Quite often, studying new recipe, young housewives are faced with such a concept as " water bath». If you turn to Wikipedia for its interpretation, then you come into a state of complete trance and fear that you won’t be able to cook a tasty and interesting dish, due to the lack of special technical education. In fact, this method of heating food is elementary, and any woman, even a completely inexperienced woman in cooking, can handle it.

What is a water bath for?

The need for this facility arises in the following cases:

  • It is necessary to melt those ingredients of the future dish that are prone to burning and sticking if they are heated over an open fire;
  • There is a need to warm up the products to a temperature equal to + 50- + 60 degrees. This is true when making cosmetic masks with your own hands;
  • It is necessary to personally prepare healing herbal infusions or decoctions from plants that lose their medicinal capabilities due to the influence of high temperatures;
  • It is necessary to heat foods that, when heated strongly, can change their original structure, gelatin or yolk, for example.

A few basic rules for organizing and using a water bath

In order for the dish to turn out not only tasty, but also to resemble its original, seen in the picture in the recipe book, it is important to follow a few recommendations on how to make water bath at home:

  • The lower container should have thick walls and the same bottom, which will avoid violent boiling and the ingress of water drops into the product to be melted;
  • Before melting chocolate in a water bath, line the bottom of the main, that is, lower, container with a piece of thick towel or linen material, which will also smooth out the boiling intensity;
  • The vessel on top should be selected in such a way that its walls can hang in the air, and the bottom barely touches the surface of the water;
  • When preparing a cream or other product in this way, it must be constantly stirred, avoiding burning, and not missing the moment when it is necessary to stop heating, having achieved the required consistency;
  • Honey or butter will be melted correctly if the upper container is lowered into the lower one only after the water in the latter has boiled;
  • At school, we were shown how a laboratory water bath works. Then the teachers insisted that the upper vessel should not be closed, otherwise it would not interfere with its contents and monitor its condition. In the case of decoctions medicinal herbs a lid is needed, because it is it that will prevent volatilization essential oils plants;
  • If you have to deal with vessels of the same size, you need to attach at least some semblance of handles to the top, or try to hang it from the railing. Otherwise, getting it out in time and not getting burned simply will not work.

Examples of using a water bath

To begin, we present detailed instructions how to make honey cake with cream in a water bath.

The list of required products is as follows:


  • a glass of milk;
  • half a glass of sour cream;
  • butter in the amount of 360 g;
  • a couple of glasses granulated sugar;
  • two tablespoons of natural honey;
  • 4 fresh eggs;
  • 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder;
  • 2-3 cups, filled to the top with wheat flour;
  • a bag of vanilla sugar and 2 tsp. kitchen soda.


  • To make cream, in a bowl you need to mix and beat one egg, half a glass of sugar, vanilla and flour. Then pour milk into the mixture, and stir everything until smooth;
  • Then the cream is placed in a water bath, slowly brought to a boil and removed. Sour cream and 200 g of pre-softened butter are added to it;
  • Before melting honey in an impromptu water bath, it must be mixed with 100 g of butter, a glass of granulated sugar and one egg. All this must be heated until the mass becomes one consistency;
  • Then the dough is removed, the two remaining eggs are quickly mixed into it, and it all warms up again for 4 minutes;
  • Now baking soda is added to the dough, causing a threefold increase in the initial volume of the contents of the bowl. As soon as the sweet mixture stops rising, you can add enough flour so that the dough becomes the same as on dumplings, or even much softer;
  • The base for the honey cake should be allowed to “rest” under the film for 20 minutes.
  • During this time, you should prepare a glaze consisting of 4 tablespoons of sour cream, 4 tablespoons of cocoa and sugar, 60 g of butter. All this must also be brought to a boil in a water bath;
  • From the "rested" dough, 6-8 cakes are formed, which are baked in the oven at a temperature of +200 degrees. Each cake is baked no longer than 10 minutes.

After baking, it remains only to give the cakes the same and neat shape, smear with cream and pour the icing on the cake.

To complete the picture, we give a recipe for a biscuit, which is also prepared in a water bath. From the products you will need:

  • flour - 130 g;
  • sugar or powder from it - 140 g;
  • potato starch - 50 g;
  • eggs - 5 pcs.

