High Altitude Baking

I'm a baker, it's in my blood. Vivid memories from my childhood of making pasta and cookies and breads and elaborate oven concoctions swirl my brain when I enter the kitchen, and I know all my mother's gifts lie at the ready in my hands, and I feel the presence of my grandmothers double checking my measurements. I like the science of it all, and I love the aromas and results even more. And after living in the high desert of Colorado at 7,000 feet for 12 years, I've learned some great techniques for high altitude baking and cooking. Thanks to my friend Amy for reminding me to share these. Practice makes perfect, and many of these techniques I've learned from trial and error even after all I've read on the subject.

One thing that confused me for years was while water may boil faster at a lower temperature, baked goods will actually take longer. Why? Mainly, atmospheric pressure is less at high altitudes than at sea level, this lower pressure affects the baking of cakes and breads in several ways:

• Heat rises from the bottom of an oven, but since there isn't sufficient air pressure from above to balance this upward pressure, so rising goods tend to expand too rapidly.
  
• Air cells in the center can break and escape because of this too-rapid expansion, resulting in a cake or cookies that will dip or fall.
• Batter may overflow the pan due to the too-rapid expansion of the cake or bread.
• Goods can remain underdone if temperature is not raised to adjust for the lower boiling point at high altitudes.
• Due to rapid evaporation of liquids at high altitudes, goods must be carefully timed and ingredients altered to avoid excess dryness.

Solutions for baked goods (cakes, breads, cookies):

• Use about 5% more flour to disperse the leavening action and slow down the rapid rise
  
• Use 20% more water to counterbalance the rapid evaporation of liquids at high altitudes and the extra flour added to the cake batter, and add a Tablespoon of water into the dry mix before combining it with the wet ingredients to reduce static
• Decrease sugars by 2-3 Tablespoons
  
• Metal pans and trays: bake about 25 degrees higher to help "set" the cake's crust
• Glass pans: bake about 25 degrees lower to help offset thickness of glass
  
• Reduce baking time by about 20% to prevent overbaking at the higher temperature
• Fill pans 1/3 to no more than 1/2 full to avoid batter overflow caused by rapid cake expansion.
• Use ice-cold water and large, cold eggs to give extra strength
• Generously grease and flour cake pans to prevent cake from sticking, and grease the pans for cookies whose recipes don't call for it, the dryness makes all things adhere to the pans
  
• Remove top oven rack to prevent cake from sticking to it, since high-altitude cakes rise higher, and always bake cakes in the center of the oven.
  
• Have oven calibrated periodically, since some thermostats are affected by altitude
• Only cookies with lots of chocolate, nuts, or dates: Reduce baking powder/soda by 1/2.