Baking Essentials (Baking Basics for Beginners) - Part 1

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I have been thinking to post this since long as I had been queried by friends and readers
about the baking tins I use, where I get the ingredients, and my oven(which I will work on a
seperate post). These are the common queries I get these days, so thought this post might
be helpful as I know the hassles I went through personally while shopping for baking items
and the situation was even more worse when I moved to CBE. Most of times the
shopkeepers starred at me as if I was speaking in my own language ;)
I have tried my best to compile most items I've used in my baking, if you find anything
missing, please drop a comment, will edit to add :)

The first and foremost essential item is the measuring cups and spoons. I use it for baking
and even for everyday cooking most of the times. Though these may not be accurate for the
gram measures, I have been using it since I started baking. If you are at Chennai try these
at Santosh Super stores or any departmental stores(You will get the red ones). I got mine
from Nilgiris here in Coimbatore. When I searched for these measuring cups I understood
many shops had it even without realising the name of it so help yourself in the shops
instead of asking them.
I also have a cup which has different measures for maida, sugar, rice flour etc in gms(the
orange tumbler kind shown in the pic) - So these are the ones I am using / will be using till
I find a proper kitchen scale. My cup and spoon measures are :

1 cup = 250 ml

1/2 cup = 125 ml

1/3 cup = 80 ml

1/4 cup = 60 ml

1 tbsp = 15 ml

1/2 tbsp = 7.5 ml

1 tsp = 5 ml

1/2 tsp = 2.5 ml

The next thing you will need will be a mixing bowl which is wide and easy to mix - I use a
normal mixing basin which I use for cooking(am still searching for a proper mixing bowl esp
for baking). Next is the whisk which you need for mixing cake batter.

Utensils & Others:

Mixing bowl - Use a wide and deeper bowl

Spatula and Whisk - I got in Nilgiris, you can find it in any supermarket

Measuring cups and Spoons - Dept stores

Baking/ Cookie tray - It came with my oven itself essential for cookies and pizzas

Wire rack - This also came with my oven itself

Baking Tins - To start with you can get a Bread loaf and a Round / Square tin

Muffin pans

Ramekins (the ones you see here holding nuts , chocochips etc) - Additional , you
may require them for any puddings or lava cake. I got mine from Currimboys and Poppad
Jammal

Cookie Cutters - I havent had luck getting many shapes. If you dont get any fancy
ones just use a small lid to cut into circles.

Aluminium foil - Needed only for pizzas or for any grilling, you can get the roll in any
dept store. You can use butter paper as an alternate as we get it in any stationary shop.
You can check out the standard pan sizes in joyofbaking
What I have is a bread loaf pan 9'' X 3'' which I have used in my bakes:

Tutti Frutti Cake

Walnut Butterscotch Loaf Cake

Eggless Mango Loaf Cake

Eggless Marble Cake

A cookie tray is a must for baking cookies, mine came with my OTG itself. I make bread
pizza in this and the veg pizza using the collecting tray. Other than that, I have a round and
a floral tin(nonstickware) which is the only nonstick baking tin I have. I havent used silicon
wares but have heard good reviews from many of our blogger friends. I personally like the
aluminium baking tins than the nonstick ones.
Cakes that I baked in floral and round pan:

Eggless Moist Chocolate Cake

Eggless Choco Coffee Cake

Eggless Sponge Cake

For almost all cookies posted here I used the same tray

Fruit Cookies

Snow Ball Cookies

Masala Biscuits

Veg Pizza from scratch

Muffins pans, you can again opt for siliconware or even nonstick. But I feel we use muffin
liners most of the times so sticking is not a problem at all. Individual silicion muffin moulds
are also available in the markets. Mine is aluminium as you can see it here.

Choco Chips Cupcakes

Banana Muffins

Chocolate Muffins

I use the square pan - 6'' X 6'' for all my mini bakes. Its a small one.

Eggless Custard powder cake

Oats Brownies

Dates Cake

Coming to the bundt pan...I searched for almost a year but coudnt find a right one. As most
of them I saw were oversized, finally found this at Nilgiris.
I got all my baking pans from Santosh Super Stores(Annanagar, Chennai) except for the
floral nonstickware and the bundt which I got from Nilgiris. I must admit not all Nilgiris
branch has baking tins, try out in the main branch at your city.
I dont have many cookiecutters only 2-3 most of the times I use the round lid. I have got
many things out of curiosity but sparsely use them(got them froma wholesale bakery
retailer). Few among them are the icing cone and nozzles, which I havent used much. Even
my

tart

pans

are

waiting

for

almost

yrs

Baking Ingredients Needed (What to get and Where) :

Maida (All Purpose Flour) - I use Nilgiris brand

Granulated Sugar - Its again Nilgiris brand

Icing Sugar - Bakers

Demerera sugar - Bluebird

Baking powder - Bakers

Baking soda - Weikfield / Bakers

Vanilla Essence(Black one) - Tiger brand from Nilgiris

Coco Powder - Its cadbury

for

me

to

experiment.

