As a seasoned pastry chef and instructor here are my comments: Flour: Almost no one measures flour correctly. Some pack it down, shake it down, dip the measuring cup into the compacted flour bin. Each cup should weigh 4.4 oz. In each baking class I have a couple of people measure 1 cup of flour the way they do it at home. Then I correctly measure each of their flours separately. Since most people don't have scales, I show them how by lightly whisking (fluffing) the flour then gently spooning into cup--not shaking, nor tapping it, then level. There is anywhere from 1/4--1/2 cup more flour in their measurements than mine. So if a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour and it's incorrectly measured you can see how much more flour people may be putting in a recipe. Butter: Different brands have different ratios of butterfat, the less expensive the brand usually it has more whey (milk liquid) left in. This causes extra moisture. High fat content butter such as KerryGold, Plugra are more expensive but highly effective and more rich. Oven temps: How many people actually know if their ovens are calibrated? My cheap apt oven runs almost 30 hotter than my Wolf ovens at the cooking school which are spot on. Baking Sheets: The best baking sheets are heavy gauge aluminum rimmed professional at about $8 each. They hold the parchment in place (best for cooking baking) they don't bend with the heat of the oven and bake extremely evenly. Air bake, teflon, and other brands that don't have rims you can't use parchment because it slides off when moving it and with parchment you just lift it off and re-use several times over on another cookie sheet.

• Reply