Secrets of perfect baking

Fear of baking has a lot to do with having to prepare the dough. But with recipe books it won’t be difficult to make. The main thing is to accurately observe the proportions and keep track of time. In order not to miss the quantity, you can buy a set of measuring spoons that allow you to accurately measure the required doses. A kitchen timer will help you not to miss the moment when the dough has risen.

In addition, it is not necessary to start culinary experiments with yeast or puff pastry. Ordinary unleavened food produces equally delicious pies, pies and buns. In addition, some stores sell ready-made dough. The only thing you need to do with it is to preheat it a little (place it in a mold, grease it with butter, cover it with a lid and put it in the oven or microwave for a few minutes).

After that, the most pleasant thing remains - laying out the filling. But it’s better to prepare it in advance, otherwise the dough will overcook and the dish will have an unpleasant aftertaste. You can find an interesting filling option both on the Internet and in specialized literature. Roasted vegetables with feta, salami with olives, smoked haddock with spinach, shrimp with zucchini, fried sausages with red onions, mushrooms with chicken, rhubarb with ginger - everything will be delicious.

To get the same beautiful crust as on the covers of glossy magazines, experts recommend brushing baked goods the old fashioned way - before putting them in the oven, with beaten yolk, and then with butter. And just like our grandmothers, after baking, pies and pies should be carefully “wrapped” - covered with a kitchen towel or cloth napkins - the crust becomes stale from sudden cooling, and the baked goods spoil faster.

Reasons why homemade baked goods go stale

No one has yet really figured out the real reason for the staling (aging) of bread. What is known? The fact that when baking, the dough will practically lose weight just from baking the crust. No more water comes out of the piece during baking. Just denaturation of proteins occurs - this releases water, and gelatinization of starch - absorbing water. Thus, staling probably occurs not due to a technological error, but due to the quality of the flour. Apparently the gluten is of poor quality and the skeleton created when kneading the dough does not retain the swollen starch, which is why the dough “crumbs”.

Of course, the cause of hard baking can be either an excess of flour or poor kneading of the dough. Yeast dough must be kneaded long and thoroughly. According to some recommendations, the dough needs to be kneaded for an hour, then success is guaranteed. And if it turns out a little steep, let the pies stand on the baking sheet longer before putting them in the oven so that they rise and when cutting the dough, do not use flour, dip your hands in vegetable oil.

A few words about margarine - it’s still not the best ingredient for a good dough. Oddly enough, it is recommended to add beef fat to the dough. No smell or taste, the dough is light and soft. And another important point: when using beef fat, no one is afraid of heartburn, which very often occurs if the dough contains margarine or butter.

To prevent pies from going stale, use the following tips:

1. In order for the pies to remain fresh for a long time, vegetable oil must be present in the dough recipe.
2. Store your pies in a clay dish, covered with a napkin or towel, and they will not go stale for a long time.
3. Do not bake the pies over too low a heat, otherwise they will dry out while still in the oven.
4. To prevent the pies from going stale for a long time after baking, let the dough rise 2-3 times, kneading it and thereby saturating it with air.
5. Remove the pies from the oven, let them cool in the room where they were baked, and place them in a plastic bag. The baked goods will remain soft for a long time.
6. If you add diluted potato starch to the dough, the pies will be soft and will not go stale for a long time.
7. After removing the pies from the oven, while still piping hot, brush with margarine, place on a plate in a plastic bag, and cover with a towel until completely cool. Check from time to time, if the bag is too wet, change it. After this procedure, the pies will be simply airy and will not go stale for a very long time.
8. To prevent the pies from becoming stale for a long time, use table margarine as fat when kneading the dough.
9. Before baking, it is advisable to grease the top of the products only with yolk.
10. Add a few spoons of sour cream to the dough when kneading the pies, and after baking they will be tender, soft and will retain freshness for a long time.
11. It is recommended to add less chicken eggs to the dough. Because they tend to give the dough greater rigidity and hardness, which ultimately leads to its rapid hardening.
12. Increasing the amount of fat - the products become more crumbly, tasty, do not go stale for a long time, but exceeding the norm of 1/2 cup of fat for each glass of liquid is also not recommended (the opposite effect will occur - the dough will be dry and thin, with a dense crumb)

How to make baked goods soft?

To make the baked goods soft, you need to make the dough fluffy and porous. To do this, you need to use fresh yeast, which will rise the dough well. Before baking pies in the oven, the pies must first be put to proof.

If you add excess flour to the dough, the dough will not rise well and the baked goods will turn out tough.

After you remove the baked goods from the oven, you need to cover it on top with a towel.

Baking with milk turns out softer than baking with water.

