Five Rules For Holiday Baking...Stress-free

In my last post, I mention it was ridiculously hot, even for Tucson in October.... Well, the weather has finally cooled a bit and that, for me, means more baking.

Back in '07, just before starting shopOrganic, I spent a week at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. It was an amazing week learning about baking and making things I'd always wondered about but never tried - focaccia, doughnuts, chocolate and more...but I digress. It's time to get down to some serious baking. Here are five rules to follow for stress-free holiday baking.

Rule #1
Never try a new recipe in a high pressure situation.
If you need to bring four dozen cookies to a school party, don't try out a new meringue recipe. Pull out your old tried-and-true recipe. Sure, it might be a boring old chocolate chip cookie, but hey, at least they'll be delicious! (Same goes for holiday cooking as well...).

Rule #2
Use the right flour for the recipe.
While you can get away with a lot using a high quality all purpose organic flour like Giusto's Organic Unbleached Baker's Choice Flour, choosing a specialized flour for certain baked goods will enhance the final result and your friends, colleagues and bake sale customers will be oohing and aahing over your tasty treats. Here's a quick breakdown:

High protein flour
A high protein flour has between 12% and 15% protein. These are sometimes referred to as high gluten flours. These high protein flours are preferred by bakers for bagels, pizza and other breads that require a strong texture. If your recipe calls for all purpose flour and you use high protein flour, you will probably find your final product to be a bit tougher than desired. On the other hand, if you don't have high protein flour available, you can beef up your all purpose flour with some vital wheat gluten.

Medium protein flour
Generally between 10% and 12% protein, like the Giusto's organic flour mentioned above, these are considered all purpose flours. They'll perform well in most applications, but better results can be obtained for specialized recipes using higher or lower protein flour.

Lower protein flour
Lower or low protein flour yields the opposite result of high protein flour. It helps develop a soft, delicate texture for pastries and cakes. Cake flour is usually about 8% protein whereas pastry flour is usually even lower in protein.

Cake and pastry flour will absorb more liquid and is typically must softer when mixed than higher protein flour.

Whole grain flours
Whole grain flours can be tricky to work with - their protein content and flavor varies with the type of grain or the mixture of grains. If your recipe calls for all purpose flour and you want to add fiber and nutrition boost by using whole grain flour, I recommend you either start by substituting no more than 25% of the flour called for with whole grain or use a recipe on the whole grain flour package to begin with. You'll need to adjust your liquids upward a bit when substituting whole grain flour and you'll find the final result will be denser than a recipe that uses all purpose flour. The flavor enhancement from using whole grains, though, is well worth a bit of experimentation.

When I was at the CIA, I noticed they used Giusto's flour almost exclusively. I was impressed by the results and looked for Giusto's when I got home. I was unable to find it and for a long time, Giusto's did not have an organic line available to the general public. However, that's changed and shopOrganic.com just picked up the whole line of Giusto's organic flours - just in time for holiday baking.

Here's a link to all of Giusto's - links to the individual products are above.

Rule #3
Baking is chemistry and if you want to substitute ingredients, think about them as dry and liquid.
The ratio between dry and wet impacts the final result as does the amount of leavening used. Look at your original recipe to understand the basic ratios and then substitute keeping these ratios in tact. And always go back to Rule #1.

Rule #4
Always let your bread products finish cooling fully before cutting.
As much as diving into a warm loaf of bread may seem, the structure of the bread needs to set before you slice it open. If it's just for you or your family and you don't care, slice away. If it's for company or a bake sale (slicing date bread into sell-able servings, for example), let it cool fully.

Rule #5
Enjoy.
Baking is a relaxing, creative process. Allow enough time to enjoy it fully. Be present - consider it your moving meditation. Infuse all your joy and love into those baked products and you'll share the love long after the oven has cooled.

Happy holiday baking!