You’ve got questions. I’ve got a few answers and explanations.
Baking is a science and we’ve got a sweet tooth. With a bit of knowledge and kitchen-feel under our belts, we’re sweet successes in the kitchen. Here are some of the very frequently asked questions when it comes to stepping in the kitchen with cake in mind. Let’s talk. Let’s bake. Let’s get real.
• I only have salted butter and I’m going to use it, ok? By now you might have noticed that most all of the baking recipes on this site call for unsalted butter. It’s pretty standard in baking to use unsalted butter in recipes because, among other reasons, we want to be able to control the amount of salt we’re adding to our baked treats. You’ll find a much more thorough explanation here if you’re a butter nerd like I am: Why We Use Unsalted Butter. That being said, if you only have salted butter on hand, of course you can still make some mighty fine cookies. Just decrease the salt in the recipe by about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon. Or.. heck, if you like baked goods with a salty kick, keep the salt as directed in the recipe. Arm yourself with information and then do whatever the heck you want. We’re adulting well, wouldn’t you say?
• Alright, but can I make this gluten-free? Well the answer to this is two-fold. Yes and also, no. You can certainly make most cakes and cookies gluten-free if you know what you’re doing… in which case you’re probably a wizard and I think that’s wonderful. The answer would be a firm NO if you think you can just dump a bunch of coconut flour into a recipe instead of all-purpose flour, close your eyes, and hope for success. Life just isn’t that friendly. In my experience, I’ve had some wonderful success with one-for-one gluten-free flour blends, my absolute favorite being Cup-4-Cup flour– add an extra egg yolk or whole egg and you’re in business!
Why do my cookies go from fine to totally flat in the oven? There are a few reasons cookies can flatten to a mess in the oven. The most common culprits are fat and oven temperature. They all play a role and though cookies seem fairly simple, there is a delicate balance. In most cookies, our fat will be butter. Whether softened or melted to brown, butter will spread once it hits the oven. If the oven is too hot or the dough is too warm, the fat will melt before the cookie has baked enough structure to hold itself. I find that refrigerating cookie dough before baking it helps the fat to melt slower, giving the cookie enough time to bake themselves some structure before they oozes all over the baking sheet. Another helpful cookie baking tip? Increase the flour in a traditional cookie recipe from 2 1/4 cup to 2 1/2 cup and always scoop cookie dough onto room temperature (not warm from the oven) baking sheets lined with parchment paper (not greased with additional fat).
My very favorite cookies: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and Peanut Butter, Bacon and Dark Chocolate Cookies.
• High-altitude baking, please help. Tough. This one is really tough. Would now be a good time to mention that I actually live below sea level? I don’t have a lot (read: any) experience with high-altitude baking. I’m known to buy all my baked treats when I go to places like… Denver. BUT! King Arthur Flour has some information when it comes to high-altitude baking and since I have no experience with this I’m not going to pretend that I do. Also I wish you god-speed and the very best of luck. I’m down here in the swamps rooting for you.
• Dutch-processed cocoa. I don’t get it. When it comes to cocoa powder there are two types in baking: natural cocoa powder and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Long story short, natural cocoa powder is an acidic element in baking. Dutch-processed has been treated in such a way so that the acidic element has been removed from it. This sort of thing matters when it comes to whether or not you’re using baking soda or baking powder in a recipe. Baking is science. Here are more details!
• What’s the difference between baking powder and baking soda and can I just use the baking soda that I have freshening my fridge if I’m out of baking powder? Let’s start by looking at both our baking powder and baking soda with our eyeballs. I find that baking powder looks slightly more fluffy and light while baking soda looks slightly more grainy and just a touch more coarse. Both are used to lift and leaven our baked goods. Baking soda is also known as sodium bicarbonate. It is activated by heat and acid in the oven. Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicaronate, an acid, and cornstarch (that’s why it looks slightly fluffier than soda). Because it contains its own acid, it is activated before it hits the oven and then once again once it hits the heat of the oven. It’s science and it’s delicious. There’s more of a thorough explanation here: What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Are baking soda and baking powder interchangable? Not exactly. If you’re setting off on a baking adventure, it’s essential that you have both on hand. It’s hard to successfully and consistently tweak the balance of acid and leavening without these two very important baking essentials.
