Dessert Making Tips

[Aline]

Brownies & Bars

For easy removal of brownies and bar cookies (and no cleanup!), line the baking pan with foil and leave at least 3 inches hanging over on each end. Grease and flour the foil. When it is finished baking, remove the brownies or bars out of the pan by lifting it up by the over-hanging foil ends. Place the brownies or bars on a cutting board, remove the foil and cut the treats into pieces.

[Aline]

Egg-Beating Basics

The trick to beating egg whites successfully is knowing how much to beat them. Most recipes refer to two critical stages: soft peaks and stiff peaks.

When beating egg whites to the soft-peak stage, beat on medium speed of electric mixer till the foam turns white and the tips of the peaks bend in soft curls when beaters are removed. Gradually add any sugar to the egg whites after soft peaks form.

With addition beating, the foam continues to thicken, becomes even whiter, and forms glossy peaks that stand straight when beaters are removed. This is the stiff-peak stage. The egg whites at the stiff-peak stage contain all of the air they are capable of holding. At this point, do not overbeat. Further beating will produce dry, brittle peaks and reduced volume.

[BetK]

Great Substitute for Buttermilk

If you don't have buttermilk, just add 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk; let stand 10 minutes.


BetK

[Aline]

Baking with Chocolate

Can I use tub margarine when a recipe calls for butter or margarine?

Do not use the soft tub margarines (regular or low-fat) or other low-fat spreads in baking as they contain a higher percentage of water and will react differently when heated, causing unsatisfactory results.


Can chocolate that has seized be restored to its smooth texture?

Yes. Add 1 tsp cooking oil or solid shortening (not butter or margarine) per 1 ounce chocolate and stir. Repeat until chocolate has regained its smoothness.


Can burned chocolate be saved?

No, once the taste has been altered, it can't be rescued.


When should chocolate be chilled and when should it be stored at room temperature?

Anything made with tempered chocolate should be stored at room temperature. If untempered chocolate has been used, place the finished product in the refrigerator immediately to harden the fat crystals and maintain the glossy finish.


Do's and Don'ts

1· Cut or break up chocolate into even-sized pieces for best control when melting.

2· Don't rush the melting process by turning up the heat under a double boiler. The higher heat will cause the water in the bottom pan to boil and create condensation on the bottom of the upper pan. This will, in turn, create too hot a temperature for the chocolate and it will burn.

3· Because chocolate will continue to melt after it has been removed from the heat source, only partially melt it, then remove and continue stirring until completely melted and smooth. This works especially well if melting larger quantities (over 8 ounces) or chocolate.

4· Never cover the saucepan or bowl while melting chocolate - even the smallest drop of condensation will cause the chocolate to seize.

5· Milk chocolate and white chocolate will burn and seize more quickly and easily than darker semisweet chocolate, so watch them carefully.

6· Always have the rest of the ingredients at room temperature before starting a recipe containing chocolate.


Substitutions:

a) one 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate square = 3 tbsp cocoa + 1 tbsp shortening, hard margarine or butter

b) six 1 oz. semisweet chocolate squares = 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips = 6 tbsp cocoa + 7 tbsp granulated sugar + ¼ cup shortening, hard margarine or butter = two 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares + 7 tbsp granulated sugar + 2 tbsp shortening, hard margarine or butter

c) four 1 oz. sweetened chocolate squares = ¼ cup cocoa + 1/3 cup granulated sugar + 3 tbsp shortening, hard margarine or butter

d) one square (1 oz) semisweet chocolate = one square (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate plus 1 tbsp sugar

e) 4 ounces German sweet cooking chocolate = ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tbsp shortening, hard margarine or butter

[Aline]

Storing Chocolate

Tempered chocolate, wrapped tightly or placed in an airtight container, will stay fresh for at least a year in a cool, dry place, preferably below 75 F (25 C) and above 65 F. (18 C).

Don't store chocolate in the refrigerator unless the room temperature is about 75 F (25 C). If you do keep chocolate in the refrigerator or freezer for any length of time, wrap it tightly. Any moisture that seeps inside the package is likely to change the chocolate's texture. Chocolate becomes hard and brittle when cold, so let it stand, tightly wrapped, at room temperature before using.

Milk and white chocolate should not be stored for longer than about 9 months dues to the milk solids they contain.

When stored at temperatures warmer than 78 F, the cocoa butter in the chocolate will melt and rise to the surface, creating a gray film called bloom. This film affects the appearance, but not the quality or flavour, of the chocolate. The chocolate will regain its original color when it is used in baking or cooking.

