Читать книгу Sugar High - Nicole Hampton - Страница 18

It’s not always easy to get great ingredients—maybe yourgrocery store just isn’t equipped for it, or it’s more money than you’d like to spend. Whatever the reason, I understand. And it’s not always necessary. As I write this, we’re going through a vanilla shortage, making it insanely expensive, so I constantly hunt for deals or just opt for imitation. It’s fine, really.

One of the areas where you can’t skip the right ingredient, however, is with flour. Most of the recipes could be made with all-purpose flour, but when a recipe calls for cake flour or bread flour, it really does matter. I’ve done my best to keep these to only the completely necessary ingredients in this book. If you can’t find cake flour, you can take a 1 cup measure, scoop 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into the bottom, and fill the rest with all-purpose flour. Whisk, and you’ve got 1 cup of cake flour. Self-rising flour is also something you can create at home—simply measure 1½ teaspoons of baking powder into the bottom of a 1-cup measure, and fill the rest with all-purpose flour. Whisk, and that makes 1 cup of self-rising flour!

I use several types of sugarthroughout these recipes. Granulated white sugar is your basic sugar blended into batters and doughs alike, and it should be the easiest to find at any grocery store. For brown sugar, I usually prefer dark brown sugar, as it’s got a nice flavor punch. However, I’ve never had an issue swapping out dark and light in recipes, so use what you have! Powdered sugar, a.k.a. confectioners’ sugar, is something I often use in frostings, but it’s also great in shortbread cookies and pie crusts to achieve just the right texture. Last, there’s coarse sugar, which I use to top baked goods like muffins and loaf cakes. I find mine in the sprinkles section of the grocery store or online. You can also use organic raw sugar, sometimes called turbinado sugar, for this purpose.

When I’m baking with chocolate, I’m not

picky. I usually use whatever chocolate I prefer to eat, including chocolate chips. To melt any type or amount of chocolate, I start by first chopping it into small, even pieces, then reserving about one-fourth of the chocolate. Iputthe rest in a clean, dry, microwave-safe bowl and microwave it full power for 30 seconds. Then, I stir the chocolate and return it to the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until it’scompletelymelted. I then immediately stir in the reserved chocolate until it is also melted, and I’m good to go! (Reserving some of the chocolate to stir in afterwards helps prevent an overheated result, and it keeps things smooth.)

Another item to note is cocoa powder. I simply cannot get that deep chocolate flavor from plain cocoa powder, so I always, always use dark cocoa powder. It’s worth it, and at least in my neck of the woods, it’s the same price as the regular stuff anyways.

Let’s talk about salt. There are so many different kinds of salt out there, but for simplicity, I have always used simple table salt in baking. I think the finer grain melds and mixes just right into batters and doughs, and I always have it on hand.

Last, all the eggs I ever use in life are large. Substituting with medium or extra-large will have a big effect, especially at altitude, and large are the ones that are most widely available. When it comes to separating your eggs, I usually just use the shells, tossing the yolk from shell to shell to separate the parts. Another method that might be easier for you would be to use your hands, letting the white slip between your fingers into a separate bowl. Whichever you choose, just remember that whites can’t have even a trace of yolk in order to behave the way it should!

Otherwise, guys, just use what you feel comfortable with, what’s available to you, and it’ll work!

INGREDIENTS

16

INGREDIENTS