With all these ingredients, you need to do the following:


  • To get biscuit dough, in a container it is necessary to mix sugar and eggs, place it in a water bath and constantly beat with a whisk until the mixture heats up to + 40- + 50 degrees;
  • Without ceasing to beat, the container is removed from the bath, and starch and flour are introduced into it;
  • In this version of the biscuit, ground nuts, poppy seeds or raisins can be added to the base;
  • The dough is laid out in a mold, greased with butter, sprinkled with breadcrumbs or dry semolina;
  • The biscuit is immediately placed in the oven, heated to 200-220 degrees, and baked for half an hour.

For decoration, you can cook protein cream, and all in the same water bath. It is prepared from a pair of eggs, 10 g of vanilla sugar, 120 g of regular sugar and 1 pinch citric acid. Initially, we need to carefully separate the proteins from the yolks, since the latter are not included in the protein cream. Both types of sugar and citric acid are poured into a bowl of proteins.

In fact, it's simple and effective method create an automatically controlled environment of a certain temperature. They say that creating conditions for gentle heating of any special delicate ingredients invented by the ancient alchemists.

What it is?

The design principle is to transfer heat through an "intermediary".

The first container filled with water is heated over an open fire.

In a container of smaller diameter placed in it, the contents are heated due to the temperature of the surrounding hot water - the same “intermediary”.

Since boiling water is physically unable to heat up above + 100 ° C, the temperature in a small container, of course, will not exceed this indicator either.

Here you will not burn anything a priori - contact with open fire is excluded.

This principle is widely used in Food Industry. This is how milk pasteurizers are designed and canned food. The water "jacket" of cheese machines transfers strictly limited heat to the cheese mass during the preparation of some delicious types of cheese.

But you, too, have probably pasteurized jars of homemade preserves in boiling water more than once, haven’t you? This simple procedure is also a water bath.

Why and when?

What is a water bath in cooking is not difficult to understand if you know where and how to use it. The “bath” technique is quite troublesome, such a procedure is rarely taken up - when, according to the recipe, the product requires a temperature not exceeding + 100 ° C.

Gourmets have come up with many such recipes.

These are the most delicate creams for cakes, and savory sauces accompanying at least savory dishes(meat, mushroom, fish).

There is a recipe for cheeses, pâtés and even sausages, which cannot be made without gentle even heating.

For example, cooking is easier if you use a simple design of 2 saucepans - this way butter and chocolate will melt faster and easier.

This method allows you to gently heat and melt candied honey, without fear that it beneficial features decrease from high temperatures.

Also, this gentle method of heating is in demand in the preparation of medicinal herbal decoctions. In this procedure, excess temperature is excluded, which means that useful components will not be destroyed. By the way, how to prepare healing decoctions is described in the writings of Hippocrates.

Instruction

The simplest water bath at home is easily constructed from two pans of different diameters.

In the one that is bigger, pour water.

The one that is smaller is inserted into the first container.

Pick up the pans so that the handles of the inner container rest on the edges of the outer one.

Pour water in moderation, up to about half the height of the inner saucepan.

Important, so that boiling water washes its bottom and walls, but does not overflow over the edge.

Thick pot - the best choice. In general, it is better to take the one with a double bottom - the heating will be more even.

That's all. Send the building to the burner.

To heat up in a water bath, and not just on gas or in a microwave, any cooled food is healthier and safer, since everything will warm up evenly, nothing will burn, and exposure to microwaves is excluded, the dangers and safety of which are still being debated.

Crockery - what is suitable?

A more convenient bath will be obtained from a wide, stable pan and a hemispherical Chinese wok pan, which is larger than the diameter of the pan. You can use a bowl or an in-depth ceramic dish of a suitable diameter.

It is these food-grade stainless steel water baths that are made in factories kitchen utensils and are sold for use in "advanced" home cooking.

The inner container is made in the form of a saucepan or bowl with a lid.

In imported version these sets are called "Bain-marie".

It’s easy to organize a “bathhouse” in a slow cooker - this is quite a suitable dish:

  1. pour water into the bowl;
  2. if there is no special stand in the accessory kit, place something suitable in the center of the bowl (for example, a low tea cup);
  3. place the form with the product on the stand;
  4. close the lid, turn on the unit.

For cooking, the "Baking" mode is suitable.

