Precision vs instincts in baking

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Permalink Reply by Eileen S on January 31, 2012 at 10:36pm

I was always taught that baking is a science and cooking is an art.  In other words, you are more likely to have success in baking if you follow tested recipes, but when it comes to cooking you can be more creative as you can taste as you go along and make adjustments.  I usually follow a recipe exactly the first time I bake something, but may tweak it slightly to adjust to my own personal preferences in later batches (more vanilla, addition of a certain spice to a spice cake, etc.).

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Permalink Reply by Faith Gealey-Brown on April 10, 2012 at 10:51am

It's a combination of both...in terms of leavening agents, I don't mess with those at all, but in terms of flavours, I play around with those a lot. The more recipes vie tried out and studied, the more understanding I have about what will or won't work in a recipe. I try using coffee creamers or sour cream instead of milk, adding zests, flavorings, or spices etc. Some are successful, and some aren't but it's a learning curve! My advice is keep the science but use your familiarity of the science behind baking to be creative ;)

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Permalink Reply by Theresa Happe on April 10, 2012 at 2:30pm

It's both. Once you understand the science, you begin to understand what kinds of substitutions you can make without disturbing the chemistry of the cake. When you know what the different ingredients do in a recipe, you learn how to be creative, and what will happen to the texture, the leavening, etc when you alter an ingredient.

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