CRIMP MY PIE! TWO EASY WAYS TO CRIMP AND SEAL YOUR PIES…

Let’s face it, pie is generally delicious no matter what it looks like. But a pretty pie is a next level pie

So if you’re about to embark on a spot of pie baking, have a quick read of my tutorial first, which shows you two different ways to crimp your pie lid.

WHY CRIMP YOUR PASTRY LID?

Well aside from anything else, it makes your finished pie look altogether more fancy pants. And who doesn’t love a fancy pants pie?

But it also helps to give your pastry lid a good seal onto the shell, keeping the contents firmly tucked inside and guarding against pie boil-out when it goes in the oven.

HOW TO CRIMP YOUR PASTRY LID

There are lots of different and creative ways to crimp your pie top, but here I have just two quick and easy examples that don’t require anything other than your fingers.

The first thing you need to do before crimping your pastry lid is seal the lid to the shell. You do this by brushing the top of the shell (and any overhang) with egg wash. Then you carefully place your pastry lid on top and gently press down to form a seal. Now you’re ready to choose your crimping method!

TOP TIP!

Have a little pot of flour on your workbench so that you can dip your fingers in it to stop them sticking to the pastry as you crimp.

POKE IT!

Use your index finger for this one and hold it about 1cm in from the edge of the pie and at a slight downward angle.

Press gently down and forward into the pastry to create an imprint of your finger in the top.

Continue all the way round the pie until you are back to where you started.

And there you have it – a beautifully poked pie lid!

PINCH IT!

You will be using the thumb and index fingers of your left hand on the outside of the pie and the index finger of your right hand on the top (or the reverse if you are left-handed).

Place your thumb and index finger up against the side of the pastry. Press gently down and forward into the pastry with your right index finger and pinch the pastry between your left thumb and index finger.

Continue all the way round the pie until you are back to where you started.

And there you have it – a beautifully pinched pie lid!

HAPPINESS IS A WELL-CRIMPED PIE

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HOW TO: A GLUTEN-FREE ROUGH PUFF PASTRY PICTURE TUTORIAL…

Since launching the gluten-free rough puff pastry mix, I’ve had quite a few requests from people purchasing it asking me if I do lessons on how to make it. Unfortunately I am not in a position to run classes at the moment. So I have put together this short pictorial guide on how to make rough puff pastry using the mix.

The pictures are a little rough and ready, but they should give you enough of an idea of each of the steps involved.

You may also find my simple six stage process to becoming the best baker you can be (Prep like a boss: bake like a pro) helpful to read.

A PICTURE TUTORIAL ON MAKING GLUTEN-FREE ROUGH PUFF PASTRY WITH OUR MAGICAL MIX…

STEP ONE: MAKE THE DOUGH

Tip the mix into a bowl and add the Stork. Rub it into the flour with your fingers. You can use a stand mixer for this if you wish (I do!).

Next, add the iced water and mix until the flour is hydrated and you can bring everything together to form a pliable dough.

STEP TWO: ROLL THE DOUGH

If you have a silicone rolling mat, place this on your work surface and lightly flour it. If not, lay a piece of clingfilm on your work surface and sprinkle lightly with flour.

Place the ball of dough on the work surface, cover with another layer of clingfilm and gently roll the dough out to a rectangle measuring roughly 45cm x 15cm.

STEP three: KEEP THE PASTRY MOVING

After every few strokes of the rolling pin, check to ensure that your pastry isn’t sticking to the work surface. If it is, sprinkle a little more flour on your worktop underneath the dough.

Keeping the pastry moving will also help stop it from sticking – so after every few strokes, gently lift the pastry just off the worktop and put it back down again.

STEP FOUR: NEATEN THE EDGES

Once your dough is rolled out, you can fix any cracks that might have appeared at the edges of the pastry by gently massaging the dough with your fingertips.

You can also push a ruler up to the sides of the dough to neaten the edges.

STEP FIVE: SCATTER THE BUTTER

You are now ready to add the butter to your dough. Remove the first portion of grated butter from the freezer and scatter over the bottom two thirds of the pastry.

Aim for a nice, even coverage but don’t spend too much time trying to get it perfect or the warmth from your fingers will melt the butter!

STEP SIX: FOLD THE DOUGH

You are now going to make a ‘letter fold’ with the pastry.

To make this easier, you can make two little indentations along the length of the pastry at the 15cm and 30cm mark so that you know where to make the folds.

The first step is to fold the top third of the pastry down towards you, as shown in the picture.

STEP SIX: FOLD THE DOUGH

Now fold the bottom third up to the top.

Do this carefully but with determination and with one swift motion. This will help the butter stay in place and not make a bid for freedom across your worktop!

STEP SEVEN: NEATEN THE PASTRY PARCEL

You have now completed your first letter fold of the pastry. You now need to neaten the parcel you have created so that it is ready for the second fold.

Use your fingertips to seal the edges of the pastry and to close up any cracks that may have appeared as you made the folds.

Then use your rolling pin to gently but firmly press down across the width of the parcel to further seal the contents.

STEP EIGHT: REPEAT STEPS TWO – SEVEN

Turn your pastry parcel through 90 degrees so that the long edge is vertical.

Repeat the steps outlined above of rolling the pastry into a rectangle, adding the butter, folding the dough like a letter, sealing the butter in and neatening the packet.

STEP NINE: your gluten-free rough puff pastry is ready!

Your gluten-free rough puff pastry is now ready! Wrap it in clingfilm / food safe wrap and chill it until you are ready to bake.

You can also freeze the dough at this point.

Follow the instructions on your recipe and enjoy the fruits of your labour

A NOTE ON DOUGH TEMPERATURE

It is very important that your ingredients (water and butter) are very cold when you start to work with them. So keep them in the fridge/freezer right up until the moment you are ready to use them.

If your kitchen is warm, you may need to chill the dough after the first fold before starting the second fold to stop the butter from melting.

When you are ready to use your gluten-free rough puff pastry to make something delicious, don’t use the dough straight from the fridge. If it is too cold, it may crack as you roll it. So allow it to warm up by a few degrees before starting to work with it.

HAPPY BAKING

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PREP LIKE A BOSS: BAKE LIKE A PRO! MY SIX-STEP PROCESS…

I’m next level Geeky McGeekFace when it comes to the ins and outs of gluten-free baking. I just love all the science-y stuff behind it. But I realise that not everybody is!

Which is why I put together this simple six-step process to help you be the best baker you can be. Yes, even if you’re not interested in learning the whys and what-fors of baking science.

Always choose a recipe from a trusted source and follow it to the letter. Then apply my six-step approach every time you bake

HOW TO PREP LIKE A BOSS: BAKE LIKE A PRO

READ.

Take the time to read the recipe all the way through and make sure it makes sense to you. If it doesn’t, consider using a different recipe (unless you can contact the author to ask questions).

REPEAT.

