and grown closer to home.) Moreover, if you’re concerned about the impact of mainstream farming methods on your health and the environment, seeking out locally or regionally grown fresh produce—even if that means making substitutions based on what’s available—means you’ll be getting the best fruits and vegetables available and supporting the people who raise them.

THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE LEXICON

The more you bake with fruit and vegetables, the more you’ll love it—there are so many opportunities to experiment, and when you start with good stuff, your job is so easy. (Even if you don’t start with good stuff, baking has the ability to mask some flaws.)

Here’s what you need to know about choosing and preparing those fruits and vegetables most commonly used in baking. (For those used in savory applications, see How to Prep Any Vegetable for Savory Baking.)

APPLES

When it comes to baking, not all apples are equal. And, happily, since apples are among the few fruits that still sport many varieties in the big markets, there is plenty of opportunity to find the good ones. Because you want your finished dish to be neither too sweet nor too tart, neither too crisp nor too yielding, and bursting with unmistakable apple flavor, the apples you choose should be succulent, but shouldn’t give up too much juice, or they’ll bog down the dough, batter, or crust.

The greatest variety, of course, is at local orchards in the fall; types vary from region to region, but among the most common are McIntosh, Cortland, Golden Delicious, and the decent if not fabulous Honeycrisp and Granny Smiths. When in doubt, cook with apples that you’d be happy eating.

PREPARING Rinse; peel if you like, starting at either end and working in latitudinal strips or around the circumference—I like a U-shaped peeler, but the choice is personal. You can get rid of the core with a slicer-corer, which will cut the apple into six or eight slices around the core in one swift motion; dig it out with a melon baller; or cut the apple into quarters with a paring knife and trim the core from each quarter (see illustrations below).

Coring an Apple

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Step 1
If you want to keep the apple intact but remove the core, use a melon baller to dig out the core from the blossom end of the apple.

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Step 2
For other uses, simply cut the apple into quarters and remove the core with a paring knife.

APRICOTS, PEACHES, NECTARINES, AND PLUMS

Stone fruit are succulent, juicy, and luxuriously sweet-tart, whether raw or cooked. Peaches and nectarines are nearly identical in shape, color, and flavor, but peach skin has a soft fuzz (increasingly bred out, sadly) and nectarine skin is smooth; use them interchangeably.

Apricots are small, with silky skin; good fresh apricots are stunningly good but increasingly difficult to find (Blenheims, in my experience, are the best variety you can buy without becoming a fanatic). Dried apricots may be a better choice, and can be soaked to make them plumper and more tender.

Plums come in hundreds of varieties, ranging in flavor from syrupy sweet to mouth-puckeringly tart. My favorite are red-fleshed or green, but they all can be good.

In general, look for plump, deeply colored, gently yielding, and fragrant specimens without bruises. Tree-ripened fruit is best, especially in the summer, when it’s most likely to be local. Stone fruit does ripen at room temperature, however (but quickly): Put hard fruit in a paper bag to hasten ripening or just let it ripen on the counter, and keep your eye on it.

PREPARING Wash, cut in half from pole to pole, and twist the halves to remove the pit. To peel, leave the fruit whole, cut a shallow X into the bottom end, and drop into boiling water for 10 seconds or so, just until the skin loosens; plunge into a bowl of ice water until it cools completely, then slip off the skin with your fingers or a paring knife.

BANANAS

A tropical plant with hundreds of varieties, the most familiar—and almost the only one seen in the U.S.—is the Cavendish. They ripen nicely off the plant and are often sold green; store at room temperature for anywhere from a day to a week. You can refrigerate to delay further ripening; the skins may turn black, but the flesh is good to eat for weeks. The longer they ripen, the softer and sweeter they become, and if you’re using them to bake, it’s actually preferable to let them become brown all over for a deeper, rounder flavor. You can also peel bananas and freeze them in plastic zipper bags; thawed to room temperature, they’ll be ugly and brown but be perfect for banana bread.

PREPARING Just peel and chop or slice as needed. Squeeze some lemon or lime juice over the freshly cut banana to prevent discoloring if it’ll be served raw (or just top with whipped cream and no one will know the difference!).

BERRIES

There are hundreds of types of berries, ranging from sweet to tart to everything in between. Supermarket varieties, sadly, are picked well before their prime, so they sometimes wind up tasting like cardboard (sweetened cardboard, if you’re lucky). For the best berries, you’ve got to go local and in season. All should be fragrant (especially strawberries), deeply colored, and soft but not mushy. For the most part they’re interchangeable in any berry pies, tarts, or cobblers; try combining them to your tastes.

Blueberries can be considered the all-purpose berry: hardy (for a berry), fairly inexpensive, beautifully colored, and delicious. Look for ones that are plump and unshriveled; size is irrelevant. Peak season is July and August, but unlike most berries they’re even decent off-season. The blueberry’s closest relatives, huckleberry and juneberry, are too fragile ever to make it even to a farmers’ market, but if you’re lucky enough to find them, they’re great in any blueberry recipe.

The strawberries you’ll find year-round at the supermarket are grown more for hardiness and disease resistance than for flavor, and that’s a real shame because a truly ripe strawberry is heavenly, best raw in Strawberry Shortcakes or Strawberry Pie. Peak season in most places is early summer; out of season, they’re just no good.

Blackberries and raspberries, along with all their cousins (boysenberries, loganberries, and mulberries, to name a few), are varying degrees of sweet-tart. If you live in the northern half of the United States, these berries grow wild and in abundance all summer; keep your eyes peeled for low-lying bushes with colorful fruit. When buying in plastic containers, inspect the pad of paper under the berries; if it’s heavily stained with juices, keep looking.

PREPARING Gently wash and dry; be especially gentle with blackberries and raspberries. Pick over blueberries and remove any stems. To hull strawberries, pull or cut off the leaves and use a paring knife to dig out the stem and core (see illustration).

Preparing Strawberries

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To prepare strawberries, first remove the leaves, then cut a cone-shaped wedge with a paring knife to remove the top of the core. A small melon baller also does the job nicely.

CARROTS

The most common root vegetable (potatoes are tubers), carrots aren’t just for side dishes and stocks: They have a sweetness all their own that’s perfect in baking, as evidenced by the popularity of Carrot Cake. Cheap, versatile, and available year-round, the ones from the supermarket are easy to use, but it’s worth trying those from a local farm to marvel at the intensity of their flavor. Avoid any carrot that is soft, flabby, or cracked, and store in your vegetable drawer, wrapped loosely in plastic in the refrigerator; they keep for at least a couple of weeks.

PREPARING Peel with a vegetable peeler, then trim off both ends. Chop, slice, or grate as the recipe directs.

CHERRIES

When cherries are good, they are succulent, juicy, fleshy, and even crisp, with a compelling flavor somewhere between berries and other stone fruits. Sweet varieties, like the deep red, heart-shaped Bing we often find at supermarkets, are best for eating out of hand or for a topping or tart filling. For baking, tart cherries—more often sold at farmers’ markets and farmstands, typically smaller, brighter red, and rounder in shape—have a more complex flavor. Either way, look for shiny, plump, and firm specimens with fresh-looking green stems. Keep refrigerated and use as soon as possible; they won’t last long.

PREPARING Wash, dry, and remove the stems. A cherry pitter (which also works for olives) is handy; you can also MacGyver a pitter with a clean bobby pin or paper clip, pushing it to the center of the fruit and using it to hook the pit to pull it out, or by pushing out the pit with a chopstick (wear old clothes). Or cut the cherries longitudinally or pop them open with your fingers, twist the two halves apart, and use a paring knife or your fingers to pull out the pit.

CITRUS (LEMONS, LIMES, ORANGES, AND GRAPEFRUIT)

Citrus fruits’ bright, sunny flavor shines in Lemon Curd, Key Lime Pie, and Orange Soufflé. But even when you’re not going for an assertive citrus flavor, a squeeze of lemon juice provides balance to many baked fruit fillings like apple, pear, or peach; juice from oranges, grapefruit, and limes makes a stellar and distinctive complement to nearly any fruit. A sprinkle of zest—the colorful portion of the outer skin (but not the white pith underneath, which is bitter)—can be added to almost anything, from cookie doughs and cake batters to sauces and custards, for wonderful flavor without the acidity of the juice.

Citrus is available all year, although winter is when you’re likely to find the most unusual—and, typically, best—varieties. Meyer lemons are less acidic, with a uniquely floral, piney fragrance; key limes are tiny, round, and sweeter than the more common variety; clementines, satsumas, and tangerines are all sweet-tart varieties of the classic Mandarin orange; blood oranges have a stunning, deep red flesh.

In any case, look for plump specimens that are heavy for their size and yield to gentle pressure; hard or lightweight fruit will be dry. Store in the refrigerator.

Preparing Citrus

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Step 1
Before beginning to peel and segment citrus, cut a slice off both ends of the fruit so that it stands straight.

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Step 1
Cut lengthwise, with the blade parallel to the fruit and as close to the pulp as possible, to remove the skin in long strips.

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Step 3
Cut between the membranes to separate segments.

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Step 4
Or cut across any peeled citrus fruit to make “wheels.”

PREPARING If you are both zesting and juicing a citrus fruit, do the zesting first: For tiny flecks that are nearly undetectable in dishes except for their flavor, use a sharp grater (like a Microplane or the smallest holes of a box grater). Or use a zester, a nifty tool with small sharp-edged holes, to cut long, thin strips of zest, which can then be minced or used whole as a wonderful garnish. A paring knife works too.

