Basic accessories in Baking!

Baking and cake decorating needs lots and lots of tools, equipments and accessories. However, you would not need them all in the begininning. Here we tried to come up with a list that contains the minimum basic tools that would help you with the start. Later we would probably come upo with blogs containing shopping tips for each type and also blogs about more advanced ones. So, let's the fun begin. (The context here is mainly Bangladesh)

Oven

You definitely need some kind of oven to start with. You can use Electric oven, Gas oven, Dutch oven and Microwave oven with convection etc. However, if you are new, the most cost effective and the efficient one will be an electric Oven. 

Where to find them: You can have an idea about the available oven brands, models and current market prices of different oven models, if take a look here. You can visit the respective electrnics show rooms or else go to some superstores that show cases them. Until you want to do large scale baking, you wouldn't really need a gas oven. If you still want to go for one, you can look for them in Miyako, Kenwood/Delongi outlets and some electronics outlets in Gulshan 1 (Navana tower and DCC market).

Electric Oven

Microwave oven with Convection

Gas oven

Measurement Sets

This is probably the first“thing” to buy if you want to start baking. You need measurement spoons as well as measurement cups to have accuracy in measuring ingredients. You can use Stainless Steel (SS) or Plastic measurement cups and spoons as they work accurately with much ease while cleaning and stays for a long time.
Where to find them: Some supershops have them. However, they are more readily available in baking equipments stores located in Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Measuring Spoons and Cups

Electronic/ Digital or Manual Scale
Any of them will be good for you! If you like to go for perfection, then electronic digital scale will be the right choice. For a beginner, it’s not absolutely mandatory to have an electronic one. They will definitely help you in weighing the right amount of ingredients in each recipe, which is very important , especially for a little advanced recipes.
Where to find them: Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Electronic Digital Scale

Manual Scale

Stand or Hand Mixer
 No matter what you mix, using stand or hand mixer can help you mixing the batter or frosting. As a beginner, you can go for hand mixer. For professional use, stand mixer becomes an essential baking tool. 

Where to find them: Hand mixers from Phillips, Kenwood, Panasinic etc. are the best. There are a few other deshi brands too , but for heavy duty work and longivity the mentioned three are the best. Check with their stores for the models and prices. Kitchen Aid is the most popular stand mixer around the world, although we do not have a store yet that sells them. Anyways, Kenwood has a somewhat okay sort of stand mixer if you really want to buy one.

Hand Mixer

Stand Mixer

Whisker

Metal whisker with wooden handle is the best in the business and its available in market as well. It’s absolutely necessary for the recipes where soft mixing is recommended. 

Metal Handle Whisker

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Mixing Bowls

Whenever you plan  to bake cakes, you need to have different sized mixing bowls. Plastic or Stainless steel, any of them will work well, however, since you would do heavy duty mixing and whipping, get something that is not easy to get broken. besides, some recipes will need you go for double boiling or warming uo, so the bowls are better ehat resistant and microwave proof. 

Where to find them: Any crockeries store should have decent quality stuff.

Plastic Mixing Bowls

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls

Bread Kneading Bowls

Sieve

To refine flour, coco powder, even icing sugar.

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Silicon Spatula

Silicon Spatula is another “must” tools you need to buy, especially for baking. It’s very convenient when you intend to transfer batter into the pan or preparing butter cream frosting, covering cake with butter cream frosting. They are durable and cost effective as well. 

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Wooden Spoons

Wooden spoons are specially used for sturdy batter.  There are few different size and shapes of spoons that you can buy for baking. 

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Rolling Pin

Rolling pin is a valuable tool in baking. Whenever you like to work pastry or breads or decorate cakes with fondant, these rolling pins becomes the perfect companion. Wooden rolling pin is undoubtedly the best rolling pin available in the market and specially the ones that have smooth cyloindrical shapes. You cna also buy plastic rolling pins, but unfortunately you would not get them in Bangladeshi market.

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Pastry Brushes

We use this tool for brushing pan with vegetable oil or using butter while baking bread or for spreading egg wash for pie topping. You can use plastic, sylicon or wooden pastry brushes. Both are cost effective and extremely useful in baking.

