Baking Terms & Definitions: The Ultimate Guide

Do you ever find yourself completely bamboozled and confused after reading baking terms in a recipe? Bloom, dust, fold? What in the world is that?

To a baker, these baking terms are a common language, but for non-bakers, they can get very confusing. I mean, what are you supposed to do when a recipe asks you to dust some cocoa powder? Bring out your broom? 🤔

The thing is, these are common things that just have a specific term in the baking world. Nothing to be scared of!

I’m here to help you understand the A-Z of baking. Let’s get started!

Aerate/Aeration
Incorporate air in a baking mixture by beating, whisking, whipping, or sifting.

Beat
Mix ingredients together rapidly to incorporate air with a whisk, blender, or mixer.

Bain-marie
Also known as a water bath. Bain-marie is used to cook certain set desserts like cheesecakes or custards for better heat insulation, which stops the desserts from cracking or curdling while baking. Bain-marie is prepared by placing the dessert dish into another larger pan with shallow hot water.

Blend
Mixing ingredients together until they are combined.

Blind baking
Used for pie or tart crust – baking the pastry before adding the filling. This is done when the filling of the pie or tart is unbaked.

Blooming
Used for gelatin: the process of activating gelatin before using it by mixing it with ice-cold water. Use this ratio for blooming gelatin powder: 6 ml of ice-cold water for every 2.5 gms of gelatin powder.

Caramelization
The process of cooking sugar until it’s brown/golden.

Coat
Cover a dessert with an ingredient like melted chocolate or glaze, like glazing cinnamon rolls with a sugar glaze.

Cream
The process of mixing butter and sugar, or eggs and sugar at high speed until you have a thick, fluffy, and pale mix. This helps incorporate air into the mixture.

Cut-in
The process of mixing or “cutting in” cold butter into the flour using forks or a pastry cutter when making a pastry to form a flaky crust. The cold butter doesn’t entirely mix into the dough and forms flakes in it, which melt upon baking and create flakiness.

Double boiler
Ingredients like chocolate and eggs cannot be placed on direct heat. A double boiler is used to melt or cook them. A double boiler can be made by filling a saucepan halfway with simmering water, then placing a heat-proof bowl with the ingredient on top of the saucepan. Make sure the water is not touching the bowl.

Dust
Cover the surface of something with a dry ingredient like flour or cocoa powder. For example: dusting a pan with flour before baking to stop the cake from sticking to the pan.

Egg wash
Lightly coating a pastry with whisked egg using a pastry brush before baking. This allows the pastry to bake with a golden-brown surface.

Emulsion
Incorporating two ingredients that don’t mix together easily using a whisk or a hand blender, like chocolate and butter for a ganache.

Fold
Mixing ingredients slowly and gently into a batter with a silicone spatula to ensure that the air in the mixture is retained. To fold ingredients, move the spatula on the sides of the bowl, take one full circle, then run the spatula through the center. Repeat the process until the ingredients are well-combined.

Glaze
Coat a dessert with a liquid, like melted chocolate, mirror glaze, sugar glaze, etc.

Grease
Coat any baking dish with oil or butter before placing the batter into it to stop the cake from sticking.

Proof
The process of raising any yeast dough before baking in a warm environment. Proofing allows the yeast to activate and raises the dough.

Scald
Heating a liquid ingredient like cream or milk just to the boiling point

Sift
Passing ingredients through a mesh sieve to remove any lumps

Simmer
Bring a liquid mixture to a soft boil

Soft Peaks
Whipping egg whites or whipping cream until they have slightly thickened.

How to know you have reached soft peaks: when you pick up your whisk from the egg/white cream, it falls flat and does not create any peaks.

Semi-stiff peaks
Whipping egg whites or whipping cream until they start to stabilize a little.

How to know you have reached semi-stiff peaks: when you pick up your whisk from the egg/white cream, it creates slight peaks with medium stability.

Stiff peaks
Whipping egg whites or whipping cream until they have completely stabilized.

How to know you have reached stiff peaks: when you pick up your whisk from the egg/white cream, it creates stable, hard peaks. They should stay in place even when the bowl is turned upside down.

Temper
Used for chocolate – the process of heating and cooling chocolate to stabilize chocolate crystals, resulting in shiny chocolate with a sharp snap.

Here’s a guide to tempering chocolate.

Whisk
A kitchen tool used for mixing ingredients and incorporating air into mixtures

I hope these baking definitions help you on your next baking adventure! If you’re looking for more help with baking, here are some of my best baking tips.