In Times Of Knead: Making Baking Less Stressy!
We’ve all seen The Great British Bake Off by now, and we know how all-encompassing and stressful it can be unless you’ve had your head in the fridge this entire time! Baking can be a big old stressy thing, especially if you’ve caught the baking bug and have decided to take on the challenge of baking for your little one’s birthday party, a baby shower, or if you are completely flabbergasted at the thought of you even volunteering to make 50 cupcakes for a bake sale. But you’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for ways on how to have a stress-free baking session.
Choose Your Recipe Wisely
You are far better off doing something that is tried and tested for a big event rather than trying a brand new recipe on a whim. Granted, you may want to impress with a brand new showstopper, but if you leave it too close to the event, you are going to set yourself up for disaster. It’s a much safer bet to do something that you’ve done before, that is tried and tested and something that people love.
Plan Ahead!
Look at the amount of work you are going to you need to do, and be methodical in how you set out your timings. The common mistake is to underestimate the amount of time you actually need, so you have a long day of anxiety and stress, especially if there are little things you have completely neglected. For example, if you haven’t taken your butter out of the fridge and it hasn’t softened in time, this will have a knock-on effect on your whole day. Also if you get organised in how you do every single part of the baking process, it reduces the burden, and you can enjoy the process more. A process like whisking can take a lot longer than you planned, in this respect if you are able to buy food mixers, it won’t just reduce the amount of time spent in the kitchen, it also gives you the opportunity to focus your efforts on other little aspects. Things that you wouldn’t usually have the time for, such as little decorations. By planning every aspect and being uber efficient in every step of the process, it takes the stress away.
Have Extra Ingredients On Hand
The perils of being methodical in your ingredient purchasing is that you will buy just enough of everything. But you won’t have factored in the children running around the kitchen, or a stray egg dropping to the floor, or extra butter in case you burn it. As well as infinite amounts of sugar should a packet rip, or you burn your caramel.
Enjoy The Process
If you’ve got everything in hand by preparing sufficiently, you will enjoy the baking process a lot more. Maybe you want to bake with the partner or listen to music, or just take it in your stride. As long as you set aside enough time, and preferably a little bit more, it will make for a simpler and stress-free baking session. Whether you are making simple cakes, or going the whole hog and making a three-tiered sponge, plan ahead and enjoy! Baking is meant to reduce stress, not increase it!