Much depends on the dough kneading and its readiness. Then if everything is in order with the dough and the baking is ready, take it out of the oven and grease it with oil (whatever you like) and cover it with a towel and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.

It all depends on the test. But if everything is fine with it, then take the hot pie or pies out of the oven and brush the hot crust with butter. It can also be plant-based. Then cover tightly with a napkin (towel) and leave for 15 minutes. This will make the baked goods soft.

It depends on what kind of dough you are making.

If it is yeast, then it is very important to use good yeast. It is better to use live + granular ones. Be sure to add baked goods to the dough - butter, egg yolks, sour cream. It is also very important to add sugar to the dough. Before baking, form the products and leave them in a warm place for 20-30 minutes so that they rise.

If you are preparing yeast-free dough, you must use baking powder.

Grease the crust with butter, or place the freshly prepared product under a kitchen towel; the crust will slightly wet and soften with its own steam. You can also prevent the pies or bread from drying out by placing a frying pan with water under the baking dish during cooking, then the humidity in the oven will be higher and the cake will be less dry. A lot depends on your oven and of course on the dough. You need to add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the dough so that it does not lose its softness even after the oven.

To start, choose really good quality flour. It is advisable to sift thoroughly, you can even several times, the dough must also be kneaded thoroughly and for a long time, baking powder can also help the dough become softer, fluffier and more tender. Another main factor is not to overcook when cooking in the oven or oven. The longer the dough bakes, the tougher it may become. Fatty products in the dough also make the baked goods softer; if you use water, replace it with milk of at least 1.5% fat content.

In order for baked goods to be soft, several conditions must always be observed.:

1) You need to either knead the dough with rice water and generously add sunflower oil, or with milk, then add sour cream or sunflower oil. You can replace part of the milk with rice water and add butter and sour cream when kneading.

The pride of any housewife is delicious homemade baked goods! And for amazing baking, you need to know some secrets. And every housewife has her own secrets. In this article, we have collected a large selection of useful tips on how to get a golden brown crust, prepare fluffy dough, look at the secrets of making puff pastry and yeast dough, and much more.

So what are secrets of delicious baking?

The first secret is to prepare baked goods with milk. Then it will be shiny and beautiful in color.

The second secret is that the more sugar in baked goods, the faster it browns. But with too much sugar, pies tend to burn.

The third secret is to get a rosy gloss on closed pies, before placing the pie in the oven, you need to brush the top crust with beaten egg yolk.

The fourth secret is that if baked goods made from yeast dough are pre-buttered with milk, they will be more golden brown.

The fourth secret is to prevent the pie from burning and to keep the top crust golden brown, you need to sprinkle a little coarse salt under the baking tray.

Secrets of fluffy dough

The first secret is to ensure that your baked goods are always soft and fluffy and remain that way even the next day, you need to add diluted potato starch to the dough.

The second secret is that before kneading the dough, the flour must be sifted. In this way, foreign mixtures will be removed from it, it will be enriched with oxygen and the dough will turn out incredibly fluffy!

The third secret is that in order for the baked goods to turn out fluffy and remain so the next day, you need to add half a glass of mineral water to the dough. Or dilute a teaspoon of salt in half a glass of water and quench it with citric acid or vinegar.

Secrets of making puff pastry

The first secret is the most important! The dough must be cold before baking.

The second secret is that immediately in front of you, the baking sheet on which you are going to bake the puff pastry product must be moistened with cold water. This way the finished product will be easy to remove.

The third secret is that the baking temperature for puff pastry products should be 210-23 degrees. At a lower temperature, the baked goods will dry out rather than brown. And at a higher level it will harden

Secrets of making yeast dough

The first secret is to prepare yeast dough for pies in such a way that the consistency of the dough is less than for baked pies. Pies made from this dough will be softer and airier.

The second secret is to fill the baking pan with yeast dough halfway, then the baked goods will be more airy.

The third secret is to better bake a pie made from yeast dough, place it on a baking sheet in such a way that there are voids around the pie.

The fourth secret is that pies made from yeast dough should not be kept in the oven for a long time. They can dry out this way.

The fifth secret is that buns and pies made from yeast dough are baked for no more than 200 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 degrees. Pies with prepared filling are baked for no more than half an hour.

Secrets of preparing baked goods filling

The first secret is that if you plan to add raisins to baked goods, you need to wash them thoroughly, dry them and roll them in flour. This way, no voids will form around it.

The second secret is that when baking a berry pie, you should not put sugar directly into the filling. The berries will give a lot of juice. It’s better to make the dough itself a little sweeter, and then sprinkle the finished pie with powdered sugar.