Read the recipe through again to ensure you didn’t miss anything the first time round (easily done, particularly if, like me, you have a wandering mind!)

PREP.

Gather together all the ingredients and equipment you will need to bake the recipe (the fancy name for this is mis en place).

PAUSE.

Take a moment to check you have everything required and the time needed to bake the recipe. If in doubt, don’t!

RE-READ.

With your preparation done, and satisfied that you have everything you need to get baking, have one last read-through of the recipe from start to finish.

BAKE!

You are now fully prepped and ready to bake like a pro! Go Bake Yourself Happy at Home

I hope this helps you and will encourage you to bake if you have been hesitant to give it a go. But you know where I am if you have any questions

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HEAT-TREATED FLOUR: THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW…

If you want to make edible cookie dough or any other no-bake treat that has flour in the recipe, you MUST use heat-treated flour. This is to ensure that any bacteria living in the flour (which would ordinarily be killed when used in a baked recipe) is destroyed.

Eating raw flour that has not been heat-treated has the potential to make you sick. So please don’t do it. Ever. Instead, read my guide on how to easily heat-treat flour at home and make it safe to eat in no-bake recipes.

WHAT IS HEAT-TREATED FLOUR?

Heat-treated flour is simply raw flour that has been heated to a temperature high enough to kill off any harmful bacteria that may be lurking in it.

The Food Standards Agency advises that raw flour is heated to a temperature of 70℃ for a minimum of two minutes.

I prefer to heat it to a minimum temperature of 75℃ to err on the side of caution and allow for slight thermometer inaccuracies.

WHY DO YOU NEED TO HEAT-TREAT FLOUR?

We don’t usually think about flour as a raw ingredient that may potentially be unsafe to eat as we almost always cook or bake with it.

But if we want to make raw, edible cookie dough or no-bake treats and desserts that contain flour, we are potentially going to consume raw flour. So why does that matter?

Flour is typically produced from grains. Grains are grown outdoors in an environment where bacteria are prevalent. The harvesting and milling processes involved in producing flour do not destroy these bacteria.

Potential nasty pathogens (bacteria) such as salmonella and E.coli can lurk in raw flour.

In general, bacteria live and breed in temperature conditions ranging from 5-63℃. Heating to a minimum sustained temperature of 70℃ for two minutes will kill off any bacteria. So unless we are using flour in a recipe that requires cooking and baking, those potential pathogens will still be lurking in our flour waiting to make us sick if we digest them.

This is why we must subject raw flour to a heat-treating process if we are going to use it in edible cookie dough or other no-bake recipes.

HOW TO HEAT-TREAT FLOUR?

Heat-treating flour is easy but it does require a food thermometer / temperature probe. It can be done in the oven, on the stovetop or in the microwave.

It is best to heat-treat your flour in small batches, making just a little more than the quantity required in the recipe you will be using it in. (For example, if a recipe calls for 200g heat-treated flour, I will make up 210g).

IN THE OVEN

Heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan. Spread the flour out across an appropriately-sized baking tray with sides. Bake in the oven for five minutes.

Remove, stir thoroughly and return to the oven for another five minutes. Stir again then check the temperature of the flour in several places across the tray. If every reading is 75°C or more, your flour is safe and ready to use in your no-bake recipe. If not, return to the oven and repeat the stir and temperature check process until your flour has reached the correct temperature.

ON THE STOVETOP

Weigh your flour into a heavy-bottomed pan and begin to heat on a low-medium setting. Keep stirring the flour as it heats.

Heat for around three minutes then remove the pan from the heat and check the temperature of the flour in several places in the pan. If every reading is 75°C or more, your flour is safe and ready to use in your no-bake recipe. If not, return the pan to the heat and continue to heat, stir and temperature check until your flour has reached the correct temperature.

IN THE MICROWAVE

Weigh your flour into a microwave-safe container and heat on full power for 30 seconds. Stir thoroughly and return to the microwave for a further 15 seconds.

Stir the flour then check its temperature in several places. If every reading is 75°C or more, your flour is safe and ready to use in your no-bake recipe. If not, return the container to the microwave and continue to heat, stir and temperature check in 15-second bursts until your flour has reached the correct temperature.

Whichever method you use, allow the flour to cool before using in your recipe.

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POKE AND SWIRL OR ROLL AND LOOP: HOW DO YOU BAGEL?…

Gluten-free bagels are not overly difficult to make. But is there a best way to shape them? As gluten-free bakers we are working with dough that is a lot more fragile than dough made from wheat flour so sometimes the traditional methods of working with bread dough need to be modified. Below are two different ways in which you can shape your bagels when working with gluten-free dough.

DOUGH CONSISTENCY AND EASE OF HANDLING

When making gluten-free bread, our hydration levels (the ratio of liquids to flour) are typically much higher than wheat-based breads. This is because gluten-free flours are generally ‘thirstier’.

This can often make gluten-free bread doughs tricky to handle because they can be loose or sticky.

Bagels, however, have a much lower hydration level because of their tighter, more dense crumb structure. This is good news for us gluten-free bakers!

HOW TO SHAPE GLUTEN-FREE BAGELS

There are two main ways to shape bagels. The first is what I call the poke and swirl method. And the second? It’s what I describe as the roll and loop method.

The roll and loop method is the classic / more traditional way of shaping bagels. But the poke and swirl method is an equally valid method for shaping bagels. You should go with whichever you find easiest.

I have tried both methods with my gluten-free bagel dough and have decided that I prefer the poke and swirl method. I find it slightly quicker than the roll and loop method. And there is no risk of the bagel unravelling in the poaching liquid (which has happened to me with the roll and loop method).

THE POKE AND SWIRL METHOD

With this method, start by dividing your dough into portions of equal weight. Then roll each piece into a smooth ball.

You’re not going to achieve the ‘tight’ ball you may have heard wheat bread bakers speak of. But you do want to ensure you eliminate any cracks and creases as best you can.

I roll mine on a *very* lightly oiled surface and then between my palms (again, lightly oiled) until nice and smooth.

Once your balls of dough are ready, dip the palm of your hand in flour and then swiftly yet firmly press down on the dough to flatten it.

Next, dip your index finger in flour then poke it straight through the middle of the dough. Take your finger out, dip it in flour again then place it back into the hole and swirl the dough around your floured finger to widen the hole.

THE ROLL AND LOOP METHOD

This is the classic way of shaping bagels and it starts in the same way as the first method by dividing up the dough into equal portions.

You then take each portion of dough and roll it out into a long, even rope. This is then looped around your hand (index to little fingers at the knuckles) to create a circle of dough, which you will need to seal.

Your dough may be sticky enough to seal as it is, or you may need to brush one of the ends with water before connecting the two together.

Once you have created the seal, keep the dough on your hand and gently press and roll the dough into a *very* lightly oiled work surface to properly seal the dough.

HOW BIG TO BAGEL?

