Baking fatigue is natural and very common— unlike cooking, baking is a lot less flexible! As I personally have encountered many baking mishaps and fails, I have come to realize that baking takes precision, strategy, and patience. After working with one of my good friends, Maggie Mulder (@sweet.cheyenne.bc), who is a professional at-home baker, I have acquired a handful of tips that are necessary and extremely helpful to add to my baking process. So, I thought I would share some of the knowledge and expertise she has shared with me as well as some tips & tricks I’ve gathered over the years!
- Use room temperature ingredients! When baking, it’s important to use ingredients that are at room temperature, especially butter and eggs as they will mix together more easily and evenly.
- Don’t open the oven door too often during the baking process: Opening the oven door can cause temperature fluctuations, which can affect the quality of your baked goods. Try to resist the urge to peek inside the oven, and only open the door when necessary. Instead, try the oven light!
- Let your baked goods cool completely before serving or decorating. This will ensure that they set properly and retain their shape. I highly recommend a drying rack!
- Have two sets of measuring spoons on hand when baking. This be super helpful when needing to measure both dry and wet ingredients without having to wash them between each use (Thanks Mary!)
- Avoid overmixing your batter. Try to simply mix until combined to prevent your baked goods from being too tough or dense. This will help make the final product more fluffy and airy!
- When measuring your flour, try not to pack it down in the measuring cup. This can cause you to have too much flour if you are attempting to tightly pack in as much as possible. This will help prevent your baked goods from being overly dry.
- Follow the recipe as closely as possible! As mentioned before, cooking is a lot more flexible than baking and is easily adjusted to the cook themself. Baking is much more precise, so try your best to follow closely along! However, don’t stress too much about this, some recipes can be more forgiving than others, so you will figure it out as you go!
- When making cookies, try and transfer them to the drying rack soon after pulling them out of the oven as they have the potential to brown on the bottom when left on the hot pan for two long.
- This is probably obvious, but be sure to set a timer! It is the most heartbreaking feeling when you open the oven to overcooked baked goods, even if its just slightly too brown. In the same way that baking is dependent on following the instructions closely, it is important to keep the timing exact as even one extra minute can sometimes drastically change the final results. You can never be too careful!
- Practice, practice, practice! The more you practice, the more confident you will be and the more fun it will become. If you are baking for friends or an event, it doesn’t hurt to to practice once before making your final product!
Please remember, these tips & tricks are are only to help prevent baking fatigue and frustrations. These are not meant to make your experience more stressful but instead more enjoyable by being more cautious throughout the process. Like my good friend, Maggie, always says— there is joy to be found in baking! If you are searching for good inspiration as well as instructive baking tutorials/recipes, I highly recommend checking out Sweet Cheyenne’s content here!