47 Pro Tips That Guarantee Better Bakes
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Spring Bakeis here, and it’s time to break out the flour, sugar, and butter for all the ambitious baking you’ve been meaning to tackle. We’ll be rolling out new recipes each week, but to truly make greatcookies,cakes, pastries, andbreads, you need guidance too. Below we’ve rounded up a handful of essential (and sometimes surprising!) tips from pro bakers, cookbook authors, and Epicurious editors—all of which will take your baking chops to the next level. Whether it’s finding the best substitute for heavy cream or the secret to a perfectly swirly Swiss roll, this list of little pro moves can make your spring baking even more fruitful.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne1/47
Floss Your Cinnamon Rolls
Using this simple, inexpensive, ubiquitous dental hygiene product is the answer to perfectly shapedcinnamon rolls. Unlike a knife, dental floss lets you portion the rolls into pristinely clean, squish-free slices. Just be sure not to use the mint-flavored kind.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele2/47
Add Cream Cheese to Your Pie Dough
Cream cheese is a rare ingredient that simultaneously promotes and inhibits gluten for acrustthat’s both flaky and sturdy. Plus, it adds a delicate, tangy flavor that’s “incomparable,” according to expert baker Rose Levy Beranbaum.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich3/47
Start That Cake in a Cold (Yes, Cold) Oven
Nope, don’t preheat that oven. Instead, trust cookbook author Cheryl Day’s “low and slow” method. The gradual increase in heat and extended cooking time yield a砰nd cakewith a deep, flavorful crust and a buttery cloud-like interior.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne4/47
Fire Up the Instant Pot for Fruit Curds
Double boiler? Don’t know her! Counterintuitive as it may seem, you can make perfectly delicious fruitcurdsin your Instant Pot.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Susan Ottaviano and Stevie Stewart5/47
Get Perfect Swirls in Your Swiss Roll, Every Time
Rolled cakes likeSwiss rollsare prone to cracking, especially during the rolling process. Butthis methodcan save you from all the misery.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton6/47
Cover Your Cobbler With Hot Water
It sounds counterintuitive, but adding boiling water to your cobbler actually makes it crispier, rather than soggy. The sugar and water bake into a crunchy, shiny, crackly top layer, firm enough to smack a spoon against without breaking but that shatters easily when you plunge a utensil in—a bit like the torched lid of acrème brûlée.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert7/47
完美层蛋糕,拥抱平底锅
Yes, the samepanyou use to roast your broccoli is the answer to the perfectlayer cake. The sheet pan allows you to bake the layers evenly, quickly, and all at once. No domes or cracks, only perfect stacks.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne8/47
Soak Your Cakes
A good ol’ simple syrup soak is a pastry chef’s secret to luxuriously moist cakes that also last a while. With just water, sugar, and a pastry brush, you too can achieve these professional results. But why stop at syrup? Try coffee, fruit juice, or even some bubbly—the options are endless.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by M. Pearl Jones9/47
Grate Your Shortbread Dough
For lacy, exceptional shortbread bars, make the dough in advance and freeze it until you're ready to bake. Then pull out your cheese grater and shred the dough. The shreds melt into each other, forming a pebbly surface and open-textured crumb.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich10/47
Add Coriander to Boost Your Blueberries
Mixing a little coriander in with your blueberry desserts or pancakes will make the blueberries taste more, well,blueberry-y. And there’s a scientific reason why.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne11/47
Master the Reverse Creaming Technique
Creaming butter and sugar together before all else seems like a cardinal rule of cake baking, so doing the opposite may feel a little sacrilegious. But according to Rose Levy Beranbaum, author ofThe Cake Bible, it’s a faster and foolproof way to mix cake. Starting with the dry stuff then slowly adding room-temperature butter before bringing the remaining ingredients into the mix coats the flour in fat making it hard to overmix the batter.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne12/47
Listen to Grandma and Use Mayonnaise In Your Cake
Using mayonnaise in cakes is a century-old trick that isn’t as wild as one might think. The emulsion made of eggs and oil helps fat coat the flour particles more evenly and efficiently, making for a softer, moister cake.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Kim13/47
Crumple Your Parchment
The crumple addresses a small but vexing problem with parchment paper: its reluctance to lay flat at the bottom of a pan. Crumpling it makes it more pliable and ready to do your baking bidding.
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Photo by Andrew Purcell, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell14/47
Cool Your Pumpkin Pie in The Oven
Piping whipped cream to cover up the cracks on your pumpkin pie is a trick as old as time. But what if we told you that you could avoid those unsightly fissures altogether (and that the answer is in your oven)?