[b-man]

Butter Measurements


1/4 stick = 1/16 lb = 1/8 cup=2 tbsp = 6 tsp = 28 grams

1/2 stick = 1/8 lb = 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 12 tsp =57 grams

1 stick = 1/4 lb = 1/2 cup = 8 tbsp = 24 tsp = 113 grams

2 sticks = 1/2 lb = 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 48 tsp = 227 grams

3 sticks = 3/4 lb = 1-1/2 cups = 24 tbsp = 72 tsp = 340 grams

4 sticks = 1 lb = 2 cups = 32 tbsp = 96 tsp = 454 grams


B-man

[b-man]

How to Prepare Chocolate Garnishes

Grated Chocolate: Rub a hard chocolate square against the largest blades on a hand grater. Sprinkle over a mug of frothy hot chocolate, cakes, or tarts.

Chocolate Shavings: Pass a vegetable peeler over the surface of room temperature baking chocolate bars, Use wax paper and a small spoon to prevent melting when adding to desserts.

Chocolate Curls: Using a flat spatula, spread a thin layer of melted chocolate over the backside of a cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minute.

When the chocolate is firm but still flexible, put the spatula under the chocolate. Push firmly lengthwise along the cookie sheet. If the chocolate is too firm, allow it to sit at room temperature. Carefully left each curl with a wooden pick and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Use wooden picks to secure curls to top of desserts, if needed.


B-man

[b-man]

Can I mix all purpose and pastry flours together?

Yes, you can but every flour has a purpose. Pastry flour has a low protein content to make tender pastries while bread flour has a high protein content to make chewy bread. (Protein forms gluten and the gluten strands make the bread chewy. In pastries, we want to avoid these strands.)

All purpose flour is a compromise between pastry and bread flours. By mixing pastry and all purpose, you will have a further compromise but it should be a satisfactory one for muffins, cookies, and pastries. It would not be good for bread.

This tip is from:

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

World's Easiest Pie Crust


Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 cup shortening, softened
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons water

Place all ingredients in a plastic bowl with a lid. Place one hand on top of lid and other hand on bottom of bowl, shake until dough ball forms. Remove lid, scrape sides and lid. Replace lid and shake until all ingredients are incorporated. Remove dough from bowl onto lightly floured surface, divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll one piece at a time into an 8- to 9-inch circle. Place into pie plate and fill with favorite filling.

Makes two 8- to 9-inch pie crusts.

B-man

[b-man]

Fresh Pumpkin vs Canned


I love fresh pumpkin in my recipes and don’t care for the taste of canned pumpkin. Can I use an equal amount of fresh pumpkin puree in place of canned?�

Yes, we do it all the time. Sometimes our fresh puree has a little higher water content, especially if the pumpkin was not quite mature, and we have to adjust the water content a little in the recipe. If we baked the pumpkin instead of steaming, we rarely have that problem.

Incidentally, we use winter squash and yams interchangeably with pumpkin. In most recipes, we can’t tell the difference between winter squash and pumpkin. Yam puree (usually we just mash it) is a little different but very good in most recipes calling for pumpkin.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

Chocolate Tips



Melting Chocolate: Use any of these ways:

Place in top of double boiler and melt over hot, not boiling, water.

Or place in custard cup and set in pan of hot water.

Or place in heavy, 1-quart saucepan; melt over low heat - if the pan is too thin, it will transfer heat too fast and burn the chocolate.

To speed melting: Break up chocolate into smaller pieces; stir frequently. If melting the chocolate in a double boiler or in a custard cup, set in a pan of water. Do not boil the water to speed melting as this will only thicken or curdle the chocolate.

If chocolate thickens or curdles: Add vegetable shortening (not butter or margarine) a little at a time and stir until of the desired consistency.

In an emergency you can substitute cocoa for unsweetened chocolate in recipes. The proportions to use are 3 tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon shortening or vegetable oil (not butter or margarine) for each square of chocolate called for in the recipe.

Do not substitute semisweet or milk chocolate in recipes calling for unsweetened.

B-man

[b-man]

Measuring Flour


“I never seem to use as much flour as bread recipes call for. What am I doing wrong?�

I suspect that you are getting too much flour in your cup. It makes a big difference how you measure it. Flour compresses and packs easily. If you are scooping packed flour into your cup, you’ll have a lot more flour, as much as 25% more.

Many recipes call for sifted flour. Sifted flour is light and airy. So if the recipe developer uses soft and fluffy flour and you use densely packed flour, you will be adding considerably more flour. It’s one of the major reasons that recipes don’t turn out quite right.

We usually don’t bother sifting our flour; we use a scoop or whisk to churn the flour in the bag until it is light and airy as if it were sifted. Then we spoon the flour into the cup and level it with a straightedge.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

Tip

To flame a fruitcake or other dessert, dip several cubes of sugar in a small amount of lemon extract, then place on dessert. Light immediately, and you'll get a lovely blue flame

B-man

[b-man]

How do you keep a pie shell from shrinking while baking?