• Honestly, why with all the buttermilk? Buttermilk is one of my favorite ingredients in baking. It’s has a thickness and weight, it contributes an acidic element to our baked goods (so if we’re using baking soda, it’s all sorts of activated), and it adds a light tartness to our baked goods. It’s like velvet. The problem is, most of us don’t drink buttermilk so it might not be a staple in our refrigerators. If that’s the case, here are some easy buttermilk substitutes that add viscosity and acid to whatever dairy we’re adding to our baked goods.
• WTF with self-rising flour? You’re right. You’re going along, minding your own business and BAM! A recipe calls for self-rising flour. Self rising flour is a combination of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. It is commonly found in Southern recipes… biscuits, cakes… that sort of thing. To make your own self rising flour, whisk together 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. I find that self-rising flour is often made with a softer wheat than traditional all-purpose flour so I like to combine half all-purpose flour with half cake flour when making my own self-rising flour.
• Follow up: Why are there 18 different types of flour and does it matter if I exchange them willy nilly? Yes it matters. Just about everything matters in baking. Here are the difference between baking flours. For most recipes, it’s a great idea to have plenty of all-purpose flour on hand.
• What is a stick of butter? Here in the United States, our butter is typically sold in 1/2 or 1 pound blocks divided into two or four ‘sticks’. A stick of butter is equal to 1/2 cup or 4 ounces/ 8 tablespoons / 110g. Math. We got this, right?
• Large eggs? But Ina Garten only uses extra large eggs and she knows everything. You’re right. You’re not wrong and frankly I don’t know why Ina is trying to confuse us all. Large eggs are standard in baking. If we all decide to use the same egg size, we’ll all be on the same page in regards to how much liquid is going into our baked goods. Large eggs typically weigh about 2 ounces while an extra large eggs comes in at 2.25 ounces. That’s a strong difference in moisture once you start to add several eggs to a recipe. Unless you’re baking an Ina recipe, stick with large eggs. If you’re making and Ina recipe and you only have large eggs in your refrigerator like a normal baker… take a peek at these conversions. Oh… and speaking of Ina recipes, these Apple Pie Bars are incredible and we don’t have to futz with eggs. See also: Why We Use Large Eggs In Baking
• What is a double boiler? You’re asking great questions. A double boiler is a set of two different saucepans that, when layered together, have a natural space between them. Typically in the bottom saucepan we’ll add water, place the second saucepan atop the first allowing the water to gently boil and gently heat the pan on top of it. This type of heat is more gentle than a single saucepan over a flame and is often used to gently melt chocolate because… as you may know… chocolate can be finicky to melt and seize… making you (if you’re like me) want to cry.
You can buy a three-piece double boiler pot and lid. That’s totally a fine thing to do.
You can also simply buy the top pan in a double boiler situation, using a pan that you might already have in your collection as the water simmering pan.
OR you could dig through your cupboards for a heat-proof pyrex-type bowl that fits well over a medium saucepan already in your collection, combine the two, use a good pot holder, and use this as a DIY and totally functional double boiler. Good, right?
Now! Have any questions? Ask them below! We’ll get chatting!
xo Joy
Tabitha
I love your baking FAQ posts, because they are so helpful! Also as someone who did low carb baking for over a year, I can confirm that almond flour/ coconut flour/ alternate flours are not interchangeable for wheat flour! Esp coconut flour, which is super absorbent – I found that for small quantities of AP flour I could usually sub 1/4 the amount of coconut flour (so 1/4 tbsp of coconut flour for 1 tbsp AP flour). But I wouldn’t recommend that for anything over 1 cup of AP flour.
Now I’m back to regular baking (yay!) and I realized I only had active dry yeast for a bread recipe that called for instant. I followed these instructions (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/faqs/baking/yeast) along with the directions on the active dry yeast jar, but the bread ended up being REALLY overproofed. And then I saw that King Arthur says you can sub out yeast 1:1, with different rising times. So confusing! I’d love if you covered yeast in a future FAQ, but in the meantime, I just bought a jar of instant yeast to make my life easier. ;)
Jessie
I LOLed at the Ina reference. So true, she is a queen, and why the eggs? Probably because her friend the farmer only sells extra-large eggs…haha!
joythebaker
Yep. Basically yep!
Emily
You’re the greatest, Joy! Thank you for addressing the high altitude thing. After several weird baking failures over the years here in Salt Lake City, I finally realized my two favorite bakers and recipe suppliers live at low altitude–you and smitten kitchen Deb. I still haven’t figured it out, but at least have it on my radar as a potential baking mishap cause.