Advantages

In Istanbul, in the Sultan's Topkapi Palace, tourists are shown a medieval cuisine turned into a museum. Among the many huge boilers, pots and other utensils, there are also water baths. They prepared especially delicious dishes.

But at home you can cook real masterpieces.

The low temperature allows you to cook, for example, egg creams or sauces without destroying the delicate proteins.

If necessary, the dish in the "bath" container can be kept hot for several hours. You can serve it in portions, and the main part will always be hot, but will not burn.

One of the secrets of a cooking bath is that it doesn't have to be a water bath. The heat transfer fluid can be oil or salt solutions. Such heat carriers are able to transfer almost any desired temperature to the prepared product. It is only necessary to experimentally select the liquid.

However, not a liquid, but a solid component can serve as an intermediary coolant.

For example - ordinary sand.

This is how Turkish coffee is prepared: the cezva is immersed in hot quartz sand.

Another alternative to water is air or steam.

There are also such Bain-marie designs on sale.

Useful video

You can’t do without uniform heating in a design of two containers if you need to make marshmallow mastic, which is so convenient to decorate different ones, for example. This video shows how to heat the components for mastic:

Dishes cooked with the help of an oven are definitely more useful for a person. They are prepared using minimum quantity oils, in their own juice.

Almost any dish that you are used to cooking on the hob can be cooked just as tasty in the oven. The oven comes in handy even when you don't want to completely abandon traditional frying. You can add benefits to dishes and reduce harm by combining two types of cooking.

Often, especially in restaurants, chefs first fry the product until golden brown, and then bring it to readiness in the oven. Each oven is individual and has a number of features that you can read about in the instructions for it, but there are a few general secrets that will suit the owners of all ovens.

Choose a level


In order for the dish not to burn, remain juicy and fragrant and at the same time fully cooked, it is important to choose the right level of cooking in the oven. A win-win option is to choose an average level, it is on it that the dish will not burn, it will cook evenly. If a golden crust is important, then almost ready meal can be moved to a higher level for a short time. The latest trend is to cook dishes at low temperatures for several hours. It is believed that this method allows you to save the correct texture of products, taste and aroma. In this way, you can cook in the oven at the lower level, but in a mode in which the lower heat is not strong.

Some foods are more difficult to brown from the bottom, so they are best cooked on the lower rack with a strong bottom heat. For example, this is how chefs recommend cooking pizza. That way it won't burn on top and be crispy on the bottom. We advise you not to move the baking sheet close to the back wall, this interferes with air circulation and does not allow the dish to bake evenly.

Choose a mode


In modern ovens, there are many modes that help to cook even the most complex multi-stage dish with maximum comfort. For example, the simultaneous use of top and bottom heat is considered a traditional baking format and almost any dish can be cooked on it. It provides even distribution of heat and natural convection. This mode is quite slow, while the lower heating element works more powerfully in almost all ovens, which means that the dish may not cook evenly. Traditionally, this mode cooks cookies, biscuit, bread, lasagna, stuffed vegetables, roast, poultry, beef, fish and fish casseroles.

Simultaneous intensive bottom heat and standard top heat are used when you need to quickly fry the bottom of the dish or achieve a golden crust. This mode is ideal for roasting in pots and small dishes. If you are using cookware that does not conduct heat well, such as glass, aluminum, then this mode is ideal.

The simultaneous lower, upper heating and fan mode helps to evenly influence the products and creates an even microclimate in the oven. In this mode, the food is heated more intensively due to the air masses and the food is quickly browned on all sides. This mode is suitable for large baking sheets, a large amount of food in a dish and large whole pieces. For example, for shank, rolls, roasts, casseroles, whole poultry, boiled pork. You can cook on it when you need even cooking inside and out. In this mode, we do not recommend experimenting with omelettes and meringues. These dishes do not like convection.

In the bottom heating mode only, we advise you to dry the bottom of the pies with moist fillings, additionally brown the pizza, preserve it. In this mode, you have to rearrange the dish more often to a higher or lower level, monitor the browning. The bottom heating and fan mode is recommended to complete baking open pies, dishes in forms with low sides, for baked goods that do not rise well. In this mode, dishes are obtained with a crust on the bottom and juicy inside.