There are two conditions that will cause shrinking of an unbaked pie shell during baking: too much gluten and too much water in the water/shortening ratio. As the shell bakes, the gluten tends to tighten and pull the shell together. And as the shell bakes, water evaporates and causes shrinkage.

Pie weights will help. You can buy pie weights on the internet including our site or in a specialty shop.

So, here's what we suggest:

1. Use the right flour, a low protein flour. It's the proteins that form the gluten. An all-purpose flour will work. A pastry flour is better.

2. Don't work the dough too much. Working the dough develops the gluten.

3. After you have rolled the dough, let it sit for five minutes. That gives the gluten a chance to relax.

4. Check your water to shortening ratio. The shorting will inhibit gluten develop and will not evaporate and shrink as water does.

5. Don't stretch the dough to fit the pan. Stretched dough tends to have a “memory� and slips back into the original shape during baking.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry.

The folks at The Prepared Pantry have a great baking library with scores of baking articles and information for free. They recently reorganized their library and added many more articles. You can check out the Free Baking Library here: www.preparedpantry.com


B-man

[b-man]

Cook's Tip


Helpful hints for baking angel food cakes...

Bowls and beaters used for beating egg whites should be grease-free.

Egg whites should have no trace of egg yolk in them.

A tube pan without a removable bottom may be lined with wax paper.

For improved flavor and moister texture, allow cake to "ripen" for a day after baking.

Angel food cake keeps well at room temperature, well covered. Freezing is not recommended.

B-man

[b-man]

Yeast Substitution

I'm having trouble substituting instant yeast in a recipe that calls for active yeast. What am I doing wrong?

You don't say what is going wrong . . . but let me take a shot at it.

It takes less instant yeast to equal a tablespoon of active yeast, about 2 1/2 teaspoons. So you may be over-yeasting your bread. If your bread rises faster than it should and has a yeasty, beer-like odor, you probably have too much yeast in your product.

When using yeast, less is better. Too much yeast will tend to make crumbly bread and it won't stay fresh as long. If you have too little yeast, it may take longer to rise but the longer rise will give the bread some complex flavors that are more sourdough-like and delightful. Great bread bakers are patient.

Answer provided by Dennis Weaver at www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

The Process in Food Processing



How to adapt recipes for the food processor...

Chop, slice, mince, grate and crumb ingredients first, then set them aside. Continue with blending, creaming, mixing and other combining instructions.

Process dry ingredients such as nuts, crumbs, coconut and similar foods first. Then follower other instructions, adding ingredients to the same processor bowl.

If nuts are part of a cookie recipe, for example, they can be added whole to the creaming process, where they will be cut up at the same time the shortening and sugar are creaming.

The food processor needs only a rinsing between "job" so that you can proceed from one to the other easily.

B-man

[b-man]

Freezing Bars, Cookies and Cookies


I have several bar cookie and brownie recipes that I bake regularly. Can I just stick my leftovers in a plastic bag and freeze them? What is the best way to freeze bar cookies?

Most bar cookies freeze particularly well. There are two ways to freeze bar cookies: wrap them individually or wrap and freeze the whole cake after it has cooled completely.

Bar cookies should last for months in a freezer (not the freezer section of your refrigerator which is not as cold). We have frozen bar cookies or six months with no noticeable loss of quality.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry.

The folks at The Prepared Pantry have a great baking library with scores of baking articles and information for free. They recently reorganized their library and added many more articles You can check out the Free Baking Library here: www.preparedpantry.com


B-man

[b-man]

White bread recipe to Whole wheat?


I have a white bread recipe that I have used for years with great results. I would like to try something with whole wheat flour. Can I convert my white bread recipe to a whole wheat recipe?

Sure. Most commercial recipes and many others call for 40 to 60% whole wheat flour. I would start there.

The whole wheat flour may mix a little differently than your white flour. Be prepared to adjust the amount of flour slightly. It’s easier to add a little flour to a wet dough than dribble water into a dry dough so start out just a bit wet. You can dribble water into your dough but it is harder to mix the water into the dough.

The sharp edges of the bran in whole wheat flour will damage some of the gluten. You may want to add a couple tablespoons of wheat gluten to your recipe. Also, a good dough conditioner will help.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry.

The folks at The Prepared Pantry have a great baking library with scores of baking articles and information for free. They recently reorganized their library and added many more articles You can check out the Free Baking Library here: www.preparedpantry.com


B-man

[b-man]

Removed for spam

[b-man]

Sifted Flour?

“I’m a busy baker. Most of my recipes call for “sifted flour�. Why do I need to sift my flour?�

We don’t have time to sift ours either.

Flour packs easily. A scooped cup of flour, which is usually packed, can easily weigh 20% more than light, fluffy flour—enough to throw your recipe off considerably.