Go big or go home is generally my philosophy when it comes to the size of my bagels (and life in general )

I weigh my bagel dough out into equal pieces weighing approximately 110g each after the first proof.

After I have shaped the dough into balls, I flatten them down into circles of around 10cm in diameter.

Once I have poked my finger through the dough, I swirl each piece around until I have a bagel hole that is around 3cm in diameter. You want to make the hole slightly bigger than you think as it will shrink a little as your bagels puff up during the second rise.

I hope you have found this little how-to on shaping gluten-free bagels helpful. Happy baking!

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TOP TIPS FOR GLUTEN-FREE BAKING SUCCESS…

Here are some top tips to help you up your baking game…from someone who has made every single baking mistake in the book (and a few more besides) and would love to help you avoid them!

PAY ATTENTION TO BBE DATES ON RAISING AGENTS

Don’t keep raising agents (baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, yeast) beyond their best before date. They can lose their oomph as they age and therefore may not work as intended.

For more information on raising agents, read my article on the difference between baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

EMBRACE THE LUMPS!

When making muffins and waffles, mix the batter only until any traces of flour are barely visible but don’t worry if your batter is lumpy. These lumps will help keep the texture of your muffins or waffles light and airy. Overmixing can result in a dense, closed texture.

ALWAYS BAKE BY WEIGHT

There are *lots* of recipes out there, particularly those originating from the United States, that give ingredient quantities in cups (and parts thereof). In other words, ingredient quantities are given in volume.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, if you come across this kind of recipe, put the book back on the shelf – or keep scrolling if you’re looking at recipes online – and use a recipe that gives ingredient quantities by weight.

I have always been genuinely puzzled why people don’t bake by weight. It’s not as if a kitchen scale is an expensive piece of kit (well it can be if you go for a really fancy pants one, but it doesn’t have to be!)

Baking by weight is accurate. Baking by volume is not.

Buy yourself a kitchen scale and you will, in this one small purchase, instantly become a better baker.

You can pick one up for as little as £10 but I would recommend you invest in the best you can afford, especially if you are going to be doing a lot of baking.

I highly recommend a digital kitchen scale for much better accuracy (which is critical when it comes to gluten-free bread baking!) Have a look at the BBC Good Food review of the 11 best kitchen scales for some options.

DON’T OVER GREASE YOUR CAKE TINS

When greasing (but not lining) your cake tins, don’t use too much fat or you will end up lightly frying the edges of the cake. They will be crunchy with an oily taste – deeply unpleasant!

Check out my recipe for making DIY cake release to use when greasing your cake tins.

MAXIMISE THOSE FRUITY FLAVOURS!

Add fruit zest (lemon, lime, orange etc.) to the butter and sugar while creaming to release the oils from the fruit skins and add more flavour. Do the same when making buttercream if the recipe calls for zest.

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE (BUTTERCREAM)

Buttercream made with butter has a yellowy hue, which is not ideal if you are aiming for white. One solution is to use shortening (such as Trex) in place of the butter but this completely changes the taste and mouthfeel of the buttercream. And not for the better, in my opinion!

To achieve a whiter buttercream when using butter, beat the butter for a minimum of five minutes before adding the icing sugar and it will become a lot less yellowy.

You can also add a teensy (and I mean teensy) drop of violet/purple food colouring. This will neutralise the yellow and make your buttercream look whiter.

You can also buy a product called icing and buttercream whitener, which does the job as well.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE: SO CHILL, CHILL, CHILL!

If a recipe calls for a specific chill time (e.g. cookie or pastry dough), don’t be tempted to skip it. It is there for a reason and ignoring it could result in a baking disaster (like biscuits that spread while baking and end up like crunchy pancakes!)

BE ORGANISED: PREP LIKE A BOSS, BAKE LIKE A PRO

Good preparation is key to successful baking. While the ‘wing it with what’s in the cupboard’ method of cookery can work successfully for rustling up a meal on the hoof (works for me *a lot*), this is a one way ticket to recipe disaster in the world of baking.

Because baking is a science and each ingredient has a very specific role to play in producing a star bake, ‘winging it’ with alternative ingredients will result in something other than intended.

So always start your baking session by reading the recipe and then reading it again to ensure you have understood it. Next prepare your mis en place (the fancy term for gathering together all your ingredients).

Once you know you have everything you need, re-read the recipe one last time then you’re good to go to bake like a pro!

SLOWLY DOES IT! ADD YOUR EGGS ONE AT A TIME

This tip is for cake recipes using the creaming method. The creaming method involves beating the sugar and fat together until light and fluffy. The primary goal of this method is to add volume and air to your cake batter.

So after taking the time to whip up lots of air and volume while creaming the fat and sugar, you don’t want to undo that effort in the remaining stages of making your cake batter.

By adding the eggs one at a time – and beating between each addition – you will be helping the creamed mix retain all that lovely air and volume.

And air and volume trapped in your cake batter will lead to a lovely light and airy finished cake.

CURDLED CAKE MIXTURE? DON’T PANIC!

Nothing strikes fear into an unsuspecting baker like a curdled cake mixture!

It might look like something out of a horror movie, but it’s actually not the end of the world if this happens. You can still bake your cake and it will still look and taste like cake. It’s just that the texture won’t be quite on point. And the curdling can inhibit the rise.

So it’s always best to try and avoid a curdled cake batter in the first place. And there are some simple steps you can take to do this…

Make sure you really cream the fat and sugar together well. This is the foundation stone of a cake based on the creaming method, so it is really important not to shortcut it.

Slowly add your liquid ingredients (this includes egg) to the creamed mixture and resist the temptation to dump them all into the bowl in one go.

As mentioned in the tip above this one, adding too much egg too quickly can knock out air and volume. It can also cause your cake mixture to split / curdle.

Adding your eggs one at a time and beating after each addition will reduce the risk of a curdled mixture.

You can also add a tablespoon of the recipe’s total flour weight with every egg. This will stabilise your cake batter and reduce the risk of it curdling.

An imbalance of ingredients can throw a cake recipe out, which is why it is important to carefully weigh all your ingredients. Including the liquids. Too much liquid will split your cake batter so never guesstimate with liquid quantities and always use the size of egg specified in the recipe.

And finally, always bake with room temperature ingredients. This will help reduce the risk of your cake batter curdling. So if you are someone who keeps eggs in the fridge, lift them out an hour or two before you are ready to start baking.

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE RECIPE – DON’T BE TEMPTED TO WING IT!

To avoid the disappointment of at best an under par bake or at worst an epic bake failure, always follow the recipe. To. The. Letter. I cannot stress this enough!

A well written, researched and rigorously tested recipe will not let you down, provided you follow the ingredients and method exactly as instructed.

Each ingredient and its corresponding weight will have been selected precisely for the role it plays in producing a mighty fine end product.

