You might have put wax paper accidentally in the oven or thinking to do so- the first question that popped up in your mind must be Does wax paper burn in the oven? In short, a big YES, can burn in the oven. However, it’s only moisture-resistant, not heat-resistant so the wax will melt, and paper will catch fire in the kitchen.

Does wax paper burn in the oven?

First of all, let’s understand what’s wax paper. Wax paper, a common kitchen commodity, is made from a thin layer of paraffin wax either on one side or both sides. This coating gives it a non-stick and moisture-resistant surface. So you can use it to cover food in the freezer or roll dough.

But will it get burnt if you put it in the oven? Wax paper is not heat-resistant, so it’s obvious that it will get burnt in the oven. Firstly the layer of wax will start to melt, and the paper left will catch fire. This is not only a waste of the food inside the oven, but also it will make the walls and base of the oven dirty.

Never ever use wax paper in the oven to save your kitchen area from setting on fire. Now you must be thinking, if not wax paper, then what to use in the oven?

What to use in the oven, if not wax paper?

There are a lot of choices for you to pick from while baking things. The first and most common choice is parchment paper. It is moisture-resistant, grease-resistant, non-stick, and, most importantly, heat resistant. Thanks to its silicone coating, you can safely use parchment paper in the oven. Its ideal temperature lies between 420° to 450° F.

Parchment paper lets you bake delicious treats without the fear of getting burnt as long as you’re keeping the ideal temperature in the oven. Of course, if you don’t know the ideal temperature, you can always check it in the manufacturer’s instructions on the package.

Conclusion

The overall point of this whole thing is that the wax paper can definitely get burnt in the oven. No matter what temperature you set, the wax will melt, and the paper will catch fire. So if you don’t want to spoil your mood or food, do not risk putting wax paper in the oven, even by mistake.

Use parchment paper in place of that; it’s safe, heat-resistant, and non-stick. Bake your cookies like a pro with parchment paper, not wax paper.

References

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Do you need to grease parchment paper? – As parchment paper is non-stick, there’s no compulsory requirement to grease it. However, if you still like to grease it, there’s a way you can do it. Read further to know more.

What is a Parchment Paper?

Parchment Paper is a non-stick paper that is heat resistant and coated with silicone. You’ll find cake later but parchment paper first in a baker’s kitchen. From lining baking pans to layering stacked baked goods, parchment paper comes with many uses. Apart from baking, it helps in keeping the desserts from sticking to the pan.

Quick Tip: Always store your parchment paper flat instead of rolling. Keeping it flat prevents it from rolling back to you, and that way, you don’t get irritated.

Can it be replaced?

In case you don’t have parchment paper available with you, you can use aluminum foil or waxed paper as an alternative. However, do not consider these options as all-around substitutes for parchment paper. The waxed paper is made from paraffin wax, so it is not heat resistant and can’t be used in the oven. At the same time, aluminum foil does not support non-stick features, so it cannot be used to layer your desserts.

How to grease parchment paper?

Parchment paper is made from a thin silicone coating with a non-sticky texture. So you don’t have to worry about greasing the parchment paper while baking delicious cookies. However, if you decide to grease parchment paper despite knowing the fact it’s silicone-coated, you’ll see an extra greasy texture on your cookies. We are sure that this is not what you were expecting, so make sure you are not greasing the parchment paper.

How to grease a cake pan with parchment paper?

It’s easy peasy to grease a cake pan with parchment paper. All you need to do is arrange the things and follow the steps, and you’re all set to go.

Things to arrange

• Cake Pan (size of the pan depends on the recipe you’re making).
• Butter or cooking spray
• Cooking spray with flour inside can also work.
• Parchment paper
• Flour

Steps to follow

Step 1: Greasing

Put the cake pan in front of you and start putting butter drops on the sides. Next, brush the butter all over the pan. Make sure no corner or side is left ungreased inside the pan. Everything should be covered the bottom, the sides, corners, all.

In case you have a spray, your work is reduced now. Just spray it all over the pan, and if the spray comes with the flour inside, your job gets reduced by two steps. After that, you can just jump over to the third step.

Step 2: Flouring

After greasing the pan properly, you need to start flouring the pan. Flour sticks to the grease to provide extra protection between the pan and cake. According to us, flouring can be a satisfying process but messy at the same time. You can end up spreading flour all over the slab and your clothes. So to avoid any mess, always wear an apron and work near the sink.

