Sharing the kitchen secrets of Australian bakers!
With Australians spending more time in their kitchens, professional and home bakers have been exploring their love for cooking and baking. Every week, the MAURI Instagram and Facebook pages are filled with new tasty tips, tempting treats and curious creations from kitchens right across the country.
Let’s share the ideas and inspiration!
At MAURI we’ve always believed in the power of ‘Baking Better Together.’ In fact, one of the greatest things about baking is no matter how experienced we are in the kitchen, there’s always more to be learned from our fellow bakers. We actively encourage the sharing of ideas and inspiration – and to kick things off, we’ve pulled together a list of 8 super-handy ‘Home Baking Hacks’ to try out for yourself.
If you have more baking tips to share, we’d love to hear from you on the MAURI Instagram or Facebook pages using #bakingbettertogether. Happy baking!
#1 Signs your Sour Starter is ready
- Baking sourdough? Then always remember the float test! If your sour starter doesn’t float, don’t mix it yet.
#2 Signs your dough is ready (proofed) for the oven
- Well rested dough is light, airy and will wobble
- If you press it with your fingers it should also spring back a little, but leave an impression.
#3 Brilliantly baked bread in a home oven
- Preheat your oven to 240°C for at least 45mins, with a pizza stone or cast iron pot on the middle shelf
- After cutting the top of the dough, place it into the pot with the lid on
- After 20 minutes take the lid off, and bake for a further 20 minutes.
#4 When is your dough fully baked?
- It sounds hollow when you tap it
- When you cut it you can see lots of bubbles.
#5 Temperature matters
- Always pay careful attention when it comes to the temperature of your oven and also for ingredients like butter and eggs. If the recipe says room temperature, make sure it is between 20 and 25°C!
#6 Give your yeast a lift
- Storing dry active yeast in the freezer helps it retain its lifting power.
#7 You knead to know this
- When baking bread one of the easiest mistakes is to over or under knead your dough
- You’ll know your dough is ready when you can stretch it 5-10cm without breaking.
#8 Baking is both an art and a science
- It takes time to perfect baking a sourdough, especially in the home kitchen. If at first you fail, determine what may have not worked and try, try again!
WHAT’S YOUR HOME BAKING HACK?
Share it with Australia at the MAURI Instagram or Facebook pages using the tags @mauri_australia and #bakingbettertogether.
