{"id":16204,"date":"2013-01-18T11:02:35","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T18:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=16204"},"modified":"2013-01-18T11:02:36","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T18:02:36","slug":"learning-to-bake-at-elevation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2013\/01\/learning-to-bake-at-elevation\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning To Bake At Elevation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Figgy<\/a>Cooking and baking are always ongoing experiments. \u00a0As cooks, we are always learning. It’s a constant and it’s something that you have to be open to and accepting of.<\/p>\n

The hard truth is, you will never know everything and you will never be perfect.<\/p>\n

And that’s okay! \u00a0Because that’s how it should be. We should always be open to learning.<\/p>\n

So far one of the biggest challenges I am facing in the kitchen right now is learning how to bake at elevation.<\/p>\n

Now I’m not much of a baker to begin with. \u00a0A few cookies and biscuits here and there. \u00a0Oh and pizza. \u00a0That’s about as far as I go because, well, I’m not much of a dessert fan and I would rather cook than bake.<\/p>\n

However even the small stuff that I did before has become a challenge at elevation!<\/p>\n

I didn’t give up and over the last couple of months I have become much better at baking!<\/p>\n

Two things I’ve learned are:<\/p>\n

1. Higher Temps for Baking<\/strong><\/p>\n

When something says 350, I will usually bump it to 400 instead. Unless the recipe is specifically one made for higher elevation, then I will keep the temperature the same.<\/p>\n

The higher temp seems to keep things in check and everything rises and bakes the way you expect it to.<\/p>\n

2. More Baking Soda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most rules of thumb for elevation baking that I’ve read have said to reduce the amount of leavening by half so that the baked good doesn’t rise too much. \u00a0I haven’t found this to be the case and in fact, have needed to increase the leavening amount in order to get the baked good to rise the way it should.<\/p>\n

For some reason baking powder has not worked in my experiments. \u00a0If I use baking powder I get a flat dense baked good. Even something simple, like pancakes, won’t rise or cook properly. \u00a0Baking powder seems to keep things light and fluffy.<\/p>\n

So far sticking to these two rules I have successfully made:<\/p>\n