• Preheat your oven before you mix the ingredients or, for yeast breads, after rising.
• Measure liquid ingredients in a glass measure on a flat surface, lining up the markings at eye level.
• Measure dry ingredients in a dry measuring cup, leveling the top with a straight-edged blade.
• Stir all-purpose flour before measuring. It is not necessary to sift it. Cake flour does need sifting.
• Choose your bakeware according to its browning ability. Shiny bakeware reflects heat and slows the browning process, making it ideal for shortbread and soft crust breads. Cookware with a dull finish and glass baking dishes will absorb more heat and brown crusts much more quickly, which is perfect for piecrusts, cookies, coffee cakes, and crusty breads.
• When making cutouts, try to get as many biscuits or cookies as you can from the first rolling. Too many rerollings may cause them to become tough and dry.
• For yeast breads, use fresh yeast and a thermometer to make sure the heat of the liquid won’t kill the yeast.
• Grease muffin cups and baking pans on the bottoms and only halfway up the sides to prevent unwanted rims around the edges of quick breads.
• For even baking, bake on one rack of your oven and allow space between baking sheets or dishes for the warm air to circulate.
• To avoid soggy sides and bottoms, cool baked foods in the pans only as long as the recipe directs, then transfer the baked goods to a wire rack to finish cooling.