Baking Unplugged

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

The Basics

ONE SET OF MEASURING SPOONS: Look for a set with deep wells. Some of the flimsy metal spoons have shallow wells that are hard to level, making accurate measuring difficult. Since you'll be measuring potent ingredients such as salt, baking soda, and yeast with these, you'll want to be as precise as possible.

ONE SET OF DRY MEASURING CUPS: Look for sturdy, straight-sided cups that are easy to level and have heavy-duty handles that don't easily bend. I have an extra-large set that includes a 2/3-cup and 6-cup measure. You'll use these cups for measuring all dry ingredients, dried fruit, and even small amounts of frozen berries.

HEATPROOF GLASS (PYREX) LIQUID MEASURING CUPS: Have a good variety of these cups. I have 1-cup, 2-cup, 4-cup, and 8-cup measures. Sure, they're designed for measuring liquids, but the larger ones can also be used for mixing and pouring. I use the 8-cup for measuring fresh fruit for pies and for making simple batters and doughs.

Both liquid and dry measuring cups measure volume. Because they have different shapes, though, if you fill a 1-cup liquid measure and a 1-cup dry measure with flour, you will not have the same amount of flour by weight in each cup. It pays to use the right measuring tool for most dry ingredients, but especially for flour. Two tablespoons too much flour can make cakes or cookies tough and dry. Remember that 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 cup of liquid makes a thick gravy, so that's a lot of moisture-holding power! Milk will fit into the metal cups, of course, but without the markings on the clear glass liquid measure you can't make sure you've measured precisely.

BOWLS: You'll need at least three or four bowls ranging from 6" to 14" in diameter for mixing. Once upon a time, I had steel, ceramic, and glass bowls. Because the ceramic and glass bowls were so heavy, clunky, and breakable, I got rid of them. Now I only have lightweight, nonreactive stainless-steel bowls. I use the shallow bowls for tossing fruit and letting doughs rise, and for placing over a smaller pan of simmering water for a makeshift double boiler. Since metal conducts heat fast and does not suffer when exposed to temperature extremes, you can take a hot bowl and place it in an ice bath to rapidly cool a mixture down-custard, for example. I have a few bowls with high sides for whisking liquids together, beating egg whites, and whipping cream-much less splashing and sloshing that way.

KNIVES: There are only three essential knives you'll need, and you probably own all of them if you cook: a small paring knife, for splitting and scraping vanilla beans and other precise work; a 6" to 8" regular chef's knife, for chopping fruit, nuts, and chocolate; and a long serrated knife for neatly slicing breads and cakes.

SAUCEPANS: You'll need a small and medium saucepan for making custards, sauces, and fruit compotes. I have a heavy-duty stainless pan that heats evenly for making caramel. Sugar doesn't turn to caramel until you've exceeded 300F, at which point a lesser pan reveals its shortcomings with hotspots. A stainless interior is best for judging color, too-essential for knowing when to remove the caramel from the heat. Also in my collection is a cheap, lightweight pan with a nonstick interior. I am not ordinarily a fan of nonstick pans, but I've found that I love to make quick skillet jams, fruit sauces, and preserves in this pan, because the nonstick surface cleans up so beautifully, and less fruit sticks to the side and burns.

BOX GRATER: You'll need a box grater for shredding zucchini and carrots for cakes (the largest holes-not the long slats for slicing) and for grating fresh ginger (use the smallest holes).

VEGETABLE PEELER: You'll need one of these for peeling apples and carrots. A vegetable peeler is the perfect tool for making lovely chocolate curls, too.

MICROPLANE ZESTER: These sharp, long tools make fast work of zesting, leaving you with a fluffy mass of flavorful fruit peel and no bitter pith.

A ROTARY (HAND-CRANKED) CHEESE GRATER: This ingenious little cheese grater is perfect for grinding nuts into a fine, light powder. The friction of grinding nuts in a food processor makes the nut meal oily and heavy-it's better for making nut butters.

WOODEN SPOONS: I keep my wooden spoons (along with silicone spatulas and whisks) in a ceramic pitcher right next to the stove top, so I can grab the one I want without having to open a drawer and dig around. In addition to regular wooden spoons, I have a flat-edged one whose greater surface area and sharper edge make creaming butter and sugar together more efficient.

SILICONE SPATULAS: Invest in a few heat-resistant silicone spatulas and you'll never regret it. The big ones are great for gently folding ingredients into batters, and the small ones help you get every last bit of melted chocolate, honey, or sour cream out of a measuring cup. Some spatulas have a slightly concave interior, making them perfect for spooning batters into pans. You can even use them in place of wooden spoons for stirring.

