A Dozen Tips in Time for the Holidays
Nothing says the holidays like fresh baked breads, cakes and cookies. To help make your projects sweet and easy this year five of our pastry chefs share their best tips, tricks and hacks to help get your holiday baking A-game on point.
1. WARM UP YOUR EGGS
Many recipes call for room-temperature eggs but if you forgot to plan ahead bring your from-the-fridge eggs up to room temperature in no time with this quick tip from pastry chef Byron Krysztoforski. Just place them in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes before incorporating them into your recipe.
2. BOX CAKE HACK
We all know homemade cake is the best, but if you don’t have time to make one from-scratch take your box cake to the next level instead with another great tip from chef Byron. Just add two extra eggs to the listed ingredients, replace the vegetable oil with room temperature butter and you’ll get that boxed-mix tasting homemade in no time.
3. THAT’S ALL YOLKS
No need to get your hands messy with this fiddly task. Chef Byron recommends using an empty water bottle to quickly and cleanly separate egg yolks from their whites. Simply crack the eggs into a bowl and gently squeeze the bottle to suck the yolks up inside. Squeeze again over a separate bowl to release and repeat until satisfactorily separated.
4. SOFT-DIPPED
Pastry chef Jennifer Costa uses a nifty trick when making muffins at Centrolina in Washington D.C. “Our muffin has a hard-boiled, slightly runny egg in the center. In order to not overcook it while the muffins bake we pre-boil the egg for 4 minutes – this allows just enough time for the membrane to set up and cleanly peel the egg from the shell”.
5. MIX SLOW
Less is more when it comes to mixing. While most people crank high speeds, chef Jennifer advises the final product will be less then desirable. “It’s very important to maintain low speeds when whipping egg whites for items like angel food cake. The air bubbles produced are small and compact, which makes them much more stable”.
6. SEPARATE COLD, WHIP WARM
While eggs will separate more easily when cold, room temperature eggs always whip up with more volume. Culinary arts educator for The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes, Chef Tina Luu has mastered the art of time management when it comes to taking hers out of the fridge. “When getting organized I like to separate my yolks first then finish preparing the rest of my mise-en-place, that way by the time I’m ready to mix the eggs have reached room temperate and are ready to be mixed too”.
7. FAT IS NOT (ALWAYS) YOUR FRIEND
Never suffer from weak and heavy foam again with chef Luu’s mantra. “Fat is the enemy of egg white foams!” Egg whites that aren’t clean – i.e. if there’s a tiny bit of yolk in them or you used greasy equipment – will never foam to potential. Always make sure your bowl and beaters are clean and dry with no traces of fat before whipping.
8. MASTERING MERINGUE
Complex and often troublesome, mastering meringue can be difficult. When foaming egg whites for fluffy cloud-like perfection chef Luu also recommends adding a pinch of acid like cream of tartar, or a squeeze of lemon juice to the mix. “Both acid and sugar stabilize the foam and will help develop the egg-whites into a firm, airy meringue”.
9. NO STIFF PEAKS
When foaming egg whites to fold into cake mix and lighten batter don’t take them to the max. Chef Luu recommends foaming peaks to a medium–stiff consistency instead. “Egg proteins act like a rubber band. If you whip your peaks too stiff these protein strands have no wiggle room to expand in the oven when water turns into steam and pushes against them. They may snap and can often cause the cake to fall”.
10. YEAST 101
When it comes to the fermentation process the longer the better, according to Iron Chef Thailand Pastry winner and Corporate Executive Pastry Chef Jason Licker of Ku De Tah in Hong Kong. “Even for yeast donuts, letting them retard overnight creates better texture and flavor. I know you want to fry up that goodness right away but when the proteins rest for 24 hours, it makes a world of difference. This should be done for any yeast product: brioche, Danish, rolls, croissant etc. Be patient people!”
11. PRECISION MAKES PERFECT
For the most efficient process when baking chef Jason recommends two things: take your time and plan accordingly. “Be precise, be clean, be careful and don’t rush anything. You can’t rush love, so don’t rush baking”.
12. ERRANT EGGSHELL
There’s nothing more annoying than finding a bit of eggshell in the mix, but Ryan Westover, pastry chef instructor at Stratford University in Woodbridge Virginia has a smart way to remove them. “Just run cold water over your index finger and hold it close by – the shell will gravitate towards your fingertip and stick to it”.
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