Erin
I live in Colorado at 5500 feet. I’ve been using the King Arthur Flour high altitude directions for years. My cakes come out beautiful! Here’s the link http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
T
I also live in Colorado and am way too lazy to adapt for high altitude. I just follow recipes as they are written and check a lot sooner than they tell me to? Like, I know when I make Deb’s I want chocolate cake cake I have to bake it for *at least* 30 minutes even though I think she says 25?
Kat
Great tips! I recently checked all the temperatures in my somewhat archaic oven. Turns out I’ve accidently been baking things at 400F+ when my oven was set at 350F. No wonder everything spread out or baked too fast!
brittany
HI JOY!!! i met you in portland for over easy. you know how they say never meet your heroes? well, you are an exception and i love you even more now. i’ve been making all the cookies from your books and am having trouble with spacing and sheet pan sizes and scooper sizes. what’s your golden rule of thumb? 12 cookies to a sheet pan? just buy XL baking sheets? should the recipe tell you the size of the pan and how far to space? recently made your snickerdoodles and while they were amazing, they turned out more like snickerdoodle squares because they spread out into one giant treat. thanks in advance! xoxo
Melissa C.
Another tip for high altitude baking is the cookbook called “Pie in the Sky” by Susan G. Purdy. Her recipes are pretty good, and she’s tested them at a variety of altitudes, but the parts I found most helpful were the science-y bits at the beginning of each chapter that explain why things act differently and how to combat the issues!
My only qualm with her cookbook is that there every recipe seems to call for a different pan size, and I’m not going to keep a strange pan size on hand for the one time I want to make a devils food cake.
Abby @ Heart of a Baker
This. So much YES!
Kat
Joy – can you give a little guidance (or point to a good resource) for baking in the UK? I am moving there for a year in September and I know the flours and such are labeled differently. Help! I don’t want to give up baking or spend half the year trying to figure out the difference between US and UK flour labeling :) Besides…I need to be able to win friends and influence people quickly and we both know the easiest way to do that is with baked goods!
joythebaker
Hi Kat! Congratulations on your big move! That sounds exciting. Yes let’s keep you baking, winning new friends, and enjoying your own cookies. I know from some limited baking in London that the fat content and gluten content of both butter and flour are different in the UK. Their butter often has a higher fat content that butter here in the US. As far as flours go, here’s a little cheat sheet. http://www.ochef.com/883.htm I think part of your adventure is going to be a lot of experimentation in the kitchen! Best of luck!
Kat
Joy – Thanks so much for the link! I knew you’d done a bit of baking in the UK, which is why I asked the question. I was aware that the butter had higher fat content but was flummoxed about the flour. I guess it will take a bit of experimentation. I will be having several flatmates so I don’t think it will be a problem to find taste testers! Quick additional question – since the butter has higher fat content does that mean I need to adjust recipes in other ways? Or perhaps baking times/temps so things don’t bake improperly or spread too much? Maybe I need to buy myself some Irish/European butter over the summer and do some trials in advance :) I’m thinking of doing a blog of my adventures – baking and otherwise! I do know I’ll keep reading your blog and baking your recipes b/c they never fail to make me laugh and taste delicious! – Kat
Claire, UK
I’m British, but often bake using recipes from American blogs. I’ve not had any major problems with any variations there may be between flours/butters here versus the US but your safest bet may be to invest in a decent pair of kitchen scales (Salter do good ones for less than £20) and hit up some British recipes. I’d recommend Dan Lepard (a big archive of his recipes are available on The Guardian newspaper website) for a wide variety of baking, a bit of Delia Smith for anything very traditional (scones, Victoria sponge, etc.) and Nigella has a lot of fans for anything more along the soft and squidgy/gooey line (although I don’t think I’ve ever made any of her recipes myself). David Lebovitz is also a great source for recipes (see his blog). Although he’s American, he lives in Paris so has some insight into the American in Europe thing.
Where in the UK are you going to be? If you’re in London, you’ll be able to get your hands on pretty much anything anyway. If you’re coming Oop North (where the best folk are) then it may be more of a challenge, even in some of the major cities, and you’ll have to adapt a bit more to what is available. For example, you’ll not find those enormous bags of chocolate chips that Americans seem to whip out at every opportunity (hey, if I had access to them, I’d be whipping them out left, right and centre too).
