Professional Bakers Emerge From Lockdown

Lockdown had us all bored and wondering what we could do with all this spare time. Some of us went to home workouts, a lot of us went for a bit of day-drinking as the sun was out, some even dyed their hair, but quite a few went for baking. We didn’t shy away either, from banana bread to delicious brownies, we cleared out the flour aisle for a good few weeks. So, the question is which of these were fads and which ones will remain? This article will highlight some baking trends I really think need to stay because they are DELICIOUS! Not only will I make you extremely hungry, but will be throwing in a few tips from our very own professional bakers – just in case the supermarkets don’t have exactly what you need (or it’s 3am and you just really need those flapjacks), check out my other article which gives you ideas for substituting ingredients.

So to start off with an absolute classic – banana bread.

If you aren’t much of a fan of bananas then maybe this isn’t for you, but I would definitely recommend giving it a go. There are so many recipes on the internet for this one, but here are a few tips I have figured out along the way to maybe give your banana breads a little kick. First, if you’re rushed for time then use a square pan instead of a loaf pan – it cooks in as little as 20 minutes. Our PME Square Cake Pans are great for ensuring even cooking, as is our loaf pan if you do want that shape. Secondly, I am a fan of mix-ins and one favourite is cinnamon, it’s delicious and even better if you add a little vanilla to the mix too. If you want some bite-ins and a little bit more COVID safe, use muffins to keep the goodies separate. Finally, whilst mixers may be easier we don’t always have one, in this instance you do not need one, a whisk and spoon and you are sorted. 

We love quick and easy, sometimes recipes can be long and complicated and most times makes me crack the egg and then sit back down with a cuppa instead. These 3 ingredient recipes are an absolute storm, one of my favourites is this BBC Good Food Peanut Butter Cookies recipe – you can find here. They are divine and really do hit the spot. Add some flour to the mix if you need to stiffen the dough up a little. Make sure to separate the balls on a cookie sheet, for even baking and a tray that will last you many many cookies, have a look at our PME range here – we even have shaped mini pans for bite sized fun looking bakes.

I know we aren’t all the bake-off professionals we’d like to think we are, sometimes we really do confuse the salt for the sugar (we understand John) and sometimes it all goes so well until someone topples the tower of biscuits (again, we all do it sometimes Mel), so here are some tips for all baking disasters:

• Cold pastry and dough is always best for cookies and all, just stick in the fridge for a little while and then cook
• To stiffen up any dough use a little flour, a little goes a long way so do it bit by bit
• Sprinkling brown sugar on top of baked goods such as bread gives a very deep flavour and creates pockets which look very nice
• More often than not a mixer isn’t essential, it is nice no doubt but not essential – don’t let that turn you off from baking
• Finally, even if it goes wrong salvage what you can, a little bit of baked goodness is better than nothing!