A good rolling pin is a basic tool you will use frequently when baking and making pastry.
Using the right tools when baking and making pastry can not only make the job easier but also give you professional-looking results. Keep a variety of sizes of mixing bowls, since many recipes require mixing the wet ingredients, such as milk and vanilla, and dry ingredients, such as flour and baking soda, separately. Invest in a good set of baking pans. Find ones that are sturdy and a light color metal; dark metal pans, even when nonstick, can cause baked goods to burn. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Basic Tools
There are certain basic tools you will need when baking or making nearly any pastry, such as mixing spoons and spatulas so you can easily mix your ingredients and get them out of the bowl. You'll also need a rolling pin for rolling out pastry and cookie dough and a whisk for whisking eggs and mixing dry ingredients thoroughly. A small ice cream scoop for scooping cookie dough will give you perfect, even cookies every time.
Baking Tools
When baking, make sure you have cutters in a variety of shapes and sizes for biscuits and cookies, a sifter for sifting flour and icing sugar, and a hand mixer for mixing cake batters and beating eggs. A stand mixer, although expensive, is worth it if you bake a lot. It can easily mix even thick cookie batters to a perfect consistency. If you use a lot of recipes in which you whip egg whites, a copper bowl, which helps increase their volume, could be indispensable.
Pastry Tools
When making pies, pie weights are very convenient for when you need to blind bake a pie crust (bake the crust with no filling). The pie weights can help prevent the crust from shrinking and puffing up. Other convenient tools include a pastry cutter, especially for creating a lattice top and a dough scraper for getting the dough off your work surface. A pastry brush is perfect for brushing egg wash on a pie crust for a perfect golden finish. A pie crust crimper can help you easily make a decorative pattern around the edge of the pie and a pie crust shield prevents that edge from burning before the rest of the pie is baked.
Decorating
For spreading icing on cakes and brownies, use an offset spatula. It allows you to spread frosting evenly over the surface without your hands getting in the way. A piping bag is convenient for decorating, especially if you also have decorative tips. Use small tips for detail work and writing on cakes, and large ones for piping frosting onto cupcakes or for piping dough decoratively. If you do a lot of baking, try a cupcake corer and decorator for piping filling into your cupcakes, or a pie top cutter so you can easily get a fancy decorative top for your pies.
Tags: baking making, when baking making, bake crust, baking making pastry, cookie dough