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Photo by Henry Hargreaves15/47
Head to The Freezer Aisle
Store-bought phyllo and puff pastry are the ultimate cookie shortcuts for pastry chefs like Christina Tosi, Claire Saffitz, and Nadiya Hussain. They’re an easy way to make seemingly difficult cookies likepinwheelsand palmiers without the stress of attempting laminated doughs at home.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo16/47
Give Your Dough a Much-Kneaded Beauty Rest
How you handle the gluten determines the destiny of your dough, and resting it is the key to giving it the added muscle it needs for stretchy, fluffy greatness.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell17/47
Finesse a Heavy Cream Emergency With the Right Substitute
Whether you’ve run out of heavy cream or looking to swap for a dairy-free option, these seven substitutes will keep you covered from all angles.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne18/47
Forget the Stand Mixer, Make Cookies in the Food Processor
Mixing cookie dough in afood processorlets you get all your chopping and stirring done without dirtying too many bowls and cutting boards. In addition to being faster and cleaner, it keeps the ingredients cool, which prevents the dough from becoming overworked or spreading too quickly in the oven.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo19/47
Ditch the Vanilla Extract, Use Booze Instead
Here's an easy baking tip for newbie bakers and pros alike: Vanilla extract is ubiquitous in baking recipes, but you can get just as much flavor—or more—from some of the oddball liqueurs in your liquor cabinet.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Prop Styling by Megan Hedgpeth, Food Styling by Samantha Seneviratne and Jason Schreiber20/47
Age Your Dough
When it comes to spice cookies likeLebkuchen, aging the dough—anywhere from overnight to four weeks—makes the spices taste full-flavored but less harsh, and more evenly spread throughout each bite.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton21/47
Embrace Corn Syrup
Forget the bad publicity it’s gotten over the years because corn syrup—even in small amounts—has wonderful properties for all kinds of homemade desserts.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Liza Jernow23/47
Make Your Own Self-Rising Flour
Don’t have room to keep an extra bag in your pantry? Follow these steps for making self-rising flour at home—just make sure that it’s not self-raisingflour that you want first, since, surprise: They’re not quite the same thing.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo24/47
Brush Up on Baker’s Math
Do your failed loaves have you feeling like Mercury is perpetually in breadrograde? You might just need a quick brush-up on baker's math (a.k.a. baker’s percentages). Understanding this system of ingredient ratios can help you determine whether you’ll end up with a tender crust or a light, chewy loaf.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou25/47
Make a 6-Inch Cake
Sure, enormous cakes are always showstoppers, but sometimes you want a more manageable cake that only serves two to four people. Never fear, math is on your side. Just follow our formula to convert any cake into a six-inch cake.
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Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susan Spungen26/47
Bake With Milk Powder
Liquid milk adds water to batters and doughs, too much of which can ruin the texture of the finished baked good. Using milk powder instead of liquid gives you the benefits of milk without adding extra water, giving your dough a dose of concentrated milk sugars and protein. For extra-boosted flavor, toast the powder before proceeding.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne27/47
Marshmallow Whip Is the Better Whipped Cream
Pipe it, dollop it, eat it by the spoonful. Oh, and if you want to keep this stuff around for one or two days, that’s fine, too. Worried we might be asking you to make homemade marshmallows for this pie topper? Nope—not unless you want to. This stuff starts with a store-bought jar of marshmallow fluff.
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Photo and Styling by Joseph De Leo28/47
Binder Clips Are a Baker's Best Friend
When you have a thick batter, it can be difficult to spread it onto a piece of parchment that just won’t sit still. Securing it in place with binder clips helps tame the paper and make the spreading go smoothly.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou29/47
Caramelize Your Pumpkin Pie Filling
Stick that can of pumpkin purée into your Instant Pot or pressure cooker and let it get roasty-toasty before adding to your recipe of choice.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks30/47
Make Smart Swaps
什么是善意的主机做如果他们想米ake a cinnamon streusel coffee cake for a Sunday-morning brunch but don't have any Bundt pans on hand? We talked toBaking Bibleauthor Rose Levy Beranbaum andFlavor Floursauthor Alice Medrich to find outthe right ways to bend the baking pan rules.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone31/47
Bake Cookie Dough in a Ramekin
Have leftover chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge? Give it thechocolate lava cake-treatmentwiththis brilliant technique, perfect for when you want a snack fast.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks32/47
Top Biscuits With Crumble
The ultimate biscuits are lighter than air and melt-in-your-mouth rich.These biscuits?They're even better, thanks to a little crumble topping.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne33/47
Make Better Vegan Pie Crust
In theory, you could veganize any pie dough by swapping in a non-animal-based fat source for butter. But if you want truly excellent vegan pie crust, there are a few principles to understand first.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone34/47
Nail Perfectly Round Cookies
Thisone trickfrom baking expert Dorie Greenspan will help your cookies run rings around the competition.
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Bake in Pyrex, the Right Way
Don't let exploding glass happen to you.Here's how to prevent it.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks36/47
Use the Best Wash
Don't know which wash to use? Egg, milk, cream, or a mix: they all do something different when it comes to finishing your dough. Here'sa guide to all the different washes for pie dough.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell37/47
Take Your Cake's Temperature
Because a toothpick test isn't enough. Once you start treating your cake like a piece of meat by taking the temperature, you'll have a mouth-meltingly good result every time.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks38/47
Make Cookies Soft and Chewy, Every Time
Forget about under-baking—this simple ingredient swapguarantees soft cookies every time.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova39/47
Perfect Your Pie Dough–Rolling Game
Not sure how thick (or thin) to roll that dough?This trickwill bring change to your pie crust game.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks40/47
Never Over-Mix Batter Again
It might look a bit strange, butthis Danish dough whisk是我们最喜欢的混合面团的工具。
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks41/47
Give Cakes and Cookies a Pretty Finishing Touch
All you need is one simple pantry staple todress up your favorite desserts.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone42/47
Make Sure Your Baking Powder Still Works
This isa super easy wayto avoid baking flat cookies.
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Photo by Mike Lorrig43/47
Keep Baking Even When You Run Out of Cornstarch
Here arefive easy alternativesthat get the job done.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks44/47
Become a Baking Improvisational Pro
We know: sometimes you want to veer off the recipe road map. Baking legends Rose Levy Beranbaum and Alice Medrich share theirbest secrets to bending the baking rules.
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Photo by Andrew Purcell, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell45/47
Make Your Cakes Moist
How do youturn a good Easter coconut cake into an irresistible one? Hint: It's got nothing to do with the cake or the frosting.
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Photo by Shutterstock46/47
Sift Only When Necessary
A sifter might feel old-fashioned, but maybe your granny was onto something. Here'swhat you need to know.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks47/47
Skip the Chocolate, Sometimes
Sometimes, baking tips seem counterintuitive. Like this one for attainingthe best brownies:Don't use chocolate.
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