Take a teaspoon or tablespoon of flour (depending on the size of the pan) and hold it just above the pan. Now start shaking your hand evenly, spreading the flour all over the pan. It might not spread evenly at this time. Chill out! Just take the pan over to the sink and tilt it from front to back. Tilt it where the flour needs to be reached. Once the pan is covered evenly, gently turn it down and remove any excess flour by shaking it.

Step 3: Lining the pan

You might think, I have greased the pan now what’s the need of lining it. But, trust us with the process, you’ll be happy in the end.

The most challenging thing about lining the pan is not the lining process; it’s actually about cutting the paper. If you do not know how to cut parchment paper, you can always buy pre-cut parchment papers from the market. If you apply the trick provided by us, you can do it at home. Just grab some scissors and parchment paper, of course.

The tricks we will tell are for round cake pans as they are the most difficult to fit parchment paper in.

Trick 1

Take the parchment paper and place it just below the bottom of the pan. Take a pen and mark the border of the pan on the paper. Now take the parchment paper and cut the design you just made. Make sure you are cutting slightly smaller than the design. Voila, your parchment paper is ready to fit inside the pan.

Trick 2

If the 1st one didn’t work for you, we have a second trick for you. We call it the “Triangle trick”. Take the parchment paper, fold it in half, and start folding it in a triangle. Make as many triangles as you can; they won’t be perfect, though. Once you’re done, hold the tip of the triangle from the center of the pan. Measure it and cut any extra length you notice.

Next, open the triangle, and woohoo! Your parchment paper is ready to line.

Place the parchment paper inside the pan.

If you have a square pan

Take the parchment paper, put it inside the pan, measure it, and cut off any extra paper from two sides only. You need to keep the other two sides long so that it’s easy for you to take the bake out.

Step 4: Again grease and flour

Repeat the same steps 1 and 2 as lining needs to go through this process too.

Step 5: Enjoy your delicious items

Now it’s time for you to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Take the baked item from the oven, gently flip it over a plate (if you’re using a round cake pan), or take the cake out with the help of extra lengths of the paper that you left earlier. Gently pull off the parchment paper. You’re all set.

Conclusion

The conclusion always comes to one thing; we hope you understand the whole process. It is your choice whether to grease the parchment paper as it already comes with a silicone coating.

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You can make fresh and delicious pie crust using a food processor at home. Freshly made dough gives you the best flakey layers. So let’s begin with the necessary ingredients.

The process requires only a few ingredients easily found in your home. You will need some food-grade plastic wrap to freeze the dough.

1. Flour: Use any unflavored all-purpose flour to base a pie crust. If you are a beginner, go for all-purpose or refined flour because it will be easy to handle. But if you are a little experienced, go for any flour like wheat or pastry dough to get a nice texture on your pie crust.

2. Sugar: This is totally optional. If you like your pie crust a little sweeter, go for it. Be careful while adding sugar because this may loosen the dough and make it hard to roll out. Adding sugar provides a nice rich brown color to the pie crust

3. Salt: Just use a pinch of table salt and mix it thoroughly; adding salt will unlock the flavors of the pie crust.

4. Ice Water: Ice water will give the dough a strong fix, holding it together. Add some ice cubes into a small water bowl and mix until the cubes dissolve. You must add enough water to the dough to make it into a clean ball. Without enough water, the dough might be clumpy and break while kneading. You can substitute water ice cubes with buttermilk, vodka, or orange juice cubes, adding more flavor to your pie crust.

5. Butter: Butter is the main ingredient to get a flaky crust. But, using excess can make the crust tender, and this flavor is strong enough to dominate the flavor of the fillings.

6. Shortening: Adding shortening gives you perfect crimping on the edges of the pie. Although this can make the dough very tender, it is easy to shape your dough. In addition, it has a mild flavor, not as strong as butter.

Many people confuse about what to add to your pie crust. Well, we say add both! Yes, both butter and shortening together. Butter gives a rich flavor, while shortening gives a nice texture to the pie crust. This way, the crust will be easier to shape and assemble too.

Now that you have assembled all your ingredients let’s get into the process.

1. Take a large bowl and add a cup of flour, a single tablespoon of sugar, and a pinch of salt. Mix all the dry ingredients using a whisk or a fork.
2. Add cold butter and chilled shortening pieces into the mixed dry ingredients.
3. Use your hands and toss the butter cubes until they are coated with the flour, and use a fork to cut through the pieces of butter and shortening.
4. Let these be a little chunky, then add 4 spoons of ice cold water to the above mixture and mix it using a non-stick or rubber spatula.
5. Check for the water level required and add at regular intervals; adding whole at a time can create lumps and will be hard to get texture.
6. The dough should not be as loose as a pizza base; it should not be too dry.
7. Adding water is an important step in maintaining the consistency of the pie crust. However, it should still have little clumps so that it would be pizza dough.
8. If you add water all at once, you need extra flour to eliminate the excess water; this will give you a hard and rubbery pie crust.

