When you make pastries, 95 % percent of failures are related to texture. 5% are related to taste balance. Here is a short list of 5 common mistakes novice bakers make at first.
1# You don’t know the basic techniques
When you bake, there is 3 key points you should master before starting :
Your ingredients ( what are their properties, how to use it, where it comes from )
Your technical mouvements (how to mix, cream, fold … ) : if you never heard about a technique, please go watch at least 3 videos about it. When you've watched your video, you should be able to answer those questions : why are we doing this ? And if we don't ?
Your ustensils (Is it the first time you use it ? How should you use it for the recipe? )
Those three key points complete each others. Baking is all about precision.
2# You make substitutions
If I can give you one tip: never change a recipe until you know perfectly how to do it, and understand why do they use each ingredient.
The biggest mistake is to use less or more of an ingredient when you don’t even know the recipe.
And even if you decide to change weighings, then only alter one ingredient, so you can exactly know where the failure comes from.
3# You use cups instead of weighing your ingredients
Using cups for a baking recipe can’t be precise. So I suggest you to always follow technical recipes with weight indicators. For example, cooping a measuring cup into a bag of flour can result in up to 30 percent extra flour. That extra flour can definitely throw off a recipe, making the cake turn out hard, dry, and crumbly. As you may know, pastries require precision, that’s why I recommend you to get a weighing scale and to always use it for a baking recipe.
4# You don’t understand why you're using this utensil over another
This common mistake can be related to substitutions. One little detail can change all the recipe: the size of your mould, the type of whisk you are using …
For exemple, setting your oven to 300 F does not necessarily mean it's actually 300 F inside your oven. That’s why you should first calibrate your oven with an oven thermometer for your next recipes.
5# You read this article after failing your cake
If you read this because you’ve failed your cake or pastry, then it’s already too late. Why? Because first you don’t know what make it a failure, and second, you can’t catch up beca use even if you pick up the pieces and found a trick to make it “presentable”, taste and texture will be completely different from what we expected.
So for next time, keep those key points on mind before starting your recipe :
(Be careful, these are general rules, but this can help you visualize what kind of cake or pastry you want as final presentation, and if it match with the directions in your recipe.)
If your cake is dry : A lot of flour and just a small amount of liquid can lead to a dry cake. This is not a rebuke but just a fact. Sometimes cake are very dense because of the proportion of egg and flour, but it can be very good as well.
Using a pan that is too large or a too over-baking oven can result in a dry cake if you bake it for the same amount of time.
Even a perfectly baked cake can dry out if it hasn’t been stored properly. That’s why you should let the cake cool completely, and then covering it to avoid the crust drying.
Raw in the middle :
This common “mistake”(I put quotation marks because sometimes we want this raw finish (ex: the moelleux)) is due to a too low temperature or the mould is too small (and the batter to thick). Be careful, even if you fix it by baking longer, or at a higher temperature, the result won’t be the same as expected. And if you’ve crammed too many cakes into your oven, it will be difficult to distribute the heat evenly in the oven.
The cake is unevenly browned : Uneven browning can be caused by hot spots within an oven. You should always pre-heat with fan-assisted to evenly bake your cake.
To be sure that your cake is done, insert a toothpick.
Cake fall flat :
If you’ve got a flat cake on your hands, you may have overbeaten your ingredients. Overmixing ingredients can create a dense batter that doesn’t get that same airy rise.
Sunken cake :
It can be caused by opening up the oven door at the wrong time. When you open the door to peak, a rush of colder air comes in and can collapse your cake. To avoid this, try not to peek until the last ten minutes or so of your cake’s baking time.
Please keep in mind those 5 key points, I can garantee you than you will prevent from a lot of disaster. Hope this article gave you a better idea of how we can avaoid common mistakes.
See you soon for more content !
Lea from The Paris-Best
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