All about Baking: Methods

Methods do affect the end result of your baked product.

Here are 3 standard methods to mixing your baked good.

1. Quick/Dump Method: where you dump all of your ingredients and mix, there is no real order. This is going to create less airy products like brownies. If you like dense cakes or cookies you can consider mixing all of your ingredients roughly all at once.

2. Conventional Method: this is where you have step processes. First you cream your butter and sugar, the longer you cream it the more air that will be incorporated, therefore the lighter your texture you will be. Then you mix in your egg completely. Next you add dry and liquid ingredients, however, you alternate the two in even amounts to ensure not over mixing. Over mixing can cause toughness to occur. This is how you bake your cookies and cakes. Cookies do slightly differ in the fact that they do not have the liquid added in the end, in their case you just mix in the dry ingredients.
**When adding the dry and wet ingredients in the end you are not supposed to use beaters, but stir by hand. If you do not prefer to do that, it is okay just know that it can affect the texture. And, everyone can alter steps some depending on the texture they themselves like.
            For example yesterday I baked chocolate chips cookies, but I followed the recipe to a T, which I never do. And, to be honest I did not care for the texture as much as when I cream the butter and sugar less time. But, that's my personal preference. Experiment and discover yours! Oh, and let me know what you like :)




3. Muffin Method: (which I have to confess I have never used, because I never knew about it, but I am going to try it soon). This method is where you completely mix all of your dry ingredients and all of your liquid ingredients in separate bowls. Then you create a hole in the middle of your dry ingredients, pour in the liquids and mix gently by hand.



This was all about baking: methods. There will be more to come in this category!

Food Facts: Fats and Oils

Fats and oils

  > What you want: monounsaturated fat and omega 3's

      >> Where can I find these?

             Monounsaturated fats are found in Canola oil, Olive oil, and Peanut oil. They can only be found in liquid form at room temperature. Omega 3's are naturally found in fish like Salmon. 

       >> Why are these good?

              Monounsaturated fats gather other fats and bring them to the liver to be digested. Omega 3's are chemically structured in a way that is friendly to our bodies :)

> What you absolutely do not want: trans fats

     >> Where can I find these?

            These are formed by a chemical process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation takes a liquid oil and makes it solid at room temperature. So, these are your products like margarine, shortening, the non-natural peanut butters.

      >> Why are these bad?

             They have a chemical bond that makes them impossible for your body to digest and excrete as waste, so they build up as plaque. Be ware just because a food label does not list them as having any, if the product is hydrogenated or contains hydrogenated oils then it has less than 1% per serving, which can build up over time. Your best bet is to avoid as much as possible.

>What you want to use only in moderation: saturated fats.

    >> Where can I find these?

          These are solid natural fats at room temperature. These are butter and coconut oil.

    >> Why are these bad?

         This is how our body stores fat, so the more we have of this in our diet the more we are going to store.

That was food facts with fats and oil. More will be coming soon :)