Gelatin and China Grass - Bakers

Condensed Milk - Amul / Nestle

Yeast - Bakers or Bluebird

Custard powder - Pillsbury

Chocolate chips - From nuts & spices or nilgiris

Butterscotch chips - From nuts & spices

Cooking Chocolate - Marco / Morde from Nuts & Spices

Mozzarella cheese - Amul

Cheddar cheese - It can be either Amul or Britannia.

Whip Cream powder - Bluebird

Yogurt - Nilgiris / Amul

Fresh Cream - Amul

Butter - Its always homemade butter sometimes I use Nutralite

Cooking Oil - Saffola

Olive Oil - Extra virgin olive oil the brand I am using now is Figaro

Milk - Its Aavin green if its full cream milk or blue which is low fat

Dry Fruits and Nuts - I get it from a local dryfruits store

Self rising flour : I have seen it in Nuts and Spices but havent used it as I find normal All
purpose flour itself working fine.
All the nuts and dry fruits I prefer getting it in dryfruits shop where its good. I always stock
up walnuts and badam. Tutti frutti I get only when there is need. Other than that dates is
always found in my pantry as I love them to eat it as such :)

My Oven Details with few baking tips - Baking Essentials Part 2

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I have been getting regular mails from readers and friends asking about my oven and many
baking related questions. I have put it all together here and if you have any more queries
do mail me.Check out the baking essentials - part 1 for more details.
After a long time postponement finally here I am with the post - I had a chance to clean the
oven atleast for this post sake ;)

Temperature, Modes and Timing:

Temperature : The temperature in my OTG ranges from 100 to 250 deg celsius.
Modes : There are 4 different types of modes toast/pizza,bake, broil(grill) and keep warm

Toast/ Pizza : I use this mode for all preheatings. Other than that I occassionally
use it for my bread pizza

Bake : This is the mode I use for all bakings ie cakes, muffins,cupcakes and cookies

Broil/

Grill :

use

the

grill

mode

for

mostly

nonveg

dishes, paneer

tikka, kebabs etc. But we should be very careful with this mode as the heating is high, it

burns up faster so keep an eye always.

Keep warm : Just keeps the baked/cooked items warm till served - I havent used it
much.
Timing: The timing ranges from 0-60mins. If the orginal recipe(baked in a microwave) calls
for say 45mins I first keep it for 45mins then check and extend my timing to another 510mins as I have noticed the baking is a bit slower in OTG when compared to microwave.
There is no fancy or touch buttons, its just like a fan regulator. Once the baking/preheating
is done the indication is a ding sound.
I have 3 racks in my oven and I use the middle rack for all my bakes. I change it only if
mentioned otherwise.

How to Preheat an oven:

For cakes : Keep the wirerack in the oven start the oven in the specified temperature(just
turn the temperature knob and set the timing for 10mins. - as its the default timing for
preheating my oven for any kind of recipe(as mentioned in my manual).
For cookies, muffins and cupcakes : Preheat the oven empty without any trays and after
the preheating keep your muffin pans or cookie trays
When to preheat :
Most of the recipe calls to preheat even before preparing the dough / batter but I find it too
early as I am very slow in any making process ;) So I preheat only at the closure of the
batter/dough making process. Also the results have a difference when the batter is let to sit
for more time.

I got a collecting tray(silver color), cookie tray(black color), wirerack,4 skewers and handle
with my OTG. Always use the gloves while opening, closing the OTG as its piping hot.
Baking Tips:
1. Take a butter paper, cut it to the pan/tin size and lay it. Grease it with little butter / oil
then pour the batter over the butter paper. (or) Grease the pan with butter at the bottom
through the sides. Then sprinkle little maida on it and tap it to spread it all over. Tap off the
excess and then pour the batter - I use the second method as I find it easier and mess free.
2. Once the baking is done, do not turn over immediately. Give it atleast 10-15 mins resting
time - Keep the tin on a wet cloth while resting. Then turn over on a plate and give a tap on
all sides. The cake will unmould beautifully.
3.While inserting fork or toothpick try checking in the center if its cooked completely or
not.If suppose even after the specified time, the center of the cake isnt cooked and is
slightly sticky?! dont worry just cover the top of the cake with butter paper and bake it for
3-5 mins(adjust timing according to the consistency),it will be perfect. The butter paper
covering will avoid more browning on top at the same time the center will be cooked
perfectly.
4.As I always mention select a pan such that the batter is close to 3/4th of it or slightly
above 1/2 of it.
5. Once the cake is unmoulded allow it rest in wirerack or a plate for atleast 30mins then
cut to get neat cake pieces.