How often do you see recipes online that calls for 5 cups of flour or 1 cup of butter or 1 cup of sugar or 6 – 8 eggs? How about recipes that yield 36 pieces of cookies or cakes with a size that could feed an army? Don’t get me wrong, I love admiring huge cakes and stacks of soft an chewy chocolate chip cookie (who wouldn’t). I cannot deny how inviting they are and how they drove me crazy drooling just looking at them. In fact, it may sound shallow but I really dream of baking huge batches of cookies, 3 layers huge cakes and large plate of delicious decadent brownie. Tall 3 layers cakes are my favorite … to look at. These huge batches works for a lot of people who have large group to feed or for those people who love to entertain, but not for someone like me who eat like a bird and who doesn’t have an army of people to feed. If you are in the same boat as me, let me help you switch to Small Batch Baking, I tell ya, It is made a huge difference on how I see and enjoy baking. I used to make large batches when I was starting my baking and later on realize I need more than cookies and cakes to survive 🙂 Not to mention me going into a “food coma” seeing boxes of cookies in my freezer and cakes that occupy almost 1/3 of my refrigerator.
If you leave alone or have a small family, Small Batch baking could be a better route for you to take if you want to explore and enjoy baking. Here are few reason why I love small batch baking and why You should try it too.
Why Small Batch Baking?
- If you hate leftovers like me – Eating the same cake over and over again for the entire week was not really as much fun as I thought it would be
- You get to enjoy a variety of treats without feeling overwhelmed – You don’t have to force yourself to finish everything or worry about what to do with left over
- Fresh is always better than frozen or re-heated baked goods – A lot of baked products now can be made-ahead of time or kept frozen, but there is nothing like enjoying a freshly baked cookie or bread. Freezing although a good alternative, changes the texture of the product as compared to baking it the same day it was made.
- If you leave alone or leave with a small size family – You do not have to bake 36 pieces of cookie if you only need few to satisfy your craving
- If You have limited storage space – If you love baking a LOT but do not have space to store huge amount of baked products in your refrigerator or freezer
- If You like exercise portion control on yummy treats – It is easier to control your serving portion if You only see 2 serving of Crisp or Crumble than seeing a huge casserole of these delicious treats
- Bake without breaking your wallet – If you want to watch your budget without giving up your passion for baking and depriving yourself of delicious treats, then small batch baking is a good option
- Big to Small – If You want to switch from huge batch baking to small batch baking
- Enjoy every bite – If You want to savor and enjoy every bite without feeling guilty at the end that you eat almost half a huge cake
- Kitchen disaster in small batches are less painful – Trust me, it hurts so much to find out that a 9-inch 3 layers cake is not edible at all or a 36 pieces of cookies is as hard a rock. With small batch, there is still disappointed but it is not as much as when you are making a huge batch of goodies.
Invest on the Essential Baking Tools
The list I have here are specific to small batch baking. But before you get to buying specific small batch baking tools, start investing on the basic baking tools such as mixing bowl, measuring cups (for liquid and solid), measuring spoon and hand mixer. I have a separate post for my 10 Essential Baking Tools for Beginner Bakers, check it out.
Invest one item at a time
I have selected 10 baking tools that I consider essential when doing small batch baking. This is my personal choice based on what normally bake. You may have different items in your mind, that is fine. You do not need to buy all these baking tools at the same time, buy as you see a use for them. This is how I started my small batch baking, from buying 1 item at a time until I ended up with what I consider my MUST have baking tools for small batch baking.
MUST Have Baking Gadget for Small Batch Baking
6-inch Round Pan – Great for making personalize cakes that can serve 4 – 5 people
5 x 5 or 6x 6 Square Pan – My favorite when making crumb bars, brownie, bread and even for making baked pasta dish like Lasagna. for bars, this can make 4 – 6 bars.
6 Tin Muffin Pan – Muffin tin is a MUST, and 6 tin size is the perfect size for 6. You can also buy the 12 tin hole and just fill the 6 holes or 4 if making an even more smaller batch
5 or 6-inch Pie Dish – Great for all kind of pie, although fruit pie are my favorite. This size serves 3 – 4 people.
7-inch Sheet Pan – Great for sheet cake, bark chocolates or small batch of cookies, scones and biscuits. This can hold 4 – 6 pieces of cookies, scones and biscuits.
4.5 inch Ramekins – I love ramekins when making crisp, crumble and cobblers for two. I also use this to bake small batch of cake for two
7-inch Loaf Pan – Great for making quick bread like banana bread, slice bread/load , brownie and even cheese cake.
7-inch Casserole Dish – Great for making small batch casserole or pasta, and can also be used to make crisp, cobblers, crumbles and quick bread like Cornbread
6-inch Tart Pan – Great for making cream or fruit filled tarts
250 ml Mason Jar – I was debating if I want to add this, but I think it deserves to be in this list. This mason jar is great for storing small batch of fruit jam or fruit filling, make-ahead chia seed pudding, overnight oats and even for baking banana bread
NICE To Have Baking Gadget for Small Batch Baking
Mini Muffin Tin – Great for making bite size pie, muffins and brownies
Mini Bundt Pan – Great for making single serving small cakes
6-inch Cast Iron Pan – Cast iron is an all around pan. You can using to make dessert as well as savory meals. Great for making pancakes, baked oatmeal, brownie, baked pasta and MORE
6-inch Dutch Oven Pan – Not quite common to have, but this is a handy pan to use for making no-knead bread, oven bake oatmeal, and braised meat that requires long baking time, and these are just few ideas on how to use it.
5. 5-inch Cake Pan – I love this mini cake pan, perfect for single serving cakes. Get three, stacked them up and you got a mini 3 layer cake.
Mini Creme Brulee Dish – Great for making single serving creme brulee, as well as serving fruits crisp and crumble
Mini Tart Pan – I’m in love with this mini tart pan. It is a perfectly size single serving tart pan great tart and even pie
Ok, there you go, I hope you find this useful and helpful. So off you go shopping! Just remember, stick to the basic MUST have rather than the Nice to Have. Enjoy!
Baking Basic 101 Series:
If you missed previous discussions, please checkout the links below
Baking Basic 101 Series: Click the Item to Read Full Details
- 10 Essential Baking Tools for Beginners
- 10 Essential Baking Tools for Small Batch Baking
- Baking Basic 101 Series: How to Tell If Your Oven is Lying to You?
- Baking Basic 101 Series: Understanding Oven and Baking Temperature
- Baking Basic 101 Series: How to Properly Measure Common Baking Ingredients
- Baking Basic 101 Series: How Baking Pan Used Affects Your Baked Products
- Baking Basic 101 Series: Know Your Flour
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