Ten baking tips (and life lessons) from Australia's best bakers
In writing The Bakers Book, a collection of recipes, kitchen notes and wisdom, I asked 36 Australian bakers for an essential piece of baking advice – a lesson that changed everything, a tip that's always in their back pocket.
I expected a pantry of practical tips, but I also realised their wisdom has applications beyond baking. Here's what I learned.
We've all been there. You've turned up ready to bake, only to glare at the instruction for room temperature eggs and butter. Yours are fridge cold. Maybe you microwave the butter to a half-solid, half-liquid result and you take a gamble on the cold eggs. Your mixture comes together, but the scrambled egg effect is real. That's because a cake batter is an emulsion of ingredients, explains chef Danielle Alvarez. 'When something is a little bit too cold or a little bit too warm, it's never going to combine perfectly, or it will split or it will break,' she says. But if you forget to grab ingredients ahead, here's what she recommends: put eggs in their shells in a cup of warm water to let them come up to room temperature. It only takes a few minutes. For butter, warm a bowl in an oven or microwave, then place it face down over your butter. The ambient heat will soften it quickly – and evenly.
How did you first cream butter and sugar? Did you, like cookbook author and TV presenter Belinda Jeffery, put the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mum's old Kenwood mixer and 'beat the hell out of them'? These days, Jeffery recommends a gentler approach. Going hell for leather means you can over beat the mixture and let in too much air, which will make your cake rise, and then promptly collapse. Use a medium speed instead – until the ingredients are well mixed but not all the way to white, light and fluffy. Same goes for egg whites that need to be folded into a mixture – they should be 'just beyond sloppy', Jeffery advises – too firm and they won't incorporate into your batter. Start by whisking them in a stand mixer, but quit while you're ahead and finish off whisking by hand so you can stay in control and avoid over beating.
'I think baking is one of those things you can't ever really be perfect at,' says Nadine Ingram, cookbook author and owner of Flour and Stone. It's a bold admission from the woman with a TED talk on cake. Instead, baking teaches you that imperfect is beautiful, she says. 'You need to try things more than once to improve. I think a lot of our culture these days says you've got to get it right the first time or you've got to be the best at it … Baking teaches you how to break those habits.'
'I'll test recipes eight times and they're still not right … sometimes, things will turn out how they're going to turn out and you have absolutely no control over it, even with all the skills in the world.'
Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning
When a recipe has an overwhelming number of steps, break down a project-bake by making the most of the freezer. 'I think people get so scared of baking because they start reading a recipe and think 'I don't have three hours',' says pastry chef Anneliese Brancatisano. 'Remember the freezer is your best friend … you don't have to make everything from scratch on the day.' Icings and buttercreams can be frozen and later defrosted in the microwave, for example. And the cold makes some things a choux-in. 'I always keep choux pastry in the freezer – just pipe it and freeze it. You can bake them from frozen, and the moisture from the freezer creates steam, which will help them puff up even more.'
Alisha Henderson of Sweet Bakes is living proof. She taught herself to pipe from YouTube videos, practising on cake she'd make, then freeze, and re-freeze, so she didn't have to bake one for every attempt. 'Instead of going through that process … you can bring it out, decorate it, try out all your new techniques, wipe it off, and chuck it back in the freezer,' she says. 'Don't eat it, obviously, but use it again and again.'
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'Baking is 70% organisation,' says Baker Bleu pastry chef Gad Assayag – and taking the time to get organised usually improves the outcome. This means reading through your recipe before you begin, weighing your ingredients before you start and ticking them off as you go. 'And only then, once everything is organised, your tools are there, then you start working. You have to understand the process and understand where you're going before you actually start,' he says.
It helps to remember bread has its own plans. 'Bread keeps you honest, it keeps you on your toes,' says chef, baker and teacher Michael James. 'It's a bit like life: you've got to let it take you on its journey. There are a lot of variables, so it's about guiding it.' Or as Jesse Knierum from Tasmania's Cygnet Bakery puts it: 'You might think you're hot shit, but then the weather changes.' You'll need to adjust for the season you're in, the temperature of the room and the ingredients you're using. Understanding what to tweak and when will help.