The best practice is to weigh your flour. You’ll get the same measure every time and it doesn’t matter whether it is packed. Different flours have different moisture contents and therefore different weights per cup. Sift the flour that you use, weigh several cups, and take the average. From then on, just weigh and go.

What if you don’t have a kitchen scale? If you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into a cup, it will be closer to the weight of sifted flour.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

My own self rising flour?

Question of the Week

Can I make my own self-rising flour? I don’t have room to store an extra type of flour and I don’t use it often.

Yes, you can. Self rising flour is essentially all-purpose flour with salt and a leavener added. There is no standardization so there may be some variance between brands.

You can make your own self-rising flour for biscuits, pancakes, or other products by mixing 1/2 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt with each one cup of all purpose flour.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com


B-man

[b-man]

White Rye Flour?


What is white rye flour and why is it so suddenly popular?�

White rye flour is to dark rye flour as white wheat flour is whole wheat flour. That is, white rye has been sifted twice to remove the bran and germ. It is light colored, not quite white, with a cream-gray cast. It does not have the protein that wheat has to form the long strands of gluten that give bread its structure. Because of that, most formulas call for only 25% to 40% of the flour to be rye. The remaining flour is a hard wheat flour that is high in protein to give the bread structure.

White rye is very popular in artisan breads. We love both the flavor and the handling characteristics of white rye. White rye has a special taste but it is very mild, almost sourdough-like. (The distinctive taste that we associate with rye breads is that of the caraway seeds. If you leave the caraway seeds out, rye bread can be very mild.)

We now sell a white rye blend of flours on our website--a blend of white rye and high protein bread flours with conditioners and extra gluten added.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com

B-man

[b-man]

Biscuit problems?


My biscuits tend to be tough and chewy instead of flaky like my mother’s. What am I doing wrong?�

Let me make three suggestions for tender, flaky biscuits:

1. Use the right flour. Never use bread flour but use a soft, low protein flour. The proteins in wheat flour, when hydrated and worked, create the gluten strands that make our breads chewy. A pastry or cake flour has less protein. All-purpose flours have less protein than bread flours.

2. Don’t overwork the dough. Working the dough develops the gluten. Handle the dough as little as possible.

3. Keep your butter and dough as cold as possible. If you are using butter in your biscuits, the trick is to keep it a solid, not a liquid. If the butter gets warm and melts as you handle the dough, the texture of the product will be very much different. With little bits of butter imbedded in the dough, those bits will melt during baking, create steam, and make for flaky separations in the biscuit.

Dennis Weaver at The Prepared Pantry: www.preparedpantry.com


B-man

[Aline]

Fruit Pies

To thicken the juices of the fruit, mix flour with the sugar used for sweeteneing pie. When using an under crust, sprinkle the lined pie pan with part of the combined sugar and flour before turning in the fruit, and cover the fruit with flour and sugar before adjusting the upper crust to the pie.

Deep fruit pies should use laternate layers of the fruit and sugar-and-flour in order to assure even sweetening and thickening of the fruit juices.

For an average-sized double-crust fruit pie, allow from 2 to 3 cups of prepared fruit and 1/2 to 1-1/2 cups sugar with 2 to 4 tablespoons flour (the amounts depending upon the sweetness and juiciness of the fruit).

For added richness and flavour, dot bits of butter over the sweetened fruit before placing the top crust. Use 1 to 3 tablespoons butter for an average pie.

The usual deep fruit pie requires about 4 cups of fruit, with sugar, flour and butter increased proportionately.

NOTE: My mother always uses Minit Tapioca instead of flour in her pies. (example: about 3 Tbsp for blueberry pie)

** From French 1930 cookbook

[marieann2001]

Perfect Pie Dough

When rolling out my pie dough, I roll on a lightly floured plastic place mat with a wet dishcloth underneath. Using a large dinner plate for a guide, I lay it over the rolled out dough and cut around (or just pull the dough off). This creates the perfect size for a 9 or 10 inch pie plate. And no matter what the recipe says, I never ever refrigerate the dough and always have compliments not complaints with the end results.

[Aline]

There are basically 4 types of wheat flours used in a professional bakeshop. They range from "soft" weak flours to "hard" strong flours. They are classified as "Cake, Pastry, Bread and High-Gluten Flours".

Cake Flour - is used to make cakes, because of its delicate gluten (protein) structure.

Pastry Flour - has a little more structure (protein), and can be used to make pie dough, biscuits, muffins, cookies, and tart dough.

All-Purpose Flour - Not traditionally found in a bakeshops.

Bread Flour - a stronger gluten structure. Used to make white pan bread, rolls, hamburger buns, etc.

High-Gluten Flour - the strongest of all white flours. Used in making chewy bagels, pizza, hard crusted breads, etc.