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Wooden Pastry Brush

 

Sylicon Pastry Brush

Parchment Paper

Parchment paper is something you need every single time you intend to bake. We can use this for baking cakes or brownies or cookies. It helps by not letting your batter or dough sticking into the pan while baking.

 

Where to find them: Superstores and Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar.

Off-set Spatula

When we apply frosting or glazing cakes, off-set spatula works great!! It also helps to smooth the butter cream frosted surface of cake to make it even.

Wooden Handle Off-Set Spatula

Plastic Handle Off-Set Spatula

Where to find them: New market.

Cake Pans

There are so many varieties of pans using on different forms of baking.  Most common and useful cake pans we recommend are:

- Two round 8" and 9"pans
- Two square 8 and 9" pans
- Tart pan with a removable bottom
- Brownie pan
- Muffin pans

 

Baking Sheet

Baking sheet is extremely handy for baking cakes. We suggest having a sturdy baking sheet that can take enough load on them.

Where to find them: New market.

Thermometer

A proper baking thermometer is quite useful for baking cakes. We can easily check the inside temperature of the oven while baking cake.  A digital oven thermometer works best for this task. You would also need a cnady thermometer for several recipes.

Oven thermometer

Candy thermometer

Where to find them:Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar.

Sheet Pan Racks/Wire racks

Once the cake is baked and out of the oven, we need to let them rest and cool. Wire racks are the perfect tool to do this task.

Where to find them: You would not probably get any ready mad eone, you gotta make yourself one from the SS furniture makers.

Pastry Bag and Tips

Absolute essentials for decorating cakes or cookies with royal icing and buttercream. They are also needed to work with pastry cream and some number of pastry doughs.

 

Where to find them: New market.

Cupcake moulds

To bake cupcakes. There are different shapes cupcake moulds available in the market. Better to start with conventional sized cupcake moulds. 

Where to find them: Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Cupcake Papers

To insert batter and bake through cupcake moulds. 

Where to find them: Superstores, Gulshan 1 DCC market kachabazar and New market.

Cake knife

To cut-off uneven cake surface. 

Where to find them:  New market.

Cake Boards

There are different sized cake boards available.

Where to find them: Sometimes at New market. However, most of the time , you have to order them in 50s or hundreads from paper/cardboard based product sellers in Puran Dhaka.

Choux Pastry at ease

Choux Pastry is one of the most popular type of pastry that is used for eclairs and cream puffs. Being a self trained baker, I sometimes find it a little embarassing that I haven't tried many classic recipes at all. Recently Shaon apu ( a baking student of mine) told me she was struggling with this choux pastry recipe and I was kind of wondering if I had even tried it ever and then I realized that I had not. So I tried the recipe one early morning and here is what my take on the recipe.

Total Time
Prep Time: 40 min

Baking Time: (active): 55 mins, inactive: 30 mins.

Ready in 3 hours

Yields: 20 mini eclairs/cream puffs.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 4-5 eggs ( depending on the size) at room temperature.

 Instruction:

• Heat butter, salt and water in a saucepan over medium heat

•  When the butter is fully melted, start adding flour ( 1/4 cup at a time).

• Stir continiously until you  find the dough forming a liquidy lump that is not sticking to the wall of the saucepan.

• Remove the pan from heat and continue stirring the dough until it is cooled down.Once the dough is cooled, start adding eggs and mix them thoroughly with a wooden spoon. (Do not over mix or the pastry will not puff as you want them to. It is better to break the eggs in a bowl/cup and add them one by one while stirring).

• Pour in a pastry bag with a big round nozzle and pipe like a 4 inches long eclair or you can pipe like a coiled shape that can be baked as cream puffs. Use a wet fingertip to smoothen out any peak after the piping.

• Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (200 degree Celcius). They are the best when baked fresh right after the dough is prepared. The prepared eclairs/cram puffs can be used after cooling or can be stored in an air tight container for future use.

• You can serve the eclairs with pastry cream  and ganache.

Creamed Mushroom with Black Pepper

Do you love mushroom just as much as I do? I guess I can eat mushroom almost everyday and I will never get bored. The recipe I am going to share today is a simple one and takes less than half an hour to prepare. This is however a side dish,... and I would say not even a dish, more like an accompanying sauce. You can eat it with your breakfast toast, pour it over steak or use as a  great pasta sauce.