Brown sugar in a recipe, for example, will have been chosen for its depth of flavour, higher moisture content and the colour it adds to a bake. Subbing it for caster sugar may not result in a total baking failure, but it won’t look and taste the way it was intended.

So if your recipe calls for brown sugar and you only have caster sugar, pop to the shops before you start baking. Or save that recipe for another day and find something to bake that uses caster sugar.

I know that it is tempting to substitute one ingredient for another, particularly when you are trying to bake without certain ingredients for dietary reasons.

But you are far, far better to take the time to find and follow a recipe that caters specifically to your dietary needs than to ‘wing it’ by making changes to a recipe with ingredients you can’t consume.

And I say this because, at best, this approach will result in an OK bake. And I’m not about OK baking. I’m about *great* baking. And helping *you* become the best baker you can be.

So I will say it again…

Always, always follow the recipe. To the letter. Please and thank you

WORKING WITH MULTIPLE PIPING TIPS

If you are piping more than one design in buttercream on a cake or cupcakes, you are going to need to change the nozzle/tip on your piping bag.

There is a little gadget called a coupler that holds the piping tip on the outside of the bag. This allows you to change the tip while continuing to use the same bag of icing. I sell these – see the baking equipment section of the online shop.

If you drop your tip into the bottom of the bag before filling with icing, you are obviously not going to be able to get the tip out until you’ve used all the icing.

If you don’t have a coupler and you want to change your piping tip halfway through a bag of icing, you can do this…

Put your piping nozzle into one disposable piping bag then cut the end off another bag and fill it with buttercream. Now drop this piping bag into the one with the nozzle in. Then, when you want to change the nozzle, just lift the inner bag of icing out of the outer bag, change the tip and drop the inner bag of icing back in again. Simples!

I hope you have found these tips helpful and I wish you one hundred thousand triumphs with baking yourself happy at home

The post BAKE TALK: TOP TIPS FOR TIP TOP GLUTEN-FREE BAKING! appeared first on The Little Bakery of Happiness.

Baking for someone with coeliac disease? Here’s what you need to know…

If checking labels for sources of gluten, worrying about cross-contamination and interrogating ingredient lists isn’t a daily occurence for you (as it is for coeliacs) then it is completely understandable that you may feel a little daunted about baking for someone with coeliac disease.

I have written this article to help those of you who may be thinking of baking for someone with coeliac disease for the first time. It may also be helpful to you if you have coeliac disease and need to communicate to friends and family the importance of vigilance when it comes to baking and cooking for you. This can sometimes be a challenge as not everyone fully understands our condition (and why would they if they’re not living with it day in, day out!)

THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT DIGESTING GLUTEN WHEN YOU HAVE COELIAC DISEASE

For those of us living with coeliac disease, a strictly controlled gluten-free diet is vital for our ongoing good health and wellbeing. Even the slightest crumb of a food containing gluten can make us ill for days on end.

I know this may sound far-fetched. And it was something I struggled to wrap my head around following my diagnosis. I mean, how can you eat *all* the gluten for *all* the years and then suddenly a tiny speck of it can make you ill? But it really, really is true. It is not attention-seeking behaviour, it’s not being over-dramatic or paranoid and it’s not that “a little bit of gluten every now and again won’t do you any harm.” It will. And it does. Trust me, I (as do many of my fellow coeliacs) speak from first-hand, deeply unpleasant experience.

FINDING GLUTEN

The main sources of gluten are the grains wheat, barley, rye and oats, with other less common sources including spelt, einkorn and emmer. I have seen repeated claims over time that baked goods made with spelt are gluten-free. This is categorically untrue. Some people with a gluten-intolerance report being able to more easily digest ancient grains such as spelt, but this does not make these grains gluten-free. And they are absolutely not safe for coeliacs.

Oats are a constant source of confusion in the gluten-free diet. The grain itself does not contain gluten but the way in which it is grown, harvested and milled has a high potential for cross contamination. As such, standard oats are not considered gluten-free. Gluten-free oats do exist and they are safe for coeliacs if they are certified gluten-free.

BUT (and there’s always a but!) some coeliacs can’t tolerate oats – even the certified gluten-free ones – so do please check with the coeliac you are baking for before using them.

I SEE YOU: SPOTTING GLUTEN-CONTAINING INGREDIENTS IN PRODUCT INGREDIENT LISTS

When you are shopping for ingredients to bake for a coeliac, you need to check for the presence of all/any of these gluten-containing ingredients and put them back on the shelf if they appear in the ingredients list.

It is a legal requirement for food to be labelled with any gluten-containing ingredients. It is the grain, not the word gluten, that you are looking for in the list. Allergens must be highlighted in some way so that they are easy to see. And most manufacturers use either bold type or CAPS or both. As an illustration, below are the ingredients lists for a packet of standard digestive biscuits and a packet of gluten-free digestives, which I have lifted from the Tesco groceries website.

STANDARD DIGESTIVE BISCUITS:
Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Vegetable Oil (Palm), Sugar, Wheatgerm (5%), Raising Agents: E500, E503, Salt, Dried Whey (Milk), Natural Flavouring
GLUTEN-FREE DIGESTIVE BISCUITS:
Gluten Free Oat Flour, Muscovado Sugar, Maize Starch, Palm Fat, Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil, Partially Inverted Sugar Syrup, Raising Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate), Flavouring, Salt, Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids).

We can see immediately from these two ingredients lists that the standard digestive biscuits contain wheat and are therefore not safe for coeliacs. The gluten-free digestive biscuits have no gluten-containing ingredients highlighted in the list and no may contain warnings, so we know that they are safe for coeliacs. BUT they do contain gluten-free oats, so we need to check with our coeliac friends/family members that they can tolerate gluten-free oats before we use these biscuits in our baking.

WARNING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

May contain warnings. A headache for coeliacs and a source of controversy and confusion for a variety of reasons.

The term gluten-free is legally protected, which means that a product should not claim to be gluten-free unless it is under 20ppm. It is not uncommon to have an ingredients list with only non-gluten-containing ingredients but with a may contain warning for a gluten-containing ingredient (for example, wheat).

Here the manufacturer is communicating to the consumer that there is a high probability of cross contamination with the ingredient mentioned. As an example, this is common on some Cadbury chocolate products where products with gluteny ingredients are produced on the same line as those with no gluteny ingredients and the process isn’t segregated to guard against cross contamination.

CADBURY DAIRY MILK (BAR)
Milk, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), Emulsifiers (E442, E476), Flavourings
May contain nuts, wheat.

We can see here that this product is not safe for coeliacs because of the possibility of it containing wheat. Please don’t use this chocolate if you are baking for a coeliac. There are plenty of chocolate bars that are safe to use and if you’re set on Cadbury chocolate, their buttons and giant buttons do not carry a may contain warning.

It is worth stating here that it is my personal choice not to eat any foods where there is a may contain warning on the label. This is in line with the advice from Coeliac UK. I am aware that not everyone takes this stance. But for me it is not up for debate and you will therefore not find me saying anything other than to avoid them.

