Читать книгу Bakeland - Marit Hovland - Страница 10

EQUIPMENT

I grew up with the notion that you can go a long way with simple tools. You don’t need specialty equipment most of the time. With a little creativity, you can handle anything. But there are some things I depend on in the kitchen. Here are my must-haves. Most of them you probably already have at home.

1.Scissors

2.Paper

3.Pencil

4.Tape

5.Small plastic bags: I use these as piping bags for icing. Sometimes I use real piping bags, either with a thin round tip, a large round tip, or a large star tip.

6.Parchment paper

7.Aluminum foil: Perfect for making your own molds.

8.Sharp knife

9.Spreading knife: It’s handy to have a completely flat knife for spreading cream and icing.

10.Zester or grater: I often use the zest of citrus fruits in my baking. If you don’t have a zester for this purpose, a sharp grater will help you get only the outermost layer of the peel, not the bitter, white layer.

11.Rolling pin: If you don’t have one, use a wine bottle!

12.Whisk

13.Handheld mixer: I prefer to use this rather than a stand mixer. I feel I’m more in control with a handheld mixer. In addition, there’s less to clean up.

14.Rubber spatula

15.Ladle

16.Food coloring: I prefer to use liquid gel food coloring, as it can be added without changing the consistency of your baking. You can go far with just a few colors—all you have to do is mix! Yellow, blue, and red are perfect colors to start with. I also like adding a little brown to the colors to soften them. I don’t usually include amounts for food coloring in my recipes, since the intensity can vary, so just add a drop or two at a time until it’s the color you want.

17.Springform pan: I bake all my round cakes in the same pan. Nice and simple! All the recipes fit a pan with a diameter of 9 inches (23 cm).

18.Toothpicks: Good for so many things: adding liquid gel food coloring, making holes, testing cakes . . .

19. Muffin pan: You can bake cupcakes in liners without a pan, but using a muffin pan allows you to pour more batter into the cups and get higher cupcakes.

20.Stainless steel bowl: To heat ingredients over hot water, if you don’t have a double boiler pot. Perfect for melting chocolate, heating up lemon cream, etc.

21.Candy thermometer: Cooking with both sugar and chocolate is so much easier with a thermometer.

22.Timer

23.Measuring spoons: Use proper measuring spoons rather than a regular teaspoon or tablespoon, which can vary in size. With measuring spoons, you’ll get the same result each time.

24.Scale: It is important to me to have a scale that I can reset with contents on it. This makes it easier to add ingredients to your bowl.

25.Measuring cups: I’ve provided cup measurements in these recipes alongside weight measurements (in grams). If you do have a kitchen scale, weighing your solid ingredients (flour, sugar, nuts, etc.) will give you a more precise amount.

26.Tea strainer: I often sift icing sugar and cocoa powder over my baking through a tea strainer. Macarons, on the other hand, require a bigger flour sifter.

27.Tweezers: To make it easier to position decorations, for example, or to remove something that has ended up in the wrong place.

28.Brush: Useful for brushing off things you don’t want on your baking, and for painting on color, cocoa powder, egg white, and other things.

29.Large cake pan (not pictured): For larger cakes, I use a rectangular baking pan measuring 12” × 16” (30 × 40 cm). You could also use a lasagna pan.

30.Nut grinder (not pictured): Essential for grinding nuts finely for marzipan—otherwise the dough will be difficult to handle. For chopping nuts, you can either chop by hand or pulse in a food processor.