HOW TO BAKE

How to spray the pan for bakingcheesecake; get expert tips on baking homemade dessert recipes in this free cooking video. Expert: Donn Ovshak Bio: Chef Donn Ovshak is a member of the elite Executive Chefs of the world. He is currently working at the world famous Ice House in Pasadena. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

The baked New York style cheesecake recipe, on its surface, looks like one of the more simple dessert recipes. It’s a fairly simple set of ingredients, and the mixing and baking is fairly straightforward.

So why does it so often go wrong? Well, part of the problem is in the name: cheesecake. Right there, you expect it to act like a cake in the baking process. The problem is, it’s not really a cake at all. If you were to take a hundred cooking school graduates who had never heard of cheesecake and present each of them with a slice of baked New York style cheesecake, all of them would most likely identify it as a pie… or at best a custard.

Let’s start with the crust. Cakes don’t normally have a crust other than what bakes up when they cook, right? Well, your cheesecake needs a crust or you’re going to have containment issues. This is not usually a traditional piecrust, but rather a blind baked mashed-together construction made of graham crackers, cookies or other baked goods.

Then there’s the composition of the cheesecake itself. The baked New York style cheesecake begins life as a very thick batter that bears a vague resemblance to traditional cake batter, except for the fact that it contains little or no flour depending on your recipe.

The baking is different, also. One of the secrets to New York style cheesecake success is a fairly moist baking environment, which means using a water bath. Have you ever seen a cake recipe that called for the pan to be placed in a larger pan with water in it?

So, for cheesecake success, you might want to stop thinking about it as a cake. Think of it as a pie-cake hybrid, or better yet as custard that needs some extra care in the preparation, but will yield sweet rewards when it’s done. The baked New York style cheesecake recipe is simple, but can be unforgiving if you don’t treat it right.

For people who are just new to baking will find that it is indeed a very complicated process. So, here a few guidelines and tips that can be very useful when it comes to baking for beginners.

Before you begin follow these steps. These will help you to avert any disaster that may occur while baking. Before you start make sure that you go through the recipe thoroughly. This makes sure that you have all the required ingredients at hand before you start. It is important that you use only fresh supplies. The next important step is to have the oven preheated to the required temperature for perfect baking. Liquids which are used in the recipe need to be measured accurately by placing them at eye level. Dry ingredients need to be measured by using a flat knife to level them. It is important that you bake with extreme care as it can cause the recipe to be ruined when done in a hurry.

There are different kinds of flour which are not entirely the same. When making yeast breads it is important to use wheat flour. For yeast loaves use bread flour and the same when used in yeast bread will make it a heavy cake instead. Cake flour on the other hand is very fine. You can use all purpose flour for any type of baking. Bleached and unbleached flours can also be used. Flour can be stored in an airtight container away from moisture and direct sunlight for up to six months.

You cannot interchange baking powder with baking soda. The ingredients of baking powder include baking soda and an acid that causes the flour to leaven and rise when mixed with wet ingredients and baked. Baking soda on the other hand constitutes sodium bicarbonate. When mixed with an acidic ingredient like yogurt, molasses or buttermilk causes the flour to rise making it light and spongy.

Here are some tips while handling chocolate while cooking. First you must be aware that there are various types of chocolate that can be used for cooking. Unsweetened chocolate is chocolate liquor which contains fifty percent coca butter without any sugar. Depending upon the various amounts of sugar which is added to the coca butter, you will get the various varieties like bittersweet, semi sweet, and dark chocolate. Milk chocolate on the other hand is made up of dried milk powder, cocoa butter and sugar while white chocolate is made from cocoa butter instead of chocolate liquor. To make unsweetened cocoa you will need to use chocolate liquor in which 75 percent cocoa butter has been removed and then dried and made into a paste. It is easy to burn the chocolate while melting so it has to be done over a small flame. The various methods which can be used for melting chocolate are the double boiler method, direct heat method or simply use the microwave oven

How to make butter cream frosting for a sheetcake; get expert tips on baking homemade dessert recipes in this free cooking video. Expert: Karen Weisman Contact: www.kitchenandcrafts.com Bio: Karen Weisman currently lives in Israel with her husband and six children, where she teaches cooking, baking, cake decorating, and various crafts such as mosaics and sewing. Filmmaker: Karen Weisman