IT’S GOOD TO TALK

When someone goes out of their way to help us feel included at an occasion where food is involved, it really does make those of us with coeliac disease feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. But at the same time it is an enormous source of anxiety. Do they know about cross contamination? Or that we can’t eat foods with may contain warnings in the ingredients list? Might they have used an open jar of jam in the cake filling? Should I check and risk offending them after they have gone to the bother of catering for me? Or should I keep quiet and risk getting ill?

You may have no idea that this is what goes on inside the head of many a coeliac in these situations. How could you be expected to if we keep it to ourselves? Which is why I am telling you here

And it can also be an anxious time for you if you’re going to be catering for us: worrying about how to prepare things and what to think about to make sure we don’t get ill. Which is why I am advocating that you talk to us about how the food we are about to eat has been prepared. And never be afraid to ask questions if you’re unsure about anything.

Having a chat with the coeliac(s) in your life before cooking or baking for them with get any anxieties that either of you have out in the open and will result in a happy eating experience. Which of course I would champion!

NO OFFENCE, BUT WHAT’S WITH ALL THE QUESTIONS?

As coeliacs, we don’t live in a gluten-free bubble and so we have to make decisions every day on how safe it is for us to eat certain foods in certain places and in certain situations. Informed decisions help us to stay safe and well. Which is why it is so good to talk and ask questions We’re not questioning your cooking or baking skills. And neither are we saying that we don’t trust you. It would be unreasonable of us to expect you to know the intricacies of a medical condition you don’t live with! So we’re just asking questions to make those informed decisions that will help keep us from being glutened.

DON’T BE DOUBLE-DIPPING

If you’re baking a cake for us, the chances are you will be using butter (or another form of fat) and maybe jam or chocolate spread or something else from a jar. Please always make sure that you use a fresh pot of jam or a fresh packet of butter when baking for someone with coeliac disease.

If yours is not an exclusively gluten-free household (and let’s face it, how many are?), the chances are that the pot of jam in your fridge has had a knife dipped in it, spread on a slice of gluteny toast and then dipped back in the jar for a second helping. This is a one-way ticket to what us coeliacs refer to as a ‘right royal glutening.’ So please start a new packet, pot or jar of any ingredient you are using to cater for us in order to mitigate this risk.

SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE…

In an ideal world, the perfect kitchen for a coeliac would have a completely separate set of cooking and baking tools and equipment than those used to cook gluteny things. But for many this is neither practical nor financially viable. And if you’re just baking something gluten-free for a friend or family member once in a while, it seems a little OTT.

Most of us are accepting of the fact that you will be baking for us using the things you use for your own food on a daily basis. But do please always check with the coeliac you are baking for, as we are all different and have different levels of acceptance when it comes to how our food is prepared.

That said, please give all your pots, pans, tools, tins and utensils a nice and thorough wash in hot soapy water (or better still, run them through the dishwasher if you have one) before you bake for us.

IT’S NOT HIP TO BE SQUARE

We need to talk tins. Baking tins.

As discussed above, not everyone is in a position to have separate baking tins that are used exclusively for gluten-free baking. And the chances are, if you are baking something gluten-free once in a while for a friend or family member, this is you.

My advice in this situation is to give square, oblong and straight-edged cake tins a wide berth if you have already baked gluteny things in them. Stick to round tins and / or cupcake pans lined with cupcake cases.

I say this because it is next to impossible to get baked-in cake batter out of the corners of a square/oblong cake tin. And even those few pesky crumbs can make a coeliac quite unwell.

I hope you have found this little guide to baking for someone with coeliac disease useful. It may seem a lot to remember, so you can always bookmark this page for future reference. But the simplest way to bake safely for someone with coeliac disease is to chat with the person you are doing a spot of gluten-free baking for before you start. Coeliacs don’t bite – unless we’re very, very hungry

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SPOTLIGHT ON EGGS AND THEIR ROLE IN GLUTEN-FREE BAKING…

Eggs are one of the four staple ingredients in conventional cake baking (along with flour, fat and sugar). Understanding the composition and functionality of the egg can help you make better decisions as a baker. Such as when to use whole eggs, when to use just the whites or just the yolks and how many eggs to use in a cake recipe.

By throwing a spotlight on eggs and their role in baking, we can also begin to understand how our cakes will be different if we omit the eggs – for example in vegan / plant-based baking.

THE COMPOSITION OF AN EGG

Eggs are made up of an outer shell, the white (albumen) and a yolk.  That funny stringy white bit you will find when you crack an egg is called the chalaza. Its job is to hold the yolk in position in the middle of the egg.

THE YOLK

The yolk of an egg is high in both protein and fat. It is yellow in colour, although the depth of colour depends on the diet of the chicken (and, some say, its level of happiness). Egg yolks can add to the richness of a bake. Pâte sucrée, for example, (an enriched pastry dough) is typically made with egg yolks.

THE WHITE

The white of an egg consists mostly of water (around 85%+) and protein. In its raw state it is clear and fluid. When it is cooked it turns white and solidifies (unless you don’t cook it properly, in which case it is snitty. And I have yet to find *anyone* who likes a snitty egg)

The thicker the egg white, the fresher the egg is. And so conversely, the more fluid the white, the older the egg).

THE SHELL

The shell of an egg is the inedible part.  It is fragile and pesky bits of it are prone to landing in the eggs when you crack them. Always crack your eggs into a separate bowl rather than directly into your creamed cake mixture. It is much easier to fish stray bits of shell out from just the eggs than once they’ve been added to the batter.

Eggs are also porous, which is why you should never store eggs next to anything with a strong flavour or odour as they will take on those flavours.

THE ROLE OF EGGS IN BAKING

So now that we’ve established what an egg is made up of, we can turn to the nitty gritty of what an egg does when we use it in our baking.

STRUCTURE BUILDER

When it heats up, the protein in egg coagulates (changes from a liquid to a semi solid state). This helps to give structure in baked goods. It is why eggs are such a valuable addition to the gluten-free baker’s pantry of baking ingredients. The protein in eggs goes some way to compensate for the lack of gluten (which is made up of two proteins) in our flours.

If you add too much egg to a cake recipe, the texture may become dry, tough or slightly chewy.  The quantity of egg must therefore be balanced with the quantity of fat and sugar in your cake recipe (both of which help to tenderise the crumb) to prevent a tough cake that nobody will come back for seconds of!

EMULSIFIER

The yolk of an egg contains a natural emulsifier (lecithin). This helps to bind fats and liquids together (not the best of bed fellows when left alone).

When you add eggs to a creamed mixture of butter and sugar, you are adding a lot of water (remember: the majority of egg white is water). Fat and water naturally repel each other.  The lecithin in the yolk helps to emulsify (bring together into a smooth and stable mixture) the fat and water.

