当您第一次开始烘烤时，可能会感觉好像您正在学习一种新语言，从某种意义上说，您确实是。您可能会想知道为什么食谱有这么多的混合术语 - 冰淇淋，切入，折叠，搅拌，击败 - 以及您选择哪种术语。确实如此。您使用的技术和工具可能会极大地影响盘子的结果。让我们探索这些混合术语的真正含义。

Cream butter to aerate cakes

Often the first instruction in cake and cookie recipes is “Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.”

奶油的目的是将微小气泡打入黄油中。奶油未正确充气的蛋糕将是紧凑而密集的，而不是轻便而通风。当您奶油黄油或黄油和糖（最好的工具是桨附件或平底鞋）时，混合物变蓬松，苍白，这是打击空气中的直接结果。

关键问题是：奶油黄油的理想温度是多少？答案取决于您问谁。

Butter holds these air bubbles best at 68°F or just slightly cooler. According to Bruce Healy, a baker who has conducted extensive experiments on this topic, the butterfat in solid butter starts to melt at 68°F. (You can’t see the melting because the butterfat is in an emulsion with milk solids.)

But most cookbooks and pastry chefs call for “room temperature” butter, a term that’s not only imprecise since room temperatures vary immensely, but also, if taken literally, that’s incorrect. In most households, butter that’s truly at room temperature is already a few degrees above 68°F, too warm to cream properly. A better (though less concise) instruction would be to use butter “that’s been left at room temperature just long enough to be pliable yet still firm, not soft and squishy.” Some cooks call this softened butter. With softened butter (it should be about 65°F, which is below room temperature), you can only cream for about three minutes before it gets too warm, the butterfat starts to melt, and some of those precious bubbles collapse. But three minutes should be sufficient to get reasonable aeration.

I get superior creaming when I start with refrigerator-cold butter cut into tablespoon-size pieces.During the first minute of creaming, the butter is still too cold to blend with the sugar. But after six or seven minutes, it’s magnificent—light, very fluffy, and dry.

切黄油以嫩化糕点

The term “cut in” refers to mixing butter or another solid fat with flour. The purpose of this critical step is to grease the flour with the fat and to prevent the formation of gluten, which would make the pastry tough. Gluten forms when flour proteins meet water; as long as you’ve moisture-proofed the flour by coating it with fat, these gluten-forming proteins can’t link up and toughen your dough.

Starting with cold butter is key。这样，您最终会散发出许多与面粉混合的小碎片，而不是完全均匀的混合物。这些大小的黄油块有助于确保面团烘烤后。

许多工具将完成切黄油的工作 - 两把桌刀，一个多剥皮的糕点切割机或指尖 - 但是那些快速而不加热黄油的人是最好的。

搅拌以掺入空气

搅拌是一种有用的混合工具，因为它的钢丝在搅拌碗中多次繁殖一次。结果，搅拌在混合成分和掺入空气方面更快，更有效。对于殴打蛋清或鞭打奶油（搭配大量空气）之类的工作，气球搅拌（一个大质搅打，尖端变成气球形状）是理想的选择。当您搅拌时，奶油或蛋清在齿之间伸展，更有效地捕获空气。

When it’s important to blend ingredients quickly and thoroughly, as when emulsifying a sauce or a mayonnaise, a long, thin whisk is often the best tool. It blends as if you were stirring with a dozen thin spoons.

折叠以保存音量

Folding is the technique used for combining two mixtures with different textures. It’s often called for when mixing a light, aerated mixture (such as whipped cream or whipped egg whites) with a heavier one. To make a soufflé, the goal is to fold beaten egg whites into a heavy soufflé base without deflating the whites. To make a fruit fool, you fold whipped cream into a puréed fruit mixture. In some cakes, nuts must get folded into the batter.

The challenge with folding is to get a uniform texture without losing volume. Gentle lifting is crucial, as is the right tool. A wide, flat utensil with a large surface, such as a rubber spatula or a dough scraper, works well because you can lift up a large amount of the mixture and spread it across the top. By doing this repeatedly, turning the bowl and gently lifting up more batter, the mixtures combine without rough stirring, which would deflate your lighter ingredients.

更多折叠技巧：通过将大约四分之一的较轻的混合物搅拌，有助于首先“减轻”较重的混合物；既然纹理没有太大的差异，这两种混合物将更容易结合。另外，最好将较轻的混合物放在较重的顶部，反之亦然。否则，重底座会使较轻的底座放气。当这是不可行的时候，例如将螺母或面粉与鲜粉的蛋清混合在一起时，将粉末状混合物逐渐逐渐撒在白色上，以最大程度地减少放气。

Stir to simply blend

搅拌可能是所有混合方法中最简单的。它通常意味着使用勺子，刮铲或其他器皿将成分混合在一起，而无需剧烈运动，直到均匀混合。随着搅拌，您不会在空气中跳动，润滑面粉蛋白或保留体积。跳动类似于搅拌，但暗示了电动搅拌机和更活跃的运动。

除非食谱另有说明，否则搅拌不应该是冗长的 - 在某些情况下，搅拌过多可能有害。例如，煎饼面糊需要温和的搅拌才能勉强混合成分。过度刺激会使煎饼变得坚硬。将水果，坚果或巧克力添加到面糊中时，您只需要搅拌直到成分均匀分布。