- Cracking open the oven door
It took me a while (years) to break the bad habit of cracking open the over door halfway, a few minutes, too often while my dish is baking.I didn’t realize how much it affects the baking process, allowing the inside of the oven to drop 10s of degrees, and affecting minutes of baking time by lowering the temperature. For a dish like my dill biscuits, that can be 1/3 of the cooking time at a lower temperature!
I now keep the oven light on and check periodically through the glass when baking a quicker dish – so I can keep an eye out on those biscuits that are burning!
- Scooping flour straight from the bag
I recently learned that flour scooped straight from the bag delivers much too much flour into your recipe! To have a not-too-dense cake or confection, take a spoon into the bag and deliver the flour into the measuring cup that way.