Ten Best Cooking/ Baking Tools

While cooking food is a flexible process, baking tends to be a science. It needs extra care, precision and time. That being said, beginners need to have some simple, basic baking tools that will help them master basic baking techniques and skills. All the hard work combined with the right tools will lead to perfectly baked goods. From homemade airy pieces of bread to flaky pastries, moist cakes to soft cookies, these basic baking tools will be a lot of help, and your homemade baked goods will excel those bought from stores. Regardless of being a pro baker or a beginner, having the right tools make the whole baking experience much simpler and fun and prevents many baking blunders.

Bakeware set lets you bake a different kind of baking items like cakes, pies, muffins, pieces of bread, cookies, cupcakes etc. A bakeware set consists of a variety of non-stick pans and trays permitting you to make all these and much more effectively. They may include the following and much more:

1. Rectangular Baking Pan:  This is the most widely used regular, baking pan and a must-have. Its size is typically (13 x 9 x 2 inches). It is used to bake so many desserts and savory dishes as well like brownies, cookie bars, cakes, shepherd’s pie etc. are compelled to take only one baking pan that must be this.
2. Round Cake Pan: You will require two of these to make a two-layered cake. Their typical size is 8 or 9 inches diameters. Just make sure you buy equal sizes.
3. Loaf pan: loaf pan is needed to make all kinds of breads like pumpkin bread, banana bread or plain bread.
4. Pie Plate: Along with basic homemade pies this pie plate is used for baking taco pies, meatballs or icebox pies etc.

It is vital to have around two large mixing/ blending bowls as a lot of recipes from scratch require using more than one bowl. They could be of plastic, glass or metal but the best choice is to have heatproof bowls so that they can be microwaved or put to simmer on stoves to melt chocolate.

Use of scoops and ingredient measuring cups is evident in baking. Precision is the key to achieve good baking results. You cannot get by just having one kind of measuring cup. You need spoons and measuring cups for both wet and dry ingredients to correctly measure all your cooking ingredients.

These measuring sets mostly come in four pieces: a tablespoon, a teaspoon, ¼ teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon. For cups, it is one cup, one-third cup, half cup and quarter cup. These are handy put them in an easy to reach the place because they will be frequently needed.

A digital measuring scale is an ideal tool in this regard. It is more precise than the cups and spoons and gives accurate measurements. Because cup and scoop measurements are prone to errors due to manual handling. Digital scale measures in grams and is a lot of help to bakers. It is generally perceived as a superior tool to measure dry and wet ingredients over ordinary measuring cups.

Whisk is a simple and useful tool. It does not only whisk eggs; it is intended to induce air into liquid ingredients to make them frothy and fluffy. It is also useful to whisk dry ingredients together and stir custards. The ideal size is to have a 10 to 11 inched in length.

Hand mixer and stand mixers are used to mix batters and dough quickly and easily. Hand mixers are relatively less costly. If you can afford it, it’s useful to have both. Stand mixers come with different attachments like the paddle, dough hook, whip etc. They whip cream, butter, mix batter, whip eggs for meringues, knead the dough and save from a lot of effort. However, for beginners, a hand mixer is awesome.

Nobody will like cookies and cakes that are over baked and soggy. Use a cooling rack/wire rack to allow them to cool from all sides. Baked items especially cookies, if left unattended in the pan for long after baking will burn because the heat stays on the pan’s surface even after removing from heat. Wire rack lets cool air to flow around the cookies and help cool quickly and evenly.

Paper rounds and parchment papers are typically used to save baked items from sticking to the pan. They are good, but baking sheets and mats are a lot better. They are made of silicone and are non-sticky and reusable. Vegetables and meats can also be cooked on them. They provide a convenient non-sticking baking surface for various baking items. They are excellent for rolling pizza dough, pie dough, cinnamon roll dough and much more. Also, the bottom of the baking goods is evenly baked, and they are very easily transferrable to wire racks for cooling.

It is good to have a bundle of parchment papers close at hand in addition to baking mats. These sheets are coated with a layer of silicon to yield a surface that is non-sticky and heat resistant. They are used for baking cookies, line baking pans and holding dripping icing or glazing from cakes. A major benefit of using parchment papers id that they can be cut to different shapes and sizes to tailor them according to oddly shaped pans and trays. Whereas, the baking mat has a specified shape. There cost is much lower than silicon mats and they are disposable thus create much waste.

There is a variety of biscuit and cookie cutters that have different size, designs and shapes. These are either manufactured of stainless steel or plastic and are reusable. They are used to cut the sweet and savory dough in different shapes and characters to suit every occasion, be it birthdays or picnics or weddings or any other occasion. They give attraction to baked goods and are much liked by children. They allow cutting cookies and pastries easier and neater.

To conveniently pack and carry delicious cookies and desserts to other places make use of carriers. These cake and cookie carriers protect your baked items from smashing into each other, sinking, smearing or sticking together. The time and effort you spent in whipping up cookies or cakes can go waste if the baked items are mishandled and not carefully transferred to the destination. Cookie carrier ensures that your baked goods come out unspoiled after travelling just like the way when they were taken out freshly baked from the oven.