I listed this as number one of the top 10 baking tips for a reason. Confidence is so important, not only for professional bakers, but for the home baker as well.
This is such an important step. Before you even start grabbing things or getting stuff from the cupboard, read the recipe and make sure you have the ingredients the recipe calls for. People make mistakes, sometimes ingredients are missing in the instructions, etc.
This is so important now a days. There are so many recipes on the internet, and I’d like to say all of them are great, but that’s not always the case. Read the reviews, lots of times people have great baking tips or other great options if they find something didn’t work.
You can’t expect a great product by using bad ingredients. We use chocolate A LOT. And we almost 100% of the time use Valrhona. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s damn good and always yields a great tasting product.
What’s that old saying? Measure twice, cut once! The same thing goes for baking. If you want a moist cake don’t guess how much flour, get out your scale and weigh it. Baking is a science, and for the best results, accuracy is key.