Baking 101: How To Read A Recipe

I don’t know how to break this to you, but… we’re hurtling towards the holiday season.  If that’s too much for you to take (and I totally understand), then maybe I could just tell you that we’re hurtling towards the turn-your-oven-on-and-bake-things season.

Because we’re going to bake it up for the next few months, I’ve come to offer you a toolbox.  You know, some tips and tricks about flour and butter that maybe you don’t already know.  Every week for the next few months, we’re going to talk about why we do the things we do in the kitchen.  Do you really need to sift that flour?  Maybe not.   What do you mean by ‘cream butter and sugar’?  We’ll discuss.

Today, we’re going to start at the very beginning…. with the recipe.  It’s the map and we need to know how to read it!

It starts with a grumble in the stomach.  It starts with a craving.  It starts with a simple desire to stir together chocolate and walnuts.  Wherever it starts, we always find ourselves flipping through cookbooks looking for it. Our search always ends in a recipe:  the baking guide.

There’s a trick to successfully and correctly read a recipe.  The recipe is rooting for us.  The recipe wants our brownies to be perfect… but it’s written in a specific language.  Let’s go step-by-step.

1.  Read the Dang Recipe.

Believe it or not, reading a recipe from beginning to end is a big deal.  First, review the ingredients list and read through the instructions.  The instructions may have some hidden ingredients (like water), or split the ingredient list in an expected way (like using one egg for a batter and one egg for an egg-wash).  You want to know the lay of the land.  Read the dang recipe.  Trust me.

2.  Respect the Order.

Did you know that a recipe’s ingredient list is usually set up by order of use?  Yea.  Success!

Here’s the ingredient list to my favorite brownie recipe from Dorie Greenspan.

Classic Brownies

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional, but really good)

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt (according to taste)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

In this arrangement, the recipe wants us to know that we’ll first be incorporating  butter and two types of chocolate.  Next up will be sugar, eggs, and vanilla, followed by our dry ingredients, and classy extras (walnuts).  The recipe list is built to help us, help ourselves.

3.  The Comma.

The comma is everything when it comes to baking measurements.  Every cut, chop, or dice instruction after a comma in an ingredient list is to be done after the ingredient is measured.

For example, 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped.  

In longhand, this means… go to the store and buy one of those four ounce bars of chocolate, probably that fancy bar of Ghirardelli that’s next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle.  Buy it.  Take it home.  Unwrap it.  Try not to take a bite because you’re using it for brownies.  Put it on the counter.  Chop it.  Don’t sneak any bites.  We know it’s hard.  Place it in the bowl with the butter and follow the rest of the dang instructions.

These recipe list does not mean chop a bunch of chocolate and measure out 4 ounces and snack on the rest.

But wait…. aren’t ounces the same before and after?  Where this gets tricky is here:  1 cup sifted flour vs. 1 cup flour, sifted.

Just… respect the comma.

The absence of a comma is also revealing.

For example, 1 cup chopped walnuts.

In longhand, this means… go to the store.  Splurge on walnuts.  Take them home.  Chop them with the same knife you chopped the chocolate with (because why would you dirty another knife?).  Measure the chopped walnuts in a 1-cup measuring cup and add them to the brownie batter like a boss.

One cup of chopped walnuts is very different that one cup of walnuts, chopped.  Ya heard?

4.  Pack, Soften and Preheat.

Recipe lists often request that brown sugar be ‘packed’.  Take the back of a spoon and firmly (but not totally Hulk -style) press the sugar into the measuring cup.  Add more sugar and pack until sugar is flush with the top of the measuring cup.  Boom!

Soften butter by allowing it to rest at room temperature for about 1 hour.  Don’t cheat yourself or the butter by not allowing the butter to soften before combining it with sugar and eggs.  No one wins.  We’ll talk at length about creaming butter and sugar soon.

Preheat the oven.  Biscuits hate a 200 degree F oven.  Biscuits love a 400 degree F oven.  You love biscuits.  Preheat the oven.

5.  Is It Done Yet!?

Doneness is recipe instructions are usually described by a time range and visual characteristics.

Bake brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  

You’ve come this far, now it’s up to you to take your treat out of the oven at the right time.  The time and description should give you confidence by providing you with as estimated time and appearance.  Trust the process and trust yourself… and standby with the pot holders.

Recipe example above from my favorite baking book EVER.  Baking: from my home to yours, Dorie Greenspan.  I also love this article The Pleasure of Reading Recipes from The New Yorker.

More Baking 101 next week!

Also, if you have any specific baking questions, leave a comment below and I’ll address it in a future Baking 101!