See the illustrations above for peeling and segmenting the whole fruit.

Citrus is easiest to juice at room temperature, especially if you roll it on the countertop first to loosen it up a bit; use a reamer, juicer, or fork to extract as much juice as possible.

MANGOES

There are dozens of shapes, sizes, and colors of mango, and they can range from exceedingly tart to syrupy sweet. Color isn’t as important as texture; the softer it is, the riper. Some varieties of mango will start to wrinkle a bit at the stem when they are perfectly ripe. Bought at any stage, however, the mango will ripen if left at room temperature. Once ripe, store in the refrigerator or it will rot.

PREPARING There are a few different ways to get the meat out of a mango and remove the long, narrow seed; how you do it will depend on your knife skills and your patience. See the illustrations below.

Skinning and Seeding a Mango

Version I

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Step 1
Peel the skin from the fruit using a normal vegetable peeler.

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Step 2
Then cut the mango in half, doing the best you can to cut close to the pit.

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Step 3
Finally, chop the mango with a knife.

Version II

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Step 1
Begin by cutting the mango in half, doing the best you can to cut around the pit.

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Step 2
Score the flesh with a paring knife.

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Step 3
Turn the mango half “inside out,” and the flesh is easily removed.

Dried Fruit

Drying not only preserves fruit, but intensifies its flavor; think of dried apricots and dates, for example, which are superior to many fresh specimens, or raisins, which are a different thing entirely from grapes.

You can use whole or chopped dried fruit to add pops of flavor and texture to cookies and bars, scones, breads, and more. You can also change its texture and add moisture by rehydrating (aka plumping): Cover with boiling water, allow to steep for 10 minutes or so, and drain.

PEARS

Pears are one of the few fruits that actually improve after being picked; their flesh sweetens and softens to an almost buttery texture that becomes doubly tender once baked or poached. But finding a perfectly ripe pear can be tricky: Their peak is fleeting, so we often end up with either a crunchy fruit with little flavor or a mushy one with unappealing texture. Don’t be discouraged if all you can find are hard, green fruit. Leave them at room temperature until the flesh yields gently when squeezed and smells like … well, pear; some varieties will also change color, from green to yellow.

The Anjou and Bartlett varieties are ubiquitous: sweet, firm, and suitable for most baking when they’re ripe, but rarely impressive; Bosc and (sometimes) Comice, also in most supermarkets, are better. Visit local farmers’ markets and orchards in the fall and you’re likely to find more, with a range of flavors and textures.

PREPARING Peeling is not necessary, but it’s easy with a vegetable peeler. Core as you would an apple.

PINEAPPLE

The prickly, diamond-patterned scaly skin and spiny green leaves of pineapple belie the lovely golden flesh, which can be juicy, sweet-tart, and acidic. At its best, it’s among the best-tasting fruit there is, whether raw, baked, or chopped and folded into batters for extra flavor and moisture. The “gold” hybrids—the variety that you see in supermarkets—are among the most reliable fruit you can buy.

Look for pineapple with good aroma and deep yellow or golden color, and ones that are just tender. Underripe pineapples will decrease in acidity if left at room temperature but will not become sweeter in flavor. Once ripe, eat immediately or store in the refrigerator and use as quickly as possible.

PREPARING There are a few ways to dismember a pineapple; I favor two (see the following illustrations). For either, use a sharp chef’s knife to cut off the spiky top. From there, you can peel around the perimeter to remove all the spiny skin; use a paring knife to dig out any “eyes,” those slight indentations of skin. Then cut the pineapple crosswise into round slices or top to bottom into halves or quarters and cut out the woody core. Alternatively, after trimming the leaves, cut the pineapple in half from top to bottom; then cut each half in half again to make quarters. Use a smaller knife to cut off the woody core portion from each quarter (at the peak of your triangles) and then use a grapefruit or paring knife to separate the flesh from the skin; cut the quarter into slices and serve.

Preparing Pineapple, Two Ways

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Step 1
Cut off the top of the pineapple about an inch below the leaves, then slice off the opposite end as well.

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Step 2
Set the pineapple upright. Slice off the skin, working around the pineapple. If necessary, remove any “eyes” with a paring knife.

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Step 3
Cut the pineapple into round slices.

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Step 4
Cut out the core with a paring knife to make rings.

Alternatively,

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Step 1
Stand the pineapple up and cut it into quarters.

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Step 2
Use a grapefruit knife to separate the fruit from the rind and a paring knife to dig out any eyes. Remove the core (the hard edge where the fruit comes to a point) and then slice as desired.

RHUBARB

Rhubarb looks like red celery, but beyond that and the strings that run its length, the two have little else in common. On its own, it’s extremely tart, which you can highlight by minimizing the added sugar in the recipe or balance by combining with other sweet fruits; strawberry-rhubarb is the classic pairing. No matter what, rhubarb must be cooked; it’s too tough to eat raw. Look for firm and crisp stalks, store in the refrigerator, and use it as quickly as possible.

PREPARING Although it’s not entirely necessary, rhubarb is best if you use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to strip the strings that run lengthwise through each stalk before chopping and cooking (see the following illustrations). Don’t eat the leaves or roots, which are mildly poisonous. Cook as directed until it’s very tender and easily pierced with a thin-bladed knife.

Preparing Rhubarb

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Step 1
To remove the “strings,” grasp the end of the stalk between your thumb and a paring knife.

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Step 2
Pull the strings down the length of the stalk.

SUMMER SQUASH (INCLUDING ZUCCHINI)

Although you probably think of these as quintessential summer vegetables, they’re technically fruits, with mild flavor and texture that’s both crisp and tender. There are many varieties, but yellow squash and zucchini are the ones you’ll most often encounter in baking because they blend so seamlessly into doughs and batters.

Look for firm and unblemished specimens. Store cut squash wrapped loosely in plastic in the refrigerator; use as quickly as possible, especially if they are fresh from the garden or farm.

PREPARING Trim the ends and then slice or chop as you like.

WINTER SQUASH AND SWEET POTATOES

Very different from each other, but interchangeable in most baking: creamy, autumnal, reddish orange, and a perfect match for warm spices like cinnamon or ginger. All must be peeled and cooked before you can use them in smooth pie fillings or quick breads.

It’s worth noting that canned pumpkin purée—as long as it’s unsweetened and 100 percent pumpkin—is just about as good as the homemade version, because it’s so much less work. Of course, if you can get a spectacular variety and are willing to do the work …

PREPARING Peel the skin. If you’re using winter squash (like butternut, pumpkin, or acorn), use a very sharp knife to cut the squash in half lengthwise, then use a sturdy metal spoon to scoop out all the seeds and pulp. To make your own squash or sweet potato purée, cut into cubes, cover with foil, and roast on a baking sheet at 400°F until tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Unwrap; when cool enough to handle, purée in a food processor for a few minutes, until very smooth.

Baking with Special Diets

There are many reasons to change your diet—politics, nutrition, taste, and medical concerns, to name a few. Wheat, dairy, and eggs are easy to avoid in savory cooking but are trickier where baking is concerned. If you think strategically, however, about what an ingredient brings to the dish you have in mind, or what pleases you about a certain dish, you can be gluten-free or vegan (or both!), or bake for someone who is, and still eat fabulous baked goods.

GLUTEN-FREE BAKING

The gluten in wheat flour accomplishes a great deal: It adds structure, texture, moisture, and flavor; this combination can’t be duplicated by anything else, at least not generally. That said, some people can’t eat it, and there are now more nonwheat flours and starches, more widely available, than ever before; see Nonwheat Flours for a rundown of their flavors and characteristics. If you have a reason to bake without gluten, it’s easier than ever, especially since there are now ready-made gluten-free blends—optimized to mimic flour’s role in different types of baked goods—which are in some cases quite good, offering quality control and unbeatable convenience as you can swap them, cup for cup, for wheat flour.

But it’s easy enough to make your own blends—see the chart that follows for some examples. Or you can opt for desserts that are naturally gluten-free.

How to Make Your Own Gluten-Free Flour Mixes

If you’re an avid baker who’s avoiding gluten, then you’d do well to learn how to make your own gluten-free flour mix at home. These mixes can be exchanged with wheat flours in equal part, but keep in mind that there is always some variation when it comes to substituting flours.

All-Purpose

INGREDIENTS: 1½ cups brown rice flour
¾ cup potato flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)

YIELD: 2½ cups

Pastry

INGREDIENTS: 1¾ cups white rice flour
¾ cup potato flour
¼ cup tapioca flour

YIELD: 2¾ cups

Bread*

INGREDIENTS: 1½ cups brown rice flour
¾ cup potato flour
¾ cup sweet rice flour
2½ teaspoons xanthan gum

YIELD: About 3 cups

*Consider replacing 2 tablespoons of the water in the recipe with 1 egg white for extra protein to take the place of the gluten.

Cake

INGREDIENTS: 1½ cups brown rice flour
¾ cup potato flour
¾ cup sweet rice flour
2½ teaspoons xanthan gum

YIELD: 2¼ cups

VEGAN BAKING

Vegan baked goods—most vegan cooking, actually—used to occupy a tiny niche, with ingredients that were, to most of us, specialized and unfamiliar. Now you can go to many bakeries and find fabulous—or at least good—vegan options; bite into a well-produced vegan cupcake and you’d never guess that the “buttercream” has neither butter nor cream.