WHISKS: Whisks are my favorite kitchen tools. I use them for mixing dry ingredients together, which lightens and aerates them before they will be incorporated into a batter. If your flour or cocoa has no lumps, whisking can take the place of sifting.

I also use a whisk to combine the liquid ingredients-after I've whisked the dry, naturally, so I don't have to wash and dry the whisk. And since I often leave my butter sitting out near the stove where it gets meltingly soft, sometimes I use the whisk to cream the butter and sugar and then beat in the eggs in cake batters. I also whisk the oil, sugar, and eggs together for oil-based cakes. Whisks are, of course, essential in the unplugged kitchen for whipping cream and beating egg whites. If you have a teardrop-shaped balloon whisk with flexible loops that are well-spaced, you can also use it to begin the folding process, when you want to take care not to deflate eggs or cream as they are incorporated into a mousse.

I buy very inexpensive balloon whisks (as opposed to French whisks with their straighter shape and firmer metal loops), made of lightweight steel, that are easy to hold onto.

Look for thin, widely spaced, flexible loops-they will be gentler on batters and will whip cream faster. The lightweight metal will be easier on your arms, too, if you aren't used to whipping cream by hand.

JUICER: The reamer-style juicer is adequate, but for juicing any quantity of lemons, limes, or oranges, I like the traditional dome-style juicer with the juice reservoir at the bottom.

MESH STRAINERS OR SIEVES: I don't own a sifter; a mesh strainer is the best, handiest tool for me. Get at least two strainers-one fine-mesh screen and one regular. If I need to strain lumps from cocoa or brown sugar, I use a strainer. Ditto for a custard that has tiny lumps of overcooked egg in it. I also use them as colanders to wash berries. When a recipe calls for a small amount of coffee, I often mix the fine grounds directly in boiling water, let them steep for 5 minutes for maximum flavor, then sieve the coffee through a very fine-mesh strainer.

PARCHMENT PAPER: There is only one specialty item that I can't live without, and that's commercial parchment paper. You'll find this at restaurant- and cake decorating-supply stores. I buy a whole box of 1000 sheets at a time, which lasts for years, but many stores (or bakeries) will sell 10 or 20 sheets at a time. If you buy 18" x 12" rimmed baking sheets (aka half-sheet pans), half of a parchment sheet will fit the pan perfectly. Commercial parchment paper is much, much cheaper than the brown, waxy rolls of parchment sold in the supermarket. Plus, the rolled parchment constantly curls up at the edges and won't lie flat.

I bake cookies on parchment, which makes cleanup easy, slightly decreases how much the cookies spread, and moderates browning. I roll out cookie dough and pie pastry between sheets of parchment for ease. Parchment can also be rolled into cones to use for piping frosting or ganache.

ROLLING PIN: If you are heading out to the store, I vote for the straight rolling pin. At about 18" long, with a diameter of nearly 2", it is the most useful. I use it to crush cookies and flatten pie dough. Its long length makes rolling dough fast, easy, and precise.

OFFSET METAL SPATULAS: These look like very skinny spatulas with a bend in the blade toward the handle. The angle of the handle makes this little tool useful for inserting into tarts, pies, and baking pans to lift out a single serving of dessert. You'll need a large one and a small one. They're great for leveling off ingredients in dry measuring cups, smoothing out batters in pans, running around the edge of cake pans to loosen cakes, and spreading frostings and fillings on desserts.

A STAINLESS-STEEL (FIRM) OR A PLASTIC (FLEXIBLE) BENCH SCRAPER: When you're rolling out doughs or making bread, a bench scraper is your best friend. It loosens your dough when it sticks to the counter or wooden board, and it scrapes up every last bit of sticky dough on the rolling surface, thereby preventing more sticking. You'll also use it to divide dough into pieces or to scrape out a bowl. It's very handy.

PASTRY BLENDER: A pastry blender is the quick and easy way to cut fat into flour when making pie pastry, biscuits, or scones. You'll often see recipes that call for two knives to cut in the butter. I have to admit this has always baffled me, and I've never actually seen anyone do it. I personally would have more luck with two chopsticks. I fell in love with my grandmother's pastry blender when I was little, and I still think it's fun to mash the cold bits of butter and shortening with it.