1. Release the dough onto a clean flat surface or a Silpat mat. Do not forget to dust the base before you place the dough on the floor or the mat.
2. Dust your hands with loose flour and start kneading and shaping the dough
3. into a ball. Add low pressure while kneading the dough, or it might get hard after you bake it.
4. After gathering the dough into a ball, cut it into two halves and roll them into a one-inch thick layer.
5. Then cut the layers into discs and wrap both discs using food-grade plastic wrap.
6. Place the discs in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours before you use them. After that, you need them to rest for at least one night to two days to get a perfect texture.
7. You can also store them for three to four months in the freezer.

1. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and let it rest until it reaches room temperature; this will hardly take 5 to 10 mins.
2. After preparing your filling, roll out the discs starting from the center and dust the base properly so it would not stick down.
3. Roll the discs as per the diameter of your pie dish, and let the layer be 4 to five inches more than the diameter of the disc.
4. Now place it in the dish and frame the edges; take the other disc and roll as the previous one. Finally, cut it into strips to make the top of the pie.
5. Place the strips over the filling and arrange designs as you like.

Why buy processed pie crust dough in a supermarket where you can make it at home? We guarantee it will taste much better than the one available on the market. All you need to do is follow our steps to make the best flaky homemade pie crust. Resting the dough properly is the key to the best flaky brown-colored pie crust.

The post How to Make Pie Crust Without a Food Processor appeared first on Kitchen Matts.

There is a higher chance that parchment paper can burn if put inside the oven but only when you leave it for too long in the oven or line the baking tray with more than the needed size.

Every person who uses parchment paper is always worried about whether it is safe, where to use it, and questions like these. It is normal to get worried, after all, it’s a matter of our health. Parchment paper is made with a silicone coating that makes it suitable for a lot of purposes like baking or lining. Keep reading to know more about parchment paper and get all your doubts cleared.

Most parchment paper brands let you use it at a temperature between  420° to 450°. If you use parchment paper at a temperature more than mentioned on the packaging, then you can expect it to catch fire. For example, baking cookies or cakes requires the temperature mentioned above, but baking pizzas require at least 500° F.

If you don’t want the parchment paper to burn in the oven, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions. This way, you can safely use parchment paper in the oven, and it will not get burnt.

Yes, it is absolutely safe to use parchment paper in the oven. Its non-sticky and heat-resistant surface make it a great tool in the kitchen. You can use it for various things like wrapping food, baking, or warming food.

Use it to cover your food before putting it in the oven to warm up so that there are no food scraps all over the walls and base of the oven. It will also save you the time of cleaning your oven after warming the food.

While baking cookies or cake, parchment paper makes it easy for you to remove them without getting stuck to the paper.

We all use one thing in place of another, sometimes by mistake, sometimes on purpose. For example, if you used wax paper instead of parchment paper, whether by mistake or not, its effect depends on where you used it. If you are wrapping foods or covering the dough to put it in the freezer, you can use each of them instead of the other.

But what happens when you use wax paper instead of parchment paper in the oven? Parchment paper is heat-resistant because of its silicone coating, but it is made from paraffin wax coating when it comes to wax paper. This coating gives it a non-stick surface but is not heat resistant. So when you put it in the oven, the wax will melt even at normal temperature, and the paper can catch fire.

To sum it up, we must say that parchment paper is totally safe to use in the oven. You don’t have to worry about it burning as long as you’re using it at the temperature mentioned in the manufacturer’s instruction. Most brands use the maximum temperature between 420^o to 450^o F.

There are other uses of parchment paper other than baking, like wrapping, lining pans, or covering the kitchen counters for mess-free cooking. By chance you run out of parchment paper, you can always use oiled baking paper in place of it. But never use wax paper in place of it. It will catch fire.

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If you’re one of those few people, you must have come to that one point where you’ve arranged all the items but don’t have a cookie-cutter. Now you start to look for its substitutes. If you haven’t found those substitutes, then we are here to help you out. Read further to know what things you can use as an alternative to a cookie-cutter.

What is a cookie-cutter?

Ever wondered how your cookies get into such amazing shapes? There’s no rocket science behind it. It’s just cut by a simple instrument known as the cookie cutter. It cuts cookies in different shapes. Just take the cookie-cutter out and put it above the dough, press it, and the shape is ready.

