Gluten - the elastic strands that give bread its chewy texture - forms when certain proteins in flour interact with water, which is desirable in bread, but not tender cake.

When the urge to bake strikes, it strikes hard and fast. You want to get in the kitchen and start breaking eggs right away, so it can be real buzzkill to find out that the recipe you're using calls for room-temperature butter.

Sometimes there is dogma in baking and sometimes there is not - you just have to know when to break the rules and when to follow them.

Claire Saffitz Quotes