Do you often use baking mixes and ready-made cakes? What would your grandmother say if she saw this! In the past, bread, cakes and pastries were still homemade.
But for the recipes to be perfect, not only a little elbow grease and an accurate kitchen scale were needed, but also a few tips.
Here are some classic baking tips from yesteryear that can still come in handy today:
1) Hard butter, soft butter
For shortcrust pastry and crumbles, butter as hard as possible, that is, cold butter. To be able to knead the dough; you have to grate the butter into flakes.
For all other types of dough, use soft, that is, hot butter. To soften the butter at lightning speed, first fill a glass with hot water, then empty it and put it on the cold butter.
2) Smooth buttercream
Buttercream can be wonderfully smooth if you heat it slightly with a hair dryer.
3) Alcohol as a cooking agent
Before the invention of baking powder, alcohol was often used as a leavening agent. The alcohol evaporates during cooking and leaves an intense aroma. For example, for a chocolate cake with cherry liqueur: delicious!
4) do not knead the dough too much
In order for the dough to be nice and soft, it should not be kneaded for too long. It will be too dense. Mix the liquid ingredients first, then add the dry ingredients by hand.
Except for the leavened dough which must be kneaded for a long time.
5) Cake too dry
Cakes and cake bases stay tender if you sprinkle them with a little syrup or alcohol.
6) cooking with buttermilk
In almost all recipes, milk can be substituted for buttermilk. Not only is it lower in calories, it also has more flavor and a better consistency.
7) separate the eggs
Although it takes more effort, it is worth it: always separate the eggs and beat the whites until stiff before adding them to the dough.
8) don’t use cold eggs
The fat in eggs is solid when cold and softens during cooking. This changes the consistency of the dough. Therefore, cold eggs must first be separated and allowed to come to room temperature before processing.
9) Perfect yeast dough
Yeast likes heat, but not too much. Above 38 ° C, the yeast cultures die off and the dough does not rise properly.
Advice : preheat the oven to 50 ° C. As soon as you knead the dough, turn the oven off again and let it cool with the door open. The yeast dough can now rise in the warm oven.
10) tasty bread with leftover sourdough
The sourdough makes homemade bread really tasty and digestible. However, preparation takes time. For the next loaf, the process can be speeded up if you set some of the finished sourdough aside and store it in the refrigerator.
Recipe for sourdough:
Day 1: Mix 50 g of organic rye flour with 50 ml of hot water. Place the covered dough in a warm place.
2nd day: Add to the dough 50 g of rye flour and 50 ml of hot water. Cover again and keep warm.
3rd day: Add 50 g of rye flour and 50 ml of hot water while stirring.
Day 4: Repeat this step one last time.
Day 5: The dough now has a sour smell and can be used for baking. Store the rest of the sourdough in the refrigerator for the next time.
Next time, just take a teaspoon of this leaven and prepare the new leaven with it. It will only take 12 to 15 hours for it to be ready to cook. The sourdough keeps for about 7 days in the refrigerator.
Other than sifting flour, which was still common in grandma’s bakery, there is little in these tips that are completely outdated today.
Good luck with these new tips!
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