Rules

Here are the laws that I have set for myself in the kitchen. Unless I'm feeling particularly tired or rebellious, I always follow these rules. I know some of them may seem a little pointless, but I wanted to provide the context in which I bake and cook. It's actually gotten to the point where the things that I do are as natural as breathing! Well, I should be honest, these motions are more automatic to me because I actually forget to breathe sometimes... anyway.

Unless otherwise noted in a recipe, this is what I do when I say something general like "mix."

The tools:

• I always (try to) use: unsalted butter, whole milk, and large eggs. No nonfat nonsense. Please. 
• When drawing water straight from the tap, get the coldest water possible. The cold water is fresher since it hasn't been hanging around in an old heater all day. 
• In measuring flour, I first fluff up the flour by stirring it around with a fork or spoon, lightly scoop flour into the measuring cup with a separate spoon, and then sweep the excess flour on top with a flat edge (usually the back of a butter knife). American cookbooks give the volume of flour to be used based on sifted flour, which has a lower density (and therefore less flour) than flour packed into a measuring cup. A new bag of flour is pretty good about having the same consistency as sifted flour so you can scoop right out of the bag, but... I'd rather not stray from tried and true methods. Many years of working with the scientific method has trained me to control for as many variables as possible. 

The methods:

• All ingredients should be at room temperature while assembling. This makes it easier for ingredients to mix together in the end.
• The best way to freeze something is by chilling it in the refrigerator first.
• Be precise in your measurements. Baking is about chemical reactions and adding too much of one ingredient just means that there will be an excess of it in the end. It's never tasty.
• Always preheat the oven! You want to cook your food, not slowly melt it.
• Do NOT open the oven to peek at the food. Oven lights exist for a reason.
• Most cookies are done when the edges are brown. 

FYI: Since I don't actually know what I do differently until someone points it out to me, I will be constantly adding to this list. The newest rules that I write down will be italicized until I think of more. Please forgive me for any inconsistencies as this is a work in progress.
(Last edited: August 12th, 2012)