8 tips and tricks to step up your baking game
A new cookbook wants to make baking accessible and enjoyable for beginners with a selection of recipes ranging from decadent cakes and layered desserts to everyday breads and vegan treats
• While it might seem obvious to some, it is worth mentioning for the budding bakers out there: Always . . . always accurately measure every ingredient before you start baking for the best results. This is known as mise en place, which refers to keeping all the ingredients ready.
• Speaking of measuring, I highly recommend measuring everything by weight instead of by volume. A kitchen scale barely costs anything and should last you years. Most of the recipes in this book have measurements both in grams and in cups, but if possible, try to measure by weight. It’s far more accurate that way.
• This one also might sound very obvious, but please use best-quality ingredients for best possible results. Especially while working with chocolate or fruits.
• For various applications, you’d need your ingredients to be at different temperatures and textures, so read the requirements and prepare everything accordingly. This plays a huge role in deciding the texture and consistency of the final dish.
Also read: Pastry chefs give old classics a twist
• Whenever you’re adding any add-ons to a batter, say, chocolate chips or berries, always coat them with some flour. This helps to avoid the sinking of those add-ons to the bottom of the cake tin.
• Always add a pinch of salt to all desserts. This is something I swear by and highly recommend in order to bring out an even better flavour of any dessert. Salt not only balances the sweetness, it also enhances the flavour of the other ingredients.
• Check the expiry dates of your baking powder, baking soda and yeast (leavening agents basically). You don’t want to end up with flat cakes and dense breads after putting in all the hard work. So, make sure you keep an eye on it.
• If you can’t find unsalted butter, you can use salted butter too, but make sure you skip the additional salt mentioned in most recipes.
Recipe for Fresh Mango Posset
Ingredients
1⁄4 cup (100 ml) mango (Alphonso or Kesar) puree
1⁄4 cup + 1 tbsp (50 ml) mango juice
50 g sugar (or 1⁄4 cup) + 30 g more for the mango puree
1 cup (250 ml) cream
A pinch of salt
Zest of 1⁄2 lemon
Desiccated coconut for garnish
Steps
1. Cut the mangoes in half and scoop them out carefully without
damaging the skin. We’ll use the skins to plate up our possets.
2. Blend them with 30 g of sugar to form a fine puree.
3. In a saucepan, combine cream, sugar, salt and lemon juice.
4. Start cooking on medium heat and then gradually bring to a boil.
Then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 2 mins.
5. Then add in the mango puree and mango juice, let it simmer for 3–4
mins.
6. Continue until the mixture thickens a bit. Let it cool for a few
minutes.
7. Pass this mixture through a sieve.
8. You can use the mango peels as moulds and pour the mixture in
them to serve the possets.
9. Refrigerate overnight, garnish with desiccated coconut and enjoy!
Also read: Cookbook authors pick their favourite cookbooks
Excerpted with permission from Plated by Parth by Parth Bajaj, published by Penguin Random House India.
topics
