Seeing a friend asking about the basic knowledge of baking, although I am only a novice, I will post some baking experience I have summarized, which is a small contribution of my years of snorkeling in the gourmet kitchen.

Singing and dressing-there are many baking materials; Acting needs to be learned-skill is often the key to success or failure. After many failures, I summed up several experiences for reference by chefs and chefs who are interested in making desserts.

1, enough time.

Almost all desserts should be cooled or even frozen after baking before further operation, such as icing or cream decoration. If the cake is hot, the decoration will melt and fail. There is also cutting, and it is only when it is cold that the ideal shape can be cut. Baked cookies must wait until they are cold, or they will break as soon as they are taken. Complete cooling usually takes more than 1 hour. In addition, it takes 1 to 2 hours to make dough, so there is not enough time and patience, so don't toss about.

2. When protein delivers it, impurities such as water or oil in the container will fail.

Usually, protein is mixed with sugar and tartar until it is hard foamed, and then mixed into the batter. I can't find Tatar powder anywhere. Later, I found on the Internet that white vinegar can replace tartar powder with the same effect. More importantly, it should actually be to avoid impurities. With water, protein can foam a lot, but it won't harden for a long time. It can be used to make omelets, but it's worse to make cakes. Moreover, the sugar should be put in several times, which is easy to beat hard. The taste of the cake depends largely on this glycoprotein, otherwise it will be as rough as bread.

3, baking powder, baking soda and dry yeast

Baking powder is baking powder and baking soda is baking soda. American families often use it as a smell absorber in refrigerators. Both are commonly used in baking, one teaspoon at a time, but remember, salt must be added! I wonder how its chemical reaction is. In short, these two powders will only work if they are salted. Instant yeast is very convenient. In order to make it work, warm water and sugar must be mixed first. After the sugar is dissolved, add the dry yeast and gently stir until it is dissolved. After waiting for 10 minutes, a layer of bubbles will appear on the water surface, indicating that the yeast is awake and can be put into the dough to make dough.

4. Flour classification

There are several kinds of flour for making cakes, including self-raising flour (self-raising flour, you don't need baking powder after using this flour, but I think this flour is too thick and yellow and I don't know how to improve it), low-gluten flour (cake flour), high-gluten flour (bread flour) and medium-gluten flour (all-purpose flour, the most commonly used flour). If China flour is added, there are glutinous rice flour, corn flour (transparent flour, used to make transparent snacks such as shrimp dumplings), corn flour (called raw flour or glutinous rice flour in Guangdong, which is not enough), sticky rice flour (ground rice flour) and potato flour. There are all kinds, so watch it when you use it.

When making cakes, flour is usually sieved, because flour will agglomerate, and it will be more delicate after sieving and the effect will be different!

5. Classification of sugar

White sugar in western supermarkets includes natural sucrose and sweeteners used by diabetics, and their shapes are also different. Ordinary sugar is sugar, and powdered sugar is called candy sugar, which is refined fine sugar and used to decorate cakes. Brown sugar is brown sugar, and sugar cubes are used less. Of course, there are colorful decorative candy. Syrup is called syrup, and the most common are corn syrup and maple syrup. And high-purity molasses, this supporting role is not easy to find.

6, spices and saccharin

The spices and saccharin in West Point are nothing more than these. The most commonly used saccharin is vanilla extract, which can add vanilla flavor to the cake with only a small spoon. Others include orange saccharin and lemon saccharin. Cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder are the most commonly used spices, and clove and mint are sometimes used.

7. Other ingredients

I like the taste of coconut. Coconut slices often play the leading role in my dessert. The taste of chocolate can be made of cocoa powder or the whole chocolate melted, but chocolate is too sweet, so I usually avoid it. I also often use corn cereal and oatmeal (oatmeal, eating more is good for the heart) to increase toughness and taste. For nuts, I mainly use walnuts and almonds, which are cheaper than others ... I've been looking for dried dates everywhere recently, because I don't like raisins, so I can use sweet dates instead. Butter (the kind without salt, not butter coated on bread, but margarine to reduce fat), eggs, vegetable oil, etc. It is the ashes of green leaves.

8. Bakers and measuring tools

After talking for a long time, I found that I forgot to mention the stage background-toaster! The picture below shows the basic baking tray, which has two versions of glass and resin. The 9X5-inch tray is dedicated to baking bread, and the round tray is used to bake cakes. There is also a special baking tray, the most exaggerated one I have ever seen, which can make the whole football stand up. Awesome!

The most basic measuring tools are measuring cups and spoons. I suggest you buy measuring cups and spoons with protruding scales, because the words on them are easy to wear out.