Baking Basics
This essential fat is commonly creamed with sugar to create a fluffy cake base.
What is butter?
To incorporate air into egg whites or heavy cream using a whisk or mixer.
What is whipping?
These classic drop cookies, often dipped in milk, are famously studded with semi-sweet chocolate morsels.
What are chocolate chip cookies?
The scientific term for common table sugar, which is a disaccharide made of glucose and fructose.
What is sucrose?
This cylindrical kitchen tool is rolled over dough to flatten and shape it evenly.
What is a rolling pin?
Unlike baking soda, this leavening agent contains both an acid and a base, meaning it doesn't need an extra acid added to activate.
What is baking powder?
A gentle, circular mixing technique used to incorporate delicate ingredients like whipped whites into a batter without deflating it.
What is folding?
This delicate French sandwich cookie is made from almond flour, egg whites, and sugar, joined together with a sweet filling.
What is a macaron?
This invisible gas is produced by yeast or baking powder and gets trapped in dough, causing baked goods to rise.
What is carbon dioxide?
This handheld wire utensil with looping wires is used to blend ingredients together or quickly beat eggs and batters.
What is a whisk?
This step involves coating a baking pan with butter, oil, or parchment paper to prevent cakes and cookies from sticking.
What is greasing (or lining) the pan?
The chemical process of heating sugar until it melts, turns golden-brown, and develops a rich, nutty flavor.
What is caramelization?
A rich, laminated French pastry celebrated for its flaky, buttery crescent shape.
What is a croissant?
This essential mineral ingredient strengthens gluten structure and enhances flavors, balancing out the sweetness in baked goods.
What is salt?
This flat-bladed utensil with a bent neck is used for smoothly spreading frosting onto cakes or lifting delicate pastries.
What is an offset spatula?
This process involves making shallow cuts on the top of unbaked bread dough to control how it expands in the oven.
What is scoring (or slashing)?
This technique involves slowly adding a hot liquid to beaten eggs or egg yolks while stirring constantly to warm them up without scrambling them.
What is tempering?
This famous Italian layered dessert features coffee-soaked ladyfingers, rich mascarpone cheese, and a dusting of cocoa.
What is tiramisu?
This type of ingredient (such as lemon juice, vinegar, or buttermilk) is needed to react with baking soda so it can create bubbles and help baked goods rise.
What is an acid
A fine-mesh wire tool used to aerate dry ingredients, remove lumps, or dust powdered sugar over finished desserts.
What is a sieve (or sifter)?
This structural protein network forms when wheat flour is mixed with water, giving bread its chewy texture.
What is gluten?
The resting stage for yeast dough where it is left to rise before shaping and baking.
What is proofing (or fermentation)?
A classic British afternoon tea cake featuring jam and cream sandwiched between two sponge layers, named after a famous British monarch.
What is a Victoria sponge cake?
When eggs are heated, their liquid proteins unspool, tangle, and bond together to set custards and structure cakes, a scientific process known as what?
What is coagulation?
A heavy, thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid, often made of cast iron, used to trap steam for baking artisanal crusty bread.
What is a Dutch oven?