Baking - it's such a simple operation that the first ovens were created with only boiling rocks more than 4000 years ago. However, since it allows for a wide variety of culinary choices, baking is still an area today where the most curious chefs can experiment. If you've never baked before, this guide will explain the basics, give you recommendations for specific foods, and suggest some recipes to start with. Don't worry - if the ancient Egyptians could do it, you can too!
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Baking Basics
Step 1. Find a heat source
When you bake a food in the oven, it is heated from the outside to the inside, and the result is a toasted and crunchy outside and a soft inside. To bake you need a heat source that can heat your food enough to cook it in all places (this is especially important for meats, which can contain pathogens if undercooked) - modern ovens allow you to set temperatures precise and controlled and offer easy access to food without heating the surrounding environment. While these are less common methods, you can reproduce baking in other ways, including:
- Traditional outdoor ovens such as the tandoor.
- Casseroles
- Microwave ovens (technically cooking takes place differently, thanks to radiation).
Step 2. Choose a suitable recipe
Baking projects can be simple or extremely complicated. If you're a beginner, it's best to start with something simple - a cookie recipe or chicken legs. Make sure you have all the ingredients in the recipe before you start - rushing to the grocery store while you cook is stressful and could turn your recipe into a disaster.
- If you can, measure your ingredients before starting. It is not essential, but it makes the preparation much quicker.
- Respect the rules of hygiene. Wash your hands before you start cooking and after handling a raw ingredient that may contain dangerous bacteria (especially meat, poultry, and eggs).
- Wear clothes you can get dirty or an apron.
Step 3. Preheat the oven
By their nature, all baked recipes require high temperatures. Set the oven to the temperature required in the recipe. Then, proceed to the next steps! Do not touch the oven when it heats up - it takes time for it to reach the required temperature. In the meantime, you can complete the other steps of the recipe. When it's time to bake, the oven should be at the right temperature.
Do not open the oven door before putting it in the oven. If you did this, you would release the heat stored inside the oven, and its temperature would drop
Step 4. Follow the recipe
Every recipe is different - there is no set of rules that can guide you perfectly. Most baked recipes, however, contain some or all of these general steps:
- Prepare food (for meat, poultry and vegetables). Foods baked directly without any preparation will become dry and not very tasty at best and not cook well at worst. Cuts like chicken breasts often need to be marinated, stuffed with a filling, or pan-seared before being baked. Vegetables such as potatoes need to be pricked with a fork before being baked to allow moisture to escape. Almost all recipes involve some sort of preparation for the food.
- Mix your ingredients (for pastry and desserts, etc.). Often, dry and wet ingredients are combined in separate bowls, then mixed together to form yeast or batter.
- Prepare cooking utensils. Pots and pans are not always immediately suitable for baking. In some cases, they need special preparations - many recipes, for example, require you to grease the pan.
- Put the food in a container. Your dough, prepared meat or vegetables will not cook right if you put them in the bottom of the oven. Typically, you will need to pour or place the food on a heat-resistant metal, glass or ceramic container that you can easily remove from the oven (with pot holders).
- Bake in the oven at a high temperature. This is the operation that defines this type of cooking. Pay attention to the indications regarding the distance between the food and the heat source.
Step 5. Put the food in the oven
When you have prepared your food using the recipe directions and after making sure the oven is preheated, place it in the oven. Close the oven door and set a timer with the time specified in the recipe. Now, wait for the food to cook and enjoy the delicious aroma filling your kitchen.
- Take this opportunity to wash the utensils you used to prepare the food.
- You can check the food as it cooks by using a light in the oven or by briefly opening the door. If you decide to open it, close it as soon as possible to keep the oven from cooling down. If you are concerned that your dish may burn, check halfway through cooking, and thereafter as required.
Step 6. Remove the food from the oven
When the time is up and you've checked that the dish looks well done, remove it from the oven. Be sure to protect your hands - pot holders are handy because they allow you to keep some of your hand dexterity when holding food, but a set of napkins held between your hands and the container will do if you have no other options.
- be careful! When you take the food out of the oven, handle it gently, especially taking care not to spill hot liquids. Baking can be a fun and relaxing activity, but if you're not careful in this step, you could risk painful injuries.
- Leave your creation on a surface that will not get burned or close to other objects. Use a sturdy rag, pot holder, or wire rack to protect kitchen counters.
Step 7. Let your food cool
When food comes out of the oven, it is often too hot to eat. It may not even have its "final" consistency yet - the cookies are almost too soft to hold when they come out of the oven. Finally, some recipes use the heat of the pan to continue cooking food after it has been removed from the oven. Let the dish cool before eating it - if required by the recipe, carefully move the food onto a wire rack, which allows the fresh air to cool all its surfaces.
Step 8. Garnish or decorate your food
For some foods, the external decorations can be used mainly to improve their appearance, for others, they are fundamental elements of the flavor of the dish. A parsley garnish, for example, isn't essential for a baked pasta dish, but a cake without icing won't have much flavor. Your recipe may give you specific directions for decorations, or even contain a separate ingredient list for this purpose (as is often the case with glazes and sauces). Give your dish the finishing touches, serve it and enjoy!
