Baking Guide 

General Baking Tips

Common Baking Problems and Their Causes

Biscuits

  • Rough biscuits - Insufficient mixing.
  • Dry biscuits - Baking in too slow an oven and handling too much.
  • Uneven browning - Cooking in dark surface pan, too high a temperature and rolling the dough too thin.

Breads(yeast)

  • Porous bread - Over-rising or cooking at too low a temperature.
  • Crust is dark and blisters just under the crust - Under-rising.
  • Bread does not rise - Over-kneading or using old yeast.
  • Bread is streaked - Under-kneading and not kneading evenly.
  • Bread baked unevenly - Using old, dark pans; too much dough in pan; crowding the oven shelf or cooking at too high a
  • temperature.

Cakes

  • Cracks; uneven surface - Too much flour; too hot an oven and sometimes from cold oven start.
  • Dry cakes - Too much flour; too little shortening; too much baking powder; or cooking at too low a temperature.
  • Heavy cakes - Too much sugar or baking too short a period.
  • Sticky crust - Too much sugar.
  • Coarse grained cake - Too little mixing; too much shortening; too much baking powder; using shortening too soft; and baking at too low a temperature.
  • Fallen cakes - Using insufficient flour; underbaking; too much sugar; too much shortening; or not enough baking powder.
  • Uneven color - Cooking at too high a temperature; crowding the shelf (allow at least 2 inches around pans) or using dark pans.
  • Uneven browning - Not mixing well.

Cookies

  • Uneven browning - Not using shiny cookie sheet or not allowing at least 2 inches on all sides of cookie sheets in oven.
  • Soggy cookies - Cooling cookies in pans instead of racks.
  • Excessive spreading - Dropping cookies onto hot cookie sheets; of cookies not baking at correct temperature.

Muffins

  • Coarse texture - Insufficient stirring and cooking at too low a temperature.
  • Tunnels in muffins; peaks in center; soggy texture - Over-mixing.

Pies

  • Pastry crumbles - Over-mixing flour and shortening.
  • Pastry tough - Using too much water and over-mixing the dough.
  • Pies do not brown (fruit or custard) - Bake at constant temperature (400°-425°) in Pyrex or enamel pie pan.