Creaming and Folding: How to handle air in the batter
When you're baking, how you mix things up matters just as much as what you're mixing. Two basic techniques are creaming and folding. Creaming is what you do for cookies and cakes, where you beat solid fat (like butter) and sugar until combined. You're not just mixing them; you're using the sugar to cut tiny little air pockets into the butter. When the dough bakes, that trapped air expands, which is what gives your cookies and cakes that light, soft feeling. Be sure you remember to soften your butter, or this won't work well! Folding, on the other hand, gently incorporates the ingredients. We use it when we add something really light, like whipped egg whites, into a heavier batter without squishing all the air out. You use a rubber spatula to cut down the middle, scoop up from the bottom, and lay the heavy part over the light part, all while turning the bowl. This keeps the air inside, which is why folding is key for delicate things like macarons.
Kneading and Mise en Place: Work Ethic for Bakers
The other two skills every beginner needs are kneading and knowledge of Mise en Place. Kneading is all about working bread dough to make it strong. You push it, fold it, and stretch it over and over. This physical action lines up the gluten strands in the flour, creating a tough, stretchy web that can hold the gases from the yeast. If you knead it right, the dough will be smooth and spring back when you poke it, which means your bread will have a great texture and rise up nicely. Don't worry too much about over-kneading when you're doing it by hand—it's actually pretty hard to do! The last, and maybe most helpful, skill is Mise en Place (French for "everything in its place"). This is where you measure every single ingredient, get all your bowls and tools ready, and set it all out before you start mixing. It keeps you from rushing to find your ingredients while your batter is waiting, which cuts down on mistakes and eases the baking process. I promise, setting up first makes a huge difference!