COOKIE, BISCUIT, AND DOUGHNUT CUTTERS: You can go nuts with cookie cutters and end up with dozens for every occasion, but all you really need to get started is one 2 1/2"- to 3"-round cutter for basic cookies, biscuits, and shortcakes. A doughnut cutter is really two round cutters nested together, so that you can go back and remove the ball of dough from the center of the doughnut. Then, of course, you can fry up the doughnut holes, too.

BAKEWARE: Here's a basic list of the bakeware a home baker uses most. Don't feel pressured to go out and buy all these pans at once. You probably have a few of them, anyway, and it's best to let your food cravings dictate which pans to invest in next. Whether you buy entry-level pans at your local discount store or upgrade to name brands sold at department stores, the recipes will work regardless. On the facing page you'll see the kind of pans I used when preparing the recipes in this book, but with a small bake-time or temperature adjustment, bakeware of any material will do.

I prefer simple, light-colored metal pans to either heavy, dark metal pans or heatproof glass. Dark pans absorb heat easily and heavy pans absorb heat slowly due to their heft and so will brown delicate cakes and cookies more than light pans. While glass and ceramic pie plates make a prettier presentation, they are heavy and clunky to store-especially if you like to stash a bunch of pies in the freezer. Glassware does have the bonus of being clear, allowing you to gauge browning more easily-very appealing to a new baker. Glass is slower to heat in the oven and slower to cool down, and as a result, many books say it bakes "hotter" and to adjust the oven down 25 degrees when baking with it. Keep in mind that even heat-treated glass will shatter if you take it from hot to cold too quickly. Since I cool my pies and cakes outside in winter, this is another negative for me.

I don't use silicone pans because they conduct heat differently, which alters browning and bake time. Occasionally, the recipe itself requires changing, which I found with Bundt cakes.

Extras

THERMOMETERS: It's better to be safe than sorry when cooking meat, so you may already have an instant-read or meat thermometer in the house. But thermometers take the guesswork out of making desserts, too. When, say, you're stirring a custard that you know will curdle if it comes to a boil, but you aren't sure the eggs are cooked yet (160F is done) ... a thermometer sure comes in handy. Frying, too, is serious business, with low temperatures leading to soggy, oil-laden foods, and a frying thermometer (for high heat) can tell you if you're at the ideal temperature of 365F or not.

I have only one thermometer in the kitchen, a Polder that has a metal coil attaching the temperature probe to a readout screen. It accommodates high temperatures, and you can program the temperature sensor so that a buzzer will sound when the cooking is done. You can put the probe in and leave the kitchen-the buzzer will let you know when to return. I've worn out one temperature probe and am on my second (with a backup spare ready to go in the drawer). Periodically, check your probe by immersing it in boiling water. If it doesn't register anywhere close to 212F, it's time to get a new one.

WOODEN SKEWERS: There's no easier way to check for doneness with cakes and muffins than with a wooden pick of some kind. Knives, being smooth, seem to repel batters that are slightly underdone, giving you the impression a cake is done when it is not.

PASTRY BRUSHES: These are handy for brushing melted butter on doughs or for greasing pans. I have several 1" and 2" soft bristle brushes, and one silicone brush to use with hot syrups and glazes.

PYREX OR CERAMIC RAMEKINS: I have a weakness for adorable ramekins. I use them for holding small ingredients that I've measured for a recipe, such as spices, but they are essential for individual desserts like pot de crme, pudding, and mousse.

NUTMEG GRATER: It seems crazy to ask someone to invest in such a specialized tool, but if you bake regularly, you won't regret it. Dried ground nutmeg loses its aroma quickly and has a faintly metallic flavor. I never even liked nutmeg until I grated it fresh, and then I fell in love. And whole nutmegs don't get stale for years-at least mine haven't yet. The savings will pay for the grater.

PLAIN AND STAR PASTRY TIPS: You'll need decorative tips if you like the polished look of piped whipped cream or frosting on desserts. You can use a plain old freezer bag (snip off the corner) to pipe whipped cream or mousse, but you'll need a large pastry bag for stiff doughs like pte choux (cream puffs) or spritz cookies.

The Baking Pan List

Two 9"-round cake pans, with 1 1/2"- to 2"-high sides

One 13" x 9" rectangular pan

One 9"-square pan (two are better!)

Two 9" x 5" loaf pans

One 9 1/2"-diameter fluted tart pan with a removable bottom

One standard 12-cup muffin tin

One 13"-diameter Bundt pan (12-cup capacity)

Two to three rimmed baking sheets, approximately 18" x 12"

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Baking Unpluggedby Nicole Rees Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Excerpted by permission.
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