Suggested baking tools, language and more.

Hey everyone, and welcome back! I want to help my blog be “user friendly”. That way you all can follow along and be prepared with the proper tools and knowledge to bake efficiently at home. I also want to cover all of the basics, that way if you are a beginner, you can reference this page if you forget what something means or what you might need. I’m going to start off by listing my favorite tools / products and why you should have them too. Most of these tools can be purchased from WalMart, Michaels, Target or Amazon.

*Food Scale. Food scales are a great tool to measure out ingredients for recipes quick and efficiently. Most of my recipes will be measured in cups and ounces, but sometimes grams are used as well. Food scales are the most precise measuring tool you can have in the kitchen.

*Measuring cups, spoons and pitchers. This hopefully goes without saying, but, I want to cover all bases and make sure that if you don’t have these, you go pick them up!

*Off-set spatula. Spatulas are essential in the kitchen, and off-set spatulas are essential for decorating. Especially if you are wanting to amp up your decorating and frosting game, having multiple sizes of off-set spatulas will make your decorating adventures much easier.

*Candy thermometer. This is an invaluable tool to have in your kitchen. It’s makes it so easy to make things such as meringue, caramel and more. This gives you absolute control over what temperature you’re actually working with instead of guessing.

*Whisk. I am talking a big whisk, a thick one. It’s also really nice to have varying sizes for various things you might need them for.

*Piping bags and tips. These will be for the bakers who are wanting to decorate cakes. I encourage everyone to do it, it’s a really fun and interactive learning experience you can do by yourself or with your family. I like to use disposable bags, but there are reusable ones as well. As far as tips go, there are thousands of shapes and sizes to chose from. I would suggest getting a basic starter set, it’ll usually come with 4 tips. My favorite tip is the star tip, and is my most valued one.

*Ice cream scoops. I love using ice cream scoops to shape and bake cookies. Having a few different sizes on hand is a great way to be creative with your baking, and ensures each cookie turns out to be the same size.

*Blow torch. Blow torches are awesome to have in the kitchen. The sole purpose of obtaining one would be for toasting meringue or to brûlée sugar on a dessert. Meringue is one of my favorite frostings, it’s so versatile and has such an elegant look, it’s also extremely easy to make. You can pick up a decently priced blow torch with replaceable fuel at any head shop in your city.

*Cake turntable. If you enjoy making cakes for family and friends, a turntable should be your next purchase. It alleviates the stress of cutting and frosting cakes. It’s a great professional tool to have on hand.

Lets move on to some culinary language you’ll see used in my recipes. These help shorten the recipe, and make it easier to read (in my opinion).

Lastly, I want to touch on a product that makes gluten free baking possible and easy. This product doesn’t give you any weird textures or flavors, it’s simply blissful. For any gluten free recipe, I always use Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend. It’s hands down the best gluten free flour I have ever found, and I’ve been doing gluten free baking for about 6 years now. This flour is a godsend, I’ve done recipes as simple as cookies to as advanced as cinnamon rolls with this flour. It can be replaced in any recipe 1:1, meaning you don’t have to take out or add any extra to achieve desired consistency. The awesome thing about Namaste is that it’s free of the top 8 allergens and is also certified vegan.

I hope this post was educational for you guys, and you all learned something. I can’t wait to bake with you all soon. Cheers!