Mixing Folding Stirring

January 1, 2025

Hello Friends,

Most recipes will instruct you to do tasks like beat, stir, fold or mix at different speeds. Performing these correctly will make a difference in the end. These is especially true when making cakes, muffins and both sweet and yeast breads. The lightness and crumb texture are developed during these techniques.

Pictured Above is a Marble Angel Food Cake. The egg whites are beaten and folded into to the flour mixture.

When told to FOLD, this means to mix very gently with a down, across, up and over motion. Sometimes this is used only to blend ingredients like nuts but mostly it is used in reference to blending whipped egg whites. This is very important to learn if making meringues or cakes requiring beaten egg whites. It results in the least possible loss of incorporated air which accounts for the cakes lightness; extremely important in cakes like angel food.

To STIR is to move the spoon by hand in a circular motion. It is done in a consistent uniform pattern until the mixture is well blended.

MIXING simply means to combine and blend the ingredients until evenly distributed. It is kind of a “generic” term which is greatly used, and many recipes do not tell you to what degree of mixing they should have. It could mean “mix well” or “just until blended”. When making muffins, often the batter is only mixed until the dry ingredients are moistened; this is what makes the muffin texture.

Watch Me! Technique of Mixing: Folding and Stirring

PECAN MUFFINS

Sift together dry ingredients; stir in pecans and make well in center.
Combine egg, milk and oil; pour in well and mix just until moistened.
Fill paper lined muffin cups ¾ full; bake at 400F degrees for 20 minutes.
Immediately remove from pan.

Your friend, Frances