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The beginning baker may find that baking can be complicated if an individual does not know what they are doing. Here you'll find some cooking tips and guidelines to assist you if you are one of these individuals.

There are a few steps that should be followed first before an individual gets started. These cooking tips will prevent most disasters from happening. The first thing to remember is always read through the entire recipe before beginning. This will ensure that all necessary ingredients are on hand before you start. Check all expiration dates on all non perishable supplies. You don*t want to be running to the store in the middle of baking. Preheat the oven and check with an oven thermometer before baking. Most ovens can run anywhere from twenty five degrees cooler to twenty five degrees warmer. Check your oven to ensure that the proper temperature is obtained for the recipe. Follow all the directions on adjusting your oven racks, prepping baking sheets, and using the right baking pan. Always measure all the ingredients accurately. This means holding it up to eye level especially with liquids. To measure dry ingredients, first over fill and then level off with the flat edge of a knife. Finally, bake with love. If an individual is angry or rushed the recipe may not turn out right.

These next cooking tips are about ingredients common to baking. There are many different kinds of flour, and they are not all the same. For all yeast breads wheat flour is important. Bread flour works well if you are making yeast loaves. However, if you use bread flour in yeast bread it will turn into a heavy cake. Cake flour is a very fine flour. All purpose flour can be used for most any baking. It is the most common flour used. Bleached and unbleached flours can be used interchangeably. Make sure to put your flour in an airtight container and store it in a spot that cool and dry for up to six months.

Unlike some flours, baking powder and baking soda are NOT interchangeable. Baking powder is a combination of baking soda and an acid. Its leavening power works when it is mixed with wet ingredients and then baked into the oven. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda mixes with an acid ingredient like buttermilk, yogurt or molasses, it makes carbon dioxide bubbles that make your baked goods light and airy.

Cooking tips for handling chocolate are important to know. There are different types of chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate has no added sugar. It is a chocolate liquor that is at least fifty percent cocoa butter. Various amounts of sugar added to it create bittersweet, semisweet, and dark chocolate. Milk chocolate consists of dried milk powder, cocoa butter, and added sugar. White chocolate is made with cocoa butter instead of chocolate liquor. Unsweetened cocoa is made from chocolate liquor with seventy five percent of cocoa butter removed and then it is dried and ground into a paste. Chocolate is easy to burn when melting, so always melt it over a very low heat. Chocolate can be melted using the double boiler method, the direct heat method, or the microwave oven method.

Using these cooking tips will help make almost any baked goods turn out wonderfully delicious.