It’s not difficult to achieve the same results at home, and many of the recipes in this book can be prepared successfully with vegan ingredients. The key is to first recognize that some things—croissants, for example—will never be the same as their nonvegan counterparts. But different doesn’t necessarily mean worse, and you may find that vegan ingredients are springboards for new dishes, flavors, and techniques. (It is worth mentioning that there are lots of synthetic replacements on the market; some of them are good, but in general I prefer to stick with whole, recognizable ingredients that I can easily combine myself.)

Vegan Substitutions

Common substitutions for animal-based foods, along with my suggestions as to when they work best; think of it as a starting point for your baking adventures. First consider the flavor of the final product and swap strategically: Stronger-flavored substitutes, like banana or olive oil, are welcome in some recipes and undesirable elsewhere. And for things like shortbread or croissants, where butter is the dominant flavor, making vegan substitutions will obviously produce a completely different product; as a rule of thumb, the fewer ingredients a recipe has, the harder it will be to get away with substitutions. (As I always say, you can’t make a roast chicken without chicken.)

Milk

ROLE: Adds moisture

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Any nondairy milk, like soy, almond, or rice

HOW TO REPLACE: Use your favorite and taste it first: Some have stronger flavors than others.

BEST IN: Cakes, quick breads, pancakes and waffles, custards and puddings

Heavy cream

ROLE: Adds richness and thickness

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Coconut cream

HOW TO REPLACE: Refrigerate a can of full-fat coconut milk; use the cream, which will solidify and rise to the top, and discard remaining watery liquid or use it for something else.

BEST IN: Whipped cream, custards and puddings

Buttermilk

ROLE: Adds moisture, tenderness, and tang

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Any nondairy milk with lemon juice or vinegar

HOW TO REPLACE: Follow the directions on page 24 using nondairy milk.

BEST IN: Cakes, quick breads, pancakes and waffles

Sour cream

ROLE: Adds moisture, tenderness, and tang

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: 1 pound silken tofu puréed with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon neutral oil

HOW TO REPLACE: Make a batch of this tofu sour cream and swap it cup for cup.

BEST IN: Cakes, quick breads, pancakes and waffles

Melted butter

ROLE: Adds richness and moisture

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Liquid oil like grapeseed, corn, or olive or melted coconut oil

HOW TO REPLACE: Use ⅓ cup oil for every stick of butter in the recipe.

BEST IN: Cookies, bars, quick breads, pancakes and waffles

Softened or cold butter

ROLE: Adds tenderness and air, especially if creamed with sugar

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Coconut oil (refined has a more subtle flavor)

HOW TO REPLACE: Premeasure and chill until immediately before using; it melts a lot faster than butter.

BEST IN: Cakes, cookies, piecrusts and some pastries, ganache

Softened or cold butter

ROLE: Adds tenderness and air, especially if creamed with sugar

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Avocado

HOW TO REPLACE: Purée and substitute in a one-to-one ratio by volume.

BEST IN: Darker-colored (otherwise it adds a slight green tint) quick breads, cookies, and cakes

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Leavens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: White vinegar and baking soda

HOW TO REPLACE: Whisk 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 teaspoon baking soda with a fork until smooth.

BEST IN: Light and airy cakes, quick breads, pancakes and waffles

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Leavens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: ½ cup soda water or seltzer

HOW TO REPLACE: Substitute directly for the egg.

BEST IN: Cakes, quick breads, pancakes and waffles

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Ground flaxseeds or chia seeds

HOW TO REPLACE: Soak 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds or chia seeds in 3 tablespoons water for a few minutes; the mixture should be gelatinous.

BEST IN: Cookies, bars, cakes, pancakes, quick breads; especially good in whole grain recipes

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Drained chickpea water

HOW TO REPLACE: Substitute 3 tablespoons directly for the egg.

BEST IN: Brownies, cookies, and quick breads

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Water or nondairy milk, neutral oil, and cornstarch

HOW TO REPLACE: Whisk 2 tablespoons water or nondairy milk, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch with a fork until smooth.

BEST IN: Denser things: cookies, thick pies, or puddings

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Silken tofu

HOW TO REPLACE: Purée ¼ cup silken tofu in a blender or food processor until completely smooth.

BEST IN: Thick cakes, brownies, quick breads, puddings and custards

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Banana, avocado, or unsweetened applesauce, plus baking powder

HOW TO REPLACE: Mash or blend enough banana or avocado in a food processor to make ¼ cup purée or use ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce; blend with 1 teaspoon baking powder.

BEST IN: Anywhere the flavor

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Cornstarch

HOW TO REPLACE: Whisk 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water with a fork until smooth.

BEST IN: Cookies, puddings, and custards

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Binds and moistens

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Neutral oil (such as grapeseed or corn)

HOW TO REPLACE: Substitute ¼ cup directly for the egg.

BEST IN: Brownies, cookies

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Flavoring and coloring

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Flavoring and coloring

HOW TO REPLACE: Add 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast along with a substitute for binding or moistening.

BEST IN: Biscuits, scones, savory breads, and crusts

Whole Eggs*

ROLE: Egg wash

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Rice syrup, thinned with water to your desired consistency

HOW TO REPLACE: Brush over items before baking.

BEST IN: Challah, rolls, bagels, and pastries

*All of the listed options are equal to 1 egg. Try them in recipes that don’t have more than 4 eggs to start.

Egg whites

ROLE: Beating

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Drained chickpea water

HOW TO REPLACE: Whip 3 tablespoons for about 15 minutes, until it reaches stiff peaks.

BEST IN: Meringues, sponge cakes, waffles, mousses

Egg whites

ROLE: Binding

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Agar powder

HOW TO REPLACE: Dissolve 1 tablespoon agar in 3 tablespoons very hot water and whisk to combine.

BEST IN: Cakes, waffles, and cookies

Honey

ROLE: Sweetens, binds, and adds moisture

VEGAN SUBSTITUTE: Maple syrup, agave syrup, or light corn syrup

HOW TO REPLACE: Choose based on flavor: Light corn syrup is most neutral, agave tastes similar to honey, and maple has a rich, distinct flavor.

Equipment

If you cook, much of the equipment you need to bake (or at least to get started) is already in your kitchen: measuring cups, mixing bowls, baking sheets, spoons, mechanical hardware like mixers and food processors. But as you expand your baking repertoire, you may want to bulk up your equipment collection accordingly, adding more specialized things like muffin tins, soufflé dishes, or loaf pans, depending on your preferences. Rather than stocking up on every conceivable piece of baking equipment all at once, start with the basics and buy more as you need it.

You’ll be able to find most of what you need at restaurant supply stores, where prices are lowest; if you don’t have access to one, ordering online is also a good option (I prefer both to shopping at high-end kitchen stores). To help you prioritize, the equipment lists on pages 46-48 suggest which pans, tools, and appliances are absolutely essential and which you can take or leave.

THE BASICS OF BAKEWARE AND KITCHEN TOOLS

Most baking recipes involve specific ovenware: loaf pans, cookie sheets, cake pans, pie plates. I’ve given a full rundown on page 44. The oven, of course, is where most (all, if you take it literally) baking happens. But some of what I consider “baking” happens on the stovetop, and some baking recipes involve stovetop prep. Regardless, you’ll need a few skillets and pots to go along with your ovenware, and it should all be oven-safe (meaning no plastic, rubber, or wooden parts).

Just as most staple ingredients for baking are affordable and widely accessible, so are the majority of essential tools needed to bake. If you’re starting from square one, know that almost all of them will do double duty with other cooking utensils once you buy them, so they’re a good investment.

POTS AND PANS

Presumably you already have all these things—they’re essentials for savory cooking and, as you’ll see, just as crucial for preparing many of the recipes here. If you can get only one of each, make sure it’s a nonreactive material like stainless steel; materials like aluminum and copper combine with acidic ingredients (citrus, wine, brown sugar, and the like) to stain pans and mar flavor.

What is Xanthan Gum?

You won’t find it at the farmers’ market, your grandparents certainly didn’t eat it, and you may not even be able to pronounce it—so you might be skeptical about this ingredient and what it’s doing in your home baking. I’m generally in favor of eating only “real” food, with ingredients you can pronounce and recognize. But don’t rule out this key component of gluten-free baking.

Xanthan gum is the by-product of a simple reaction when a microorganism, Xanthomonas campestris, digests sugar (typically from corn). It’s a fine white powder, with no flavor or noticeable texture. There’s nothing fancy about adding it to your recipes, either—it goes in with all the other dry ingredients, so you can handily add it to pre-mixed flour blends. Xanthan gum mimics gluten, adding elasticity, thickness, and body, for a more cohesive dough that you can easily handle and shape whether you’re rolling a delicate piecrust or baking a yeasted loaf. (If you’ve tried to improvise gluten-free recipes in the past only for the results to crumble in your hand or on the plate, you know what I mean.) Take care to use it in very small amounts; true to its name, it will make food gummy if there’s too much.

Despite its odd-sounding name, xanthan gum is becoming increasingly easy to find in supermarkets and is widely available online. A good-sized bag shouldn’t set you back much more than $10 and will last a long time. If you can’t find it or just don’t want to use it, you can still bake without it, though you might need to tinker with other binding and thickening ingredients to find the right balance. Ground chia or flaxseeds with water are a good substitute, as are gelatin and even eggs.

