stories : The Ten
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Essentials for the Home BakerBaking supplies that won’t collect dust |
Every kitchen store peddles decorative sparkly sugar, fanciful cookie cutters, and spatulas dedicated to specific uses in its baking section. They’re gimmicks; the most useful purchases are multifunctional items that will come in handy regularly.
1. Stand mixer. A stand mixer is preferable to a handheld one because you can leave it running while multitasking in the kitchen. KitchenAid is the standard, but many professional chefs prefer the durable, though expensive, Hobart.
2. Nonstick mats. Purchase two if you can: one to use in the oven for baking and the other as a quick-release surface for sticky candies, such as Honey Nougat. Brands like Silpat are available at most kitchen stores for $14 to $24.
3. Digital scale. Serious bakers need a scale. Weigh same-step ingredients into a single bowl and make recipes in metric quantities without doing complicated conversions. Digital scales are sleeker than manual ones and easier to tuck away in small kitchens.
4. Grater-zester. An easy way to grate fresh nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and zest for recipes like Lemon Pound Cake and Fresh Ginger Cake.
5. Pastry bag. Handy for piping meringue, icing, and pâte à choux, pastry bags are an essential tool for any well-equipped baker. You can find them in a range of sizes, but the 16- and 10-inch bags are the most versatile.
6. Candy thermometer. Primarily used for measuring the temperature of sugar, this is also useful for tempering chocolate and heating oil. Manual thermometers, like those made by Taylor, are more durable and less expensive than digital ones.
7. French rolling pin. Traditional French rolling pins do not have handles. This allows for more control and maneuverability. Use them for rolling out tarts, puff pastry, and fondant, and for molding fragile tuile cookies.
8. Kitchen timer. You think you’ll remember to take the cake out of the oven in 20 minutes. You won’t. Buy a kitchen timer that keeps track of multiple cooking times, and you’ll never burn anything again.
9. Stick blender. This handheld immersion blender is easier to clean, is lighter, and takes up less storage space than full-size blenders. Use it for fruit sorbets, sauces, and soups.
10. Kitchen blowtorch. Some shortcuts—like caramelizing crème brulée under a broiler—just don’t work. This torch’s precise, controlled heat can also be used for searing meringues, unmolding stubborn flan, antiquing marzipan, and melting Gruyère for French onion soup.
We don’t mean to imply that these items are all you’ll ever need. In fact, we might add a pastry scraper, a set of prep bowls, and round cutters (for cookies, biscuits, and plating).
I *love* my Braun Multiquick hand blender with attachments. It's inexpensive and simplifies my salsa prep work. Plus, there's no bottle-necking like in blenders. It processes smaller quantities best.
I've got a Kitchen Aid mixer and food processor and love them both. I think though, that most people don't realize there is some adjustment on the mixer to make it reach into the bottom of the bowl properly. My husband adjusted mine after hearing me complain about it not getting ingredients in the bottom and it has been wonderful ever since. These mixers are not for the weak however! Lifting it does take a bit of muscle! But because of their heavy weight, they don't dance across the counter top when making bread dough and the like which makes it worth it. I personally prefer the tilt-head version to the one with the bowl raise/lower. I gave that one to my sister (who doesn't really cook) and bought one with the tilt head which I love. It makes it much easier to put ingredients in as you're working than the non-tilt does. However, never being satisfied with what I have, I'm now jonesing for the 6 qt. model with the flared bowl...
As for the non-stick mats, best to stick with a SilPat... I've got a couple of Rubbermaid ones and they're awful! They actually melt at normal baking temps, so now I use them just for rolling things out on to keep them from sticking to the counter, etc. but not for baking...
Don't know that I agree with the pastry bag being essential... After all, for most home cooks/bakers, a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off will suffice. But if you're going to go for a pastry bag, look for a canvas one. They wash well, hold up better than plastic and are overall a better investment. You may have to look to a restaurant or bakery supply store to purchase though...
Kitchen timer is totally on track for essential... I love mine which has the remote meat probe as well. But I'd add an instant read thermometer to the "must haves" as well. Not so much for baking I guess, but just in general. I've got two, one for meats and another for "anything else" I want to test the temp on.
The one thing missing from this list?... TOOTHPICKS! In a pinch a stick of spaghetti will do, but you definitely need toothpicks for doneness checking when baking IMHO...
