Everyone loves walking into that little bakery first thing in the morning to grab a sweet bite to eat with their warm coffee. I feel very fortunate to be able to provide that in my very own home. I love to bake. I have been doing it ever since I was little. It started out with helping my dad make his M&M, chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. Soon after, I wanted to expand my baking. Now, I have a small online business and bake everything from cookies to cupcakes, cakes, brownies, etc. I love it and love how it makes the house smell. Baking takes a lot of time, especially if it is a large order. A typical day of baking requires  you to be absolutely free. Today, I am going to share with you what a typical baking day is like for me. 

First, it starts early in the morning. Now, this is not a problem for me because I am a morning person, not a night person, so I love getting up early and starting my day. I feel like I am very productive when I get up early. After I get up, I head downstairs and eat breakfast. After breakfast, I grab all the materials I will need. For instance if I am making cupcakes, I will need to grab the cupcake pan from the cabinet. Once I gather my materials, I am ready to start the baking process. There are a few things you need to do before you start preparing your delightful treat. The first thing I do is preheat the oven. I do this first so it has time to heat up and get to the appropriate temperature while I am preparing the batter. This way the oven will be waiting for me and I won’t be waiting for the oven. I then prepare whatever pan or mold I am going to use. That means either lining it with cupcake liners, parchment paper, or spraying it with non-stick spray. This will insure that nothing sticks when it’s time to take it out of the pan. If the recipe calls for butter or cream cheese, I make sure to get that out of the fridge early so it has time to soften at room temperature. If you try mixing hard butter/cream cheese, it will not incorporate smoothly with the other ingredients and you could end up with a mess. If I am short on time and can’t wait for the butter or cream cheese to soften on its own, I place it in the microwave for a few seconds. I make sure to do it in 10-15 second intervals because it can soften really fast and you don’t want it to melt, unless that is what the recipe calls for.  Once I have those things completed, I am ready to start the actual baking process.

I start by making sure I have my recipe out and in a convenient location so I can refer back to it at any point. Then I start with the ingredients and pull out everything that I will need. This will help me move fluently and not have to stop in between making the batter to have to grab a different ingredient. Once I have all the ingredients out, I get my measuring equipment out. This includes a liquid measuring cup if I need to measure out milk, water, vegetable oil, or any large amount of liquid, dry measuring cups for measuring the flour and sugar, and teaspoons and tablespoons to measure out the other ingredients such as salt, vanilla, baking powder/soda. Now that all the ingredients are out, I can start baking.

Most recipes have you start with the dry ingredients first. They will tell you to mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder/soda, and any spices (if necessary) together. Then it will tell you to set it aside. Next is the wet ingredients. These will usually be placed into a large bowl that will get latched into a standing mixer. The wet ingredients include butter or oil, eggs, vanilla, and sometimes milk, yogurt or sour cream. Once all the wet ingredients are added it’s time to add the dry ingredients. I make sure that when I go to turn on the mixer that I start slow. If I do not, I will have a floured kitchen. I also make sure that I only mix the wet and dry just until the flour mixture has been incorporated. If I keep mixing I will overmix the batter and the outcome of my baked good will be tough and dense and not moist and fluffy. Once the batter is made, I take a rubber scraper and go along the sides and fold the batter to make sure everything is incorporated.

Sometimes the mixer doesn’t get all the way to the bottom of the bowl, leaving some of the dry ingredients unincorporated. Once the batter is all set, I can fold in any additions such as chocolate chips, M&M’s, nuts, etc. Now the batter is ready to be poured into whatever pan is needed for that recipe. If it is cookies, I take an ice cream scoop and scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet. If it is cupcakes, I take an ice cream scoop as well and place the batter into the lined cupcake pan, and if it’s a cake or a loaf, I pour the batter into the pan.
Next is the baking time. Cupcakes and cookies take the shortest amount of time to bake, while cakes and loaves take the longest time. Since all ovens are different, I make sure to set the timer for the lowest time in the given range of baking time for that item. It is better to start lower and add time in the oven if needed, than to burn the item. Once the timer goes off, I pull the pan out of the oven and take a toothpick and push it into the center of the item. When I  pull it out, there should be no batter on the toothpick. If there is that means it needs more time to bake. If it needs more time, I place it back into the oven for a couple minutes. I keep an eye on it because it can change from not being done, to done pretty quickly. Once it is done baking, I leave it in the pan to cool for a few minutes. After it has been cooling in the pan for a few minutes, I can then transfer it onto a cooling rack to allow it to finish cooling completely. A cooling rack allows the baked good to get air circulation all around it so it cools evenly. If you leave it in the pan, it will take longer to cool and you will have a soggy bottom since the moisture is trapped in the bottom of the pan. While the baked items are cooling, if they require frosting, now is the time I prepare that. Once I have the frosting made and the items have cooled completely, I am ready to start decorating. Once all decorated, it is important to package up the treat right away. I do that so it doesn't dry out and keep it fresh. The best way to store baked goods is in an airtight container and if it has frosting, it is best to keep it in the fridge. This will help it stay fresh longer.

Once everything is packaged up, the last thing to do at the end of the baking day is to clean up. That includes cleaning all the counters used, baking equipment, wiping down the mixer, etc. Then I dry everything and put it back in its storage spot. Once all of that is done, that is the end of the baking day. I am now ready to relax and do it all over again soon.