SMALL AND MEDIUM SAUCEPANS The smaller (just a couple of cups, a quart at most) for sugar syrup and warming a cup or two of milk, and a 3- to 4-quart pan for puddings, custards, compotes, and all sorts of dessert sauces.

HEAVY SKILLET, 12 INCHES OR MORE The big surface area is good for pancakes and flatbreads. You’ll also use it for preparing ingredients and sauces and sometimes even in lieu of baking pans for things like crisps, cobblers, and deep-dish pies. If you get one that’s deep enough (2 or 3 inches), you can also do some shallow frying in it.

LARGE DUTCH OVEN OR OTHER HEAVY POT Good as backup for your saucepan when you’re cooking a large quantity of liquid; also, if you plan on making a lot of doughnuts and fritters, for instance, it’s particularly useful for deep frying. I like enameled cast iron.

OVENWARE

Anytime you’re baking, you have three dependable ways to go: metal, glass, or ceramic. Metal isn’t glamorous, but if you’re new to baking, that’s where I suggest you start, since it’s the most versatile and economical. Any metal pans are fine, but remember that some metal reacts with acid, like fruit fillings; this makes stainless steel, coated aluminum, or enameled cast iron best.

In general, the heavier and sturdier the pan, the better, for both heat distribution and stability. Heavy pans can even be heated on top of the stove, to deglaze the bottom or melt butter.

Glass and ceramic don’t conduct heat as well as metal, but they’ll hold on to it longer. When you’re using glass or ceramic ovenware, be careful not to change temperature too rapidly or it might crack; you can’t add cold liquid to a hot baking dish or use glass or ceramic on the stove. And of course these dishes can chip and break. Sometimes they come in handy—they’re traditional for pie plates, custard cups and ramekins, casserole dishes, and the like—and I’ll mention it when they do. And they do look nice, though I mostly stick to metal.

Like most people, I have concerns about the safety of nonstick cookware at high temperatures, so I try to avoid it when cooking. But for baking, there’s no denying that it’s especially convenient, and the heat is less of an issue than it is with, say, sautéing, so it’s up to you. It’s better for some things, like cake pans, than others. If you want to avoid nonstick cookware, use regular pans prepped with butter, flour, and/or parchment paper.

I’ve listed the following pans roughly in order of most useful to most specialized, but your choices should be dictated by what you like to eat and bake, so get ’em as you need ’em.

LARGE RIMMED BAKING SHEETS You’ll definitely want two, maybe even three (they’re cheap), especially if you like baking in big batches. Also known as jelly-roll pans or sheet pans, these are more versatile than rimless baking sheets and work great for cookies and crackers, as well as for keeping pancakes warm in the oven. I also recommend baking pie plates or springform pans on top of them to catch errant spills.

If you’re an avid cookie baker, you may want to also invest in insulated pans, which are actually made of two sheets of metal with a thin layer of air between them. The air prevents burned bottoms.

ROUND CAKE PANS, 8 OR 9 INCHES You’ll need two 9-inch or three 8-inch pans for any layer cake recipe. Otherwise, one will do for smaller, simpler cakes or quick breads. You can find them in other sizes—diminutive and massive—but if you change the size from the one given in the recipe, it’s imperative that you adjust the bake time accordingly; remember that doneness is determined primarily by texture, not time, which is really just a suggestion and almost always varies (see page 195). Make sure the sides are straight, not sloped. Nonstick is nice here.

SQUARE BAKING PAN, 8 OR 9 INCHES Universally useful. Essential for quick breads, brownies, cobblers, and the like. You can also bake cakes in them.

RECTANGULAR BAKING DISH The standard measurement is 13 × 9 inches (make sure it’s at least 2 inches deep); this is one thing that’s more versatile in glass or ceramic. The large surface area makes it perfect for big crisps and cobblers, sheet cakes, and double-batch brownies or other bars.

STANDARD LOAF PAN These measure 8½ × 4½ × 3 inches (most recipes will just round up and call them 9 × 5) and are used for both quick breads and yeasted sandwich loaves. Avoid glass loaf pans; bread may not rise or bake as evenly in them.

PIE PLATE, 9 INCHES For pies, tarts, and quiches. Plus, almost anything you can make in an 8-inch square pan you can make in a pie plate; just cut it into wedges instead of squares. (I prefer a standard size to a deep-dish plate, and most of my recipes are designed for that size; I’ll specify deep-dish when it’s necessary.) This is a place where glass is nice as well as traditional.

MUFFIN TINS To some people these are more important than cake pans. But remember that every muffin batter can be baked in a loaf pan as a quick bread and of course all cake batters can be baked in single sheets or multiple layers, so don’t worry about buying them unless you are a big cupcake or muffin fan. You can also fill them with small rounds of piecrust or pastry dough for easy individual servings.

Standard size is about a 3-ounce cup, and it’s best to have either a 12-cup tin or two 6-cup tins. (For some recipes you’ll need to bake in batches.) You can also buy miniature muffin tins, which are about one-third of the size; they make a great presentation but overcook easily and can be a bit of a pain to fill, so use your discretion. Nonstick is most common, but you can also buy cast iron. And don’t forget to keep those paper muffin cups around; they’re much easier than greasing each cup (although if you use nonstick pans you can skip this most of the time).

SPRINGFORM PAN, 9 INCHES This is a special pan with a removable bottom and side, essential for cheesecake. You probably don’t need one otherwise. Good quality is important here to prevent leaking. See page 223 for more info.

CUSTARD CUPS OR RAMEKINS The 6-ounce size is standard, and you’ll probably want eight of them. Four- and 8-ounce dishes are useful too; anything else is impractical. Ceramic is best, in round or oval. Beyond their intended purpose for making individual custards, gelées, cobblers, babycakes, and so on, they’re great for holding small amounts of ingredients while you cook.

TUBE OR BUNDT PAN The tube pan is deep and flat sided, while the bundt is rounder and indented for a more decorative effect. One or the other generally does it (although a tube pan is the only way to go for angel food cake). You can bake any recipe for a layer cake in one of these pans; increase the cooking time by 10 to 15 minutes. And grease very well (assuming your recipe calls for greased pans), especially if you’re making a bundt cake; fighting to scrape the cake out of the pan will mar the decorative ridges.

Some tube pans come in one piece, while others consist of a flat bottom (it looks like a ring) that drops right into the sides, making it easier to remove the cake from the pan. If yours is two pieces, you may have to worry about thinner batters leaking through the seam. To be safe, tightly wrap the bottom of the assembled pan in aluminum foil and bake it on a cookie sheet.

SOUFFLÉ DISH The standard size is 2-quart, and ceramic is the standard material. You can use it for more than soufflés, of course (it’s essentially an ovenproof bowl), but it’s challenging to make a soufflé without one since you need the deep, straight sides.

FLUTED TART PAN, 9 INCHES Metal ones have removable bottoms that allow you to easily transfer the finished tart to a serving platter, but ceramic ones are easier to clean and look great on the table. You choose; both are useful.

10 MUST-HAVE BAKING AND KITCHEN TOOLS

Nonnegotiable; you’ll use these all the time, and they’re pretty much all you need for most baking.

MEASURING CUPS—LIQUID AND DRY—AND MEASURING SPOONS It may sound counterintuitive, but you really shouldn’t use liquid and dry measuring utensils interchangeably. The first you pour from (it looks like a pitcher with writing on it), and the second you level off with the back of a knife (or some other straightedge). The former is far less accurate for measuring dry ingredients, and pouring liquids from a dry measuring cup can get sloppy.

A 2-cup glass liquid measuring cup is a good place to start; buy a 4-cup when you need it. Glass is best, because it’s see-through and will stand up to heat, so you can stick it in the microwave or use it to hold warm liquids. Dry-measure cups and measuring spoons generally come in sets. They’re relatively inexpensive, so if you can, get two of everything so you’ll have a clean set at the ready even if one is already in use.

MIXING BOWLS Small, medium, and large to start, preferably stainless steel—the most basic, functional, and durable—and this is one thing that’s practical to buy in a set since they’ll nest for easy storage. For baking, I tend to stay away from reactive materials—like aluminum; I also avoid plastic bowls, which can cling on to fat even after washing and ruin meringues.

BALLOON WHISK Imperative if you don’t have an electric or stand mixer, but useful all the same for aerating dry ingredients, incorporating wet ingredients, and finishing batters when you don’t want to haul out the mixer. Start with a medium size one that feels comfortable in your hand.

WOODEN AND STAINLESS SPOONS A few wooden spoons are endlessly useful for cooking and stirring and even look nice for serving. You should also have at least one metal or silicone slotted spoon and/or a skimmer (also called a spider) for frying.

SPATULAS Keep a few of these around: large and small silicone for folding delicate ingredients (indispensable for handling whipped egg whites), cooking, and stirring, plus flexible metal or rigid plastic for flipping pancakes, moving cookies, transferring cakes, and the like.

CUTTING BOARDS One is enough if it’s a big one, but I prefer having a few of different sizes so at least one is always dry. Wood or plastic, your choice. Wooden ones can be sanded clean; plastic can go in the dishwasher. To keep cutting boards from sliding around on the countertop while you work, lay a damp towel underneath them.