No cookie-cutter? Try these alternatives

Cookie-cutter makes it easy for you to cut cookies in different and unique shapes. But what to do when you don’t have one. Buddy, just look around your kitchen, and there are plenty of things you can use as a cookie-cutter. Don’t lose your heart even if the shapes didn’t turn out to be the way you wanted them to, roll up the dough and start again.

Tin can

You can use a tin can to cut your cookie dough. Just keep this one thing in mind. Make sure the tin can is empty! One common thing that all people faced who used an empty tin can is that the cookie dough got stuck inside the can. Solution? Cut both the ends of the tin can, and you can take the dough out from the other side if it gets stuck. Smart, right? Thanks, us later.

Glass

As our drinking glasses quench our thirst, they can also satisfy our cookie cravings. Just pick a glass, place it over the dough, and cut the shape. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. The best part is that you can cut several cookies at a time with the help of someone. So make several cookies when you’re in a hurry.

Custom designs

You can always make custom designs on your cookie dough. How? Just use your regular kitchen knife and start cutting unique designs. Then, take our advice, try it with your partner or best friend. Trust us, both of you will end up having a good laugh about it. You can cut out fun shapes and surprise your family members with your creativity.

Pizza cutter

Say hello to the pizza cutter who has come to your rescue in this difficult time. After you’ve rolled out the dough, take the pizza cutter out and start cutting the dough. You can also experiment with your creativity on the dough with this pizza cutter. As pizza cutters are available in different sizes, you’ll need to choose the one that fits your needs.

Though you can cut only the shapes with straight sides like a rectangle, square, triangle, or diamond, if you try, you can cut a circle shape too. However, kitchen knives come with a risk of accidentally cutting your fingers, so in that case, a pizza cutter is a good choice.

Make a log and cut it

Or you can just roll up your cookie dough and start cutting it with your regular kitchen knife. If the recipe needs the cookies to be thick, try to maintain that. In this case, your baking time can change, so take care of that.

Try drop cookies

Certain cookies save you the time of using a cookie cutter and making shapes. Such cookies are called drop cookies, like chocolate chip cookies that only need you to form a dough ball and insert it inside the oven.

However, cookies that especially need to be cut will not work if you use the drop cookie technique.

Jar ring

It’s okay if you don’t have any of the above things available to you at the moment. Just pick any jar, take out its ring, and use it as a cookie-cutter. Select the ring size you want for your cookie and cut it. Though your cookies will be round only, the taste will remain the same.

Conclusion

Whether you use your drinking glass or your regular knife, these substitutes will definitely save your day. Try all of these substitutes, and you will surely have a favorite by the end of the day. Now cutting the cookies will be more fun for you than baking them. So grab the items in your kitchen and start cutting the cookies. Round cookies- use a jar ring. Want to eat custom-designed cookies? A regular kitchen knife is sitting right there waiting for you to use it.

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If you’re looking for donut pan substitutes, then we’ve got a list full of them. Donut pan substitutes work best when you bake like twice or thrice a year; otherwise, the donut pan will lie in your cupboard all alone.

Just like you check every feature while buying a smartphone, these are the following things that you should check before picking up a donut pan substitute.

When the matter comes to baking, it is important to choose the right material so that your item is baked properly and deliciously. Here are a few materials you should consider.

• Aluminum
• Stainless Steel
• Silicone
• Carbon Steel

We are talking about making donuts here, so the size of the pan is the most important thing to consider. If you use a too-small pan, there will not be enough space to make holes in the donut.

If you’re using the muffin pan as a donut pan substitute, make sure it comes with handles. If the pan has handles, it becomes easy to take it out of the oven.

A muffin pan is a popular substitute for a donut pan. For this, you need a muffin pan, for sure. Apart from this, you need to have aluminum foil or parchment paper and a pair of scissors.

Parchment paper would be a much better option as it is non-stick while the aluminum foil isn’t. That is why aluminum foil is not used as a substitute for parchment paper.

All you need to do is grease the muffin pan with any type of oil. Now use parchment paper and roll it up with a flat bottom. Keep the size only that much to fit inside the muffin pan. Place this roll in the center of the muffin pan. Now using a pastry bag, fill the pan with a donut mixture. Doing this will allow you to avoid any kind of mess.

You can also make your own donut pan when you don’t have one. Just take parchment paper and roll it like a cylinder. Take the foil and wrap it tightly around the cylinder roll to secure it. The thickness totally depends on your choice of donuts. Now make this cylinder into a circle and secure it with tape.

