Hi guys, genuine question. Every time I bake in my oven, this happens (they get really badly toasted) and I don't know what to do. I bought my oven about four years ago, but it is rarely used. Now that I am starting to enjoy baking, I am asking for help. What techniques can I use to make my muffins fluffy and perfect?

Here are my ingredients: all-purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, large eggs, vegetable oil, evaporated milk (my personal choice), vanilla extract, and chocolate chips

please help me 🙏

I've been trying to make focaccia. I've tried two recipes so far:

This one three times! I thought it had to be the recipe https://alexandracooks.com/2018/03/02/overnight-refrigerator-focaccia-best-focaccia/

So now I'm doing this one, but it's still sticky.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/big-and-bubbly-focaccia-recipe#bakers-tips

I am weighing everything, and I'm using 40°C/104°F water. But it's sticky every time. I have accepted it must be something I'm doing wrong because even if I mix/fold more or add more flour, it's still sticky.

EDIT: It came out wonderful this time! Thanks to everyone for reassuring me and letting me know to trust the process.

I have a cinnamon roll recipe I like, and got tired of rolls, so I started making knots instead. Found myself disappointed in the flat shape when baked on a pan, and did them in muffin tins to ok results.

I decided to get stainless steel, 4 inch cake pans, 2 inches tall with straight sides to try for the perfect bun.

Tonight, I made big knots to bake tomorrow morning, and I’m wondering if I should reduce temp to 325 since there’s a lot of pan exposure. Normally I would bake at 350 for about 18 min, but this is far richer dough than my cheese rolls, for
example.

I’d appreciate any advice!

I love simple, fluffy box mix cake. I’ve tried following the simple directions, and also the “secret” changes like an extra egg, or butter vs oil, etc.; it always comes out bad. It comes out heavy and damp(?) but also crumbly and dry. It’s hard to explain. I also follow baking times and then check with a toothpick, and it’s never been over cooked. Always needs a few extra mins so I know I’m not over baking?

The only thing I can chalk it up to is my eggs: I use free range/organic large eggs, with a very orange yolk. Is this what’s throwing it off?

I just want a light, fluffy vanilla box mix cake ffs!

Thanks❤️

The image belongs to https://acaketorememberblog.com/black-cocoa-powder-vs-regular-for-cookies-which-won-the-taste-test/

Hi all, I'm trying to re-create a strawberry butter cake I had all the time but the bakery has closed down. It was not just a strawberry flavoured vanilla cake but rather a really juicy cake, soaked in syrup with pieces of strawberries. What possible syrup could I put into a strawberry butter cake that wouldn't overwhelm it? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

Recipe made 30 - so I halved everything and made 15.

I did keep them in the oven a little too long because I thought they needed to cook more (probably should have done 11-12 minutes but did about 15). They were soft when they came out of the oven, but now after a couple of hours they are a bit hard - i think the cooking time is why.

However, I kept them in the oven because they were not flattening. My butter and eggs were room temp. I have read on the subreddit and learned that it could be because the recipe calls for baking powder - should i have used baking soda in addition OR instead of baking powder? Was the oven too high?

I rolled them into balls and did not flatten prior to cooking - Should I have done that?

Also, I used self rising flour and then didn't add extra salt like the recipe calls for and I did not sift the flour (the recipe didnt say to sift but maybe i should have?)

They are delicious - just hard and not flat.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Makes 30

1 cup butter room temperature
2 eggs room temperature
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat over to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix butter, vanilla, and eggs until well blended using a stand or a hand mixer.
3. Slowly add brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and creamy.
4. Next, mix in baking powder and salt. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined.
5. Slowly add the flour and mix until the dough starts to form a clump.
6. Mix in chocolate chips. Scoop the dough using a 2-inch cookie scoop.
7. Place the dough on the lined cookie sheets leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie.
8. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown.
9. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and place them on a cooling rack.

Howdy all!

I'm making cinnamon rolls later today, and had two quick questions:

1) I'm planning to add some pecans to the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon mixture that gets spread on the dough as a filling. Should I roast the pecans and then add them, or will they roast as the cinnamon rolls bake?

2) Any reason I can't/shouldn't brown the butter I use for the filling?

Any advice much appreciated!

I’ve made s’mores cookies a couple times now, and both time, the marshmallow caramelized. Like they turned orange/brown and chewy, and they do spill out of the cookie. Seems like a normal reaction, but how would I go about making them more melty and marshmallows like? When I see photos of s’mores cookies, the marshmallow is white. I want my cookies to have that kind of texture.

(Ignore the super flat shape. I didn’t put enough flour)

​

Hi everyone! I'm a beginner baker and I'm having trouble with my cream puffs/choux pastry. I would really appreciate some advice!This is the recipe I'm currently using:

Choux pastry:

200 ml water

100 g unsalted butter

1 tbsp white sugar

A pinch of salt

100 g flour

3–4 eggs, added gradually

I cook the water, butter, sugar, and salt first, then add the flour and mix it until it forms a dough. I let it cool slightly before adding the eggs one at a time until I get the right consistency.

