#ive decided to making bread and brownies this year because apparently i hate myself

[mellon1998]

It's baking season and, as a person who bakes as a hobby, I wanna post some tips beyond the usual "Just use milk instead of water for boxed cake" tip that everyone seems to think is some big secret.

Get parchment paper. It's super useful for cooking, too, but trust me you will want it for baking. Unless specified, most recipes will assume you're using parchment paper. Things bake differently on parchment paper than foil, get the parchment paper. Also, you don't need to put anything on the parchment paper to prevent sticking.

I don't care what the box or recipe says when you are making brownies DO NOT GREASE YOUR PAN. What you are going to do is line it with parchment paper and leave about 2-3 inches of paper sticking above the top of the pan. Once they're all done, you simply grab the paper and lift it out of the pan.

Brownies will bake fine in a glass baking dish if that's all ya got, you don't have to have a brownie pan.

When you are measuring ingredients use dry measuring cups for dry ingredients and level the ingredients. If you do a heaping "cup" of flour you have measured more than a cup of flour.

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. This isn't cooking, this is baking. Doing things in the wrong way, wrong order, wrong amount will impact the final product in terms of texture and taste in big ways.

If you are baking some kind of pastry (pie, tart, etc.) And the pastry tops/edges are done but the center and filling are not, cover the top and/or edges with foil. This will prevent burning while the rest bakes.

Be patient when you are creaming butter and sugar. The creaming process has phases. First the butter just gets coated in sugar (popcorn phase), then it kinda starts to break down and mix (lumpy mashed potatoes phase), then it will be nice and smooth and properly creamed (creamy mashed potatoes phase). Be patient.

Cube your butter before you cream it, it will make your life easier.

Unless specified, bring eggs and butter to room temperature before you use them. It will affect the texture.

Use whole milk if you can, the recipe will likely assume you are and it's taking the fat content of the milk into consideration.

When adding the dry ingredients into the wet do it in portions. It will incorporate better and make less of a mess.

Folding ≠ mixing. When you fold your dry ingredients into either whipped cream or egg whites, DO NOT MIX THEM. You are undoing all the work you just did. Instead, pour some of the dry ingredients in, use a spatula to cut down the center and fold it over onto itself. Look up a video if you need to. Do not overfold, either.

Use wooden spatulas instead of silicone. Maybe this is just personal preference, but silicone spatulas have never been good to me and I hate them. Wood is much kinder and can actually handle thicker doughs and batters.

If you are baking cookies that you need to roll out and cut (either with a knife or cookie cutter), please make sure you chill the dough before you cut it. Not only will it be easier to cut out, but chilled dough holds its shape and doesn't spread while baking.

If you are doing a one bowl recipe, where it specifically says to mix everything in a single bowl, mix between ingredients. For example, if you add the flour first then the cocoa powder, mix after you add the cocoa powder. If it says to add baking soda next, mix after you add the baking soda. If it doesn't specify an order in the directions, just go down the ingredient list. This ensures everything is fully incorporated into the dough/batter.

I have no clue if anyone will actually need these, but I think people get intimated by baking so they never try it. It's one of my favorite ways to destress and it's not that scary, there are just a lot of things that aren't common knowledge for people who don't bake. Just start with easy stuff and you'll be fine. Feel free to reblog with your own little tips and tricks.