After attending Foundations of Baking with Angeline Poon, in2it.sg feels like we have an insight into the kitchen now!

It is said: give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

In addition to providing us the ingredients, giving us a recipe and overseeing the proceedings, Chef Angeline also gave us pieces of advice that turned out to be infinitely useful! Not only were we able to use them during our baking lesson, we can also use this solid advice when we are alone in our kitchen, with no professional to hold our hand.

 
#1: When cooking, always cut butter into small pieces.

Do this to ensure that the butter melts evenly. You’ll never be stuck with clumps of unmelted butter again!

#2: 1ml = 1 gm

Liquids can be hard to measure. Thus, if in doubt, never pour the liquid onto the weighing machine in frustration. Instead, take it from the master. 1 millilitre always equals to 1 gram.

#3: When melting chocolate, stir fast!

This is to make sure that the oil does not separate from the chocolate and float at the top. The method demonstrated was more like poking around the pot really quickly with the whisk, but who are we to argue?

#4: Éclairs should be ideally 12cm long and about 1 inch wide.

#5: Wedge an oven mitten in the door when drying out the choux pastry.

This applies to any pastry, for that matter. Use your oven mitten to stopper the oven door slightly open so that the steam can escape but the heat does not. This will also ensure that your pastries do not collapse after all that hard work!

Happy baking!

Check out www.palatesensations.com for more of Angeline Poon’s classes!