Top heat with a fan is useful for dishes where you need even cooking and a baked crust. It is very convenient to bake products in forms on it. Suitable for casseroles, soufflés, lasagna, julienne. We recommend using the grill mode for cooking steaks, chops, kupat, rolls, fish fillet, vegetables, toasts, bacon, kebabs, sausages, pork ribs, Dishes In Different Size Shapes. It can be used as the main cooking mode or as a final step to achieve a recognizable appearance. This mode can be called grill, and infraheat, and barbecue - depending on the model and manufacturer.

What do we bake in


Today, a huge number of dishes for baking. The most environmentally friendly are ceramic forms, glass, cast iron. It is very convenient to bake in the baking sheets that come with the oven. We advise you to choose a baking sheet with high sides for juicy, moist dishes, and a flat one for dry ones. It is convenient to cook in ceramic pots and forms, but we advise you to put them in the oven before heating, this will save the dishes from cracking. From a sharp temperature drop, the pot may even burst. In normal cast iron pan we recommend making casseroles from various products, it is in such dishes that they are baked faster and more evenly. Silicone molds are convenient for baking, bread, cheesecakes. Nothing burns in them even without lubrication, which allows you to cook diet pastries.

Cooking in foil, sleeve


In foil, you can bake any food, except for fruits, soft vegetables, cereals, mushrooms. They turn out too boiled and lost their taste. For other dishes, the foil perfectly preserves the juice and prevents the dish from drying out from high temperatures. Important Rule- the shiny side of the foil should always be facing the dish, and the matte side should always be outward. Thus, the temperature required for cooking will be kept longer. When wrapping meat or fish, it is important to ensure that protruding bones or sharp corners of the product do not break through the foil during cooking, otherwise the dish will lose valuable juice. To do this, we advise you to always tightly fasten the edges of the foil.

On average, dishes under foil are cooked at 200 degrees. Baking time depends on the size of the product. For example, meat is cooked from 40 minutes to 2 hours. Fish - from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. Vegetables - about half an hour. Bird - from half an hour to 3 hours. In order to get a crispy crust, at the very end of cooking, the foil is unfolded and the dish is cooked in the intensive top heat mode until a blush. Avoid strong acids such as wine and marinades on the foil. Foil can be used even at very high temperatures, it can withstand up to 600 degrees.

Plastic bags and sleeves made of heat-resistant film allow you to bake in modes up to 230 degrees in sealed conditions. They can simultaneously bake meat and potatoes, fish and vegetables. The side dish is saturated with the aroma and taste of meat or fish, the juices are mixed, and the dish with this cooking method turns out to be very tasty. It is this method that allows you to significantly save cooking time. For example, if a medium-sized turkey is cooked under the foil for about two hours, then in the sleeve it takes about an hour. But it is important to choose high-quality, food-grade, specially designed for baking, then they are absolutely harmless. We recommend that you be very careful when unwrapping the dish and transferring it to a serving plate. Lots of juice!

We advise you to make a few punctures in the upper part of the sleeve or bag with a fork before cooking. Thus, hot air can escape and the sleeve does not burst. There are a few tricks when baking in artificial casing. A large piece of meat does not need to be salted, so it will turn out more tender and melt in your mouth. When roasting a bird, it is better to use dry spices, raw ones can worsen the taste. When baking minced meat it is salted and peppered beforehand and a little flour is added, which absorbs excess salt and moisture. We advise you to salt the fish several times more than usual, about a tablespoon of salt per kilogram. Baked vegetables are advised not to salt and do not put seasonings. This can be done ready-made by adding them to taste along with butter, sour cream and sauce.

traditional baking


If you are preparing a dish without an artificial casing, then during the cooking process it is important to constantly pour the dish with its own juice that appears. Especially if you are cooking large pieces of fish or meat. This method provides a brighter crispy crust, but can also threaten a drier and burnt result. The traditional way of baking involves being in the kitchen all the time. We do not recommend baking dishes from small pieces of meat, fish and vegetables in this way. They may be too dry.

Many do not know that cereals and soups can be cooked in the oven. We recommend that you try it at least once. The soup is cooked in a ceramic or refractory dish under a lid for about 1.5 hours at 200 degrees, then it can be simmered with the mode turned off until the oven cools down or at a very low temperature for about another hour. This soup turns out to be very tasty, with the effect of languishing in a traditional Russian oven. Porridge is prepared using the same technology. In milk or water, it cooks for about 1.5 hours at 180 degrees and languishes for about 40 minutes more. This is delicious!

