Baking mix

The baking mix is a pre-mixed formulation of specific ingredients that are used for cooking baked recipes. These mixes can be homemade or available in commercial packaging.

With several manufacturers, you can now easily find a baking mix for several specific needs like the kosher baking mix, gluten-free muffin mix or sugar-free brownie mix. The baking mix is used for preparing specific foods like quick bread, bread, cakes, muffins, pancakes, pizza dough, biscuits or brownies. You can also find some all-purpose baking mixes that can be used for preparing types of baking goods like muffins, cookies, and biscuits. There are also special types of mixes to use in bread machines. Basic ingredients in any of this baking mix are flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, yeast and flavours.

Tricks how you can make your baking mix taste better

As most of the baking mix comes with basic ingredients, as mentioned above, you can enhance the taste and performance by using some tricks. As most of us use the baking mix to make cooking easier and when we are short of time, a unique taste in our bread and cakes is what we all wish for. So before we head to buying the best baking mix for your next venture, let’s have a look at how the professional bakers add ingredients of their own to make unique cakes and pastries quickly using a ready-made baking mix.

The magic of eggs

Do you have an original Bisquick mix on shelves?  Let’s grab some eggs from the fridge and do some serious magic. All you need to do is to take an appropriate amount of eggs yolks and stir them well before use. These yolks will help you add a moist and rich texture to the cake. Save the white for making meringues. If you want an airy and lighter cake, use egg whites only. This time your egg yolks will be a part of crème Brulee. However, keep in mind that taking out the yolks decrease the number of fats in the cake. So make sure to replace it with one tablespoon of melted butter for every yolk you remove from the recipe.

Say a no-no to water

Water will add no taste to your recipe rather can ruin the flavour and texture of the end product. So while baking swap it with any other liquid – think of a flavour and some fats (clarified butter). Also, substitute the whole milk or non-dairy milk with coconut or almond milk. But if you want to make an extra rich cake, swap the milk with buttermilk and get ready to enjoy something extraordinary. But if you are not willing to add dairy products to your dairy-free brownie mix, replace water with soda (cola etc.) or juice. You can use orange juice in yellow and vanilla cakes.  Stout beer is also ideal if you are making chocolate cake.

Remember the rule of fats equals flavour

The more you add fats, the richer will be the flavour of your final baked product. Most of the boxed cake recipes ask you to add canola or vegetable oils. The only issue is that these oils do not have any flavour. So for added taste and richness, you can replace these oils with an equal amount of certified oil or liquid butter. You can also add a pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter. It will surely boost the richness. If you want an extra decadent cake, add two tablespoons of mayonnaise. Remember, mayonnaise is just a mixture of oil and eggs- two ingredients that are already in your cake. If you want a tangy twist, add one-fourth cup of full-fat yoghurt or sour cream.

Think about more tasty bits

If you add the vanilla powder to the boxed cake mix, it might be past its key taste and features.  You can bump up the flavour by adding half to one tablespoon of vanilla extracts in the mix. But if you are going to make a spice cake, add a little rum, orange extracts or almonds along with vanilla. For making a yellow or white cake, adding one to two tablespoons of lime zest or fresh lemon juice can do wonders. You can also add all the goodies from your cupboard that you are otherwise using in your brownies, cookies and other types of cakes. You can also throw in chocolate chips, dried fruits or nuts and make an extra special cake.