Take the 2-minute tour ×  I have read it countless times, mostly
in baking magazines: "This recipes always works!", "Always turns
out great!" etc.  Of course I know that you can fail at all of
them if you really want to, but what is the reason behind these
recipes - are there really any recipes that always work (without
being basic 'one pot' recipes) as long as you don't screw them
up badly? Or do they only print stuff like this to get novices
to buy the magazine?  share|improve this question  2 Answers 2
up vote 9 down vote accepted  Baking is a complicated process
and requires precision; you start out with complex molecules,
and transform them into something has to have many qualities
precisely right.  The common quality of all baked goods is the
foam structure: each baked good is best when its foam is right.
Example: for a cake, the "right" foam has lots of tiny, regular
bubbles, and the bubble walls support the foam, but are soft,
not elastic. The ideal foam for a bread or pie crust is
different.  There