FINE- OR MEDIUM-MESH STRAINER/SIEVE Always useful for something, but particularly necessary for straining and pressing dessert sauces and purées, sifting flours for extra-delicate desserts, and dusting even coats of cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar over finished desserts.

TIMER You probably have one on your phone or microwave, but one way or another, make sure you have a way to keep track of the time.

POT HOLDERS (OR MITTS) AND KITCHEN TOWELS
It doesn’t matter what they look like; what’s important is that they protect your hands from heat. If kitchen towels are even slightly wet, they won’t protect you, so be careful. (Never mix damp, hot, and skin!)

WIRE COOLING RACKS Although you can certainly make do without them, you really shouldn’t—these allow fresh-from-the-oven baked goods to cool properly, with even air circulation. If you leave items on their baking sheets or pans, the residual heat will continue to cook them; if you transfer them to a plate instead of a rack, the heat will get trapped as steam and create a soggy bottom.

THE THREE KNIVES YOU NEED

Chopping, slicing, and dicing are less common in baking than in savory cooking, but it’s equally important that the knives be good when you need them. You don’t have to make a huge investment: It’s easy enough to find affordable ones—at restaurant supply stores, used, or even new if you do your research—that there’s really no excuse for buying junk. Look at those with high-carbon-steel-alloy blades, which is what most chefs and experienced home cooks use. The handle may be wood or plastic; plastic handles, though less attractive, are more durable and dishwasher safe.

Respect your knives: Start with good ones and keep them sharp; hand-wash whenever you can; store in wooden blocks or on magnetic racks to prevent chipping. How you keep them sharp is up to you; electric sharpeners are easy but expensive and, over time, will wear away the metal. Whetstones have a learning curve, but they’re very effective and not that difficult. Or you can take your knives to a hardware or kitchen supply store and have someone do the job for you.

CHEF’S KNIFE An 8-inch blade is what most home cooks like; go to 10 inches if you have especially big hands and like the feel or 6 inches if your hands are smaller. In baking, you’ll use this for chopping fruit and chocolate, cubing butter, and much more—get one you like and you’ll find yourself reaching for it nearly any time you need to chop something. Make sure the handle feels good when you hold it; the grip is almost as important as the blade, and only you can judge whether it’s a comfortable fit.

PARING KNIFE You can buy expensive paring knives or pretty good ones that are so cheap you can almost consider them disposable. It’s nice to have a couple of slightly varying styles. Use for peeling, prepping fruit, and other precise tasks.

LONG SERRATED KNIFE OR BREAD KNIFE Absolutely essential for slicing bread and other baked goods and for splitting cakes into layers, since the blade’s ridges won’t tug on delicate crumbs.

6 ITEMS YOU’LL PROBABLY WANT

You might call these necessary luxuries. They’re nice to have if you bake (or cook) regularly.

PARCHMENT PAPER A surefire way to prevent sticking, instead of or in addition to greasing and flouring. It’s cheap and widely available, and since it won’t conduct heat the way aluminum foil does, it bakes more evenly. Use it to easily transfer finished baked goods, especially delicate cakes and loaves, from their pans.

ROLLING PIN For evenly rolling piecrusts, pastry dough, and some cookies. Get a straight wooden pin without ball bearings (you can save money by buying a piece of wooden dowel with at least a 1½-inch diameter); you’ll have more control, and it won’t break. In a pinch, an empty wine bottle will do the job.

VEGETABLE PEELER Not just to peel carrots, sweet potatoes, and apples for many popular desserts, but also for all the vegetables in savory baking and to shave ribbons of chocolate for an impressive garnish. Sharpness and the handle grip are more important than the shape, although I lean toward the U-shaped ones. Those with a ceramic blade are relatively expensive ($12 or so) but work perfectly and won’t rust.

BRUSHES For spreading melted butter, oil, egg wash, sauce, or any other liquid in an even layer. The silicone ones are cool because they don’t leave bristles behind and are easy to throw in the dishwasher.

MICROPLANE OR CHEESE GRATER An old-fashioned box grater is fine, but get stainless steel if you can afford it or else be willing to throw out cheaper models at the first sign of rust. Microplanes are ultra-sharp, hand-held, and great for grating citrus zest, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger, or chocolate.

KITCHEN SCISSORS You’ll keep reaching for them, whether it’s to snip dried fruit, cut parchment paper, or open bags.

13 MORE NICE-TO-HAVE TOOLS FOR BAKING

Depending on what kind of recipes you’re making, these may be essential or unnecessary. You’ll know.

CITRUS REAMER OR HANDHELD JUICER Or some sort of tool to easily extract citrus juice from its fruit. If you don’t have one, you can use a fork to loosen the inside of the fruit before squeezing with your hands; you’ll get more juice that way.

RULER Useful for measuring the dimensions of all sorts of dough (especially if you’re not good at eyeballing), ensuring that you’re creating even layers of cake and accurately rolling out pastry dough.

BENCH SCRAPER A good tool for cutting, scoring, and squaring off dough. Also good for gathering up shaggy bits of dough from the counter, leveling dry ingredients for accurate measures, scraping away loose crumbs, and working delicate doughs without warming them up too quickly.

WOODEN SKEWERS OR TOOTHPICKS The best way to test doneness of cakes, brownies, and so forth, since they’ll let you see how moist the inside is and cling on to crumbs. Usually, a thin-bladed knife works well too.

OFFSET SPATULAS For smoothing and leveling layers of poured batter so they bake evenly, frosting cakes, and lifting things directly up from the bottom without disturbing them much. It’s nice (but not necessary) to have at least one large and one small.

PASTRY BAG AND A FEW DIFFERENT TIPS You can always jerry-rig an alternative—a large plastic zipper bag with the corner snipped off is the go-to—but for things like decorating cakes, making cream puffs, filling doughnuts, and more, these are incredibly useful. Plus, they’re cheap and take up nearly no room when stored. Round tips are simple; star tips have lots of little ridges, which are fun for frosting.

PASTRY BLENDER Used to cut butter into dry ingredients for pie or biscuit dough (if you’re doing it by hand) since it keeps the butter cool and cuts it efficiently without overworking the flour, leaving your dough delicate. If you don’t have one, you can use two forks or two knives; your fingers will work too, as long as you make sure not to let the butter get greasy. Use your fingertips and not the pads of your fingers for the most delicate touch.

COOKIE/ICE CREAM SCOOP Good for making uniform-size cookies and, of course, for scooping ice cream.

COOKIE AND BISCUIT CUTTERS If you’ve got a decorative streak. You can improvise round cookie cutters from upturned sturdy drinking glasses (the thinner the rim, the better, but not so delicate that you risk breaking them), but good cutters will cut more cleanly through the dough and release more easily.

BAKING STONE, PEEL, AND PIZZA CUTTER If you’re going to bake pizza (and you should), these are nearly essential; a stone improves the quality of other yeast breads too. A pizza cutter is also my favorite tool for cutting or scoring flat sheets of other dough, like crackers, lattice piecrusts, or pastries.

GRIDDLE If you often find yourself making big batches of pancakes or French toast, the extra surface area of a griddle can be nice to have. A large nonstick skillet, while not as roomy, has a similar effect. True pancake enthusiasts might even consider an electric griddle, which is basically just a big, flat surface that applies heat evenly for consistent batches.

TRIVETS Kitchen towels work fine too. Either way, if you have countertops that don’t take kindly to hot pans, keep a few of these lying around.

THE BASICS OF APPLIANCES AND GADGETS

When baking at home is enjoyable and convenient, you’re likely to do it a lot more often. The best kitchen appliances are things that we turn to often to make the process easier, whether or not they’re absolutely necessary. Some gadgets appeal to our aspirations but don’t really do much for our baking; a top-of-the-line stove doesn’t magically make you a chef. That’s not to say that some specialized cooking gadgets don’t have a place in your kitchen, but do give it some thought before you make the investment and commit precious counter space. Here’s a rundown of the ones that I call for in this book or that I wouldn’t want to live without.

OVEN It doesn’t have to be fancy, as long as you have an accurate read on the temperature (use an oven thermometer, below). There should be at least two racks inside, which you can adjust as needed. Most of the time, if you’re baking only one pan, place a rack at the center of the oven (ignore the other); if you’re baking more than that, situate the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, place your pans on each, and rotate midway through baking. In most cases, if you’re using the broiler (most often at the ceiling of your oven), you’ll want the rack to be as high up as possible, so the baking dish is just below the heating element without actually touching it.

OVEN THERMOMETER My oven never holds the temperature I set it at. Yours might not either; these cheap little thermometers, which you keep inside the oven, hanging from a rack or magnetized to the walls, will let you know for sure so everything bakes as it should. Monitor it as you preheat the oven and, if needed, adjust the temperature control on your oven to bring it to the temperature specified in the recipe. A variation of ten degrees doesn’t matter much, but if it’s twenty-five or more, you’re going to have timing issues and possibly uneven cooking, burnt spots, and so on.

Conventional vs. Convection

There are two main types of ovens: conventional and convection (some ovens include both settings). In conventional ovens the hot air simply surrounds the food, while in convection ovens a fan built into the back circulates the hot air around the food. As a result, convection ovens cook food faster than conventional ones.

