by Dawn Redden

Created on: February 24, 2007   Last Updated: March 01, 2012

As a professional baker (married to a professional chef), I am amazed at the number of people who believe and profess that they cannot bake. Sure, baking is more technical, more scientific than other cooking arts. Sure, baking can require crazy ingredients and even crazier equipment and those specialty items can scare a would be baker back to Easy Bake Oven days. While baking is, indeed, a bit more complicated than it was when we cooked with light bulbs, it is still as fun and as rewarding.

One of the best ways to get started as a person who likes to bake is to have an immediate success! I can think of a handful of recipes that are goof-proof and produce a product everyone will enjoy. For immediate success, it is vital to remember these tips:

Pick the recipe wisely. There are as many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there as there are bakers. Every bag of chocolate chips has a chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back, but that may not be the best recipe to use. When picking a recipe, be sure to read the directions (professionally called the method - at least in our house) before you start. Actually, read the directions two or three times. If the directions are hard to understand or seem confusing, look for another recipe. Most bakers, professional or not, find themselves facing a flop when they don't read and follow the methodology. In baking, each step of assembly prepares you for the next step. Clear steps in a recipe will make it easier to succeed.

With the recipe in hand, take inventory. There is nothing more frustrating than discovering the canister of flour is empty in the middle of the process. Make a list of items needed before going to the store. Some recipes call for very specific ingredients, so be sure to purchase what the recipe calls for.

When I first started baking professionally, I didn't fully understand this concept. For example, there are many types of flours available and they are not interchangeable. Period. The majority of recipes will call for all purpose flour. When a recipe calls for cake flour, bread flour, or a flour made from something other than wheat, that is the flour to use. All-purpose flour comes in two varieties - bleached and unbleached. I prefer unbleached for many reasons. (More on that topic in future articles.)

Once all the ingredients are on hand, take a minute and read the recipe through once more. Some folks like to get all of their ingredients measured out and ready to assemble before they start putting the recipe

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