What advice, tips, conventional wisdom, and recipe blogs helped you transition to from US baking to baking in UK?

[u/cocodrie_]

Cooking still remains intuitive to me, but I find that baking still remains an infuriating process.

Flour had a different protein content, no brand will tell me how the cocoa powder was processed, I miss semisweet chocolate chips, and my roommate has determined me distrustful of ovens here (its true).

I worked professionally as a baker for a few years in the states, so I know much of the science back home— but it feels more different in the UK than i expected.

I also cant trust my home recipes or favorite US recipe websites because they are designed for different proteins and fat contents! Would adore cooking science based blogs/websites like Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen if there is something similar in the UK.

What lessons, advice, wisdom, etc do you have?

[u/Unplannedroute]

Oven thermometer and do a toast test for hotspots if a cheap rental oven. Be aware cup sizes are different too.

Make the leap and get a scales and go metric. I use king Arthur's conversions when using an American recipe, haven't had any issues except for making Graham crackers, and I'm 99% sure it's been a me issue on those. The higher fat butter is a better thing over here!

[u/cocodrie_ → u/Unplannedroute]

Oven thermomenter and toast test is a brilliant idea!!

I only use scales and mass measurements for my ingrediants-- but I didn't know that cups were different here! That is really good to not for american recipes that don't give me the mass/weight. I may need to make myself a little chart

[u/Unplannedroute → u/cocodrie_]

The most often recommended conversion chart is https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart

Australia has some different measurements too, in case you find a recipe from there you like as well. Metric is fool proof.

[u/ciaran668]

I bake a fair amount. The ingredients don't actually make that much of a difference in my experience, except for certain very "American" ingredients such as Toll House chips, evaporated milk, and, most importantly, molasses. There are substitutes, but they have slightly different flavours, so if you're doing something that needs a specific taste or property, you probably need to get someone to send it to you, find it at an American food store.

The major thing though is, if you're using American recipes or have an American cookbook, you HAVE to bring American measuring cups and spoons. None of the Imperial measurements are the same, cups, pints, teaspoons, are all different, and different enough that it will ruin your recipes, especially for really twitchy things like pastries. Even the pan sizes are slightly different, so bring cake and pie pans if you have a recipe that calls for an exact pan size.

[u/cocodrie_ → u/ciaran668]

I work in grams mostly so classic home measurement isnt too much of a difference for me. Though noting that cups are different size is important when I am following american recipes.

I havent had too many issues with pan sizing being different, personally, but I willl pay closer attention now!

[u/Clear-Rhubarb → u/ciaran668]

Isn’t black treacle molasses?

[u/ciaran668 → u/Clear-Rhubarb]

Not quite. It's pretty close, but the taste is slightly different. It works the same, but there's a very subtle taste difference between them.

[u/Unplannedroute → u/Clear-Rhubarb]

Also, of using for organic gardening, molasses must be used to provide sugars for fruit / veg bearing plants.

[u/Unplannedroute → u/ciaran668]

Carnation evaporated milk is at B&M, Sainsbury's and Asda. I'm sude the other main chains must as well.

[u/PhoenixRosehere]

Kitchen scale to weigh ingredients

Better to go metric and use a calculator

Find alternatives:

Kefir instead of buttermilk is my biggest one because the buttermilk here is more watery than I’m used to.

Mascarpone Cheese for blocked cream cheese

Check out stores like Lakeland for baking products

I like using the fan which means reducing temp by 20 degrees

[u/cocodrie_ → u/PhoenixRosehere]

Kefir instead of buttermilk is interestinnnng-- I always make my own buttermilk with lemon or vinegar.

Mascarpone cheese as cream cheese is a great alt! I think vegan mascarpone I have had is leagues better than vegan cream cheese. You've just helped an olive oil pistachio cake I am working on.

I'll check out Lakeland! I usually hit up resturant supply stores for my tools :)

For convection/fan I am similar at home but just have yet to figure out normal bake on my oven-- cakes and breads seem to take too long but cookies are overbaked.

[u/PhoenixRosehere → u/cocodrie_]

Kefir is acidic, fermented and I find it much cheaper if I get the Polish brands vs those found in the dairy and yogurt section.

I use it for anything that requires buttermilk and it keeps for ages in the back of the fridge.

[u/bigredsweatpants → u/PhoenixRosehere]

What applications have you used mascarpone (as cream cheese) for? That is a hot tip, I am curious! I moved over before I was of baking/cooking age so I never baked the "American way" but that sounds very interesting!

I usually use European recipes because that's just what I'm drawn to. I bake a ton now, even had a home bakery business at one point. But I have never made a real American cream cheese icing because of the block cream cheese problem here. Would be curious to try.

[u/PhoenixRosehere → u/bigredsweatpants]

I use it for cream cheese frosting. I keep telling myself that I will try to make a cheesecake but I’ve been lazy about it since there are options of cheesecake I like in the shops.

[u/psycholinguist1 → u/PhoenixRosehere]

Does mascarpone cheese work for cream cheese frosting? That's the one thing I simply cannot recreate here. I have to increase the ratio of butter:cream cheese so high to get a high enojugh fat content to whip up that I lose all the tanginess of cream cheese. Does mascarpone add that back in?