All of the recipes in this book were tested in a conventional oven, but if you’re using convection, the general rule of thumb is that you set the oven temperature 25°F lower than specified in the recipe and cook for the same amount of time. So, if a recipe in this book says to bake something at 375°F for 30 minutes, you would bake it at 350°F for 30 minutes. An added bonus of convection is that the circulating air makes it unnecessary to rotate pans halfway through baking, as you sometimes need to do in conventional ovens. No matter which you’re using, it’s best to have a thermometer inside the oven so you know exactly what the temperature is at all times. And, as usual, judge doneness by appearance and texture as well as time.

FOOD PROCESSOR Other than for the sake of recipe testing, I can’t remember the last time I made a dough in anything other than the food processor. (No-knead bread is an exception.) It can also grate massive amounts of almost anything in seconds, purée fruits and vegetables, chop nuts, and more. If you don’t have one, make the investment when you can; there are very good ones available for less than $50, and you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. Get a large one that can handle at least eight (and preferably twelve) cups.

Be careful not to overprocess. If you want a purée, turn the machine on and walk away. But otherwise—to mince, grate, make flours, mix doughs, and so forth—use the “pulse” button, turning the machine on and off as many times as is necessary to get the texture you need. Most recipes will specify. These are very powerful machines, capable of puréeing almost anything within seconds.

ELECTRIC MIXER Consider this a necessity if you bake even just occasionally. A handheld model is fine for many uses; if you’re a frequent baker or love to make bread, you’ll want a stand mixer as well, which can do the same work hands off, is more powerful, and comes with multiple attachments: a paddle beater, a whisk, and a dough hook.

BLENDER Less essential for baking than for cooking, but still very useful for making smooth fruit purées and whipping up thin batters, especially if you don’t have a food processor (which can do the same work).

ICE CREAM MAKER These come in a range of models, prices, and features, and if you’re not an enthusiast—or willing to jump in with both feet—you might want to start with an inexpensive manual model with a container that you have to freeze, usually overnight, and churn the ice cream directly in. At the other end of the spectrum are the top-end electric models with self-contained refrigeration and a price tag of at least $200, often much more. If you’re going to make that kind of investment, do your homework and make sure you get one with a powerful compressor and motor for reliability and ease.

WAFFLE IRON Nonnegotiable if you want to make waffles. There are excellent models available for around $40. The heavy cast-iron versions are charming but less practical and harder to clean. The nonstick electric kind is what I use. Some people like to experiment, using them to cook brownie batter or press sandwiches; I don’t.

COFFEE OR SPICE GRINDER Coffee drinkers probably already have one, but that doesn’t count for spice grinding, since you need a separate one for that task (otherwise your spices just smell like coffee, and the coffee can pick up traces of spices, which is great with cinnamon but less so with, say, Sichuan peppercorns). With an electric grinder you can happily spend a rainy afternoon toasting and blending your own mixes or preparing freshly ground spices in bulk for future use. The difference in flavor is remarkable.

KITCHEN SCALE You can find perfectly good digital ones now for as little as $10, and they provide, hands down, the most accurate way to measure ingredients. Accuracy is so important in baking that some bakers insist on measuring by weight rather than volume (for more info on this, see pages 52-54). Try it; you may end up feeling the same.

CANDY THERMOMETER Essential for making candies and also for frying, when the temperature of the oil affects not just your results but also your safety. A candy thermometer clips to the side of the pot and sits in the sugar mixture so you can monitor the temperature as it cooks; things like caramel can quickly go from perfect to burned.

QUICK-READ THERMOMETER A digital kind with a probe. I absolutely depend on one when baking bread; otherwise, you risk cutting through the crust to find pockets of half-baked gooey dough.

The Basics of Food Safety

While you wouldn’t think there are too many food safety concerns when it comes to baking, I feel obliged to give the full rundown, especially since so many of the recipes in this book involve eggs (and the Savory chapter includes meat). So here’s the story.

Most food-borne illnesses can be prevented, and since food sickens millions of Americans each year it’s worth taking precautions. Begin by keeping your hands and all food preparation surfaces and utensils clean; soap and hot water are all you need to sanitize. Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables before using them. Wash cutting boards after using them and wash your counters too if you’ll be preparing food directly on them (like kneading bread or rolling out pie dough). Never put cooked food on a plate that previously held raw food. Change sponges frequently (or wash them in hot water). Change your kitchen towel frequently also—at least once a day. (I go through three or four a day, always.)

Make sure your refrigerator is at about 35°F (40°F is too warm), and your freezer at 0°F or lower. Thaw foods in the refrigerator or well wrapped and under cold running water. Obviously, many baked goods can live at room temperature for several days, but follow the storage directions in the recipe; others shouldn’t be left out for more than a couple hours.

As for those of you who can’t resist a spoonful of raw cookie dough, all I can say is that the danger of salmonella in raw eggs is slim but not nonexistent. If you’re going to do it, make sure to use eggs that have been properly stored and don’t contain any cracks and to rinse the shells before cracking the eggs, or use pasteurized eggs. Or omit the eggs entirely if you’re making the dough just to eat it raw (see page 142). Raw eggs (yolks and/or whites) are also present in certain other desserts, most notably Chocolate Chiffon Pie, Chocolate Mousse and other mousses, and Tiramisu. If you or someone in your family is at greater risk of serious food-borne illness—this includes infants, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems—you should take every precaution possible, by either making a different dessert or trying a vegan substitution. But this is a cookbook; if you have any questions at all about your personal food safety, I suggest you speak with your doctor.

As for me, I keep a clean kitchen, wash my hands about twenty times a day, and cook food (baked or otherwise) so that it tastes as good as it can. It boils down to common sense: Don’t let your kitchen be a breeding ground for pathogens and don’t take unnecessary risks. Many experienced cooks and chefs are fanatical about cleanliness, and it works; that’s the best way to avoid food-related illness.

Techniques

If you’re an experienced baker, you can probably skip this entire section. For novices, however, it’s an important one: It contains the nuts and bolts of the methods used throughout this book (and, for that matter, most other cookbooks). Proper technique, just as much as proper ingredients, is the key to consistent, successful results. All you need is the basic instruction you’ll find here and a little practice.

“Technique” can be an intimidating word, but you don’t have to master it to bake well; think of all the kids whose first experiences in the kitchen are helping family members with the baking. Your baking can be plenty good as you learn, and the more you bake, the more seamlessly these methods will come to you. People like to talk about baking as a science, but I want to cultivate your enthusiasm not only by offering great recipes but also by showing you that executing them is no big deal.

And the process of learning to bake is hardly painful. Once in a while you might make a blunder that renders something inedible, or you may forget to set a timer and open your oven to find hardened black bricks; every cook I know, from my friends to the world’s great chefs, flubs a dish now and then. But one of the joys of working in the kitchen is that not only do you learn from your mistakes; they never last long enough to haunt you. (And you can usually eat them anyway.)

GETTING STARTED

First things first: The way you prepare food has a direct impact on how it cooks. So here’s an overview of the tasks required just to get something ready for the oven.

PATIENCE

Yes, it’s a virtue, not a technique—but in many ways it’s the most important skill of any good baker. Following a recipe requires zero expertise or creativity; far more important is that you take the proper measurements and don’t go rogue. (There’s plenty of room for that in baking, but you need to know the rules well before you break them.) Some doughs seem like they’ll never hold together, and if you’ve never made a meringue, you may be skeptical that a bowl of runny egg whites will whip into a cloud. Perfectly flaky croissants may seem like a culinary Everest. But that’s the magic of baking: Anyone can make these things with the patience to follow the procedures and pay attention.

MEASURING

Measuring really matters in baking, so you should learn the right way to do it. Don’t eyeball anything, to start; many recipes depend on pretty precise ratios. As you gain experience, you’ll learn where you can get away with improvising.

To measure liquids, set the cup on the counter and fill it to where you think the correct marking is. Then get down at eye level to the cup and double-check. Surface tension causes the liquid to look a little like a concave bubble, and the bottom “line” of that bubble should be even with the line on the cup. Add or pour off some liquid until it is. This may sound obsessive, but it’s easy enough.

Measurement Conversions

Note that volume (like 1 cup) measures and weight (like 1 ounce) measures convert perfectly for liquids like water, milk, or cream and not for solids or thicker liquids like maple syrup, corn syrup, and honey (for some of those conversions, see this chart). Still, this is a handy guide, especially useful for doubling or halving recipes; you can write it on a sticky note and leave it inside your pantry for quick reference.

  • Dash or pinch = ⅛ teaspoon
  • 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
  • 2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce
  • 4 tablespoons = ¼ cup = 2 fluid ounces
  • 16 tablespoons = 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
  • 2 cups = 1 pint
  • 2 pints = 1 quart
  • 4 quarts = 1 gallon

For dry ingredients, use a spoon to fill the cup until the ingredient heaps a bit over the top, then use the flat side of a knife or a spatula to swipe the excess off the rim (see previous illustration). If you’re measuring flour, give it a quick stir before measuring to aerate it and don’t scoop the cup directly into the bag or canister or the flour will be packed too densely into the cup and you may wind up with too much in the recipe.

Many serious bakers insist on measuring by weight instead of volume since it’s much more precise and makes for more reliable results: 1 cup of flour can weigh anywhere between 4 and 7 ounces depending on how you fill it. Kitchen scales are cheap, and it’s easy enough to use them that they’ll soon become second nature (they can even cut down on dirty dishes), but most people are more comfortable and familiar with volume measurements, so that’s largely what I use in this book. If you do want to bake by weight, see this table for weights of some common ingredients and some tips to get you started.