Now for molds, you need to cut a big sheet of foil. Fold this in half and cut it into two pieces. Now put the foil donut (made above) into the middle of this sheet. Add some more foil and wrap it around the edges of this donut. Remove the foil donut placed in the center.

It’s okay if you don’t have any pieces of equipment like a muffin pan, molds, or cutter with you, you can always form a free shape for your donuts. Just put 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter on a baking sheet, and start shaping the batter using your fingers or a spatula. To make it smooth, you can use a spoon.

Keep shaping it until you get the desired shape. Doing this will help flow your creative juices and make you feel happy. Making free-shape donuts is an exciting method.

You can always transform your muffin pan into a donut pan. Just follow these simple steps, and you’re all set.

• Aluminum foil
• Cooking Spray
• Muffin Pan

1. Place a square piece of foil over one of your fingers. Make sure the size is big enough to cover the bottom of each muffin cup.
2. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around your fingers, making a mold.
3. It will look like a cup but with a stick inside. (this is for making the holes in the donut)
4. Place it into the cup and press it.
5. Follow the same for all cups.
6. Now pour the donut cake mixture (any recipe would work) into the molds.
7. Bake the donuts.
8. Take them out after the required time and decorate them the way you like to.

If you don’t have a piping bag, you can always use a zip bag. Just pour the batter inside the zip-top transparent bag and cut the tips to make a pipe. Then, pour it as you would do with a piping bag.

Donuts will always remain in our hearts and our mouths! Now you can easily make donuts at home without taking tension about arranging a donut pan. You don’t have to arrange a donut pan because we have provided you best donut pan substitutes. The muffin pan is the most popular substitute used by most people. And don’t lose your heart even if you don’t have a muffin pan. There’s always a different way. Use your creativity and make free-shape donuts.

Now no more worrying about purchasing a donut pan in a hurry. Just grab all your ingredients, make a batter, and pour it into a muffin pan. As someone said, when there’s a way, there’s a will. There’s always an alternative to everything; you just need the right resources to find it, and we did that for you.

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The main function of a blender is in its name. That’s right, it blends! It not only mixes all the ingredients but also liquefies them.

Blenders are usually used to make smoothies, purees, soups, and sauces. Liquids are blenders’ best friends because they handle them very well. Apart from blending, you can use it to soften hard food items. Its fast motor and solid blades finely mix all the ingredients and convert them into a smooth liquid form.

Blenders come in basic and advanced forms. The job of a basic blender is to blend soft solids into a smooth liquid mixture or paste. Some blenders are also able to make ice creams or nut butter. Advanced or powerful blenders can easily crush ice or other solid ingredients.

A mixer gets power through electricity that beats, mixes, whips, and grinds ingredients. It mixes both liquids and solids and evenly mixes all the ingredients. Mixers come with various blade attachments that beat and whisk ingredients together. You can also make batters and dough using a mixer.

Mixers are mainly used for baking and cooking preparations. This means more food is prepared in less time. Mixers come in two forms- handheld and stand mixers.

There are two situations where a blender can work as a mixer and where it cannot.

You can use a blender as a mixer to prepare items like pancake batter. It may not give a fluffy texture as you get in a mixer, but some blenders come with a foaming jar to help you add air into the liquid mixture.

You can never use a blender to prepare the dough. Though high-power blenders easily crush ice and solid items, they cannot mix items like flour. So a blender cannot be used to make bread or cookie dough. You cannot also use a blender to whisk egg whites or make your batter fluffy by beating air into it. Mixer can perform these jobs easily.

The conclusion arises that you can use a blender as a mixer for certain purposes only. Like you can make a batter with a blender but don’t expect it to be fluffier. You can use it to make smooth pastes or smoothies. However, you cannot expect even a high-power blender to make cookie or bread dough for you. It is not suitable to perform these tasks. Using a blender as a mixer totally depends on the type of activity you’re performing.

1. https://www.techadvisor.com/review/kitchenaid-stand-blender-k150-3812671/

2. https://borneobulletin.com.bn/making-full-use-of-the-blender/

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Suppose you’re making cookies or bread; you’ve gathered all the ingredients. Now you’re making the dough, imagining the tasty cookies. Oops! The dough seems sticky to you, and you can’t roll it to make cookies or bread. You’re stuck with the thoughts. Why is my dough sticky? How to make the dough less sticky? Generally, doughs get sticky when there’s too much moisture present in them, or they’re not at the right temperature.

