There's A Little Thing Called Small Batch Baking – And Here's How It Works

There are definite benefits to batch production. In essence, it means you use a series of stages or steps to produce a variety of goods. For baking, that means following recipes and understanding the science of baking. The idea is you cook in batches. If you are a business, you bake in large batches. However, if you are making treats for one, two, or a small family, you can (and should) take advantage of small-batch baking.

Instead of preparing a dozen chocolate raspberry cupcakes, with small batch baking, you might only make four cupcakes. Similarly, instead of making that whole tube of ready-to-bake cookie dough, just slice off enough for a few cookies. Not only is this good for portion control, but it can save on energy use and it is better suited for modern appliances. For example, one of the things you should know about air fryers is that because of space limitations, you can't make as large of a cake or as many cookies as you could in a full-sized oven. Ergo, you'll want to learn about how small-batch baking works.

If you are going to make smaller batches, you may need to use smaller baking equipment. Instead of using a 9-inch round cake pan, use a 6-inch one. For brownies or other sheet pan foods, use a quarter sheet pan instead of a full or half of one. Alternatively, you can use a bread loaf pan to make smaller portions.

If you want to try small-batch baking, make sure you brush up on your math skills. If you are cutting the recipe in half, for instance, going from 1 cup to ½ cup is easy. But you might need some guidance on adding half of ⅓ cup. If cutting down the recipe gets too complicated, you can always make the full recipe and refrigerate or freeze the portion you do not use for later use.

Last, yet still extremely important, remember smaller portions may require shorter cooking times. A good rule of thumb is to keep the temperature the same and check on your small batch after about 80% of the cooking has been completed. If your treat is done, you can remove it. If not, let it cook until it is fully baked.