Ever wondered how some people find baking so easy? Well, not everyone follows the baking rules and instructions to the latter. With various hacks, bakers now have various shortcuts to come to that desired finger licking pastry that will get everyone talking about their prowess with baked products.
Days of crying over badly baked or decorated cakes are long gone. Step out and show your friends your culinary abilities like a pro with the shortcuts at your disposal. Right from removing broken pieces of eggshells in a bowl by simply wetting your fingers to using rainbow sprinkles for your decorations when you find decorating a bit too tedious, these are some of the shortcuts that every baker should know.
Roast bananas in the oven to ripen them
You crave for a banana cake, but you do not have ripe bananas. However, you have some seemingly ripe bananas but cannot be used in their current state for baking. Bake the fruits for 40 minutes in the oven and ripen them at 300F. Once the bananas turn black, take them out, place them in a bowl to cool down and then peel off the cover. You will achieve similar texture to that of naturally ripened bananas for baking.
Place your dough covered with a towel over a heating pad to help it rise
Rising your dough in the oven is the fastest way, but what happens when your oven is busy, or your power supply just got disconnected? You could be ‘rising’ it meanwhile with an invention of placing the bowl over your heating pad and let it slowly puff on its own for an hour.
Warm your refrigerated eggs in warm water to bring them to room temperature
Rarely do we keep our eggs out of the refrigerator to ensure they are safe and in a good state. Most of us always forget to take them off and leave them at room temperature before starting to bake. You will heighten that frustration when you bake then realize your eggs are still in the refrigerator and you should be incorporating the wet ingredient to your mix.
Place your eggs in a bowl with warm water, leave them for five minutes (at most, ten minutes) before use.
Blend your oats when in need of gluten-free flour
Are you a fan of gluten-free flour? Get oats instead. Put your oats in the blender and blend them to form a powder. This invention will give you quality flour without having to spend money on buying from shops.
Use white sugar mixed with molasses to make brown sugar
You can come up with homemade brown sugar by mixing two tablespoons of molasses with a cup of white sugar. Instead of going shopping for a large amount of sugar which might be out of stock at times, have your homemade recipe for brown sugar by using this simple trick.
Use wet hands when handling sticky pastries to help maintain their shapes
Some baking confectioneries like fudges have sticky ingredients, and it can be challenging to maintain their shapes before starting to bake. Ensure not to water your culinary skills by wetting your hands to prevent the sticky food from getting messy on your fingers, which would delve a significant blow to the ingredient’s shape.
Use homemade sprinkles and a cookie cutter for cake decoration
In case you do not have ready sprinkles, make your own by mixing your egg whites and powdered sugar in a bowl and color them using your favorite colors. Place a cookie cutter on the cake and carefully sprinkle your sprinkles before you lift the cutter. Cookie cutters come in different shapes, letters, and numbers to make appealing results.
Just because you see wonderfully decorated cakes and crunchy cookies on shelves does not mean that the skillful baker went through hell to bring that masterpiece at your reach. Some bakers are the best hackers of baking tips, saving themselves the trouble of going through lengthy procedures to get their baking done. It is vital for every baker to know some of these shortcuts. You will not only save time in the kitchen, but you will also be saving on money. Try some of these shortcuts and feel the magic.