Measuring Dry Ingredients

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To measure flour accurately, use a spoon to overfill the measuring cup, then sweep the top evenly with the flat side of a knife.

MISE EN PLACE

French for “putting in place,” or setup, when you premeasure every ingredient before you get started. It takes time and usually isn’t worth it for cooking, but it can be helpful in baking, where precision matters—you don’t want to scramble for substitutions or realize you have no eggs halfway through mixing a cake batter.

SIFTING

Passing dry ingredients, like flour or cocoa powder, through a sieve/strainer to aerate and get rid of lumps. This usually isn’t necessary for making batters and doughs; I’ll tell you when it is. For me, it’s much more relevant after you bake: Sift confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder over finished desserts for the world’s easiest garnish.

PEELING

A vegetable peeler is easiest and safest for this job and tends to produce the least waste. You can also use a sharp paring knife, with the blade parallel to the skin. As long as you’re careful—pull the knife toward you, using your thumb to counter its pressure—it will work perfectly.

Dusting with Confectioners’ Sugar

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To garnish a dessert with confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder, add some to a sieve. Hold the sieve over the dessert and tap gently to shower it with the sugar or cocoa.

CUTTING

Most baking doesn’t require precise knife skills, so this isn’t the place to learn the ins and outs of slicing and dicing. Safety and effectiveness are as important as ever, though, so here’s what you need to know:

Hold your knives however you feel most comfortable and secure. Some people “shake hands” with their chef’s knife, but the way to hold one for maximum stability and flexibility is to grip the handle as close to the blade as is comfortable and put your thumb on the inside, against the hilt, with your other fingers wrapped around the other side. You can even stretch your forefinger up the blade a little bit for more control.

When you work with a chef’s knife, use your other hand to hold the food on the cutting board, curling the fingers and thumb a bit so your knuckles act as a bumper or guide, keeping the tips of your fingers out of harm’s way. Almost all cutting skills with a chef’s knife are basically variations on a rocking motion, with the tip held steady on the cutting board while you maneuver the handle up and down—the way a paper cutter works. If this is new to you, try practicing without any food first and hold your curled fingers against the blade so you feel how they work as a guide.

Whether you’re mincing fresh ginger, chopping chocolate, or preparing fruit, you want all pieces to be approximately the same size and thickness. I’ll tell you when a specific size is important, but otherwise you just want to get the job done and do it evenly.

Chopped: Your go-to cut for most baking. The pieces are ¼ to ½ inch in size.

Roughly chopped: The chunks are somewhat uneven, bite-sized or even bigger; use this cut before puréeing or mashing or when the texture of the dish is intended to be rustic and chunky.

Minced: The tiniest bits you can manage, when you want an almost invisible, textureless result with foods like citrus zest or ginger.

Sliced: As thick or thin as you like. You can slice crosswise, lengthwise, or on the diagonal; diagonal is probably most attractive. It’s easiest to slice things evenly if you can lay them flat, so cut things like apples and peaches in half first.

Weights of Everyday Baking Ingredients

Use the chart below to convert many common baking ingredients to weights, or to figure out how much you need to buy of a certain ingredient (like condensed milk or chocolate) if the recipe calls for a volume:

INGREDIENT

WEIGHT PER CUP

All-purpose flour

4.25 ounces

Rolled oats

3.5 ounces

Granulated sugar

7 ounces

Brown sugar

7.5 ounces

Confectioners’ sugar

4 ounces

Milk, yogurt, or sour cream

8 ounces

Sweetened condensed milk

11 ounces

Vegetable oil

7 ounces

Nut butter

9.5 ounces

Chopped chocolate

6 ounces

Cocoa powder

3 ounces

Corn syrup or maple syrup

11 ounces

Molasses or honey

12 ounces

COMBINING

There are so many ways to combine ingredients, all of which can have as much of an effect on the final texture of the dish as the ingredients themselves; it’s rarely a matter of simple addition.

STIRRING

Gently but thoroughly blending—simple. No need to aerate the ingredients or to be overly careful. Use a spoon or spatula.

BEATING AND WHIPPING

Vigorously combining until the mixture is smooth and aerated—use an electric mixer, stand mixer, or whisk. Some ingredients, like cream and egg whites, can hold a great deal of air when they’re beaten; this is called whipping. Both cream and egg whites can be beaten to two stages, depending on how they’ll be used: soft peaks or stiff peaks (see illustrations below).

If you’re whipping egg whites, take care that there are zero traces of fat (from butter or yolks, for instance), which will prevent the whites from whipping up. Avoid plastic bowls, which can be greasy even when washed. For whipped cream, a chilled bowl and beaters will make your job a little easier.

Beating Egg Whites

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Step 1
At the soft peak stage, egg whites look soft, and when you remove the whisk or beaters, the tops fold over.

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Step 2
At the stiff peak stage, the whites look stiff, and when you remove the whisk or beaters, the tops make distinct peaks. Do not beat beyond this point.

CREAMING

Specifically beating soft butter (or other solid fat) and sugar together. This is not just a mixing technique; it plays a role in leavening and giving structure to cakes, cookies, and pastries. The quick beating breaks up the fat with the sugar crystals to make an emulsification and forces air bubbles into the mixture, which helps add lift as things bake. (The eggs or egg yolks usually added at the last stage of creaming enrich and lighten the batter even further.) For maximum aeration, beat the fat and sugar for 4 or 5 minutes.

Many people consider creaming a critical part of the baking process, but it’s necessary only if you care about that signature texture it provides. You can melt the butter instead, for instance, for fudgier, chewier results no matter what you’re making.

Tips for Using a Kitchen Scale

In case you prefer this method:

  • Place an empty bowl—whatever you’d use to mix—directly on the scale and choose the unit of measurement.
  • Hit the “tare” or “zero” button. This zeroes out the weight on the scale, so you don’t have to account for the weight of the bowl.
  • Slowly pour in your ingredient until you reach the desired weight.
  • To add more ingredients, hit “tare” after each addition and repeat. Or, if you’re worried about making a mistake, take the overly cautious route and repeat this process with a separate bowl for each ingredient before combining them all.

FOLDING

Stirring very gently just until the ingredients are incorporated; make broad, scooplike motions, working from the outside of the bowl. Rubber or silicone spatulas are best for the job since they’re efficient and uncumbersome, but you can also use wooden spoons. Do this when you’re working with delicate ingredients, like whipped egg whites, or delicate batters so you can carefully preserve their texture.

Folding Cream or Egg Whites

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Step 1
To fold beaten cream or egg whites into a batter, first lighten the mixture by stirring a couple of spoonfuls of cream or whites into it.

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Step 2
Then gently fold in the rest of the cream or egg whites, scooping under the mixture and smoothing over the top. You can use a rubber spatula or your hand, which works equally well.

KNEADING

A way of working doughs specifically to develop gluten, which adds structure and chewiness. It’s a great thing for bread and a terrible thing for more delicate things like biscuits. Do it by hand, in a food processor, or a stand mixer; handheld electric mixers aren’t powerful enough to work the dough.

ROLLING

Flattening dough into a sheet of even thickness before you cut, shape, or fill it; easiest, of course, when it’s done with a rolling pin. You may do this with chilled cookie doughs just before you cut them into shapes and bake; for delicate things like piecrust and pastry, which you want to handle as little as possible, the rolling process not only creates an even layer of crust that will fit in the plate but is also essential for actually incorporating all the ingredients into one mass.

To keep the dough from sticking, sprinkle flour in a very light, even layer, taking care not to use any more than is necessary so the dough doesn’t get tough. If you’re worried about the dough getting too warm, you can chill your work surface by putting ice water in a rimmed baking sheet over it. Take away the sheet after a few minutes and the counter will be cool; wipe off any condensation with a clean towel so that it doesn’t make the flour lump up.

COOKING

Baking is, of course, the name of a particular cooking technique, but it also encompasses so much more. While you won’t draw from as wide a repertoire of techniques as you do for savory cooking, you’ll need to know more than just how to preheat an oven.

BAKING

Naturally. To bake is to cook something using the dry heat of an oven. It’s different from roasting—which has the same definition—because most food that’s baked is either a semiliquid or a fairly wet solid when it goes in the oven (think of cake batter, custard, or bread dough), while roasting typically involves foods that are already whole (like vegetables and cuts of meat).

Delicate items like cakes are usually baked at a lower temperature, like 325°F or 350°F. Breads, crackers, and pizza take higher heat. For things like these, it’s a good idea to have an oven thermometer, because even a glitch of 10 or 15 degrees can make a big difference when you bake. For other things, like cookies, you have more leeway and can stray from the temperature in the recipe to achieve particular results. No matter what you’re doing, preheating isn’t just a suggestion; it’s important for even baking, so wait until your oven reaches the right temperature before you put anything inside.

BROILING

A broiler, which cooks food from above, gets quite hot (at least it should); think of it as an upside-down grill. In baking, it caramelizes and chars—a great way to finish anything that would benefit from browned, crisp outsides and still very soft insides, like crème brûlée.

Broil food from 2 to 6 inches away from the heat source—the closer to the broiler, the more intensely it will brown, so be careful with foods that burn easily. Some electric broilers require that the door be open during use: Check your manufacturer’s instructions. If that’s the case, try heating the oven to its highest setting with the door closed, then switch to broil and open the door a crack.

