Knead dough with wet hands; this will stop the dough sticking without adding heaviness.

If left too long the dough will sink, as the carbon dioxide disappears from the yeast. 

Steam is the secret to creating a crusty loaf of bread. Simply place a tray of cold water in the bottom of your oven whilst baking your bread. 

Draw a line on the outside of the bowl where the dough is before leaving it to rise you can then use this to compare after it has been left to rise, a rubber band works equally well. 

Never place the yeast in direct contact with salt or sugar, as this will decrease the activity of the yeast. Use the back of a spoon to create a shallow pocket in the top of the flour and place the yeast there. 

You will be surprised, its not just bread that you can make in a breadmaker. Cakes, jam, ice cream. Using a dough hook/paddle means you don’t have to knead the bread yourself, saving you from all the hard work! Once the dough is ready use the heating element to bake the bread.  

Baking is both a science and an art. While you can follow a recipe, many external variables (temperature, humidity, etc.) will affect your dough. You can’t strictly rely on a recipe because you aren’t baking in a hermetically sealed test kitchen – so learning how the dough should look after kneading is important.

Too little flour and your bread will collapse as it attempts to rise, too much dough and your bread will be dense. You want your dough to be smooth and springy – not so tacky that it sticks all over the mixing bowl, but not tough with excess flour.

You should be able to form it into a tight ball when shaping it after the first rise. This takes time and trial and error, but once you learn it, homemade bread baking will be so much easier. 

For a hand finished bread, use the dough setting on the breadmaker to save time and then shape and bake in the oven for a hand finished product.

When your hot cake comes out of the oven, lay it upside down on a cooling rack to keep it flat. This makes it easier for stacking. 

Keeping your butter cold before grating helps to distribute it evenly in your pastry.

Wrapping your cake in clingfilm when it comes out the oven, this keeps in the moisture.

Darker colours absorb heat faster, using a light coloured dish or cake tin may stop your bakes from burning or becoming dry.  

Once opened, baking soda reacts with moisture in the air and can quickly drop in quality, affecting how well your bakes rise. 

To halve an egg, whisk it together in a bowl then take out two tablespoons of the combined egg mix. 

Leave a slight excess of baking parchment when lining cake tins as this means you can lift your cake out of the tin easily. 

Keep the oven door closed when baking! Try and limit the number of times you open the door to check on your cake as this can reduce heat fluctuations. 

Wet your finger and place it next to the shell. Alternatively, use half an egg shell to scoop them out. 

Lower fat butters tend to have a higher water content affecting the taste and consistency of your bake. Always go for the highest fat content possible.

Putting your cake into the oven before it is preheated will affect how well your cake bakes including the height, density, shape and texture.

Don’t weigh out direct into the bowl, always weigh ingredients separately, in case you make a mistake and for accuracy. Always weigh your water, as the most accurate measure. 1ml = 0.96 g (gram)