It is said that baking is a pitfall, and the first step to getting into the pit is the tools. What baking tools are essential for beginners?

Before you start baking, you must first prepare various baking tools, otherwise it will be like "water without a source, tree without roots". So today I will take you to learn about the small tools that are often used in baking!

Before you start baking, you must prepare an oven.

Although some French pastries are only frozen and do not require an oven, common pastries such as biscuits, bread, and chiffon cakes must be baked in an oven. When it comes to ovens, the most common questions are: What capacity should I buy? What functions do I need? How will the baked products taste?

If it is used at home, 30-45L is completely sufficient. An oven that is too small will heat unevenly, and the food will be closer to the heating tube, which will easily cause the outside to be burnt and the inside to be uncooked. An oven of 50 to 60 liters is too large for an average family, and it is not useful and wastes electricity.

The essential functions of an oven are as follows:

1. Built-in lighting makes it easy to observe the baking conditions.

Second, there should be more than 6 heating tubes, or M-shaped heating tubes, so that the temperature in the oven will be more even and the baked food will be more beautiful.

3. The upper and lower tubes can be controlled separately. Sometimes the upper and lower tubes need to be adjusted separately. For example, the bottom fire needs to be slightly lower when baking chiffon cakes, and the upper fire needs to be raised at the end of baking cakes for coloring, etc. It is best to use electronic temperature control so that the temperature will be more accurate.

4. The inner shape of the oven should be close to a cube rather than a long flat rectangle, so that when baking chiffon or mountain-shaped bread, the bread will not burn due to rising too high.

If you really want to learn baking seriously, you must buy a better oven. You will use the oven frequently and cannot make do with it. Otherwise, it will be very troublesome if it does not work well.

2. Electric egg beater.

If you have ever tried to use a manual whisk to whip whipped cream, egg whites, etc., you will find that using a manual whisk to whip them is simply a training of arm strength! It is tiring and time-consuming.

Therefore, you must buy an electric egg beater, preferably with a power of 150w or above, so that the eggs can be beaten faster. When purchasing, try to choose a well-known brand, as the quality and after-sales service are guaranteed.

3. Kitchen electronic scale

Baking requires accurate dosage, so it is not recommended for beginners to change the recipe at will when they are just getting started. A kitchen electronic scale is a must-have tool for accurate dosage, which can be accurate to 0.1g. (Some people may ask: My steps and methods are all correct, why is the result a failure? Is it because the materials I grab by hand are not accurate?) Therefore, an accurate electronic scale is one of the tools we must prepare for baking.

In addition to electronic scales, there are also small tools for measuring spoons and measuring cups.

The measuring cup is used to weigh liquid materials. Generally, the maximum capacity is 200ml or 250ml, and a measuring cup with a scale accurate to 10ml will do.

We often see "1 tbsp", "1 tsp", "1/2 tsp" etc. in recipes. These are measuring spoons, which come in a set of 4 or more.

4. Screen

The cup-shaped sieve is easier to operate. It is suitable for small-caliber basins. The larger basin-shaped sieve is suitable for large-caliber containers. The handheld sieve is suitable for cake surface decoration and liquid sieving. There are many types, the cup-shaped one is the most commonly used, followed by the handheld one. There are also many sizes, which can be purchased according to needs. Both the simple cup-shaped and the handheld one are required. The sieve is also divided into many meshes, which refers to the thickness of the sieve. Choose according to your needs, and there is no fixed recommendation.

5. Silicone spatula

When buying a silicone scraper, try to choose an integrated one, which is convenient for cleaning. You need to prepare both large and small ones. You can prepare one or two small ones, as they have a high usage rate.

6. Piping bag

It is often used for cream decorating, cookie decorating, cake portioning, etc. It is also a common utensil, which is used frequently. Most of the time, it is used once and can be stockpiled in large quantities.

7. Decorating nozzle

A tool used with a piping bag, often used for various cream piping, cookie patterns, etc. It is recommended to have six-tooth, eight-tooth and round nozzles. Common piping nozzle brands: Sanneng, Huiertong, etc.

8. Muffin mold

It is a cupcake mold, used for making cupcakes, and you can buy a 12-piece set.

9. Spatula

It is used for glazing cakes and smoothing cake batter, etc. It is an essential tool for advanced users. If you don't want to make glazed birthday cakes, etc., you can ignore it for the time being.

10. Serrated Knife

Also known as a bread knife, it is used for dividing bread, cutting cake rolls, etc. You need to prepare one for making bread. A small serrated knife is recommended. It can also be used for cake rolls.

11. Temperature gun

It is also an advanced type, often used to test the temperature of liquids such as chocolate. It is essential for tempering chocolate. If you just want to make macarons, etc., you can prepare a needle thermometer to test the temperature of the syrup. The temperature gun measures the temperature on the surface and is fast. The needle thermometer measures the internal temperature, which takes a little time, but is more accurate. Each type of thermometer has its own specialty, and you can choose according to your needs.

12. Egg separator

If you have your own method for separating the egg white and yolk, you don't have to use it. Most people like to separate them manually, it depends on your preference.

13. Scraper

It has a wide range of uses, such as arranging the batter in the piping bag, dividing the dough, etc. It can be used as a standby.

14. Wool brush

It is used for brushing oil, or for coloring the surface of egg yolk pastries with egg liquid. If you make a lot of Chinese pastries, you can keep it on hand.

15. Non-stick pan

Used to make nougat, snowflake crisps, etc., purchase according to your needs.

16. Egg Beater

Generally, stainless steel egg-beating bowls are used because they are very durable! Not only are they light and shatterproof, but they are also easy to clean. You can choose a deeper bowl with a curved bottom, which will make the egg yolks evenly and not splash easily. It is best to have two or more, which is more convenient. For example, for chiffon cakes, you need to make the egg yolk paste and egg whites separately before mixing them. If you don't have one, you can also use a stainless steel bowl at home or a larger soup bowl, glass bowl or other bowl instead.

17. Cake mold

The 6-inch or 8-inch round anode removable bottom cake mold can be used to make chiffon cakes, sponges, mousse, etc.; more advanced ones can be made into chimney molds, pie plates, pound cake molds, toast boxes, etc.

18. Baking tray

Generally, when you buy an oven, you will get a baking tray. If you usually bake Western pastries such as cookies, you can use it. If you need to make Western pastries such as cake rolls in the future, you can buy a 28×28 golden square tray.

19. Baking paper

There are tin foil, wax paper, oilcloth, etc. Oil paper is disposable. If you want to be lazy, you can use wax paper instead of oilcloth. Oil paper can also help shape biscuits and butter slices, etc. It is one of the necessary tools. Oilcloth can be used repeatedly and can be cut into a size suitable for the baking tray. After each baking of biscuits and bread, just wipe both sides with a wet rag. Never wash with hot water. Tin foil is used to cover biscuits and cakes to prevent over-coloring, or to wrap molds to facilitate water bath baking of cheesecakes and the production of various oven dishes. It is a necessary material for oven dishes because it is heated evenly.

20. Heat-insulated gloves

The oven temperature is very high, so you must wear heat-insulating gloves when taking baked food out of the oven!

Next, I will systematically share with you the relevant baking knowledge. Welcome to continue to pay attention. In the next issue, I will introduce to you "It is said that the trans fatty acids contained in vegetable butter are as lethal as pesticides. Is this true?"