TEMPERING

A process used to stabilize ingredients by gently altering their temperatures. For eggs, this means gradually incorporating hot ingredients so they slowly warm up without scrambling: Have your eggs ready in a separate, large bowl and whisk vigorously while you add a ladleful of the hot liquid. Do this once or twice, until the egg mixture is smooth and lukewarm, at which point you can safely add the rest of the hot liquid.

For chocolate, which would otherwise stay soft if melted and left at room temperature, it means carefully melting in a precise temperature range that enables the cocoa molecules to form bonds and the chocolate to stay solid and smooth at room temperature (see page 353 for the full tutorial). This is more laborious than tempering eggs, but it’s great whenever you’re making candy or coating anything in chocolate.

Toasting

Not the same thing as popping a slice of bread into the toaster for breakfast. Toasting ingredients like nuts, seeds, coconut, and spices is the best way to bring out and enhance their natural flavors. It takes a bit of patience—try to rush it or look away and the food will burn—but it’s very straightforward. There are two ways to do it; whichever you use, immediately remove the food from the pan to cool, since it’ll continue to cook a bit from the residual heat and will crisp up in the process:

  • Roasting (in the oven): Heat the oven to 350°F and spread nuts, seeds, or shredded coconut in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. If you like, toss with just a bit of oil—olive is good—beforehand, which adds fat and flavor. Roast, stirring every few minutes, until everything is just starting to turn golden brown and smell incredible, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.
  • Toasting (in a pan): Better for whole spices, small seeds, or small quantities of anything. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the ingredients; toast, shaking the pan and stirring often, until everything is golden brown and fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes.

The Maillard Reaction

There’s a reason so many recipes tell you to “bake until golden brown”: That’s when almost everything, from cookies to pastries to granola, is at its best. And all those foods have something in common (aside from the fact that they’re delicious): the Maillard reaction. Technically it’s more of a chain of chemical reactions that take place when proteins and carbohydrates repeatedly break down and form compounds with each other during cooking. It’s most likely to happen at higher temperatures—why so many recipes call for the 350-400°F range—and less likely when there’s excess moisture.

This series of reactions translates to, yes, a browned exterior, along with a stronger, more complex aroma and deeper flavor. In baking, it helps make things taste the most like themselves. But it’s not responsible for all browning: Caramel and the crackly burnt-sugar lid on crème brûlée, for instance, are simply caramelized sugars, without a protein present during their cooking process to set off the Maillard reaction.

STOVETOP COOKING

This isn’t so much a single technique as it is a subcategory of baking itself. So much of baking hinges on subtle but important changes, and that’s no less true for the crucial processes—heating sugar for caramel, cooking and reducing fruit, warming cream for custard, “baking” flatbreads and pancakes—that happen on the stove.

These steps are hard to mess up, if you don’t rush through the recipe. For most things (I’ll tell you when there’s an exception), the heat should never go above medium; any hotter than that and you sacrifice control over those awesome transformations. Use a pan that conducts heat evenly (see page 44) and have patience.

Baking at High Altitude

Every increase in elevation brings a decrease in air pressure, which affects all the chemical processes that happen during baking. Leavenings take effect more quickly, as does evaporation in the dry climate, which can lead to dry texture and concentrated sweetness. Families who have been living in the mountains for years have already discovered, through trial and error, the best ways to adjust. Newcomers to high altitudes must be patient and experiment to discover what works best at their elevation and specific conditions. But here are some general tips:

  • Assume that yeast-raised batters and doughs will rise faster than at sea level. To compensate, decrease yeast by about one-quarter, refrigerate the dough to slow its rise, or punch it down and give it a second rise.
  • Over 3,000 feet, increase baking temperatures by 25°F.
  • Over 3,000 feet, reduce chemical leavening by about ⅛ teaspoon for every 1 teaspoon called for; increase liquid in baked goods by 2 to 4 tablespoons per 1 cup called for.
  • Reduce the amount of sugar by about 2 tablespoons per 1 cup.
  • For every 1,000-foot increase in altitude above 3,000 feet, increase baking temperatures by an additional 15°F; reduce leavening by an additional ⅛ teaspoon per 1 teaspoon; increase liquid by an additional 1 tablespoon per 1 cup; and reduce sugar by an additional 1 tablespoon per 1 cup.

Cooking with Chocolate

Good-quality chocolate bars are fine for melting or finely chopping, but if you want big chunks or decorative shavings, buy a piece from a larger brick and chop with a chef’s knife on a cutting board. To make chocolate shavings, put the chocolate on a clean cloth and carefully pull the knife or a vegetable peeler toward you.

Be careful when you melt chocolate, especially white chocolate, because it scorches easily; always err on the side of low and slow. There are a few methods:

  • Double boiler: Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in the bottom layer. Chop the chocolate well (smaller pieces melt faster and more evenly than big chunks), add it to the top layer, and stir until melted.
  • Bowl and saucepan: This is just a jerry-rigged double boiler (see illustration below). Bring water to a simmer in a saucepan; put your chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl that rests on the rim of saucepan, not in contact with the water. Stir until melted.
  • Microwave: Nuke it at low heat or the defrost setting in 30-second intervals; keep an eye on it and stir well after each interval.
  • Direct heat: Put the chopped chocolate in a saucepan over the lowest possible heat. This is the riskiest method, but it works fine if you stir constantly and keep a very close eye on it.

If the chocolate is being combined with cream and butter, you can melt them together using any of the preceding methods. Or gently heat the liquid, pour it over the chopped chocolate, and let it sit; after a couple minutes, you can stir them together until the mixture is completely smooth—this is an additional step but prevents scorching. Melting chocolate with water gets trickier; proper emulsification is a challenge, so the proportions must be correct. A few drops of errant water can cause melted chocolate to seize up. As long as you stick to the technique and proportions in a given recipe, you’ll be safe.

Making a Double Boiler

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For melting chocolate or gently heating egg whites, as for Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Set in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (but not touching the water).

DEEP FRYING

Deep frying cooks and browns food by submerging it in super-hot oil. When it’s done right, the result is crisp, moist, hot, and ethereal—think of a warm doughnut. Mostly, success depends on having enough oil and at the right temperature, usually 350°F or a bit higher.

Though deep frying is easy, the setup and cleanup are a bit of a production, so I consider it special-occasion cooking. The rewards—crisp, piping hot, and homemade—are well worth the work.

Countertop electric deep-fryers make things easy but are really worth the expense and space only if you deep-fry a lot. Assuming you’re not going that route, use a Dutch oven or other large, deep, heavy pot or saucepan (a medium saucepan is fine if you want to use less oil and don’t mind working in batches). The best oils are vegetable and corn (neutral and clean, but inexpensive enough that you won’t mind using a sizable quantity). Add at least 2 inches of oil; there should be several inches of space above the oil to allow the food and the oil to rise without overflowing. Turn the heat on the burner to medium and wait several minutes before you check the temperature; a candy or frying thermometer is ideal for this (all deep-frying recipes give you a specific temperature, or should). If you don’t have a thermometer, put a piece of plain bread in the oil. It should bubble, sink a bit, then float to the top, and turn golden brown within 30 to 60 seconds. If it sinks and soaks up oil, jack up the heat a notch. If it doesn’t sink and turns brown quickly, lower the heat a bit; give the oil a few minutes to adjust, then test again.

When the oil is the right temperature, add the food with metal tongs or a slotted spoon, allowing plenty of room. (Crowding will lower the temperature and prevent proper browning; work in batches if necessary.) Gently turn the food as it cooks so it browns evenly; when it’s ready, remove it to drain—I always line a wire rack or plate with paper towels before I start frying; the paper towels absorb excess oil, and the rack, if you have it, allows air to keep circulating—and fry another batch. If you need to add more oil to the pot, be sure to let it heat thoroughly before proceeding.

The only very important detail is that you stay mindful and don’t overheat the oil; otherwise, it can spontaneously catch fire (although this has never happened to me or anyone I’ve ever known, so don’t get freaked out here). If you see the oil start to smoke, turn off the heat or carefully move it to a cool burner. If the oil catches fire, don’t put water on it or try to move it. Throw a lid over the pan and turn off the heat, use a fire extinguisher, or smother it with a cup or two of baking soda or flour.

When you’re done frying, you’ll be left with a pot full of hot oil. As long as you’re frying similar things, you can reuse it a few times. The most important thing is to let it cool completely before proceeding. Then strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to catch any debris, funnel it into a clean jar or its original bottle, and store it in a cool, dark place. Discard the oil if you see any tiny crumbs in it (they’ll burn and make the whole batch bitter) or if starts to look dark or smell musty. Don’t pour it down the drain; instead, cool and funnel it into an empty bottle, then toss the whole container in the trash.

BAKE WITH YOUR SENSES

Before you plunge into these recipes, I have one last word of advice: Use your senses. Yes, instructions should be followed and measurements should be precise, but there will likely come a time in every recipe where you will have to use your judgment—don’t be afraid to do so! Cooking times vary from one oven to the next, so you’ll have to rely on your senses to determine when a batch of cookies is about to smell burned, when a loaf of bread “sounds” done, or when a piecrust looks perfectly golden brown. Just as in everyday cooking, intuition and confidence go a long way in baking, as does experience. The more you use your senses, the more you’ll begin to trust them and the better baker you’ll be.