Just because baking is a science, doesn't mean you should leave your intuition out of the equation. 'Always, always listen to your gut when you're baking,' says Giorgia McAllister Forte of Monforte. 'Sometimes it's easy to get a little bit lazy or just think, I don't need to do this, it'll be fine.' If in your gut you know you should be doing something differently, don't ignore that feeling. It takes much less time to fix something earlier in the process than going all the way through to the end. Ask yourself: Does this feel right? Does it look right? Is there something I can do now that will save me time later?
'To stay in control, try baking low and slow,' says Alice Bennett of Miss Trixie Bakes. 'We have our ovens on at about 145C/300F on low fan. Typically, a lot of cookbooks will tell you something like 160C/325F. I've always gone a little bit lower and slower with temperatures – and you can apply this before you even put your cake in the oven. If you slow down the whole process, you're less likely to make a mistake.'
Gillian Bell, who travels the world making bespoke wedding cakes, is mindful of her mood when she's baking. 'I always mix my cakes by hand, and I stir in good wishes, good thoughts. I really believe that somehow it comes through … So I say to people, 'Find that place in your head, put on some music, do whatever you can to get to that place'.'' And remain positive. 'Everyone can bake,' says Bell. 'It's just that you don't know how to, or you don't have the confidence. You can make a cake in anything – you can make a cake in a big bean tin. So relax, let go.'
Ruby Goss is the author of The Baker's Book, Favourite recipes and kitchen wisdom by Australian bakers you love (Murdoch Books, $45)
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The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ten baking tips (and life lessons) from Australia's best bakers
Baking: it's part science, part craft, part magic. A mindful escape or total mystery, depending on who you ask. In writing The Bakers Book, a collection of recipes, kitchen notes and wisdom, I asked 36 Australian bakers for an essential piece of baking advice – a lesson that changed everything, a tip that's always in their back pocket. I expected a pantry of practical tips, but I also realised their wisdom has applications beyond baking. Here's what I learned. We've all been there. You've turned up ready to bake, only to glare at the instruction for room temperature eggs and butter. Yours are fridge cold. Maybe you microwave the butter to a half-solid, half-liquid result and you take a gamble on the cold eggs. Your mixture comes together, but the scrambled egg effect is real. That's because a cake batter is an emulsion of ingredients, explains chef Danielle Alvarez. 'When something is a little bit too cold or a little bit too warm, it's never going to combine perfectly, or it will split or it will break,' she says. But if you forget to grab ingredients ahead, here's what she recommends: put eggs in their shells in a cup of warm water to let them come up to room temperature. It only takes a few minutes. For butter, warm a bowl in an oven or microwave, then place it face down over your butter. The ambient heat will soften it quickly – and evenly. How did you first cream butter and sugar? Did you, like cookbook author and TV presenter Belinda Jeffery, put the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mum's old Kenwood mixer and 'beat the hell out of them'? These days, Jeffery recommends a gentler approach. Going hell for leather means you can over beat the mixture and let in too much air, which will make your cake rise, and then promptly collapse. Use a medium speed instead – until the ingredients are well mixed but not all the way to white, light and fluffy. Same goes for egg whites that need to be folded into a mixture – they should be 'just beyond sloppy', Jeffery advises – too firm and they won't incorporate into your batter. Start by whisking them in a stand mixer, but quit while you're ahead and finish off whisking by hand so you can stay in control and avoid over beating. 'I think baking is one of those things you can't ever really be perfect at,' says Nadine Ingram, cookbook author and owner of Flour and Stone. It's a bold admission from the woman with a TED talk on cake. Instead, baking teaches you that imperfect is beautiful, she says. 'You need to try things more than once to improve. I think a lot of our culture these days says you've got to get it right the first time or you've got to be the best at it … Baking teaches you how to break those habits.' 'I'll test recipes eight times and they're still not right … sometimes, things will turn out how they're going to turn out and you have absolutely no control over it, even with all the skills in the world.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning When a recipe has an overwhelming number of steps, break down a project-bake by making the most of the freezer. 'I think people get so scared of baking because they start reading a recipe and think 'I don't have three hours',' says pastry chef Anneliese Brancatisano. 