Part 2 of 3: Cooking in the Oven for the Different Food Groups
Step 1. Bake bread, pastries and sweets in the oven
When people think of baked goods, they think of bread and pastries - the foods you usually buy from a baker. These types of foods are usually made with simple ingredients such as flour, butter, eggs, sugar, baking soda, salt, milk, oil, starch, cheese and yeast, to form a dough which is then baked. Bread and pastries are often flavored with spices, syrups and other additives, to give them sweet or savory aromas. Here are some basic things to remember when baking bread or pastries:
- The final appearance of the dish is usually determined by the container in which you will cook it. A loaf baked in a bread pan, for example, will have a different shape than a ball of dough baked on a flat pan.
- Baked goods often require special care to ensure they don't stick to the pan. Butter, grease, oil, or sprays are often used to avoid this problem.
- Some baked goods that involve the use of yeast (especially bread) require time for the yeast to "rise". Yeast is made up of microscopic live fungi that feed on the sugar contained in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide (which causes it to rise) and other compounds that affect the flavor of the product.
- Generally, the higher the proportion of dry ingredients (flour, etc.) to wet ones (eggs, oil, milk, etc.) in a recipe, the more crumbly the dough will be. A popular trick for working with particularly crumbly dough is to chill it in the refrigerator or freezer - it will thicken, and become easier to handle and shape without breaking.
Step 2. Bake meat and poultry
As well as pan-fried, broiled, or roasted, baking is a great way to cook meat and poultry. Hot, dry oven air can give poultry a crisp, golden exterior while keeping the interior moist and juicy. Roasting a large cut of beef or lamb at low temperatures for hours is a great way to ensure a moist and flavorful finished product that is fully cooked. Here are some things to remember when baking meat and poultry:
- When roasting large cuts of meat, get a meat thermometer, along with a list of desired core temperatures for different types of meat. It is much easier to use the thermometer to judge if the meat is cooked than each time having to take it out of the oven, cut it and put it back in its place.
- Some people prefer to remove the skin from poultry, others prefer to leave it. Seasoned and cooked, the skin can have a delicious crunchy texture, but it can slightly increase the calorie and fat content of the dish.
- There are pros and cons to leaving the bone in the meat (as opposed to removing it). T-bone cuts of meat are generally cheaper and, according to some sources, more flavorful (although there is no firm evidence). In some cases they also offer additional options for preparation (for example, giving you the option to use fillings). On the other hand, eating around the bones can be annoying.
- Always cook meat and poultry completely. A 2011 study found dangerous Staffylococcus bacteria in nearly half of the meat and poultry samples tested. Don't risk it - make sure the center of the meat is cooked and has no pink spots, and that the juices of the meat are clear. For bone-in meat, insert a fork to the bone, and notice if you feel resistance - a fork will easily and effortlessly pierce a piece of cooked meat.
Step 3. Bake the vegetables
Dishes with baked or roasted vegetables are a nutritious addition to any meal. Some, like baked potatoes, can be delicious main courses. When compared to frying, baking is almost always a less caloric and more nutritious option. If you coat the vegetables with a little oil and season them with salt and pepper, you can also give them a crunchy and flavorful crust. Here are some tips for cooking vegetables in the oven:
- Generally, vegetables are "cooked" when they are tender. Different vegetables, however, become soft at different times - indoor pumpkins, for example, can take over an hour to soften, while carrots only half as much. Know the cooking times for vegetables before attempting to bake them.
- Some vegetable dishes (such as baked potatoes) require you to pierce the food with a fork or knife before putting it in the oven. When the vegetable cooks, the water trapped inside will heat up and become steam. If he can't escape through these holes, the pressure could build up and make your vegetables explode!
Step 4. Bake dishes in the ovenproof dish
Some recipes involve using multiple types of food (some cooked separately from others) to make dishes that are baked in the oven. Often these dishes use a carbohydrate, such as rice, pasta or a starch, as a central ingredient. The ingredients in these dishes are arranged in layers or combined freely. Usually the dish is served directly from the deep pan where it was cooked. Dishes of this type are easy to serve, will fill you up, and are often very rich. Here are some examples of such dishes:
- lasagna
- Ziti
- Potatoes au gratin
- Baked pasta
- moussaka
Part 3 of 3: Using Your Skills
Step 1. Make "snickerdoodels".
These are simple (yet elegant) sugar cookies that will make you water when paired with milk or ice cream. It's a great recipe for starters, easy to make and even easier to eat!
Step 2. Prepare some delicious sweet potatoes in the oven
Sweet potatoes are a delicious and nutritious starch. They're high in fiber, taste great, and are surprisingly versatile - sweet potatoes can be drizzled with butter and a few simple spices for a classic dish or served with beans, cheese, meats, and other toppings for a decadent feast.
Step 3. Make crispy chicken legs.
Chicken thighs are an underrated cut of chicken - they're inexpensive, delicious, and allow you to make finger-licking baked dishes. Marinate before baking to give them a rich flavor, bread them or glaze them to give them a crunchy texture.
Step 4. Bake some glazed ham in the oven
This dish is a great main course. Don't worry if you don't finish it all, you will have some leftovers left to make delicious ham sandwiches for weeks.
Step 5. Prepare a birthday return
Cake recipes can be a little tricky, but if you can make one well, you'll quickly become the hero of the party. Birthday cakes offer you endless decoration possibilities - with practice, you will be able to create masterpieces with fondant and icing!
