When baking a cake or other sweet, dust the greased pan with sugar instead of flour.

When baking a cake or other sweet, dust the greased pan with sugar instead of flour.

Or if it's chocolate, sweetened cocoa powder

I buy my garlic peeled, or in a paste in a refrigerated tube. I only use a fresh head if I am making something with prominent raw garlic.

Here is one I read the other day:

Serve sliced bread with corn on the cob. Butter the bread, then use the bread to butter the corn. You can eat both. Then skip carbs the next day LOL!

One I just this minute taught my DH (again).

When spraying a pan with Pam, do it over the sink or over the opened dishwasher door. Please Please!

Did you know you can buy rings of various thicknesses to put on the ends of your rolling pin to make sure that what you roll out is even? DH uses them whenever he makes my graham crackers.

Similar to @lascatx using mashed potato flakes as a thickener, grate in a raw potato, as it cooks it pretty much dissolves and adds body to the broth.

Tasting Table has lots of interesting articles and tips, and they post new articles every day.

https://www.tastingtable.com/

I also buy pure powdered lemon juice and lime juice from KA for those recipes that beed a kick of citrus without the additional liquid.

Everybody probably already knows about vanilla powder, which in addition to extract and seeds from the vanilla bean pod impart flavor to baked goods and desserts.

Next time you make a fruit crisp - quadruple the topping, divide in four and freeze three packages. With the topping already made, you can literally have a fruit crisp in the oven in the time it takes to slice the fruit.

I buy evaporated 2% milk by the case. I never have half and half or heavy cream so I use evaporated milk instead.

Everybody has their own ideas including medical world of what healthy is, but I have found full fat and less carbs to be what works best for me.

Just thought of another one. My sister is a sous-chef in a restaurant in Michigan and she told me that they always add some beef broth to their chicken soups and chicken (broth needed) dishes to amp up the flavor. I've started doing this, substituting about 1/4 -1/2 cup of beef broth with every 2-3 cups of chicken broth. Oh, and I do keep and use Better Than Boullion in their beef, chicken and vegetable flavors. So convenient, as is the powdered Buttermilk.

Some good ones up there - thanks, all!

I use plain whole milk yoghurt in place of buttermilk in recipes - it keeps a long time in the fridge, and is much easier to find, since I prefer organics, and have yet to see organic buttermilk anywhere. I thin it with a little with milk or water, if necessary.

Also a fan of nutmeg and use only whole, freshly grated.

I always use parchment/baking paper for cookies, and for lining the roasting pan when I cook a chicken - better than foil, IMO. I also use it as a barrier to foil when I'm covering a dish like lasagna, or anything acidic that would react with the foil.

I have a collection of all-purpose pan lids that fit my various bowls and round casseroles. I use them when proofing dough, and storing stuff in the fridge too.

And I prefer to sprinkle chopped nuts on the top of batters for things like brownies, cakes & muffins, rather than mixing them in. They get toasty and more tasty/crunchy that way, IMO - and look nicer too.

I'm a big fan of the little cubes of garlic or ginger you find in the freezer section at TJs. Ginger is very good for you. I always throw a cube or 2 into my smoothies.

Based on something I read in America's test kitchen, I have started using my homemade chicken broth in everything that calls for beef broth and I can't tell a difference.

It's better than using the boxed beef broth, but I have used that for many years.

Unless I have a specific reason not to, I always use half white/half wheat for the flour to make it healthier.

I always add a piece of parchment paper to the bottom of the baking pan whether it calls for it or not...it makes taking the goods out of the pan so much easier. I typically will spray the pan to hold the parchment in place, add the parchment and spray the top of the parchment.

Hear me out bumblebeez, home made beef broth. One day Marcella whispered in my ear that this would make a huge difference in a dish and in a fit of industriousness unusual for me in the kitchen, I gave it a try, so worth the small effort.

I have tried before zalco, but I don't have access to organic beef and bones easily, like chicken and it was sooo expensive.

I have no doubt it's worth it!

Just saw this on FB and it certainly called my name.

When using a mixer, to prevent spashing messes.... use a paper plate as a shield.

I am having trouble linking the youtube-link to youtube maybe this will work?

Re: using parchment in baking dishes, if you turn the pan upside down and form the paper over it, then pop it into the inside, it will stay put while you fill it.

I learned to crinkle parchment into a ball, then lay it flat. It will stay in place.

When I was living in Florida (on the east coast, if that makes a difference) everyone I knew mixed dry, uncooked rice in with the salt in their salt shakers to absorb the moisture from the humid air so that the salt would sprinkle easily. We definitely don't have to do that here in New Mexico (LOL!), but does anyone do that in more humid climates elsewhere? It definitely worked.

I put rice in the salt shaker in our RV as it often sits for a few weeks with no climate control.

I remember seeing the rice in the salt shakers in restaurants, growing up. For whatever reason ,we did not do that at home .

I've always done that with salt - keeps it from clumping.

Thanks for the parchment paper ideas. I use parchment paper a lot, but your suggestions on how to make it work better are wonderful and so needed!!!

To line just the bottom, I put the baking pan down on the parchment, then trace around the bottom of the pan in pencil. I then trim the paper around the inside of the pencil line and it fits the bottom perfectly. I figure I can always run a knife around to loosen the sides if need be. But it's getting that bottom loose that's the issue. This solves it.