Why is my cookie dough sticky?

Sticky cookie doughs are a complete mess. They stick to your hands, rolling board, rolling pin, and wherever they get in contact with. So even if you somehow roll it to make cookies, you can expect bad cookies coming out of your oven. But how does the dough get sticky? There might be several reasons for this. So let’s take a look at them.

Large-sized eggs

Sure the recipe says to put this number of eggs in your dough mixture. But people often make the mistake of using large-sized eggs in their recipe. The recipe will never mention the size of eggs you should use to think the bigger, the better. But you’re putting the cookie dough at risk of getting sticky. Large eggs make the dough too wet and make it sticky.

Always use medium-sized or small-sized eggs in your dough mixture. Or you can just whisk the number of eggs mentioned in the recipe in a separate bowl, then add it bit by bit until you get the right dough texture. Dry cookie dough is much better than wet dough.

Too much butter

Using more than enough butter, thinking it will make the dough soft, is a common mistake. Instead, it will make the dough sticky and greasy. When you bake the cookies, the extra butter present will make the cookies spread and give you flat cookies. Always stick to the recipe and not put butter more than the mentioned amount.

Volume measurements instead of weight

The biggest mistake while making cookie dough is using volume instead of weight measurements. Volume never gives the right measurement in a recipe. For example, flour can be pressed to make space for more flour. Unfortunately, this means that the weight will be different in each person’s recipe. The same applies to other ingredients. And when there’s something more than enough in your cookie dough, it ruins it.

Sticky cookie doughs are a common problem faced by almost everyone and, fortunately, have a solution to it.

How to make cookie dough less sticky?

Sticky cookie dough doesn’t mean you should throw it and make a new one. This means a waste of money and ingredients. Sticky cookie doughs can be fixed with these tricks. These methods can consume a lot of time, but it’s better than wasting ingredients.

Just chill

You can fix your sticky cookie dough by putting it in the freezer to chill for about 30-60 minutes. The timing depends on the quantity of the dough. Doing this will make the dough less sticky.

Butter is very soft at room temperature and stiff at cold temperature. While making dough, the butter must have made the dough sticky and greasy, but when you put the dough inside the freezer, it makes the butter stiff, and thus the dough becomes less sticky.

However, you should not leave the dough in the fridge for too long. Doing this will make the dough firm and difficult to cut or scoop out.

Putting the sticky dough in the fridge will make all the ingredients in the dough come together and give it a better consistency.

Add flour

If chilling the dough doesn’t make it firmer, then you should try adding more flour to it. When the wet ingredients control the dough, it ruins the cookies. The ratio of dry and wet ingredients should make perfect cookies.

To make the cookie dough manageable, try adding more flour to it. This process is much easier than chilling the dough. Just keep adding the flour to the sticky cookie dough until it gets dry and holds it together. Make sure you’re not making the dough too dry, as it will give you tasteless cookies.

Cookie dough is too wet and sticky

When your cookie dough is too wet and sticky, it makes it impossible for you to roll it or hold it together. It sticks everywhere, making it hard for you to make cookies. After putting so much effort and time into it, you might be able to cut out cookies and put them in the oven to bake. But when your cookies come out of the oven, they will not be fluffy, tasty, or soft.

Baking sticky cookie dough will only give you flat and tasteless cookies. The grease present in the cookies will spread and often burns them. This makes them flat when baked and ruins their taste. The slightly wet dough can give you good cookies, but it will not give you anything when it’s too wet and sticky.

Bread dough too sticky and wet

Reasons for sticky and wet bread dough

1. Bread dough can become too sticky and wet when you use cold water instead of warm water to knead the dough. Glutens leak out when you use cold water, making the dough sticky.
2. The most common mistake people make while making bread dough is that they pour all the water at the same time, and this makes their dough sticky. Pour water in small quantities, then mix, then water, then mix. Keep repeating it until you get a soft dough.

• Another reason your bread dough gets sticky is because you don’t mix it enough. Don’t mix until you hold all the ingredients together. Mix it until the consistency of the dough is as per the recipe.
• Some people use more water in preparing the dough. It is recommended to use 60% of the amount mentioned in the recipe so that your bread dough doesn’t get sticky.

How to manage sticky bread dough?

Bread dough needs to be raised two times in order to get perfect bread. This is because the bread can get sticky in both stages. So let’s see how you can handle it in both stages.

