Listen now to Chef Adam’s great baking advice including how to make self-rising flour and get evenly baked breads.
Is your bread or cake LIPPING off?
“Lipping” describes when the outside corners of batter in the pan rises faster than the center. Hence, the sides rise out over the lip. Don’t let this happen to you and your beautiful baked goods!
Solutions:
More on flour from a favorite source about ingredients, Joy of Baking
Self-Rising flour has 8-9% protein and contains flour plus baking powder and salt. I do not use this type of flour because I prefer to add my own baking powder and salt. Also, if the flour is stored too long the baking powder will lose some of its strength and your baked goods will not rise properly. If you want to make your own add 1 ½ teaspoons (7.5 grams) baking powder and ½ teaspoon (3.5 grams) salt per cup (140 grams) of all-purpose flour.
Flour is sometimes labeled pre-sifted. This means that the flour was sifted before packaging but it compacts during shipping and handling and therefore is no longer sifted by the time you get it home. So if your recipe calls for sifted flour make sure you sift it again. (If your recipe calls for 1 cup sifted flour this means you sift the flour before measuring. However, if the recipe calls for 1 cup flour, sifted this means you sift the flour after measuring.) Sifting flour removes lumps and aerates it so that when liquid is added the dry ingredients will be fully moistened.
Proper measuring of your flour is important, as too much flour will result in a tough and/or heavy baked good. When measuring flour spoon your flour into a measuring cup and then level off the cup with a knife. Do not pack it down. As stated above, flour gets compacted in the bag during shipping, so scooping your flour right out of the bag using your measuring cup will result in too much flour.
Flour, when packaged, has about a 14% moisture content. When stored, however, its moisture content will vary. In general, the longer flour is stored the more moisture it loses. This is why on a dry day using old flour your pastry will require more water than on a wet day using new flour.
Listen now to Chef Adam’s tips for making the perfect pizza crust.
Sylvia from Windermere is looking for tips on preparing great pizza at home. Chef Adam (ChefsLine’s resident pizza guru) offers his direction on how to ensure an evenly baked and crispy crust….plus general homemade pizza making help.
Here’s a link to Chef Adam’s recipe for Salmon Pizza.
Beth from Riverdale wants to know why she gets a crack in her cheesecake. Chances are your cheesecake either heated or cooled too rapidly, or both. Cheesecakes need to be treated gently, from slowly mixing, to using a water bath, and even easing the cake from a hot oven to room temperature gradually. And feel free to give one of our pastry chefs a call to review your particular recipe and to get expert tips on preparing your cake!
Chef Adam’s tips to prevent the cracks in your next cheesecake:
Listen now to Chef Jackie’s detailed instructions on the best way to clean, prep, and store your vegetables.
Annie from Santa Rosa want to prep her brussel sprouts the day before cooking.
Listen now to Chef Jackie’s tips on preparing a moist and delicious turkey.
Nathan from Central City Nebraska wants to know what temperature we recommend for a 20 lb. turkey? Nathan, we feel that a slow roast at 325 degrees is best. You should plan for about 4.5 hours of cooking time if unstuffed or 5 hours if stuffed. We recommend that you follow our Step-By-Step Guide for preparing the perfect turkey.
If you are hoping to prepare your turkey in a new or different way than is described here, you should call our culinary hotline or schedule an appointment with one of our chefs. You can experience the joy of cooking with your own chef instructor and our chefs can help you design your own, new and best, recipe!