LEAVENING

Eggs, when beaten into the fat and sugar of a cake mix, trap bubbles of air. These bubbles expand when subjected to the heat of an oven. And this helps cakes to rise.

Some recipes call for you to separate the yolks and whites before beating the whites to stiff peaks and then adding to your cake batter. When doing this, be sure to fold the beaten egg whites slowly and gently. You want to knock out as little of the air beaten into them as possible.

BROWNING

The browning process (Maillard reaction) is triggered when proteins are exposed to heat.  And because eggs contain protein, they contribute to this browning process. Think, for example, of the golden colour that adding an egg wash to the top of your pie crust results in!

FLAVOUR

Eggs contribute to the overall flavour profile of a cake. The flavour comes from the yolks, though, not from the whites. A classic fat, flour, sugar, egg-based cake recipe will taste very different to an egg-free / plant-based / vegan sponge cake.

MOISTURE CONTENT

Eggs consist mostly of water. So they contribute to the overall moisture content of your cake.  If you decide to enrich your cake by using just the yolks instead of whole eggs, you will need to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe (for example, by adding milk) to compensate for the liquid the egg whites would have contributed.

The quirky nature of eggs is that they not only contribute moisture in baking, but they can also dry things out! Cakes using only the whites can have a tendency to be dry because of the high water content (which evapourates during baking) and the absence of fat. The recipe will therefore need adjusting to compensate, typically with a high ratio of sugar (which holds on to the moisture in a cake).

THICKENER

Eggs are a great culinary thickener when heated/cooked.  Think lemon curd, pouring custard and set custard tarts. The more egg you add to something in this way, the thicker and more ‘set’ the result.

TENDERISER

The fat content of the egg yolk contributes to the overall tenderness of the cake crumb. It is also why adding extra egg yolk to a cookie recipe will result in a softer, chewier cookie.

The white of an egg does not contain any fat and so cakes made with whites only rely on higher quantities of other ingredients (fat and sugar) to tenderise the crumb.

COLOUR

The yolk of an egg will add some yellowy colour to your cakes.  That is why if you want a whiter cake crumb, you will need a cake recipe that uses egg whites only. 

The same is true if you want to colour your cake sponges. Take blue, for example. The yellowy hue of a cake containing egg yolks makes it difficult to achieve a true blue colour because yellow and blue make green!

SHORTENING

Eggs help to ‘shorten’ cakes and bakes because of their fat content. This essentially means that eggs help to tenderise a bake and create a delicate crumb. Think of brioche, which is oh so light and soft. It has a much higher egg content (and butter!) than a ‘lean’ dough.

STORING EGGS

Some people keep their eggs in the fridge, others keep them in the cupboard or on their kitchen bench. They should be stored below 20 degrees centigrade*. 

If you store your eggs in the fridge, always lift them out in advance of any baking. They need to be at room temperature when you are ready to use them.

EGG SIZES

In the UK, eggs come in four different sizes*. These are:

• Small: 53g and under
• Medium: 53g-63g
• Large: 63g-73g
• Very/extra large: 73g and over

These weights include the shell of the egg.

*Source, The British Egg Industry Council

I hope you have found this spotlight on eggs helpful in understanding the role they play in baking. Baking without eggs (or with egg replacers / substitutes) isn’t something I have addressed in this article as it warrants a spotlight of its own. Given the many and varied roles that eggs play in baking, simply omitting them from a recipe could lead to any number of cake fails. So this is a topic to tackle on another day!

If you enjoyed this little dive into the science of baking, you may also find my spotlight on sugar and its role in baking an interesting read

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SPOTLIGHT ON SUGAR AND ITS ROLE IN GLUTEN-FREE BAKING

Sugar. Loved by some, loathed by others. And like so many other food groups, certainly not great if consumed to excess. There, that’s the elephant in the room dealt with

I’m not here to debate, celebrate or demonise sugar in this post. This article is about helping you to understand the role of sugar in baking, the different types of sugar available and the characteristics each one imparts on your baked goods.

SPOTLIGHT ON SUGAR: SO WHAT IS SUGAR?

Sugar is one of the four staple ingredients used in conventional cake baking (along with egg, flour and fat).  And sugar is sugar, right? Well, kind of. Refined, unrefined, brown, white, coarse, powdered, liquid, substitutes…So yeah, sugar is just sugar. Hmm.

As you can see, there are lots of different sugars available to the home baker, each of which will bring something different to your baked goods. The primary aim of sugar in baking, however, is to:

• Add sweetness and flavour
• Create a tender crumb in cakes
• Create air pockets when creamed together with fat
• Contribute to the colour of baked goods (through browning processes such as caramelisation and the Maillard reaction)
• Stabilise beaten egg whites (e.g. in meringues)
• Help baked goods last longer as they hold on to moisture (they are hygroscopic)

The hygroscopic nature of sugar is both a blessing and a curse. It is useful to us as bakers because of its ability to hold on to moisture and keep our cakes and bakes moist.  But this ability to retain moisture can also be rather unhelpful if we are working with things like sugarpaste, brittles and spun sugar.  Moisture from the air will be drawn to our sugar work, making it sticky. This is the reason you shouldn’t store cakes covered in sugarpaste in the fridge. It is also why you should always keep your bags of sugar sealed and stored in a cool, dry place. 

REFINED AND UNREFINED SUGARS

Sugar can be either refined or unrefined. Refined sugar is the one most of us will be familiar with and that we will use most at home. Refined sugar is processed to remove the naturally dark colour, resulting in (for example) the white ‘table (granulated) sugar’ we know and love.

Unrefined sugar, on the other hand, has not been put through a refining process. Typically, unrefined sugars have more flavour than their refined counterparts. Maple syrup, treacle (molasses) and raw honey are all forms of unrefined sugar. It is also possible to buy unrefined golden granulated and golden caster sugar.

THREE TYPES OF SUGAR: EVERYDAY, NICHE AND DECORATIVE

I like to think of sugars as falling into one of three categories: everyday sugars, niche sugars and decorative sugars. I have grouped them this way based on how they are most commonly used in baking. Let’s now take a look at each of these in turn…

SPOTLIGHT ON SUGAR: EVERYDAY SUGARS

WHITE SUGARS

GRANULATED SUGAR

Granulated sugar is a coarse, refined sugar. You may sometimes hear it referred to as table sugar and it is the stuff that most of us typically have in the sugar canister in our kitchens for adding to hot drinks.  

It is great for adding a crunchy texture to toppings (like jammy doughnuts and drizzle cakes) but for baking, you are better off using caster sugar.

The main brands of granulated sugar available in UK supermarkets are Tate and Lyle and Silver Spoon. Some of the major supermarkets in the UK also sell their own brand of granulated sugar.

CASTER SUGAR

Caster sugar has a finer texture and the grains are smaller than those in granulated sugar.  This makes it better for use in cakes and cookies as it will produce a smoother, more even-textured cake batter or cookie dough. 