When you set the bread dough for the first rise in the bowl, it should double the size of the previous dough. If the size is more, then it means that the glutens have stretched and made your dough sticky. After the first rise, you need to gently press the bread dough (it says in all the recipes) but this time, coat your fingers, fist, and the surface with flour. This will help you manage the dough and make it less sticky.

When your dough is still sticky after the second rise, you won’t be able to press it or knead it, so the best you can do is shape it. This time, coat your fingers and surface with flour, and then start shaping the dough. This will probably make the dough less sticky and still give you tasty bread after baking.

How to prevent bread dough from getting wet or sticky?

You can avoid the bread dough from getting too wet or sticky in the first place. Follow these steps, and your dough will be saved from sticky or wet problems.

The first step to prevent your dough from getting too wet or sticky is weighing the ingredients. When you put ingredients according to their mentioned weight in the recipe, you get all things in the right amount, and thus, it gives you the perfect dough. However, never put the ingredients according to their quantity as some ingredients like flour can be pressed down and gives more space to increase the quantity.

• Pour a small quantity of water

The biggest and most common mistake people make while making bread dough is that they pour the mentioned quantity of water at the same time in the bowl. Never do this, as it makes your dough sticky. Instead, set aside the mentioned quantity in a jug then pour it in small quantities.

Conclusion

The conclusion arises that sticky dough can be treated when familiar with the tricks. Sticky doughs are not the end of the world, so do not let them ruin your mood. There are a number of reasons that make the dough sticky, and now that you’re familiar with them, you can avoid it next time you make a dough. And if somehow your dough still gets sticky, then there are always ways to solve this problem, and you know them too. So have a good time baking!

The post Why Is My Dough Sticky And How To Make Dough Less Sticky? appeared first on Kitchen Matts.

Can you bake cookies on wax paper? Sadly, you cannot bake cookies using wax paper but you can use it instead to store cookies. This is because wax paper can get melt while baking the cookies.

We all get this urge to try something new, like trying a funky outfit or cooking something in the kitchen. If you’re cooking for the first time, then there are chances you’ll get confused between a lot of things like wax paper and parchment paper. Both look very similar and have a lot in common but not everything. Let’s see more about these terms.

Wax paper is made from a coating of paraffin wax. Chill, this wax coating is safe for your food items. This layer of paraffin wax provides a non-stick and moisture-resistant surface which is great for wrapping your delicious treats. People often confuse wax paper with parchment paper. Despite having similar qualities, these two are very different from each other.

Parchment paper is made from a coating of silicone, making it non-stick and moisture-resistant. It is also heat-resistant, whereas wax paper is not. It is used for baking as well as cooking purposes. You can use parchment paper in place of wax paper no matter where you use it.

If anyone ever puts this on your mind that you can bake cookies on wax paper, they give you the wrong information. There are a number of reasons you can’t bake cookies or anything else on wax paper. Why?

First of all, wax paper is made from a coating of paraffin wax, which is not heat-resistant. Once the wax paper gets to a temperature higher than room temperature, the wax starts to melt. As the wax melts, there’s only paper left, and it will catch fire.

Secondly, where will the melted wax go? It will go straight into your cookies and make them full of wax. And we think you wanted delicious cookies, not wax cookies. The paper burning will also make your cookies burnt.

Parchment paper is made from silicone coating, making it a great heat-resistant material for up to 420° F. You can safely use it in the oven to bake cookies perfectly. There’s nothing to worry about your cookies getting filled with wax or burnt.

Not only is parchment paper useful while baking cookies, but you can also use it before and after baking too. Before baking, you can roll the cookie dough by covering it between two sheets of parchment paper. This way, the cookie dough will not stick on the rolling pin or the rolling board. After you bake the cookies, parchment paper helps remove the baked cookies easily.

While parchment paper is a basic thing found in everybody’s kitchen, people often run out of it and do not realize it until it’s time to bake something. Of course, you can get it from the market if you have time, but you can always use these alternatives to save your day when you don’t have one. However, wax paper is not a good choice here.

Silicone baking mats, also known as baking sheets, can be used as an alternative when you don’t have parchment paper. They can bake cookies just like parchment paper, but the cost will be a little high. The cost may be high, but there are benefits too. You can use it several times, and it can last for years.

If you don’t want to spend so much baking cookies, cookie sheets are always there. But to use them for baking cookies, you have to grease them first with oil so that cookies don’t get stuck to the pan. Of course, if you’re making cookies that are non-stick on their own, like chocolate cookies, then there’s no need to grease it.

