Calling all home bakers – especially those whipping up treats for summer picnics, birthdays, or barbecues! Have you experienced a sinking feeling in your kitchen since moving to the Saanenland? When your cake starts off well … the colour is good and the rise excellent … until it sinks in the middle so that on the plate it resembles the crater in the Wolf Creek films?

If so, you’ve been struck by highaltitude baking.

The impact of altitude on baking
If you’re clueless, then so was I. I have always prided myself on my baking prowess. When I was 12, I came second in a baking competition. (The winner? My mum.) But in Gstaad, I had fail after fail. Summer gatherings turned into a game of guess-what-t his-was-mea nt-to-be, while “It’ll still taste good” became my catchphrase.

Then someone mentioned the impact of altitude. Really? Could that explain what was going on? The simple answer is yes. But why is altitude such a problem for baking?

First, because the higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure. This affects baking in a number of critical ways. Liquids evaporate more quickly, causing cakes to dry out. Lower pressure causes liquids to boil at a lower temperature, so cakes rise too quickly and then collapse. Finally, baking powder reacts more quickly in lower air pressure, so baked goods don’t have time to create a good sense of structure that holds.

The second impact of altitude relates to how you weigh out ingredients. Any baker will know that when it comes to measuring ingredients, accuracy is incredibly important. Baking is a science. It requires precision because it relies on chemical reactions to produce the desired results consistently. A touch too much salt when baking bread? You could easily kill the yeast and ruin the whole loaf. Similarly, you may need to factor in altitude when determining the ratio between ingredients.

Confused? Don’t worry. There are ways to counteract these challenges at altitude so you’ll be consistently producing quality baked goods.

Trial and error
Remember that baking at altitude doesn’t automatically mean a recipe will fail. Or that you’ll never figure it out. With a little trial and error and some minor adjustments, you will be back to creating baked goods that taste and look as good at a mountain picnic as they do at sea level.

ANNA CHARLES

High altitude baking hacks
Important note! Be precise in your approach. Pick one hack at a time so you can evaluate the impact of each change before trying something else.

Increase temperature:
If your cakes tend to dry out or rise too quickly, increase the temperature of your oven by 25 % and decrease the baking time by five to six minutes per 30 minutes of “sea level” baking time.

Decrease the sugar content:
If your cakes collapse (my own particular bête noire at altitude), try decreasing the sugar in the recipe by one to three tablespoons per 200 grams. This is because when the liquid evaporates, the sugar becomes concentrated.

Increase the liquid content:
One of my favourite adjustments is to increase the liquid in your recipe to counteract evaporation. There are three ways to achieve this: by adding an extra egg, using an extra-large egg or adding three to four tablespoons of water per 120 grams of flour. I have also used milk in place of water in cake mixes.

Decrease the baking powder:
To counteract the speed with which the rising agents act, decrease the amount of baking powder by 15 to 25 %.

Decrease the fat:
Because fat breaks down gluten, it can weaken the structure and lead to a collapsed cake. You can avoid this by using one to two tablespoons less fat per 227 grams.