'Remember the freezer is your best friend … you don't have to make everything from scratch on the day.' Icings and buttercreams can be frozen and later defrosted in the microwave, for example. And the cold makes some things a choux-in. 'I always keep choux pastry in the freezer – just pipe it and freeze it. You can bake them from frozen, and the moisture from the freezer creates steam, which will help them puff up even more.' Alisha Henderson of Sweet Bakes is living proof. She taught herself to pipe from YouTube videos, practising on cake she'd make, then freeze, and re-freeze, so she didn't have to bake one for every attempt. 'Instead of going through that process … you can bring it out, decorate it, try out all your new techniques, wipe it off, and chuck it back in the freezer,' she says. 'Don't eat it, obviously, but use it again and again.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'Baking is 70% organisation,' says Baker Bleu pastry chef Gad Assayag – and taking the time to get organised usually improves the outcome. This means reading through your recipe before you begin, weighing your ingredients before you start and ticking them off as you go. 'And only then, once everything is organised, your tools are there, then you start working. You have to understand the process and understand where you're going before you actually start,' he says. It helps to remember bread has its own plans. 'Bread keeps you honest, it keeps you on your toes,' says chef, baker and teacher Michael James. 'It's a bit like life: you've got to let it take you on its journey. There are a lot of variables, so it's about guiding it.' Or as Jesse Knierum from Tasmania's Cygnet Bakery puts it: 'You might think you're hot shit, but then the weather changes.' You'll need to adjust for the season you're in, the temperature of the room and the ingredients you're using. Understanding what to tweak and when will help. Just because baking is a science, doesn't mean you should leave your intuition out of the equation. 'Always, always listen to your gut when you're baking,' says Giorgia McAllister Forte of Monforte. 'Sometimes it's easy to get a little bit lazy or just think, I don't need to do this, it'll be fine.' If in your gut you know you should be doing something differently, don't ignore that feeling. It takes much less time to fix something earlier in the process than going all the way through to the end. Ask yourself: Does this feel right? Does it look right? Is there something I can do now that will save me time later? 'To stay in control, try baking low and slow,' says Alice Bennett of Miss Trixie Bakes. 'We have our ovens on at about 145C/300F on low fan. Typically, a lot of cookbooks will tell you something like 160C/325F. I've always gone a little bit lower and slower with temperatures – and you can apply this before you even put your cake in the oven. If you slow down the whole process, you're less likely to make a mistake.' Gillian Bell, who travels the world making bespoke wedding cakes, is mindful of her mood when she's baking. 'I always mix my cakes by hand, and I stir in good wishes, good thoughts. I really believe that somehow it comes through … So I say to people, 'Find that place in your head, put on some music, do whatever you can to get to that place'.'' And remain positive. 'Everyone can bake,' says Bell. 'It's just that you don't know how to, or you don't have the confidence. You can make a cake in anything – you can make a cake in a big bean tin. So relax, let go.' Ruby Goss is the author of The Baker's Book, Favourite recipes and kitchen wisdom by Australian bakers you love (Murdoch Books, $45)
The Guardian
18 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘The friendship of the good': how a community garden gave me a sense of something bigger than myself
If you came across our school garden, you might walk past without giving it much thought. On the surface, we don't have anything that would warrant a visit from Gardening Australia: no kitchen garden or water feature or 'reflection space'. But we do have something else you might not see at first glance – something I wasn't expecting to find when I first came to this suburb. I moved to Fawkner, Melbourne with my partner and kids about five years ago, in search of affordable housing. The suburb was nice enough but I felt unmoored. I didn't know anyone here and much of community life seemed to revolve around structures such as the extended family, the church and the mosque. I could see how vital these were for people in our suburb; for my part, however, I'm not religious and my extended family live far away. I tried to find other ways to make connections: my kids and I went to Lego time at the library; we hung out at the local playground and chatted to people at the skate park. But none of it added up to a sense of belonging. Then I signed up to help with our school garden. At the very least, I figured, it was a day out in the sun. On volunteer day, my partner pushed our kids to school in a wheelbarrow, and I was armed with a shovel and pitchfork. Around 50 people turned up to the school on a Sunday to help with the garden, and while the kids played, the adults chose jobs according to our levels of ability and enthusiasm. My partner opted to repair the garden beds and I went for the lower-stakes job of weeding. It was slow and careful work, pulling out dandelions and chickweed – along with a few chip packets. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Between gardening and tending to the kids, there were moments of socialising: a nod of thanks from a teacher, a chat with another parent about the out-of-control compost heap that lives behind the mud kitchen. These conversations were tentative, at least on my part; the pandemic and early motherhood had left me out of practice when it came to socialising. However, the school garden was the perfect place to learn how to be with other people again and I could see that I was surrounded by the sorts of people who I wanted to befriend. At midday we stopped for lunch (all halal, some vegan) and in the late afternoon the kids busied themselves by turning rubber gloves into makeshift water bombs. Eventually we wheelbarrowed our kids home, happy and hyper and wet. When I returned to school on Monday, it looked different – and not just because the garden was in better shape. It looked different because my relationship to the place, and the people, had subtly changed: I felt invested in them. After a few more gardening sessions, I had people to talk to and text. At first, these conversations revolved around the garden; however, one WhatsApp chat group led to another (as they tend to do) and soon enough I had people to hang out with. People I could call on for support if I needed it. Working together in this way brings us close to what Aristotle called 'the friendship of the good'. This, according to Aristotle, is the best kind of friendship: it happens when you see the good in another person, and they in you. It is very different to what he calls a 'utilitarian friendship', where we spend time with another person because of what they can do for us. A friendship of the good, conversely – like the school garden itself – is about creating something bigger than ourselves. Our school garden has given me a way to see the good in my neighbourhood. We have a diverse community: nearly half the adults here, including myself, were born overseas. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion If we are to believe the worst corners of the internet, then life is something to be feared. People are to be feared, because people – as the despots and tech bros would have us believe – are motivated purely by self-interest; therefore, we must dominate others, or risk being dominated ourselves. And maybe that is true for a small portion of society. But in every neighbourhood there is also this: people coming together to work on shared projects, motivated by simple altruism. Projects that help strangers build connections to place and each other. This doesn't mean the school garden is utopia. Sometimes the seedlings die. Sometimes a child gets upset and stomps on a tube stock. But even these moments become lessons about care, consequences and how to repair damage. In tending to the garden together, we create a common purpose rooted in the things we all need: nourishment, agency and belonging. And maybe that's the most radical thing we can grow. All We Need by Magdalena McGuire is out now (A$34.99 Ultimo Press)
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Ten baking tips (and life lessons) from Australia's best bakers
Baking: it's part science, part craft, part magic. A mindful escape or total mystery, depending on who you ask. In writing The Bakers Book, a collection of recipes, kitchen notes and wisdom, I asked 36 Australian bakers for an essential piece of baking advice – a lesson that changed everything, a tip that's always in their back pocket. I expected a pantry of practical tips, but I also realised their wisdom has applications beyond baking. Here's what I learned. We've all been there. You've turned up ready to bake, only to glare at the instruction for room temperature eggs and butter. Yours are fridge cold. Maybe you microwave the butter to a half-solid, half-liquid result and you take a gamble on the cold eggs. Your mixture comes together, but the scrambled egg effect is real. That's because a cake batter is an emulsion of ingredients, explains chef Danielle Alvarez. 'When something is a little bit too cold or a little bit too warm, it's never going to combine perfectly, or it will split or it will break,' she says. But if you forget to grab ingredients ahead, here's what she recommends: put eggs in their shells in a cup of warm water to let them come up to room temperature. It only takes a few minutes. For butter, warm a bowl in an oven or microwave, then place it face down over your butter. The ambient heat will soften it quickly – and evenly. How did you first cream butter and sugar? Did you, like cookbook author and TV presenter Belinda Jeffery, put the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mum's old Kenwood mixer and 'beat the hell out of them'? These days, Jeffery recommends a gentler approach. Going hell for leather means you can over beat the mixture and let in too much air, which will make your cake rise, and then promptly collapse. Use a medium speed instead – until the ingredients are well mixed but not all the way to white, light and fluffy. Same goes for egg whites that need to be folded into a mixture – they should be 'just beyond sloppy', Jeffery advises – too firm and they won't incorporate into your batter. Start by whisking them in a stand mixer, but quit while you're ahead and finish off whisking by hand so you can stay in control and avoid over beating. 