Can I slow down a dough overnight in the fridge?
What the fridge actually does to a dough, which stage to retard, and how to handle it the next day.
intermediate30 min3 min read
Baking & Bread
Doughs, batters and the chemistry underneath them.
126 guides in Food & Cooking
How do I cream butter and sugar properly?
Creaming is not mixing — it is the sugar crystals cutting air cells into soft fat, and it is where a creamed cake gets most of its rise. What the three stages look like, and why the colour change matters more than the clock.
beginner6 min3 min readHow do I decorate a cake so it looks good?
A crumb coat, a level surface and three simple finishes that look deliberate without needing piping skills.
beginner1 hr2 min readHow do I get the best out of shop-bought puff pastry?
Keeping it cold, cutting cleanly so it can rise, and the difference an all-butter block makes.
beginner20 min3 min readHow do I make icing that is not too runny?
Buttercream and glacé icing that hold their shape, and how to fix icing that is too thin or too stiff.
beginner15 min2 min readHow do I stop a cake melting in hot weather?
Buttercream softens at a predictable temperature and there is no way round the physics, so the answer is recipe choice, timing and a cold room rather than heroics on the day.
intermediate30 min6 min readWhich pastry should I use for which job?
Shortcrust, puff, filo, choux and hot water crust compared by what each is structurally, and what each is therefore good at.
beginner5 min3 min readWhy did my jelly or panna cotta not set?
The ingredients that destroy gelatine, getting the ratio right, and what can be rescued.
beginner25 min3 min readWhy did my meringue weep or collapse?
The specific causes of weeping, beading, cracking and collapse — and the three rules that prevent nearly all of them.
intermediate30 min3 min readWhy did my no-bake cheesecake not set?
A no-bake cheesecake sets on whipped cream structure, cold fat and sometimes gelatine — and there is no baked protein network to fall back on. Which of those failed decides whether it can be rescued.
beginner15 min3 min readWhy does my bread have huge holes in it?
Telling desirable open crumb from a tunnelling fault, and the shaping step that causes most of it.
intermediate30 min3 min readWhy does my cake taste of bicarbonate?
Why raising agents taste soapy, the acid they need to react with, and getting the quantities right.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy is my cake greasy or oily?
How an emulsion breaks, why temperature matters more than technique, and the mixing order that prevents it.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy is my ice cream icy rather than creamy?
Why ice crystal size decides the texture, the four things that keep crystals small, and making it without a machine.
intermediate30 min3 min readHow do I stop cakes sticking to the tin?
Lining, greasing and cooling timing that get a cake out whole — and how to rescue one that is already stuck.
beginner10 min2 min readWhy is my sourdough loaf flat and spread out?
A flat sourdough has lost the surface tension that holds it up until the crust sets. Five things decide that — flour strength, bulk fermentation, shaping, final prove and how it was baked — and the loaf tells you which failed.
intermediate15 min5 min readCan I put an undercooked cake back in the oven?
Sometimes — and the deciding factor is how long it has been out and whether it has collapsed. A cake still hot and merely soft in the middle can go back. A cold, sunken one cannot be baked into a good cake.
beginner25 min4 min readHow do I bake bread in a casserole dish?
Why a lidded pot gives a domestic oven the steam it lacks, the temperatures, and how to get the dough in without burning yourself.
intermediate20 min3 min readHow do I keep a sourdough starter alive?
The feeding ratio, the fridge schedule that suits people who bake weekly, and how to tell a struggling starter from a dead one.
intermediate10 min3 min readHow do I know when bread is baked?
Four tests, the internal temperatures for lean and enriched dough, and why crust colour tells you very little.
beginner5 min3 min readHow do I make flatbreads without proving dough?
Three unyeasted flatbreads that take twenty minutes, and the hot dry pan that makes them puff.
beginner25 min3 min readHow do I shape and score a loaf of bread?
Building surface tension so the loaf holds its shape, and cutting a score deep enough to control where it opens.
intermediate20 min3 min readHow do I make a chocolate ganache that does not split?
The ratios for pouring, filling and truffles, and the splash of cold liquid that brings a split ganache back.
intermediate15 min3 min readHow do I work with filo pastry without it drying out?
The damp cloth that buys you time, how much fat each layer needs, and why filo cannot be treated like other pastry.
intermediate20 min3 min read
Going deeper: PizzaHQ
Dough hydration and fermentation schedules, flour selection, oven types and bake profiles.