How many times have you made the same baking mistake? We’ve all been there, whether we’re new to baking or simply can’t remember how many grams of baking powder to add to our cake recipe (that’s what she said).
In this article, we explore the top 10 most common baking mistakes and give you quick tips on how to fix them next time.
1. Not Checking If The Oven Is Hot Enough
There’s nothing more frustrating than being all ready to bake something and realizing that your oven isn’t preheated properly or worse, you didn’t check if it was preheated at all!
To avoid getting into a sticky situation like that, invest in an oven thermometer or simply time how long it takes for your oven to preheat.
30 minutes is usually safe as a rule of thumb, though times can vary between models so you might need longer with your own oven.
Alternatively, use an instant-read thermometer to test if your oven is hot enough and hold your hand there while setting a timer; don’t touch anything with your other hand while doing so!
2. Overworking Dough
Don’t overwork your dough. It is well known, it’s tempting; it feels satisfying to pinch and squeeze and squish that thing like a stress ball.
But too much mixing, folding, or kneading will break down gluten strands and turn your light and tender biscuits into dense bricks.
Leave those cookies alone or at least give them a rest before punching them down for a second time. Kneading kills air pockets in flour, causing tough dough, Cook’s illustrated points out in its report on baking mistakes. So, mix just until you have no drier spots; then stops!
Anything further will cause breads, cakes, or cookies to be tough instead of light and tender.
3. Forgetting About It
The most common baking mistake is one many bakers make at least once and it’s forgetting your baking altogether. Don’t do that!
It may sound obvious, but if you leave a cake or bread to bake without keeping an eye on it and it overcooks, you run a higher risk of ruining it.
To avoid disaster, always set a timer when starting to bake anything and check in at regular intervals as your item bakes.
If you follow these rules, there’s no way you can forget about your food.
4. Nicking Your Finger With A Knife
No matter how careful you are in a kitchen, accidents happen. One common mistake home cooks make is not wearing an oven mitt when pulling out hot pans or opening and closing oven doors, causing nicks and cuts.
Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid making similar mistakes at home by practicing good safety procedures in your kitchen and being mindful of what you’re doing and what’s happening around you.
Next time you’re cooking up a dish, be aware of these common baking mistakes: Nicking your finger with a knife: No matter how careful you are in a kitchen, accidents happen.
One common mistake home cooks make is aforementioned above – not wearing an oven mitt when pulling out hot pans or opening and closing oven doors, causing nicks and cuts.
5. Not Beating Egg Whites Properly
All egg whites will form stiff peaks when beaten properly. The important thing to remember is that if your mixing bowl and beater aren’t completely clean, you won’t get stiff peaks because there will be little bits of residue that prevent proper whipping.
Also, beating a mixture by hand doesn’t always work as well as using an electric mixer because your arm may tire out before you achieve a smooth mixture.
Even scraping down with a spatula won’t help much if you start out with too much residue in your bowl. To avoid these common baking mistakes, use fresh eggs that are not past their prime and beat them on high speed until they are mixed properly.
6. Dropping The Cake Pan On Your Bare Foot
Dropping your cake pan on your bare foot is a common baking mistake, but can be easily avoided by setting down a folded towel before you place it on your countertop.
When done right, it’s even more effective than wearing kitchen gloves. And, who wants extra work when you’re already covered in flour?
7. Adding Ingredients In The Wrong Order
If you’re using a recipe, it’s a good idea to read it over thoroughly before beginning. One of the most common baking mistakes is adding ingredients in order that isn’t specified by your recipe and if you’re not careful, you can mess up your food chemistry, resulting in cakes that are too crumbly or buttery pastries that separate when baked.
To avoid these baking fails, first read your recipe through from start to finish. Then head back and figure out where each ingredient will go and what order they should be added in.
8. Misreading Instructions or Misinterpreting Ratios
For whatever reason, baking instructions can be confusing. Maybe it’s because they’re written in a way that assumes you already know how to bake and are just looking for a recipe, or maybe it’s because of bad editing.
Either way, it can lead to disaster and with baking mistakes like these, disaster is usually inedible (or at least inedibly burned).
Check your instructions carefully and if you need help understanding ratios or percentages, Google has some pretty nifty tools. Misinterpreting ratios means you have too much of one ingredient, simple fix: Use less next time!
9. Not Taking Notes During An Online Recipe Tutorial
Before you begin cooking read through a recipe in its entirety. Make sure you note each step, including when and how much ingredients are added.
This will help avoid confusion during your cooking session as well as prevent some of the most common baking mistakes.
As an added bonus, it will also save you time by eliminating needless backtracking or re-reading steps while cooking.
10. Wasting Ingredients Due To Inaccurate Conversions Between US Cup, Tablespoon, Teaspoon Measurements
We’ve all made a recipe only to find that it doesn’t turn out quite as expected. And while it may be tempting to blame a
faulty recipe, many baking problems are actually caused by human error.
With so many different measurements in play, cup and spoon amounts, temperature conversions, etc. it’s easy for cooks to make careless mistakes.
Fortunately, there are a few key rules of thumb you can use to avoid such problems when you bake. Here are some of our most common baking mistakes along with some advice on how best to correct them