The third secret is that so that the berry filling in an open pie does not “run away” anywhere, you can stick several macaroni into the filling. This way the juice will rise up them.

The fourth secret - if you use rice for the filling, then add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water when cooking. This way the rice will become snow-white and crumbly.

Secret five - if cabbage is used for the filling, then finely chop it, pour boiling water over it, then pour cold water over it for a minute, squeeze out and lightly fry. The cabbage will not darken and will be very tasty.

The fifth secret is to prevent the apples intended for the filling from darkening, you can sprinkle them with lemon juice and put them in salted water for a few minutes. The apple filling will be ready faster if you put a bowl of hot water in the oven.

The seventh secret is that the dough for a pie with filling should be rolled out very tightly so that the filling in the pie can be clearly felt.

What to do with ready-made baked goods

The first secret is that immediately after the cake is ready, it is recommended to place it on a towel well moistened with water. This way the cake can be easily separated from the pan.

The second secret is that in order for the finished cake or cupcake to separate well, before baking the pan must be sprinkled with semolina or greased with butter.

The third secret is to store the finished pie on a wire rack. This way the bottom of the cake will not become soggy.

The third secret is to prevent the finished cake from settling immediately after baking, keep it in a warm place for a while. To make the cake crumble less, it is recommended to cut it with a warm knife. To do this, hold the knife under boiling water or over fire.

These are the secrets of delicious baking. We really hope that they will be useful to you and we will be glad if you share your secrets in the comments!

I think many people love closed pies from regular yeast dough. This is probably one of the most Russian dishes. Its main trick is that you can put anything in it, for example, potatoes, onions, chicken, meat, mushrooms, fish and so on. And it’s not that difficult to prepare. But there is one problem, after 45 minutes of baking in the oven, it becomes quite hard and dry. How can you make a closed pie soft? Or rather even like this:
I remember that as a child, my mother covered such pies with film and covered them with a pillow or blanket, in general, she made a real bathhouse for pirogue. This method can, of course, be used. In this case, the cake will steam and become soft.
You can also cover the cake with a towel soaked in hot water, again you will get a steam bath, but even in this case the cake will turn out soft.
But it turns out there is a completely simple and easy way that will definitely make your covered pie soft. In this method, after the pie is ready, remove the pie from the oven, immediately make a small cross cut in the center of the pie and place a glass jar with the neck on the pie in this place. And literally in 10-15 minutes, your closed pie will be soft.
Bon appetit everyone, see our recipes for making a covered pie:

There are many secrets to making the cake soft and tender. First of all, it depends on the test. If it is yeast, everything is much simpler - just add some ingredients to the dough that will not allow the baked goods to dry out quickly - butter, milk, eggs. The yeast must be fresh. Yeast dough made with water turns out more stale and tough. But not all housewives know how to make a pie soft if it is prepared without eggs and butter. While it is still warm, you can sprinkle it with milk and put it back in the switched off but still warm oven. Yeast dough also needs to be stored correctly - best in a bread box.

Shortbread or butter dough in itself is not so soft. But you still want the baked goods to be crumbly and tender the next day, and not turn into crackers. Since baking a sweet pie from butter or shortcrust pastry is much easier and faster, many housewives prefer it to yeast. To prevent a cake made from this dough from drying out, you can wrap it in a clean towel and then place it in a plastic bag. The hot pie will release steam, which will moisten the tough crust. There is another way - to sprinkle the hot cake with water.

Another type of pies is open pies with berries. Stores are filled with an abundance of baked goods, so you might forget how to make strawberry pie. And yet homemade baking cannot be compared with anything. In order for such a pie to be soft, it is enough to choose the correct consistency of the filling. It should not be too dry or too wet. If berries or fruits give juice, you don’t have to add liquid to the filling. If the filling is dry, you can add a little juice, cream, syrup or jam and, of course, starch. Then the liquid will thicken and the dough will be moderately soft.

How to make a cherry pie from puff pastry, but at the same time keep it soft for several days? One way is to change the dough recipe and add cottage cheese to it. This will give the dough density, but will not affect the stiffness. Another option is to grease the finished pie with cream or butter. After this, you need to keep it in a hot oven for a couple of minutes. The filling should not be too raw, as the cherries give off juice. Instead of granulated sugar, it is better to use powder. Many people know how to make chocolate cake from sponge dough. This dough is the softest and most tender. To keep it like this for more than one day, you need to store it in the refrigerator.

Soft dough is the key to delicious baked goods. Therefore, in order to always delight your guests with an amazing and unique treat, it is enough to monitor the consistency of the filling, the storage conditions of the pie and use simple tips.