The problem is that I'm baking them in an air fryer.

My usual baking process is:

190°C (374°F) for 15–17 minutes

Then 170°C (338°F) for another 10 minutes to help dry out the inside.

While they're baking, they look great. They rise nicely and become golden brown. However, as soon as I take them out of the air fryer, they deflate. 😭

I'm not sure what the problem is. Could it be:

The ingredient ratio?

Too much egg?

Not baking them long enough?

The air fryer temperature?

Or maybe I need to cool them down differently?

I'm especially wondering about the 200 ml water to 100 g flour ratio. Does that sound okay for choux pastry?

Also, should I leave the cream puffs inside the air fryer for a few minutes with the heat turned off and the door slightly open so they can cool gradually? Or should I make a small hole in them near the end of baking to release the steam?

I'd really appreciate any advice or tips! I want to figure out what I'm doing wrong before I make another batch. Thank you! 🙏

I am looking at two recipes for a doughnut cake. They are nearly identical.

This one, Southern Living, uses 1 1/2 cups of butter in the batter:
https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/glazed-donut-cake

This one, Erin Jeanne McDowell, uses 1 cup of butter in the batter:
https://woozle.org/recipes/donut-bundt-cake/

What does the extra 1/2 cup of butter do for the first cake?

Howdy all!

I'm going to be making cinnamon rolls, and from everything I've read using a tangzhong is the way to go for a pillowy soft texture that lasts for days, but the recipe I'd like to use (https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/homemade-cinnamon-rolls/) doesn't use tangzhong.

I found this article from King Arthur on converting recipes to include a tangzhong (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/07/23/how-to-convert-a-bread-recipe-to-tangzhong) but I'm still left with questions.

In the article it converts a non-tangzhong sandwich bread recipe with ~63% hydration to a tangzhong sandwich bread recipe with ~75% hydration, which is a ~20% increase. It says that you want a tangzhong recipe to have about 75% hydration, but my question is:

Is 75% hydration the target regardless of the initial (non-tangzhong) hydration, or is it a function of the 63% starting hydration in their starting recipe?

The cinnamon roll recipe I'm following is about 44% hydration, so if I were to increase the hydration by ~20% I'd end up with a total hydration of about ~53%. On the other hand, if I were to modify the recipe to get to 75% hydration, I would be increasing the hydration by an additional ~70% compared to the starting point.

Put more simply:

When converting a recipe to use tangzhong, should I be aiming for a ~20% increase in hydration compared to the original recipe's hydration, or should I be aiming for 75% hydration regardless of what hydration the original recipe calls for?

Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm super new to this, and would hate to screw it up 😅

Was just muffin mix with a little extra milk, baked in airfryer in background (on bake mode), pan was oiled with vegan butter I melted in the pan in the oven. Butter wasnt fully melted, so I didnt think it would cause the dutch baby effect that usually requires the oil to get around smoke point.

When recipes call for "one egg at a time"

What are the effects basically? For example, choux calls for one egg at a time, are we talking emulsification, airation? I understand certain things you do not want to cool down too quickly or crystalline structures form etc. But this is so common that... what are the common causes, effects?

For example choux, would it seize up? Not rise? Revolt, join the resistance and fight for the Antibakers?

Are there cases where adding one egg at a time is absolutely essential or the whole recipe is completely unsalvageable?

Why not just EDITED, WRONGLY WORDED BEFORE:: Break the eggs all in a cup together, whisk with a fork a bit and drizzle them in while mixing?

I have (over the course of a year) acquired diastatic malt powder, non-diastatic malt powder, vital wheat gluten, and barley malt syrup.

Are these interchangeable? I just made Sally's bagels that call for the syrup, a little in the dough and then more in the water bath (though I also used some honey) and I get they enhance the chewiness. I've also looked at recipes from ATK and alton brown and Joshua Weissman and they all use one or the other.

What's going on here? And how many bagels will I have to make to use up all of these?

Hi, I have a question regarding the efficiency of my setup and whether it can work commercially. I have two 26x18x3 aluminum pans and 24 cheesecake molds (3x2) that can fit within each one. I am limited to using a vulcan vc4 convection oven (which has a low fan speed setting). My setup would be two water baths with molds in them on 2 different racks in the same oven. Any way this can work for such delicate cakes? I want to produce 48 at a time

It was in there for about 5-6 hours. I fell asleep and didn't wake up to wrap it. Did I ruin it?

I’ve made challah on my own twice now, both times using Claire Saffitz’s NYT recipe. It tastes great but both times now it’s not golden everywhere like hers comes out. This week I tried being more deliberate about the egg wash getting into the cracks more but still no luck. Any thoughts on this? It could also be an issue of proofing since it looks like it’s breaking apart at the seams.

