Baking Basics 101: Rubbing in

Hello and welcome to another Baking Basics 101! This week its focusing on the rubbing in method, (please keep all jokes to the end).

What is this process? Its using your fingers to rub a dry ingredient, such as flour, into a fat such as butter or lard. So why do you use this technique? As you rub the flour into butter, the flour gets coated in a layer of butter, which creates a sort of protective coat and this changes the texture of the end product to a crumbled texture.

Equipment:

• Sieve
• Bowl
• Knife
• Chopping board
• Microave if needed
• Fingers and Hands

1. Cut up the butter into cubes and place in a bowl, microwave the butter if its still cold.

2. Place the dry ingredients into the same bowl.

3. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour.

4. You should start seeing that the mixture is turning crumbley. This is the butter and flour combining.

Recipe that use this technique:

Cheese and Tomato Quiche

Stained Glass Decoration Cookies

Apple Crumble (Oh yeah I love this recipe!!)
Soda Bread

If there's a method you'd like to learn and want me to write about, please comment below or let me know on facebook or twitter with the hashtag #bakingbasics101