Tips To Make Your Baked Goods Better

Use Room-Temperature Ingredients

Many baked goods start by creaming together butter and sugar, which is made easier with warm ingredients. The exception – biscuits and pie dough need chilled butter to make a tender dough.

Invest in Quality Bakeware

Flimsy, thin pans and sheet trays won’t conduct heat efficiently, causing your cake, pie, cookies or pastries to bake unevenly.

Butter and Flour Your Pans Generously

When a recipe calls for a greased and/or floured pans, it’s for a reason: Your batter has the potential to stick to the pan and the cake will be difficult to get out of the pan in one piece.

Use Fresh Ingredients

The majority of ingredients used in baked goods—like baking soda, baking powder, yeast, and flour—have a relatively short shelf life, so if you don’t bake frequently, purchase them in small quantities so they don’t sit in your cupboard and become stale.

Measure Accurately or Weigh Ingredients

Successful baking means eliminating as much potential for error as possible and, that means, making sure your measurements are exact.

Use Salt

If you’re looking to cut down on the sodium, baked goods are not the place to do so. The half teaspoon of salt added to two dozen cookies won’t set you over your daily allotment, but leaving it out will drastically change the taste of the cookies.

Rotate Halfway Through Baking

Every oven has a hot spot, and if you don’t correct for it, you run the risk of unevenly cooked pastries—or worse, some that burn or wind up underbaked.Don’t, however, open the oven constantly to check on progress—it’ll lower the temperature and alter the baking time.

Follow Directions

Pay attention to key instructions like “cream until light and fluffy,” “mix until just combined” and “fold in gently.” Otherwise, your end result will be dense and heavy.

Chive Biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour, plus additional for dusting
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, well chilled and cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the whole wheat flour to make sure there are no clumps.

In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.

Add cold butter and pulse until a fine crumb is formed, about 10 pulses.

Through the feed tube of the processor, drizzle in the milk and process until a ball of dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until no longer sticky; knead in the chives.

Press dough into an oval shape about 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into 8 equal parts and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes.

Squash Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup mashed roasted butternut squash or 1 cup frozen cooked winter squash, thawed
• 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line sixteen 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cayenne pepper; set aside.

In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add squash, ginger, egg and vanilla; beat until combined.

Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the squash mixture, beating on low speed after each addition, just until combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake in the preheated oven about 20 minutes or until muffin tops spring back when lightly touched.

Cool in the muffin pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan. Serve warm.

Walnut-Yogurt Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnut halves (4 ounces)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup coarsely grated zucchini (from about 1 medium zucchini)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 9-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan.

Spread the walnut halves in a pie plate and toast them for about 8 minutes, until very lightly brown. Transfer the toasted walnuts to a cutting board and coarsely chop them; then freeze for 5 minutes to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar with the eggs, oil and yogurt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the grated zucchini and toasted walnuts and stir until the batter is evenly moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the loaf is risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the loaf cool on a rack for 30 minutes before unmolding and serving.

Spinach Corn Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (or 3/4 cups oat flour)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 oz baby spinach, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sage leaves, minced

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a blender, blend oats to the consistency of flour.

In a large bowl, combine oat flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, honey and oil. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir. Stir in spinach and sage.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Fill three-quarters full with the batter. Bake muffins for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center.

Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Garlic Knots

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, for shaping dough
• 1 pound pizza dough from your supermarket or homemade and thawed if frozen
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough into a 16 x 10-inch rectangle; with a knife or pizza cutter, cut crosswise into 16 strips.

Tie each strip into a knot and place on a large rimmed baking sheet. Brush knots with 1 tablespoon oil. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a large bowl.

While the rolls are baking, heat garlic and the remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a small saucepan over medium heat until garlic, about 5 minutes.

Pour garlic and oil over the bread knots in bowl; season with salt and pepper and toss gently. Serve.

Posted by Jovina Coughlin in biscuits, Bread, corn, Muffins, Nuts, Olive Oil, quick, spinach, squash, yogurt, zucchini Tags: Baking, quick breads