In the end, we can say that you should not take the risk of baking cookies with wax paper. After all, you don’t want to ruin all your hard work with one wrong choice. If you have already made the cookie dough and are now looking for something to bake it, use parchment paper instead. This should be your first choice. If there’s no parchment paper available somehow, then cookie sheets or baking sheets are a good choice.

No matter what you use, just don’t use wax paper even by mistake.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_dough

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Let’s take a situation; you have gathered all the ingredients required to make a pastry. Uh-oh, you don’t have a pastry cutter near you, and you don’t have time to buy it from the market. So, what will you do in this situation? You’ll try to find its substitutes, right? Well, you can end your search here as we have found some great pastry cutter substitutes to save your day and mood!

First of all, let’s clarify the meaning of a pastry cutter. A pastry cutter, also by the name dough blender or pastry blender, is a baking tool made to integrate fat into the flour to make a dough. Pastry cutters are basically half-circle-shaped with a flat handle and a chain of curved blades or metal wires opposite the handle. You must have seen a pastry recipe say “cut in butter” that’s what a pastry cutter does.

Forks are important kitchen appliances found in every household around the world. Well, apart from eating noodles, you can also use forks while making pastries! First, just put all the dry ingredients in the bowl. Remember that the fork you are using is clean and dry. Then, mix all the ingredients with the fork.

Now cut small pieces of butter and add them in small quantities in the bowl, mixing them with the sharp ends of the fork. Keep doing that until you get a fine consistency per your pastry recipe.

Quick fun fact: It was the Italian nuns and monks who introduced pastries to Italy.2. Knife

A chef is recognized by the different types of knives they keep in their kitchen. Knives are not for cutting purposes only; you can also use them while making pastry. How?

You’ll need two knives for maximum benefit. First of all, cut small cold butter pieces in the bowl. After that, add the remaining ingredients. Now, use these two knives to mix all the ingredients until they are properly mixed and make a nice dough. 

Quick fun fact: Croissant was influenced by an Austrian Pastry

Don’t just use your beautiful hands to eat delicious pastries; it’s time to use them to make pastries. Use both of your hands to mix all the ingredients in the bowl but make sure you maintain hygiene. Wash your hands with clean water and liquid soap before conducting the process.

Do not use wet hands to mix the ingredients. Instead, dry them with a towel or tissue, then start the process. Put the flour inside the bowl, take the butter, and start using your hands to mix it. Keep a check if the butter is getting evenly mixed with the flour.

If you feel like your hands are getting hot, stop right there, wait until your hands feel cool, and start again. As the fat or butter can get ruined by the heat generated and the overall taste will be sad, it’s better to cool down your hands.

Quick fun fact: On average, an American eats 300 cookies per year.

Welcome the cheese grater in your kitchen waiting for you to use for things other than grating cheese. You can use it to make pastry dough. But for this, you need to cool the butter in your refrigerator first.

First of all, fill the bowl with all the ingredients, and using the cheese grater, grate the cheese. Do not grate the whole butter; stop in half. Then, store the butter in the refrigerator again. The best part about using a cheese grater is that you can easily mix the ingredients with your hands or knives because the butter is now in very small amounts.

After you’re done half mixing the ingredients, take out the freezing butter and grate it. Follow this process until you get a smooth consistency.

Quick fun fact: The hole in donuts is made by particular machinery.

An egg mixer can also be used as a substitute for a pastry cutter. After putting all the ingredients inside the bowl, cut the cold butter using whatever you want. Now set the low speed of the egg mixer after you put it inside the bowl.

Keep in mind that the butter pieces are small to get mixed evenly with all the dry ingredients. But, in some time, you’ll see a fine consistency in your pastry dough.

Using the egg mixer slowly is the key to a good dough. But, by mistake, if you use it at high speed, you can expect your place to become a mess real soon.

Quick fun fact: A pastry war between the French and Mexicans over an unpaid debt to a French pastry chef.

Now, whenever you decide to make a cookie at home, you can always try these pastry cutter substitutes. We are sure you must have at least two of these substitutes in your kitchen. There is no complicated technique to use them. Just follow our instructions, and we are sure you will get a smooth consistency dough by the end.

Make delicious pastries without worrying about pastry cutters. Also, did you read the quick fun facts? Hope we successfully entertained you while you were gaining some knowledge about pastry cutters. Cooking is an art, and art requires patience and consistent efforts. While making pastry make sure you’re maintaining hygiene as a hygienic kitchen makes tasty pastries. Also, you’ll have to waste less time cleaning your kitchen area.

The post These Pastry Cutter Substitutes Are Worth Giving A Shot appeared first on Kitchen Matts.