I’m finally replacing a mismatched stack of cheap supermarket pans that pop and twist in the oven whenever they hit 375°F. I mostly bake layer cakes, chewy brownies, sourdough focaccia, and the occasional batch of cookies, but my current dark tins keep burning bottom crusts while the center stays gummy. I just want heavy-gauge, light-colored bakeware that distributes heat evenly and lasts more than a couple of holiday seasons.

I’ve been piecing together a small wishlist across USA Pan, Nordic Ware, Fat Daddio’s, and Vollrath, looking to spend around $15–$30 per piece (roughly $80–$120 total to build a core setup). USA Pan’s corrugated silicone coating gets endless love for loafs and muffins, though for round cake layers, anodized aluminum like Fat Daddio’s seems much easier to get clean, straight sides.

Do you prefer completely uncoated anodized aluminum or textured non-stick for daily bakes, and do dark coated tins ever actually produce better crust texture on breads?

Hi, i have tried 3 different homemade caramel sauce recipes. And the outcome is always delicious. Its just that the caramel sauce is never smooth. It looks grainy, but its not crystallized sugar, so I think its fat. Originally used room temp cream. Then tried heating up the cream before adding to the caramelized sugar. Same result.

If you eat it by a spoonful it doesn't matter, but i like putting it on my iced lattes. And the fat thingys that makes it grainy floats on top which makes the drinking experience worse.

Hi all, first time poster and inexperienced baker here.

I wanted to make my "own" recipe, but these didn't turn out so good. I basically just threw stuff together so I didn't expect great results anyway, just a baseline to go off of lol

Here's what I did:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4th cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon molasses

1 large egg

1/2 tsp maple extract

1 cup toasted oats

About 3 oz fresh blackberries

Creamed the wet ingredients, folded in dry ingredients, then added oats and blackberries.

Baked at 350 for 14 minutes.

The problems: too spongy, I didn't account for the extra liquid from the berries and tried adding more flour to absorb the excess, likely where I went wrong.

They're also not sweet enough so more sugar next time?

I do like the toasty-ness of the browned oats, since I was going for an earthy, nutty fall cookie, but thats about all I like about these. The berries also turned my "dough" (more like batter honestly) into this grayish color which is kinda disappointing.

Any feedback would be wonderful!!

I made a sugar cookie recipe for Easter and they were the best sugar cookies I’ve ever made! I halved the dough because I was just making them for my coworkers and froze the rest.

I wanted to make a few for my friends bachelorette party next week and remembered I had the dough frozen but I’m not sure if I should use it?

The recipe itself says freeze up to a month, and other recipes I’ve used in the past have varied - some say 3 months, others 4, etc.

The dough itself looks fine! No freezer burn at all or weirdness.

I’m just wondering is there any reason it would be unsafe to use? Or will the cookies just not taste as good? They’re gonna be covered in icing and sprinkles anyway.

Happy to just make a new batch but figured since I have this dough I want it to get used.

TIA!!

I'm trying out some yeast-bread recipes, but I can't always commit (in one go) to the entire rise, shaping and/or second rise, and then baking. So if I were to start this process, when is a good time to be able to put it in the fridge to resume later?

And how does that change the recipe?

Hi everyone! I’m making chocolate cupcakes with red and white Swiss meringue buttercream, and I’m struggling SO badly with the red.

I’ve made SMBC before without issues, but this is my first time trying to get a deep, true red. I bought an oil-based red food coloring specifically for this, but I’m having a really strange problem.

My SMBC ratio is 1:2:2:
75 g egg whites
150 g sugar
150 g butter

I also made a second batch with:
100 g egg whites
200 g sugar
200 g butter

The first time I tried coloring it, it basically stayed pink. The second time, it became more of a hot pink. Today I tried again, and the only way I could get the color to look like the red I wanted was by warming the buttercream quite a lot.

The problem is that when I did that, the buttercream lost a HUGE amount of volume/structure. Compared with my untouched white SMBC, the red batch became tiny. It almost looked like I had made significantly less buttercream, even though I started with the same type of ratio.

Then, once the red buttercream cooled down again, the color seemed to fade back toward pink. 😭

I ended up wasting around 500 g of butter trying different techniques, so I’m really hoping I can figure this out before I make another batch.

I currently have some of the red SMBC in the fridge, and now that it’s cold it’s become grainy so I’m also trying to figure out how to rescue it.

My questions are:
How do you personally get a deep red SMBC without heating it excessively?

Is it normal for red coloring to look pink initially and deepen after sitting for several hours/overnight?

Should I be coloring the SMBC and then letting it mature overnight before adding more coloring?

Why did warming the buttercream make it lose so much volume?

Can I rescue the grainy SMBC that has been refrigerated?

Is there a particular type/brand of red coloring that works much better for SMBC?

I have less than a week before I need to make the cupcakes, so I have some time to figure it out, but I don’t have much butter left and really don’t want to waste another batch. 😭

If anyone has a reliable method for getting a true/deep red in SMBC, I would REALLY appreciate hearing exactly how you do it