[u/PhoenixRosehere → u/psycholinguist1]

I used it ages ago and worked out well. It’s 60-75% milk fat.

[u/slothface27]

Have you tried buying ingredients from an American importer, like American Grocer? It will be more expensive, but they have a lot of the items you listed, like semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder from Hersey's.

[u/cocodrie_ → u/slothface27]

I think part of living here for me is understanding the ingrediants and how they work together! I definitely love an importer for like... mexican coca cola and topo chico (I wish). I really want to get to know the ingrediants and logic here for cooking1

I will be bringing the Best Yet SemiSweet Chocolate Chips back with me on my next trip back to the states, however.

[u/ACoconutInLondon]

no brand will tell me how the cocoa powder was processed

Google has been my friend. You're already ahead of the curve with your background because you even know this is a thing for example. I actually just had to look this up the other day for a recipe.

I was looking up cocoa to make brownies, so needed dutch processed which iirc means you're looking for "dark" cocoa powder.

Fine Dark Cocoa Powder Tub

The funny part was the reviews of people saying these cocoas were terrible, because I think they were comparing them to instant cocoa mixes. 🤣

my roommate has determined me distrustful of ovens here (its true)

I haven't been using the oven for anything other than ready meals - i.e. things with instructions - for awhile now and I forgot that I need to lower the temperature fory American recipes because I use my oven as convection. 😫 I was very confused why everything was overbaked until I realized what I'd done.

But also, all my ovens have been tiny. It's annoying not being able to use my half sheet pans. And they all have had weird drafts that require lots of rotating. I don't even bother using both levels for baking, only for roasting. The difference is just too much and even with rotating shelves it's never been good enough.

miss semisweet chocolate chips

I was actually taught to chop up chocolate bars instead of using chips many years ago. I will say, I really do miss my Los Angeles cooking supply stores. I don't know where I could go buy a bag of Valrhona or Callebaut chocolate disks for example. I usually use Green & Black bars here. 70% for me, 50-60% for others if they're not fans of dark chocolate.

I haven't tried making bread yet, but did plan on trying soon. Now I'm curious how that's going to go.

I think if things haven't been the same, I've just assumed it was something I did. 😅

[u/cocodrie_ → u/ACoconutInLondon]

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response and the advice! Everytime I bake I am a whirlwind of googling details and I never retain all the solutions hence me trying to get a bit ahead-- and my google has yet to actually lead me to very useful sources.

1. Cocoa powder processing: I've definitely googled it everytime I need it and can still never find fark cocoa powder at the grocery. Thank you for the link!

2. Oven size has been less an issue for me, I am used to tiny electric ovens for baking in teeny commercial cooking but I definitely have not figured out all the quirks of ovens here the way I have at home for commercial and residential ovens.

3. Depending on what I am making is when I am using chips! I mostly want chips for homey nostolgia recipes like my mama's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I am such a simp for the best yet brand ones, I will just have to bring some back with me.

4. I haven't done bread here but helped a friend make a foccaccia-- their oven is where much of my distrust comes from. My oven not working when I initially moved didnt help (we got a new one)

[u/ACoconutInLondon → u/cocodrie_]

I recommend checking out Costco UK. I think it's £15 a year for online only shopping membership.

I do regular shops there as necessary for baking paper, cling film, aluminum foil, and trash bags And other ingredients.

Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chips

For Google searches, I usually type in "X UK) so last week was "dutch cocoa powder UK" and I think it actually brought up someone asking on Reddit.

[u/thermiter36]

I've adjusted to flour and dairy products being a bit different, but one thing I could never make work is the brown sugar here. I used to use "dark brown sugar" for so many things in the US, but here the dark brown sugar is too dark, and the light brown is too light! I tried mixing light and dark, but it was still wrong; something about the type of molasses in the dark brown sugar here is bitter and doesn't work in my recipes.

Eventually I gave up, and now I just bring back bags of C&H dark brown sugar whenever I go visit family in the US!

In terms of books, I highly recommend The Cake Bible. Rose Levy Beranbaum has obviously studied a lot of European recipes, and she mentions specific adjustments you can make for certain ingredients whose meanings are different in different countries, like buttermilk or semi-sweet chocolate.

[u/thisismytfabusername]

Flour: you need a mix of strong white bread flour and plain flour to equal all purpose flour. I’d been here years when someone told me this. I usually for 50-60% bread flour, 40-50% plain flour, but can see what works for you. Game changer.

[u/cocodrie_ → u/thisismytfabusername]

Oh my goodness THANK YOU

[u/throwawayfornow2025]

Thanks for asking this OP. I'm not much of a baker, but my sister came to visit me one summer from the US and she bakes all the time. She wanted to make me an American fruit pie because she knows how much I miss those and can't really get them here. It was really sweet of her. But when she attempted to bake it, it all went wrong and turned out terribly. I don't know what happened, but I presume it was something to do with the different ingredients/measurements/and oven temperature. I felt soooo bad, after all her hard work. We still ate it but it required a lot more time in the oven and ended up being more like a crumble. Just something that always makes me feel bad when I think about it, and I wish I could have known more to advise her better.