I stopped buying rolls of parchment paper years ago and now buy it in flat packs of half sheet size pieces, five inch squares, and 8 inch rounds. These or a combination fit any pan I have. But I cook a lot and use a lot of pp, so it’s worth it to me to be able to grab the correct size and place it on the pan in a single motion.

Kswl, I had no idea that parchment paper was now available in multi size packs, thanks for that info!

I also use the pre cut oackages of parchment paper. No more waste! I buy the perforated PP liners for my air fryer too.

So many great ideas here. Recently I discovered that if I simply add whole garlic cloves to dishes rather than mincing them first, it seems to impart the flavor just as well. Considerably less worrk, and I just remove them before serving. Works both with a baked casserole type dish and a sauce on top of the stove kind of dish.

Kswl, HU, or Anyone): if it’s possible, and when you have time, would you to take a photo of the box of the multi-sizes of parchment paper to show us? I’d love to get some.

I keep this list from GrainLady in the tips section of my recipe app. I much prefer using an instant read thermometer for determining doneness. Today I was listening to a 177 Milkstreet podcast. A caller was complaining that her blood orange olive oil cake appeared to be done when she tested it with a skewer, but in fact, the center was raw. Christopher Kimble told her to use an instant read thermometer instead of a skewer.

When Are Baked Goods Done?

Checking with an instant read thermometer is generally more accurate than other methods.

• Layer cakes - 205-210-degrees F.
• Pound cake - 210
• Jelly Roll - 190-195
• Muffins - 210
• Quick breads - 210
• Yeast bread - 195-210
• Sweet - enriched breads - 180-190
• Soft sandwich bread - 195
• Bundt cake - 212
• Yeast rolls - 190-195
• Pumpkin pie - 175
• Cheesecake - 150-155 (bbstx addition)

Lynn, I believe KA Flour has all the sizes referenced. I’ve also ordered the half and full sheet pan sizes, but didn’t know about the pack with multiple sizes either. Who knows. Big A likely has it too!

This has been such a great thread, so thank you for starting it.

I’ve been using an instant thermometer for cakes for a few months now and it’s perfect!

Lynn I get all my baking supplies from King Arthur, and some cooking utensils and sheet pans. Cake pans, cookie sheets, jelly roll pans and removable bottom (spring form) pans I get from Alan Silverwood, an English manufacturer. They are anodyzed aluminun and cannot be washed in the dishwasher but they are really the best quality.

I can't bake anything without an instant read thermometer HA! I remember trying to use a toothpick to check a cake and it just didn't work for me, I guess I didn't know what to look for.

I was able to get pop up parchment paper sheets at Dollar Tree ($1.25 for 25 sheets). I was so happy with them that I went back to get more and wouldn't you know, I've never seen them ever again. I'm so mad at myself for not buying a bunch of them when they had it! I saw these on "A" but for like $9, same exact item. I have seen others at the store but they were smaller sheets than what I wanted. If you see any at Dollar Tree in the pop up package, stock up! :)

AR Girl, are any of these what you were looking for?

https://www.dollartree.com/searchresults?Ntt=parchment%20paper

You can buy them online, albeit a case of 24, for pick-up at your local store

This is great. I am going to look into the instant thermometer for baking....... I've been seeing that when I bake lately, it seems even tried and true recipes are baked too long/ hot. I've been reducing the baking time but this would be good to use to check.

I do have an old meat thermometer. I will have a look at it and see if that would work. Otherwise it's off the to river of A.

Salonva, I don’t think an old meat thermometer would work. You need something that will give you a reading in 5 seconds or so. You don’t want your baked goods out of the oven very long.

Thank you for that tip to use an instant read thermometer for baking. That never occurred to me. I mean, duh!

Question for the experienced bakers - do you think a pecan pie would be the same temp as pumpkin pie?

I stopped making pecan pie at Thanksgiving because for some reason it just never seems to set anymore. No idea why. I used to make it every year, used same recipe every year, and then one year it was liquidy in the middle. The next times I would cook it longer and longer but it would never set. I'm thinking maybe I'd try again this year and use my instant read thermometer.

So many great tips! My tip is to cool fresh baked cookies on kraft paper. The cookies stay softer that way. Of course, for any cookies you want to be crisp, cool them as usual on a rack.

A pecan pie will not set while hot. It has to cool.

Yes, with pecan pie, I've learned to make it a day ahead and then it's perfect. It definitely does well with the extra resting.

:)

Oh I always make it ahead. Never day of. It's still not set even after being cooled and in refrigerator over night (or a couple nights).

I just now read on FB that if you add salt AND "a healthy dump" of baking soda to the water when making hard boiled eggs, the shells will be much easier to crack and remove. Any truth to that?

Bbstx: thank you for that chart! I'm printing it out and adding it to my main cookbook to refer back on!

And, thanks so much for the photos of what's available in parchment paper!

bbstx, no those are not the same. Thanks though! :)

I have edited GrainLady’s temperature list to add the optimum temperature for cheesecake. I don’t recall where I learned that, but the 177 Milk Street podcast I was listening to reinforced it.

Thank you for the Alan Silverwood baking tip, KSWL.

You’re very welcome, Zalco. I never had a really successful buche de noel until i bought the silverwood jellyroll pan and from there i began replacing all my baking pans.