Kat
Claire- My kitchen scale is already on my SHORT list of cooking utensils to bring with me (along with my fave knives!). Thanks for the heads up on some new blogs to follow. I’ve read Lebovitz before and so this is additional encouragement to revisit to his blog. I’ll be living in Surrey (a few miles from Heathrow) area, so close enough to London that I should be able to dig up lots of resources and ingredients I think – even if I have to take a bit of a road trip around the city. I’ll survive without my chocolate chips as long as I can get bar chocolate that can be chopped – and I have no doubt that will not be a problem! Thanks for all the good resources! :)
Erin
Kat – I lived in the UK for a year while in university and I thought it would be impossible to find a muffin pan there, so I took one with me. I was so wrong. While flours and butters might be a bit different, I never had any issues, plus the UK has so many more cool things for baking like easy-to-find sheets of gelatine. Take advantage of the ingredients you can get there and go nuts with UK recipes like Nigella’s. Oh, and I remember I found chocolate chips with no problem, and I was in a smallish city in South Wales.
Kat
Erin – Good to know! I have a SHORT list of cooking/baking utensils I intend to take with me. It looks like I have lots of tasty reading and testing of recipes ahead of me. Also, thanks for the encouragement to try new ingredients…though I might come to like them too much and miss them when I return to the States!
Barb
Kat, if you ever do create a blog I hope you let us know what it is, I’d read it! I’ve always wanted to live in the UK for a while, just ’cause.
Jen
Very nice! Just a tip from this high-altitude baker–if you’re baking at high altitude, look up your state university or local government extension service. They often have very helpful publications on high altitude baking and cooking that will help you easily adapt recipes developed at lower altitudes.
joythebaker
Oh wow that’s great! Thank you, Jen!
Teri Mae
Very informative post! As a scientist by trade baking is one of my favorite things! Definitely a lot of science and chemistry involved. I am fairly obsessive about flour and I am currently working on finding good ratios of the various wheat to create an “all-purpose flour” from fresh ground wheat. Do you have any suggestions on substituting fresh ground flour, sifted to exclude the bran or whole wheat, to your recipes?
joythebaker
That’s really interesting to me too! I think as you’re starting to substitute fresh ground flours (this is awesome, btw!), you have to consider exactly what kind of wheat you’re using. I know down here in New Orleans there’s an incredible bread baker (Bellegarde Bakery) who grinds his own flour and his main grind in an Oklahoma Red Wheat. In my experience, to get this to be a hearty all-purpose substitute I have to actually mix in something like King Arthur’s All-Purpose, making it not a true fresh ground experience. I think the soft spot would be finding a softer wheat to use with something like the Oklahoma Red because it has such stellar structure. All of this to say… I don’t know a ton of what I’m talking about here just because I’m lightly experimenting myself. High-five on your endeavor!
Chrissy
This post has answered a highly charged Facebook debate amongst my friends on salted vs. unsalted butter, so thank you for that. Also, my mom ALSO used XL eggs and like Ina, I find she does no wrong in the kitchen. Maybe one must yield special kind of magic to use them interchangeably in a recipe and still have them come out. That’s my theory anyway.
joythebaker
I accept ‘magic’ as an actual answer to this debate.
Ben Myhre
Great article. We make our own coconut and almond flour on occasion and def is NOT a straight up substitute for the magic of wheat flour. Def some research is needed to make those products as useful as flour.
Michelle
Ah yes, large Vs extra-large eggs. It’s even more fun when you read a recipe from a place where the egg sizing is different! E.g. Irish medium eggs == US large and Irish large == US extra large (and I have no clue what is going on with Irish jumbo eggs. What sort of mutant chickens make those things?!), so any recipes from online can be interesting
joythebaker
Always an adventure, Michelle! Oh man…
J-Mom
I’ve been baking all this time without knowing the acid difference in cocoa powder. Sooo glad I read your post! I need to check which cocoa powder I keep on hand. This might just be (at least one reason) I have a perception that my cakes don’t rise well.
Taste of France
Great info. I read an interview with some scientist who said that baking is chemistry. You’re turning a liquid into a solid, and the amounts have to be right or it won’t work. I’m the kind of cook who takes recipes as mild suggestions, but when baking, I do try to have some kind of scientific reasoning behind my tinkering.
Isabelle
Love this tutorial. It’s a great reference tool for future baking. Hoping to see more like this in the future. Thank you Joy!
Carla
Thank you. Great post, very informative. Thanks for the links to other explanations and recipes. Really enjoyed this.