The main brand of caster sugar available in UK supermarkets is Silver Spoon. Some of the major supermarkets in the UK also sell own brand sugar.

BROWN SUGARS

LIGHT BROWN AND DARK BROWN SUGARS

Brown sugars are essentially refined white sugar with varying degrees of molasses added back in.

They have a higher moisture content than white sugars and impart a caramel-like flavour. And, by their very nature of being brown, they add more colour to baked goods. Brown sugars are also slightly acidic, which means they work well with the leavening agent bicarbonate of soda. (For more on leaveners, see my article on baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, the difference between the two and when to use them).

Billington’s brown sugar is the brand you will see most frequently in UK supermarkets alongside own brand versions of both light and dark brown sugar. 

SPOTLIGHT ON SUGAR: NICHE SUGARS

DEMERARA SUGAR

Demerara sugar is a less refined version of granulated sugar, with larger crystals. It is a form of brown sugar but has a lower moisture content than every day brown sugars as the molasses content is lower.

Demerara sugar straddles both the niche and decorative sugar categories. Its large, coarse grains make it great for finishing cakes with a sweet crunchy topping.  These large sugar crystals make it less suitable for use in cakes using the creaming method but can work well in cake recipes that follow the melting method, as demerara sugar dissolves well in warm liquids.

MUSCOVADO SUGAR

Available in both light and dark varieties, muscovado sugar is derived from raw cane sugar. It is less refined than brown sugar. Its colour is determined by the molasses content (the more molasses, the darker the sugar). It has a high moisture content and a good caramel (light) or toffee (dark) flavour.  

It is a great addition to classic autumnal and winter bakes like gingerbread, parkin and fruit cake.

SPOTLIGHT ON SUGAR: DECORATIVE SUGARS

ICING SUGAR

Icing sugar has a super-fine texture and generally includes a small amount of starch (typically corn/maize), which acts as an anti-caking agent to stop the icing sugar from clumping. That said, you should *always* sift your icing sugar before adding it to your other ingredients (for example, beaten butter if you are making buttercream icing).

Icing sugar is not great in cake-making but is perfect for buttercreams, icing glazes and sweet sauces because it dissolves very easily. You can also use it to dust the top of your cakes and bakes (particularly effective on festive bakes). 

The main brands of icing sugar available in UK supermarkets are Tate and Lyle and Silver Spoon.

SUGAR PEARLS / NIBBED SUGAR

Sugar pearls – also known as nibbed sugar – are large, coarse crystals of sugar that hold their shape and texture and don’t melt when subjected to high heat. This makes them great as decorative sugar toppings that can be added to a bake *before* it is put in the oven. 

You will often see sugar pearls on top of bakery-style muffins and cinnamon / Belgian style buns. Sugar pearls are available from specialist bakery and cake decorating suppliers.

SUGARPASTE / READY-TO-ROLL FONDANT

Sugarpaste icing, which is sometimes called ready-to roll fondant, is a pliable, dough-like substance used to decorate cakes and cupcakes. It comes in all colours of the rainbow and shades thereof!

You can get white sugarpaste and some of the most popular colours (red, green, yellow, blue, pink) in many supermarkets in the UK. But for a wider choice of colours, you will need to visit a specialist cake decorating supplies shop or online store.

A NOTE ON SUGAR SUBSTITUTES

There are sugar substitutes/ replacers and artificial sweeteners available for people who need to reduce their sugar intake. These sweeteners are either low or zero calorie and can be derived from plant extracts or artificially produced through chemical synthesis.

This is not an area in which I have any knowledge or experience and so isn’t something I feel able to write about in this article on sugar in baking.

I hope you have found this spotlight on sugar helpful in understanding the role it plays in baking. The beedy-eyed of you will notice that I haven’t discussed liquid sweeteners (like honey, treacle, golden syrup, agave nectar and maple syrup) in this spotlight on sugar. That’s an article in its own right. And one for another day!

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BAKING EQUIPMENT BASICS: WHAT YOU NEED TO BUY…

You don’t need kitchen cupboards fit to bursting with all the newest, fanciest baking equipment to be a great home baker. But having a few good quality basics will set you well on your way to turning out great bakes, time after time. I have set out some of the key bits of kit you should consider buying to set yourself up well for baking yourself happy at home

BAKING TINS / PANS

There are baking tins out there for any and every size, shape and depth of cake. It can be mind-boggling! So my advice, if you are on a limited budget is to buy the best quality you can afford of an 8″ round, and 8″ square and an 8″x12″ brownie / traybake tin. There are soooooo many recipes written for these tin sizes, that you won’t be struggling for things to bake with just these three tins.

You will also need a 12-hole cupcake tray / muffin pan if you are going to be baking cupcakes (which are great fun to make with mini bakers and are a quick and simple way of getting a cake fix!)

And also a nice and solid and sturdy baking tray (if you are going to be big on cookie baking, buy at least one big one or two smaller ones that will fit side-by-side in your oven. Many cookie recipes require a lot of space between each cookie to allow for spreading while baking. If you only have one small tray, you are going to have to run your oven for a long time to get all your cookies baked).

Decide on your budget and then shop around to see what you can find. My recommendation would be to buy Alan Silverwood tins/pans if you can afford them. They are excellent quality and are made from anodised aluminium. Aluminium is a great bakeware material as it conducts/distributes heat evenly throughout the entire tin, leaving you with beautifully even bakes.

And they last. The Silverwood bakeware tins I use are easily 12 years old and still going as strong as they were on the day I bought them!

Aluminium bakeware, because it is light in colour, radiates heat more gently than dark coloured bakeware, which means your cakes won’t brown too quickly on the bottom and around the edges.

If you are reading this thinking ‘oh no, I already own some baking tins and they’re all dark’, don’t panic! They will still work. I am just sharing with you my preference and why I choose the tins I do.

ELECTRIC MIXER

If you are going to make baking a part of your life rather than just something you dabble in on a whim once or twice a year, then I would encourage you to think seriously about investing in a stand mixer.

I have more mixers than you could shake a stick at. But then I run a bakery so that’s perhaps not surprising!

I have a mahoosive commercial planetary mixer for large volume baking, but I also have three KitchenAid stand mixers. They’re not the cheapest bits of kit but they are really, really well made and will last and last.

I also have one of those old Kenwood mixers from circa 1960 something, which was handed down to me from my mother-in-law (it was originally her mother’s mixer!) And it still works a treat. Although let me tell you it’s loud. *Very* loud!

There are lots of other brands out there, including: Smeg, Cuisinart, Morphy Richards and more. Have a look at this useful guide to buying a stand mixer from BBC Good Food and check out its top recommendations.

Stand mixers have also been known to make an appearance in the ‘aisle of dreams’ at Aldi, so it’s always worth keeping an eye out there if you’re on a tight budget.

