What were the baking secrets that your grandmother or mother shared with you?

[jodiann12]

I believe that really good baking is a lost art because most of the secrets for producing high quality baked items have not always been passed down from generation to generation. Can you share any of the secrets that your grandmother or mother passed down to you to make your baking exceptional?

 

[ACSAPA]

My mother and grandmother did not bake. I had a severely messed up childhood and I taught myself how to bake as a teenager from cookbooks and TV shows.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

My mother used to bake, but by the time I was a young girl, she was running a little grocery store, and did not have enough time to bake, or do much of any cooking with so many customers coming into the store.

After I got married, I did learn a little about baking, and cooking in general, from my mother in law, who was an English lady.
This woman made the best mince tarts in the whole world !
She made pie crust that was delicious, and melt in your mouth tender. She said that her secret was she always made it with lard, and not shortening.
No matter what I used, I just never made pie crust like she did, so some of it must have been her technique,as well.

 

[Marie]

I've grown up around my mother running a small cake business. What used to be purely celebration cakes (Wedding, Birthday, Christmas etc) has now evolved since I began helping her full time. I find the best way forward is to combine modern ideas and concepts with traditional tried and tested techniques. As a result of our family loving her home baking, we now bake for regular markets selling a range of teatime treats (Traditional recipes such as Victoria Sponge &Bara Brith ( Old Welsh recipe) as well as the odd new idea), cookies, traybakes, and cupcakes (decorated for the market /event .. for children/adults etc..)
Whilst we're still experimenting with trying to find exactly what people want, there is a huge variety of things we bake..

One tip that comes to mind is; when folding flour,meringue etc into a mixture or anything where you're trying to keep the air inside, use a metal spoon. Can't explain why this is better than a wooden spoon etc, but it works for us..

Also, if you're boiling something and you don't want it to bubble over, balance a wooden spoon across the saucepan before you start boiling. Again, no explanation but it works... Warning: Spoon will be veryy hot.

I'll ask mum for more of her tips and tricks and get back to you. I agree that we should do whatever we can to tap into minds of the past before it's too late and we lose vital information..

 

[Dorothy]

I have actually heard of that where when you are boiling something and don't want it to boil over to put a wooden spoon across the saucepan. I have never tried, but my ex mother in law has and said it worked. She couldn't explain it but it worked.

 

[Marie]

My mother just told me another: The reason a lot of recipes fail is because the baking powder or rising agent is out of date, (they tend to only stay in date for about 6 months, so try not to buy in bulk). If you add a teaspoon of baking powder to 1/2 cup of hot water and the mixture bubbles a lot, then the baking powder is still fresh and usable, and your recipe should come out fine. If it doesn't, you probably need to buy new baking powder! I didn't know this.. I just go by the date on the tub...

Also, I'm not sure how old this one really is.. but when you've made a tray-bake recipe like flapjack or rocky road or oat-bars, it's much easier to cut them into slices with a rolling pizza slice cutter, than with a bread knife or other knife. This makes a lot of sense, but I'd never thought about it before mum told me.

If you don't want to get your recipe books messy when baking, use an old coat-hanger for trousers etc (the ones with the clips on) and clip your book / recipe / magazine to the clips, and hang the coat-hanger from the handle of your cupboard door, above where you're working. That way the recipe is always at eye level, and it's practically impossible to spill anything on it! ... Mum's know best!

 

[ACSAPA]

After I got married, I did learn a little about baking, and cooking in general, from my mother in law, who was an English lady.
This woman made the best mince tarts in the whole world !
She made pie crust that was delicious, and melt in your mouth tender. She said that her secret was she always made it with lard, and not shortening.
No matter what I used, I just never made pie crust like she did, so some of it must have been her technique,as well.

Maybe she left something out when she was teaching you. Last night I saw an old episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Marie, the mother in law, purposely gave Debra the wrong spice so that her meatballs would never be as good as Marie's.

 

[jodiann12]

My mother and grandmother did not bake. I had a severely messed up childhood and I taught myself how to bake as a teenager from cookbooks and TV shows.

I also had a messed up childhood too but my mother did not teach me how to bake, although she was a good baker and cook. My mother has many issues. She wanted me to always depend on and need her. She needs to be needed. I taught myself how to bake and cook from cookbooks and cooking shows too as well as the internet.

 

[jodiann12]

Maybe she left something out when she was teaching you. Last night I saw an old episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Marie, the mother in law, purposely gave Debra the wrong spice so that her meatballs would never be as good as Marie's.

I saw that episode, too. Why is it older women do everything they can to sabotage younger women? Especially in the case of daughter-in-laws and mother-in-laws. HappyFlowerLady what your mother-in-law failed to mention to you is that you need to use icy cold water (without any chunks of ice) is the secret to making the perfect crust; as well as very cold margarine and very cold shortening or lard. It doesn't make a difference if you use either shortening or lard if it's not cold enough that you have to cut it with a knife.

My mother used to bake, but by the time I was a young girl, she was running a little grocery store, and did not have enough time to bake, or do much of any cooking with so many customers coming into the store.[/quote}

 

[Whpped]

I was taught the figure 8 technique for folding in air. I was told that I would make the best pastry because I have cold hands, that was true. To always use the best quality ingredients you can afford- it makes a huge difference, trust me.
I was taught to just get all the ingredients wet when making muffins, and that works!

 

[Soliloquy]

Some great tips here! Hmm, all I can think to add right now is that if you work with whipped cream a lot, try to whip it in a chilled metal bowl, preferably one that's tall and narrow. Keep your beater at an angle so more air gets in.

 

[JGPangi]

My mom learned all her tips and tricks for cooking and baking from culinary lessons. She said it was to take up all the time she had on her hands after she got married- My dad got a job in Saudi Arabia before they got wed and they didn't allow the women to work there, so my mom learned how to bake here in the Philippines and perfected it day in and day out in Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, I was always more interested in reading than cooking so I never picked up any of her techniques, aside from making sure everything is at room temperature when you start mixing.

 

[LindaKay]

My mom always taught me to look for recipes that don't call for a lot of "crazy ingredients," as she called it.

 

[RedShoe]

Idk where i got my baking bug from, because no one in my families bakes! One grandmother was the "smother it in gravy" queen (though she made a mean biscuit) and the other burned boiled eggs... I started as a child trying to create things (green pancakes, apple upside down cake, strawberry cake that completely fell apart, etc) and gradually progressed to making things correctly. As an adult, i always made the desserts for our family dinners and learned by trial and error what worked and what didn't. I still experiment...

Even though it wasn't passed on to me, I am trying to make sure it's passed on to my son. My daughters can cook, but aren't home to partake in this new era of baking. My son is continually under foot wanting to be in the middle of what i'm doing, so I'm going to pass on as much as i can to him.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

1. Read the recipe all the way through

2. Read the recipe all the way through AGAIN! You need to know what you're doing before you start. Just because the recipe calls for 150 g of sugar does it mean it's all going in at once. You may need to use a portion of that sugar in an egg meringue. Or maybe for sprinkling on top.

3. Mise en place and clean as you work! I swear that's the secret to all cooking and baking. It's important that all your ingredients be measured out and organized on a tray in the order in which they are to be used. I don't know how many times I've had some say, "Oops, I forgot to add the baking soda!" Mise en place and you won't forget.

Mise en place is also the key to entertaining. I prep and measure all the ingredients out for every dish I'm going to make for an event. I use sticky notes to label each ingredient. Everything is placed on a tray and put into the refrigerator. I place the cooking instructions on the tray. Each tray is labeled by a time and a number in the order in which the dishes are to be prepared. I hate missing my own party by cooking in the kitchen.