SPEED QUEEN
I never use the top speed on a mixer, even
for whipping. It f lings strands of the mix up
the side of the bowl and away from the main
mass of the batter or mix you are trying to
build structure into. Beating a little slower
allows more air in over the extra time it
takes to beat the mix. Make speed 8 (under
high) your new top speed.SIFTING
You don’t need to sift the f lour for doughs,
unless you are incorporating lots of spices
that can be prone to lumpiness. For cake
making, in batters and foams, sifting is a
form of combining and adding the
ingredients in a more delicate way.
If you just tip f lour into a sponge foam,
it will sink.“Apart from my love of digital kitchen scales, here are a few guiding principles that
underpin all I bake. I hope they come in handy!” Natalie Paull, Beatrix Bakes.BAKING ESSENTIALS
96 baking heaven APRIL
Scrape it, don’t
waste it
Use a flexible
plastic spatula
to scrape as much
as you can out of a
bowl. When you
have bought lovely
ingredients and
spent precious
time baking, you
want to
incorporate
every last spoonful
everywhere
you can!Resting is usually reserved
for the realm of meat
cookery, but cakes and
custards can glide to
perfection in exactly the
same way. Brown butter and
caramels benefit from this
technique; they heat up so
quickly they can accelerate
alarmingly fast, past the
optimal temperature. And
the best technique to melt
chocolate is to bring a
saucepan of water to the boil,
turn it off, THEN nest the
bowl of chocolate on top.
It’s like paddling hard to
catch a wave and then
gliding into shore.Cakes, too, will keep cooking
when taken from the oven,
so I like to have a few moist
crumbs (not wet or raw
batter) on my testing skewer.
Resting also refers to the
bakes that are left to set or
ripen overnight. Cake
develops a better f lavour if
rested for at least 5 hours
before icing. The crust
softens and the crumb is
less fragile (yet still tender).
And rest is best (up to
72 hours) for chocolate
chip cookie dough before
baking, to fully hydrate
the dough and deepen
the f lavour.Give it a rest
Natalie Paull takeover...
every last spoonful
everywhere
you can!Cakes, too, will keep cooking
when taken from the oven,
so I like to have a few moist
crumbs (not wet or raw
batter) on my testing skewer.
Resting also refers to the
bakes that are left to set or
ripen overnight. Cake
develops a better flavour if
rested for at least 5 hours
before icing. The crust
softens and the crumb is
less fragile (yet still tender).
And rest is best (up to
72 hours) for chocolate
chip cookie dough before
baking, to fully hydrate