10 Mistakes Pastry Chefs Wish You Would Stop Making

From the apple pie I just served on Thanksgiving to the chocolate chip cookies I’ve been making for holiday parties, my oven has been working overtime for the past few months. Though I mostly have these recipes down pat, I still fall prey to baking mistakes that easily could have been avoided had I prepared properly. 

But this year, I’m saying goodbye to burnt pie crusts and lumpy cake batters by outsourcing my baking questions to the professionals. Bakers from around the world came to my aid, sharing easy tips to overcome some of the most common baking mishaps. If you follow their suggestions by grabbing the gear these experts swear by, odds are good that your desserts will come out flawlessly every time. I know mine have. 

Baker-Recommended Kitchen Tools for Fixing Bad Baking Habits 

• Winco Double Mesh Strainer, $13 
• Bellemain Flour Sifter, $19 
• KitchenAid Digital Kitchen and Food Scale, $30 
• GIR Silicone Kitchen Utensils, Set of 5, $21, originally $25 
• ThermoWorks Thermapen One Instant-Read Thermometer, $89, originally $119 
• Geesta Adjustable Wood Rolling Pin, $30 originally $36 
• Taylor Precision Products Oven Thermometer, $10   
• OXO Good Grips Silicone Pastry Mat, $29 
• FurRain Ceramic Pie Weights, $20
• Antenda Adjustable Silicone Pie Crust Shields, $17  

Not Sifting Your Flour 

Winco Double Mesh Strainer 

Natsume Aoi, executive pastry chef of Postcard Bakery in New York City, advised me that one of the most common mistakes in holiday baking is “skipping the small steps.” Home cooks often don’t let their ingredients come to room temperature or neglect to sift their flour. While the former is crucial for the overall texture of your cake, Aoi said the latter “ensures the batter is light and fluffy and the final product is free of clumps.” Winco’s strainer is a great multipurpose tool that works well for sifting flour, as well as straining chickpeas, washing dirty lettuce, and more. 

Bellemain Flour Sifter

If you bake every week, Aoi also recommended the Bellemain Flour Sifter. Its one purpose is to sift flour, which means you’ll always have this sturdy tool on hand to do just that. While you might have used the mesh strainer earlier to drain a can of tomatoes, this flour sifter will be ready and waiting to, well, sift flour.  

Not Weighing Your Ingredients 

KitchenAid Digital Kitchen and Food Scale 

Aleksandra Crapanzano, baker and author of Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, noted that certain ingredients, like brown sugar, powdered sugar, flour, and cocoa powder, are hard to measure with accuracy. She said that using a kitchen scale “not only guarantees consistency and accuracy, it also cuts the number of dirty dishes in half and makes nearly every cake recipe at most a 2-dish affair.” Crapanzano’s favorite scale? KitchenAid’s, which can accommodate up to 11 pounds at a time, and can switch from ounces to grams with ease.  

Over- or Under-Mixing Your Ingredients 

GIR Silicone Kitchen Utensils, Set of 5

Crapanzano also strongly urges bakers to buy a set of silicone kitchen utensils because they’re non-toxic and easy to clean in a dishwasher. GIR makes her preferred silicone set for its ability to scrape, mix, scoop, and more. Food blogger Maxine Sharf agrees, adding that “a silicone spatula gives you more control and helps keep the [batter] light and tender.” Since GIR’s products are also beloved by Food & Wine editors, buying this 5-pack is a safe bet. 

Over- or Under-Baking Your Dish  

ThermoWorks Thermapen One Instant-Read Thermometer

“The usual recipe guidelines of testing baked goods with a toothpick or looking at the color are not foolproof and can be especially confusing for novice bakers,” wrote food writer and recipe developer Nancy Mock. “To avoid over- or under-baking, the best move is to use a digital thermometer to check for doneness.” She recommends another Food & Wine-favorite, the Thermapen by ThermoWorks, which “can tell you precisely when the goodies are finished baking, so you can pull them from the oven at just the right moment.” The brand even shared a handy temperature guide on its website for easy reference. 

Not Rolling Your Dough Out Evenly  

Geesta Adjustable Wood Rolling Pin 

Carla Henriques, the International Group Executive Pastry Chef for Hawksmoor, replied: “One of the most common mistakes I see home bakers make is rolling dough unevenly, which leads to inconsistent results. My tip is to use an adjustable rolling pin with removable rings and built-in measurement markers. It takes all the guesswork out and ensures perfectly even dough every time.” She’s fond of Geesta’s model because it has rings with multiple thicknesses to help bakers maintain an even amount of pressure while rolling. “It’s ideal for pastries, cookies, pasta, and pie dough, and the built-in guides help eliminate uneven crusts and overworked dough,” said Henriques. 

Incorrect Oven Temperatures  

Taylor Precision Products Oven Thermometer 

Greg Baker of Chicago’s Publican Quality Bread advised home cooks to “get to know” their ovens. “Yes, baking is a science, but you also need to understand your equipment until it feels like an old friend. If you’re not there yet, use an internal oven thermometer to ensure the temperature you set is the actual temperature your oven reaches,” he wrote. Both Baker and Ina Garten use the Taylor Precision Products Oven Thermometer for its affordable price and reliability. 

Inconsistent Measuring  

OXO Good Grips Silicone Pastry Mat 

Another Baker-approved product? A silicone mat. He likes OXO Good Grips’ model because its many measurements come in handy when rolling pie dough or piping pâte à choux to a consistent size. In this same vein, he also recommends grabbing a set of cookie scoops to ensure you’re using the same amount of dough or batter every time. 

Not Par-Baking Your Pie Crusts 

FurRain Ceramic Pie Weights 

“One of the most common mistakes I see home bakers make with pies is not blind baking their pie crust,” wrote Jamai Brown, the Executive Pastry Chef at New York City’s Grand Brasserie. “If the crust isn’t pre-baked before the filling goes in, the bottom will turn out doughy.” This is especially true for custard pies and moisture-laden fruit fillings. Reusable ceramic pie weights hold the dough in place during this initial bake, allowing it to set and preventing it from bubbling or slumping. Thousands of Amazon shoppers also swear by FurRain’s set, with one writing that it’s the “perfect size and quantity of weights for a normal pie or tart pan.” 

Over-Baking Your Pie Crusts 

Antenda Adjustable Silicone Pie Crust Shields 

Of course, par-baking a crust can go wrong if you don’t pay attention. Pastry chef Katherine Sprung often sees people over-browning or burning the edges of their pie crusts. If this has happened to you, she suggests grabbing a pie shield, dubbing it “a great way to ensure that the outer edges of your pie crust don’t burn, while allowing the center of your pie to bake.”