Total Time
Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ready in 30 mins

Yields: 3 people

Ingredients:

• 8-10 pcs button mushroom chopped to 1/4 inch thick slices,
• 1 cup milk,
• 1/4 cup cooking cream/heavy cream ( about 30-35% fat content),
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic,
• 1 tbspoon of butter ( You can replace it with olive oil), 
• 1/2 tsp of crushed/grinded black pepper.
• 2 green chilli (chopped).

Instruction:

• Heat Butter in your pan.

Add /crushed garlic and mushrooms, saute for 2 minutes and put aside the mushroom.

Pour the cream in the pot . Add ground pepper and salt. Wait until there are bubbles.

• Now put the mushroom back to your pot and cook for 5 minutes.

• Mix corn flour with cold milk and pour over the mushrooms. Cook for another 2 minutes and your cremed mushroom sauce is ready to serve. ( I could not take any picture of the finished product as it just vanished before I could do that).

I

Strawberry and Banana Milkshake

Can there be anything alluring than a cold, soothing smothie in this unbearable weather? So, here goes our strawberry banana smoothie recipe. This is so simple, yet tastes so good that you would wonder if cooking is really that difficult at all :-P. And for anyone lazy like me this is just a perfect bliss food. :)







Cook Time
Prep time: 10 min
Blending time: 5 min
Ready in: 15 minutes
Yields: serves 4 people

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of strawberry (fresh/frozen),
• 1 cup chilled milk,
• 2 ripe banans,
• 1 table spoon honey and
• 1/2 cup ice cubes. You cna also put in vanilla icecream if you want a creamier shake, but not so healthier :-P.

Process:

• Cut strawberries and banans into small pieces.

• Put all the ingredients in a blender.

• Blend with 1 minute pulses until everything is well mixed and blended. For a healthier option put away the icecream which I did ;-). And here you are with mind blowing glass of smoothie, you can even keep it in the fridger if you prefer it more chilled.

Chilli Chicken recipe in indo-chineese style

I had been experimenting a lot with chicken recently, especially with chilli chicken recipes... After trying with quite a few recipes I have come up with something that probably belong to Indochinese style. So, here goes another chilli chicken recipe... appropriate for native South Asian tongue, anyone else will find it a little too hot ;-)... My mother said this is one of the best dishes that I have ever cooked. Well, that is a great compliment from her as she is not really very fond of taste changes and does not like anything so easily.

Let's have a look at this simple recipe.Hope you will enjoy. :)

Cook Time
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ready in: About 1.5-1.75 hour
Yields: serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

A 1 kilo chicken, 
4 medium onions (chopped),
1 capsicum/green bell pepper,
2 tbsp soy sauce,
1 tsp apple cider vinegar,
1 tbsp green chilli (hot) paste,
2 tbsp freshly crushed ground pepper,
2 tsp of red chilli powder (hot),
6 fresh red chillis sliced in half,
2 tsp red pepper flakes,
2 tsp minced garlic,
2 tbsp of chilli sauce,
2 tbsp corn flour,
2 tbsp flour,
1 egg (optional),

Salt, as per your taste ( I usually omit salt as the sauces in the recipe are salty enough for my taste)

1/3 cup water (cold/room temperature)

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Instructions:

•  Roughly cut the chickens into small cube sized pieces ( with bones).

• Cut the capsicum in cubes as well

•  Prepare green chilli paste and dried chilli flakes using  a food processor or grinder.

• Marinate the chicken with 1/2 of the following ingredients (chilli paste, soya sauce, ground black pepper, minced garlic, salt) for half an hour. Also add the egg and the flour in the process.
  

• Deep fry the marinated chicken pieces until they are golden brown and keep aside.

 

• Heat 2 tbsp oil in your pan and put the rest of the minced garlic when the oil is hot.

•  Add onions as soon as the garlic is a little soft ( in a minute or two).

• Add the rest of the green chilli paste, red chilli flakes and the ground black pepper when the onions start to get translucent.

•  Add the chilli sauce, vinegar and the red chilli powder and cook for 10 minutes.

• Add the fried chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes.

• Mix the corn flour with cold water and pour over the chicken.

• Add the capsicum and halved red chilli.Cook for 5 minutes and switch off your cooker.

•  Serve with rice/noodles.