Wow, thanks scrapcatb. I've had my KitchenAid for six years and never knew about the adjustment. Maybe I should read the manual (if I can find it) to see what else I don't know. ;-)
Yep, the adjustment screw is mentioned in the manual. Mine needed about a 5mm adjustment out of the box, and it seems to require periodic readjustments. I baked tons of christmas cookies over the holidays and now the beater doesn't seem to scrape the bowl as closely as it did a month ago.
I had NO idea about this adjustment screw on the Kitchenaid mixer. I will have to fiddle with mine tomorrow. thanks guys!
i'd add oven thermometer. most ovens don't heat to the right temperature.
Don't bother with the under-powered kitchen version of a blowtorch -- they're next to worthless. Go to a hardware store and buy a their smallest professional blowtorch; it will do a much better, faster job.
pikawicca is right. plus, a new tank of propane is cheap, unlike the refills for "kitchen torches."
My blowtorch is the best multi-tasker I've gotten since my KitchenAid. Aside from brulee duty, it is the best way I've ever found to start charcoal in the grill. (I use a standard hardware store blowtorch ala Alton Brown, rather than the mini brulee version.)
I've been looking to get myself a frnech pin for a while now. Ever since I made croissants at home I realized that a rolling pin is just pointless, it wasent even big enough to cover all of the dough!
So, I suppose my point is: yeah, skip your mothers roller, everyone needs to switch to french.
I could not live without my pasta pot. It has a drainer inside and also a basket for steaming veggies.
think baking not cooking beadlady... but good tips none the less
I have a French Rolling pin and I think it is the best 8 bucks I spent on my kitchen. I got it at the local botique kitchen store and was suprised how great the quailty was for such a cheap price. It rolls out pie crusts like a charm.
I do prefer bamboo skewers to checking for doneness over toothpics. They have a great reach.
I don't know the terminology well enough -- what actually qualifies as a "French" rolling pin -- but I've tried a straight, handle-less model and can't stand it.
My favorite has no handles, but it's tapered, like a cigar -- and much more so than the pin pictured above. The curve on the ends gives me much better control. From cookie dough to pastry to pizza, I wouldn't trade it for any other style.
This kind does take a little practice, though, to roll things out evenly. My wife, who doesn't bake much, hates it. She does better with a traditional style pin.
I also like the grab of wood as a material. I've tried some nonstick-coated pins before, and they don't have enough friction to get a stiff dough to lay flat. Wood will grab a dry dough, and it can be sprayed with a little oil or dusted with flour -- both of which adhere well to the wood -- depending on the type of dough and the degree of release you need.
Of course, there are other materials besides wood and Teflon. I don't much care for marble, but I know people who swear by it. I've tried a wood pin with a canvas pastry cloth sleeve, and that was kinda fun. I'm not sure what the pink material is in the pin pictured above. If it's a silicone substance, I can see how that might work out well, but I don't have any experience there. Seems like I've seen some metal pins other than the Teflon-coated style, but I don't know how they perform. Anybody else have comments on alternative materials?
Portion scoop- Cookies/drop biscuits are evenly portioned and have a nice shape. When portioning gingersnaps/sugar cookies, scoop a little sugar before you scoop your cookie instead of rolling each dough ball individually.
Justd don't scoop your mashed potatoes, unless you're into that cafeteria look...
Ditto on the skewkers- although they leave a serious hole, which make them less than ideal for unadorned cakes...
both my Kitchen-aid stand mixer and my Kitchen-aid immersion blender are prized posessions.
good spatulas are a must, and i go through lots of parchment. lots of measuring cups and spoons.
A probably non eco friendly item i go through a lot of in the kitchen are large ziploc bags. Not only for storage... i mix my cheesecake crusts in them, mixing dry and then butter and after "zipping" , scrunching away on the bag til everything's mixed. I use them for dry ingredients later to be added to the eggy mix's i've made for recipes. I sometimes put nuts in them and hammer away on the bag to crush and chop them. I use the small ones nipped, to drizzle caramel and chocolate sauces, and larger ones for icings. Recently found extra large ones that i could fit big cakes in their pans, and many many cupcakes and such in.
I love my kitchen scale and wish i had one of those timers you hang around your neck...i have a tendancy to want to wander away from the sound timer of my stove. I also have to include my microwave as a must for baking . great for quickly melting butter and chocolates, sugar syrups and even ganache.