'I think baking is one of those things you can't ever really be perfect at,' says Nadine Ingram, cookbook author and owner of Flour and Stone. It's a bold admission from the woman with a TED talk on cake. Instead, baking teaches you that imperfect is beautiful, she says. 'You need to try things more than once to improve. I think a lot of our culture these days says you've got to get it right the first time or you've got to be the best at it … Baking teaches you how to break those habits.' 'I'll test recipes eight times and they're still not right … sometimes, things will turn out how they're going to turn out and you have absolutely no control over it, even with all the skills in the world.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning When a recipe has an overwhelming number of steps, break down a project-bake by making the most of the freezer. 'I think people get so scared of baking because they start reading a recipe and think 'I don't have three hours',' says pastry chef Anneliese Brancatisano. 'Remember the freezer is your best friend … you don't have to make everything from scratch on the day.' Icings and buttercreams can be frozen and later defrosted in the microwave, for example. And the cold makes some things a choux-in. 'I always keep choux pastry in the freezer – just pipe it and freeze it. You can bake them from frozen, and the moisture from the freezer creates steam, which will help them puff up even more.' Alisha Henderson of Sweet Bakes is living proof. She taught herself to pipe from YouTube videos, practising on cake she'd make, then freeze, and re-freeze, so she didn't have to bake one for every attempt. 'Instead of going through that process … you can bring it out, decorate it, try out all your new techniques, wipe it off, and chuck it back in the freezer,' she says. 'Don't eat it, obviously, but use it again and again.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'Baking is 70% organisation,' says Baker Bleu pastry chef Gad Assayag – and taking the time to get organised usually improves the outcome. This means reading through your recipe before you begin, weighing your ingredients before you start and ticking them off as you go. 'And only then, once everything is organised, your tools are there, then you start working. You have to understand the process and understand where you're going before you actually start,' he says. It helps to remember bread has its own plans. 'Bread keeps you honest, it keeps you on your toes,' says chef, baker and teacher Michael James. 'It's a bit like life: you've got to let it take you on its journey. There are a lot of variables, so it's about guiding it.' Or as Jesse Knierum from Tasmania's Cygnet Bakery puts it: 'You might think you're hot shit, but then the weather changes.' You'll need to adjust for the season you're in, the temperature of the room and the ingredients you're using. Understanding what to tweak and when will help. Just because baking is a science, doesn't mean you should leave your intuition out of the equation. 'Always, always listen to your gut when you're baking,' says Giorgia McAllister Forte of Monforte. 'Sometimes it's easy to get a little bit lazy or just think, I don't need to do this, it'll be fine.' If in your gut you know you should be doing something differently, don't ignore that feeling. It takes much less time to fix something earlier in the process than going all the way through to the end. Ask yourself: Does this feel right? Does it look right? Is there something I can do now that will save me time later? 'To stay in control, try baking low and slow,' says Alice Bennett of Miss Trixie Bakes. 'We have our ovens on at about 145C/300F on low fan. Typically, a lot of cookbooks will tell you something like 160C/325F. I've always gone a little bit lower and slower with temperatures – and you can apply this before you even put your cake in the oven. If you slow down the whole process, you're less likely to make a mistake.' Gillian Bell, who travels the world making bespoke wedding cakes, is mindful of her mood when she's baking. 'I always mix my cakes by hand, and I stir in good wishes, good thoughts. I really believe that somehow it comes through … So I say to people, 'Find that place in your head, put on some music, do whatever you can to get to that place'.'' And remain positive. 'Everyone can bake,' says Bell. 'It's just that you don't know how to, or you don't have the confidence. You can make a cake in anything – you can make a cake in a big bean tin. So relax, let go.' Ruby Goss is the author of The Baker's Book, Favourite recipes and kitchen wisdom by Australian bakers you love (Murdoch Books, $45)
