Five Kitchen Essentials You Need While Baking

Chef Bani’s journey in baking
A physics student turned culinary artist, chef Nanda’s love for baking blossomed while watching her mother bake. While her mother Mrs. Nanda would hand-beat the batter, chef Nanda and her sister would climb to the kitchen counter and observe. Once, when their mother was making pound cake, the siblings demolished all the raw batter in one sitting, leaving  their mother with nothing to bake! Moments like these made her fall in love with baking and led to her brushing up on the best techniques at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

On returning, she opened up her patisserie in New Delhi at the young age of 24, a task that didn’t just put her cooking to the test but also her disciplinary skills. The inception of Miam Pâtisserie took place in her grandmother's old bedroom, a space that became the incubator for dreams. After all, it was her grandmother’s encouraging words that gave her the courage to overcome the pressures of switching fields as an adult.

Her mission was simple: she wanted to introduce French patisserie to a crowd unfamiliar with such delights. Let’s uncover the tools and tricks that were her partners in this journey.

First thing’s first: Set up the kitchen
Before she begins, chef Nanda makes sure her kitchen is sparkling and organised. She lays some of her favourite nozzles, piping bags, kitchen seers, a paring knife, a bread knife, a chef’s knife, rubber spatulas, bent palette knives, tweezers, whisks and spoons laid out in a tray on a bed of kitchen roll and then begins.

Chef Bani Nanda’s kitchen essentials for baking

1. Lists
First come the lists, her holy grail. They may be the cake order lists or just daily to-dos. Chef Nanda would pin them neatly on boards. Otherwise, she would lose track of the day.

2. Small bent palette knife
Next comes her favourite tool - the small bent palette knife. The small tool is multi-faceted and compact. Whether you need to decorate a cake, level the layers or fix frosting blunders; this blunt knife offers the precision and control to do so. She swears by it so much that she bought all her chefs one each!

3. Journal
While baking, mistakes could lead to some wonderful discoveries. That’s why, chef Nanda keeps a written account of all the ideas that pop into her head. “I once spilled some dacquoise batter on the tray and it baked into a lovely golden nutty crisp (more like a tuile).
We now use it as a garnish for cakes!”

4. Baking trays
Then come the baking trays, the tool that provides a solid, even cooking surface to the cakes. They come in different materials, shapes, sizes and thicknesses but chef Nanda’s usually weigh 1.3 kgs and are 2 mm in thickness, ideal for commercial use.

5. Stand mixer and immersion blender
As a baker, she is also heavily dependent on her stand mixer and immersion blender. They enable her to evenly mix the ingredients of any of her recipes without spending too much time or physical effort. Plus they are easy to clean and give consistent results each time.

Overall, being organised is the key to baking like a pro! Quality bakeware and the passion to innovate and experiment go a long way for bakers. Like chef Bani, you too, could dive headfirst into the world of sweet goods and be remembered in times of celebration and happiness.