If a stand mixer is beyond your budget, then an electric hand mixer can still save you a lot of time and energy in the kitchen and will mean you can be sat down with a cup of tea and a slice of cake quicker than if you did absolutely everything by hand! It will also take up less space if you are struggling for worktop and/or storage space in your kitchen.

BALLOON WHISK

Balloon whisks are useful gadgets to have in your kitchen utensils drawer. You can use them to whisk your dry ingredients together, which will not only ensure even distribution of flours and raising agents, but will add air. And air helps to produce lighter cakes.

You can also use a balloon whisk to lightly beat/froth egg whites (quicker than using a fork) and to make lovely smooth sauces.

And if you don’t own an electric mixer, you will most definitely need a balloon whisk for making everything from meringues to whipped cream. And you will most likely develop rock solid arm muscles, for which I salute you!

I would strongly recommend buying a metal balloon whisk and not a silicone one. I find the silicone ones have too much ‘give’. When selecting your metal balloon whisk, gently squeeze the metal loops in your hand. If there’s a lot of give, put it back and seek out a more robust whisk. A better quality one will last much longer and will be quicker and easier to use as the metal loops won’t lose their shape and start to splay.

MICROWAVE-PROOF BOWLS / DISHES

Your microwave can be a very handy piece of equipment for melting butter and chocolate and warming up jams and sauces for drizzling.

Having a couple of microwave-safe bowls that you can use for these tasks saves your favourite home kitchenware from overuse/damage!

DIGITAL WEIGHING SCALES

Baking by weight is accurate. Baking by volume (cups) is not. Buying yourself a kitchen scale will, in this one small purchase, make you an instantly better baker.

You can pick one up for as little as £10. I would always recommend a digital kitchen scale for much better accuracy (which is critical when it comes to gluten-free bread baking!)

SPATULAS

My kitchen utensils trays are littered with spatulas. But then I bake every day, for hours at a time. For the avid homemaker, just a couple will suffice!

Get yourself a rubber / silicone spatula for scraping all the cake batter and buttercream out of your bowls and to get as much out of your ingredients as possible. They also make great mixing tools.

A metal offset spatula is also a really useful tool for spreading buttercream, jams, spreads and ganaches onto your cakes.

COOLING RACK

You will need a cooling rack to place your cakes and biscuits/cookies on once you have removed them from the tin/tray to allow them to properly cool (I know, I know, you just want to eat them *now*!)

Ideally, go for a fine mesh one as these are less likely to leave imprints on your cakes than the widely spaced ones. (I have a round one that leaves a spiral indent in the cakes I place on it. Very pretty but often not the look I am going for!)

FINE MESH SIEVE

You 100% need a sieve if you are baking anything that uses icing sugar. Icing sugar can easily clump and so you need to get rid of those pesky lumps before you add the sugar to your beaten butter if you want a silky smooth, lump-free buttercream.

Go for one of the fine mesh ones rather than a wide mesh or colander style sieve as they have a tendency to let some of the lumps through.

BAKING PAPER / PARCHMENT OR SILICONE LINERS

You will see that a lot of cake recipes call for you to grease and line your cake tins before adding the cake batter, so it’s good to have a roll of baking parchment in your kitchen cupboard. Make sure you use baking paper and NOT greaseproof paper. If you’re unsure of the difference, read my article on the difference between baking paper and greaseproof paper to make sure you are using the right stuff.

If you prefer to avoid single use materials, have a look for non-stick reusable cake tin / baking tray liners. Bake-O-Glide® is one such product and it is my go-to product to replace single-use baking paper at the bakery (and when I am baking at home). You can buy ready made strips and base liners to fit a range of cake tins and you can also buy it in sheets to cut down to the sizes you need.

ROLLING PIN AND SPACERS

If you are going to be working with pastry, biscuits or sugarpaste icing then you will need to have a rolling pin in your baking kit. At a push you can grab an old wine bottle (cleaned and minus any labels) but for a nice even roll-out a good quality pin is a must, I think.

Rolling pin spacers are an absolute game changer when it comes to achieving thin, evenly rolled pastry, biscuits and icing. They come in a range of different thicknesses so you can pick and choose which ones you use depending on what you are rolling out.

I sell both rolling pin spacers and a durable, non-stick rolling pin in my online shop, both of which I use at the bakery.

MEASURING SPOONS

For this, I mean a set of spoons that measure a tablespoon (1 tbsp), a dessert spoon (1 dsp), a teaspoon (1 tsp), a half teaspoon (1/2 tsp), a quarter teaspoon (1/4 tsp) and some, although not all, may have a ‘pinch’ spoon. I *do not* mean measuring cups. And please, for the love of all that is holy, if you have a set of measuring cups, relegate them to the cupboard of unwanted things (see my article on baking tips for why I say this!)

Ingredients that call for small quantities like a teaspoon are typically things like raising agents. And too much or too little of these can really knock a recipe out and turn a potential baking triumph into a bake fail. But if you have a set of accurately calibrated measuring spoons, you are much less likely to put too much or too little of an ingredient into your bake.

FRUIT ZESTER AND JUICER

If, like me, you’re a big fan of zesty cakes, cookies and desserts, then you’re going to need both a fruit zester and a fruit juicer for all those citrusy bakes you’re going to make!

One of my best kitchen gadgets is the Oxo Good Grips lemon zester. It’s a game changer! No more grated knuckles and leaving half the fruit zest on the grater. I urge you to get one

There is a goodly amount of choice when it comes to fruit juicers, from whizzy electrical ones to the most basic of manual squeezers. I have the latter…the two piece sort with the pointy top half that you press and twist your fruit onto to extract the juice and the tray underneath it to collect the juice.

PASTRY BRUSH

You will need a pastry brush for a whole host of baking tasks including: egg-washing pastry and scones, glazing pastries and greasing tins.

They are available as bristle brushes and silicone. I find the silicone ones worse than useless and would recommend you buy a bristle brush. Always wash thoroughly after use in hot soapy water.

ICING TIPS / NOZZLES

There are 100s of icing tips and piping nozzles out there and for every different shape there are probably several different sizes!

But unless you’re planning on going into business make cakes with piped icing, then you will be good to go with just one or two. The two I use most in the bakery are the 1M drop flower piping tip (which I sell in my online shop) and also a round baking tip.

The 1M tip is perfect for creating classic buttercream swirls for cupcakes and the round tip can be used for piping buttercream teardrops, meringue, choux pastry and more.

PIPING BAGS

If you’re going to be piping buttercream, ganache or cream (and some soft biscuit doughs), then you will need a piping bag.

You can buy both reusable / washable ones and disposable ones. You can also buy icing sets, which typically come with a reusable bag, several tips and a coupler. A coupler is a little attachment that enables you to switch your piping tip without having to switch to a new bag with fresh icing in. I sell 18″ disposable piping bags in my online shop.

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