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Hi Bold Bakers!
I am often asked “Why do you Mix Dry Ingredients and Wet Ingredients Separately?” Even the best bakers get ahead of themselves, working in the order of recipe ingredients. You might think if all the measurements are correct you can just throw it all in the same bowl and mix, but it isn’t true. Baking is a science, but it’s not anything like rocket science. It really is important that you mix your dry ingredients all together in one bowl, your wet in another bowl, and then you can whisk all together.
Why do you mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately when baking?
The general rule of baking, whether it be cookie dough, cake mix or pancake batter, is as follows: dry ingredients should be combined together thoroughly in one bowl BEFORE adding liquids.
Liquid ingredients should ALWAYS be mixed separately before they’ve been added to the dry ingredients.
Mixing the dry ingredients by themselves means you will evenly disperse the raising agents, spices, sugar etc throughout which is important for an even batter.
The Reason Behind It?
Over mixing batters and dough will toughen and strengthen the gluten in the flour. Doing this to the gluten will yield you tougher baked goods, not a light and tender bake, like you want.
Mixing the dry ingredients together first, and then doing the same with the wet ingredients, means that once you combine the two, you will have to do very little mixing. The less you mix the flour the less gluten has a chance to develop meaning you end up with a fluffier and light end product.
A perfect example is Pancake Batter. It is so very important that you don’t over mix pancake batter. You want those thick, fluffy pancakes right? then resist the urge to keep mixing until you have all the lumps out. Lumps are ok, they will work themselves out in the resting period so don’t worry about them. If you are worried about over mixing then I say aim to under mix and you will probably have the perfect batter. Trust me, leave the lumps be.
The Results?
This method of mixing everything separately will yield you the best results and a more even texture in your baking.
When in doubt, just remember these tips, and you will find you can always achieve your desired texture, allowing you to be a far more consistent baker.
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Meet Gemma
About Us
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, a cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 500+ videos on YouTube & TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 go-to baking authority.
This tab on the left of the screen that partially hides the information that I am seeking is extremely annoying. I usually abandon a website that uses it to find one that doesn’t.
I use of your tips for my 4H baking class but have to retype them because I can find no way to print them off. Please make this feature available.
Thanks
Hi once again! Do you have any article explaining the perfect ratio of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs for a cake? It gets confusing when they are different for different recipes. Also, the use of baking pans as the size of these pans also matter. If you already don’t have an article explaining this, would it be possible to do one?
Where do all liquid ingredients like liquid milk, Cake softener, flavours, alcoholic preservatives e.t.c goes to in cake mixture. Is it the butter and sugar bowl or the egg bowl?
Thanks for your quick response.
Hi
What is the difference between powdered yeast and granaule yeast
Which one is best for bread
A lot of the time my wet and dry ingredients won’t combined well as they are too dry…. I end up over mixing and my muffins won’t rise …. what can I do to prevent this?
Hi Gemma,
I am from Cairo, Egypt. I need an easy to make recipe for pan cake syrup that does not require maple. Can you help please?
Thank you
I just figured. It was because I used homemade glucose syrup and it was not as thick in consistency as we get from the store.
Hi Gemma,
Hope you are doing good.
I have a general basic question. How does one decide on how much baking powder or baking soda is required for baking cake or cookies?
Thanks & Regards,
Hamsini
Hi Gemma, I was wondering about the lumps. If I leave some of them (in a cake batter), will those be little dry spots/pockets where they didn’t get any moisture on them? (After the cake is baked)
Thank you so much, I’m learning quite a bit on your site.