Assuring success

Hi everyone today ill be telling you how to assure you get success when baking

follow these useful suggestions and you will be guaranteed success every time you bake.

• Preheat the oven for 10-15 minutes before baking, even if the oven manufacturer's instructions suggest that this is not necessary. If you have a fan assisted oven, reduce the temperature according to their instructions.  
  
  
• It is important that ingredients are measured accurately, so it is worth investing in good-quality scales and standard measuring spoons.

• Get into the habit of preparing baking sheets, paper cases and tins before commencing preparations, as mixtures that contain self-raising flour start to activate once the liquid has been added to them and should therefore should be baked as soon as possible after they have been prepared.

• When butter or hard margarine needs to be softened before blending with another ingredient , either remove it from refrigerator and leave at room temperature for about 1 hour, or cut into cubes, place in a bowl and microwave on High for 10 seconds until softened slightly. Be careful not to allow to melt.

• It is not necessary to sift flour unless you are combining several dry ingredients to facilitate even mixing.

• After adding the flour to a cupcake or muffin mixture , do not over-beat it as this will make the mixture tough.

• Where dough has to be refrigerated to make it firmer and easier to handle, you can speed this process  by wrapping the dough in baking paper and placing  in the freezer for a third of the time that you wold normally refrigerate it.

• Do not over-beat brownie or bar cookie mixture as this can make them rise too much and sink when they cool.

• Always place cookie dough on cold baking sheets to prevent the dough from spreading excessively and browning too much around the edges. When making a large quantity of cookies, leave the baking sheet to cool for a few minutes in between batches.

• Bake cookies on non-stick baking sheets or line them with baking paper but, unless specified in the recipe, do not grease the sheets as the cookies will spread excessively, become too thin and brown too quickly around the edges.

• Place cookies well apart well apart on the baking sheet to allow room for them to spread during cooking. Unless they are particularly large, a gap of 5 cm/2 inches is usually enough.

• Position baking sheets of baking paper, cookies, bars or muffins on the middle rack of the oven for even browning.

• unless otherwise stated, transfer cookies  to a wire rack as soon as they are firm enough to handle, and cupcakes and muffins directly after they are removed from the oven , and leave to cool. This will allow the steam to evaporate and prevent them from becoming soggy.

• When baking cupcakes and muffins, try to resist the temptation to open the oven door during the first half of the cooking time as cold air can cause the mixture to sink in the middle.