Cooking in a water bath


Another way is baking in a water bath. It is used when you need to cook dishes from "capricious" products. For example, soufflés, cheesecakes, pates, creams, some casseroles are recommended to be prepared in this way. For a water bath, you need a three-dimensional form into which hot water is poured and a form with the dish being prepared is already placed in it. The water level should reach the middle of the main form or slightly higher. This way, when heated, water will not get into the dish. Cooked in a water bath at 180 degrees. It is this method that allows the dish to warm up evenly and not burn. Even the most tender cheesecake with this baking it will turn out airy and at the same time elastic.

Stew in the oven


You can stew not only on the burner, but also in the oven. You can stew both pre-fried meat, fish, vegetables, and fresh ones. We recommend adding liquid to the mold at the rate of two-thirds of the total volume of products. The minimum amount of liquid is one third, but you need to make sure that it does not boil away. You can stew in water, kefir, milk, whey, broth, depending on the chosen recipe.

Some Tips

  1. Be sure to preheat the oven. We recommend heating a gas cabinet 10 minutes before cooking, and an electric cabinet 20 minutes before cooking. Only very fatty meat is placed in a cold oven.
  2. In order to prevent the vegetables from overcooking and turning into cotton wool, we advise you to turn off the oven until fully cooked and leave the vegetables to reach in the cooling cabinet.
  3. We do not recommend opening the lid during cooking. This disrupts the microclimate and the circulation of air currents. It is enough just sometimes to look through the glass by turning on the backlight function. This rule is especially important when preparing muffins and pastries.
  4. Always follow the temperature indicated in the recipe. In any case, until you become a professional cook.
  5. If you have a very old stove without a thermometer, you can use a simple sheet of paper to determine the degrees. In 30 seconds at 100-120 degrees the sheet turns slightly yellow, at 190-210 degrees the paper turns yellow-brown, the sheet starts to burn at 220 degrees.
  6. Water and salt save from burning. Delicate foods are best cooked in a water bath. To prevent burning, you can use a kilogram of coarse salt scattered on the lower baking sheet.
  7. We advise you to remember that puff pastry baked at high temperature, butter or biscuits - at medium, protein dough- at low.

Classic recipe honey cake in a water bath requires some skill. With the observance of the technology, baking is obtained that melts in the mouth, with a delicate aroma of honey.

Water bath dough for honey cake

When taking up work, you need to stock up on measuring containers in order to accurately measure the amount of ingredients. The dough in a water bath for a honey cake is different in that it does not stick, it evenly heats the mixture.

To get cakes you need to connect:

  • honey 2 tbsp. l.;
  • flour;
  • egg 2 pcs.;
  • sugar 250 g;
  • butter;
  • soda 1.5 tsp

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until fluffy white foam is obtained. AT microwave oven you need to melt the honey, if it thickens, add it to the bulk. Melted butter is added to the dough.

The bowl is placed in a saucepan or ladle, where water is poured onto the bottom so that it does not come into contact with the bottom of the container.

As the mixture heats up, stir with a spatula, separating it from the walls of the dish. When the sugar dissolves, you need to add soda, mix. This is the little secret of airiness finished cake, thanks to the ingredient, the mass begins to bubble, increases in size.

When the mass doubles in volume, it is removed from the heat, flour is added, and a dense dough is kneaded. Leave it in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes, wrapping it in cling film.

Another version of the composition for the test in a water bath:

  • 4 eggs;
  • 4 tbsp. l. honey;
  • sugar 1 tbsp.;
  • 100 g butter;
  • 1 st. l. soda;
  • flour 3 tbsp.;
  • a pinch of salt;
  • vanillin.

This option implies the following sequence of actions: oil, sugar and honey are placed in a container for a water bath. Separately, beat the eggs with a mixer or blender. When the mass becomes a homogeneous consistency, they are added to the dough, constantly stirring (so that the protein does not curl and the yolk does not boil). Stir in soda, wait until the active foaming process stops.

Sift the flour into the mass, first stir with a spoon, then proceed to kneading with your hands. Further, the sequence does not differ from the previous cooking option.

Folk recipes are full of tips for caring for the body and skin. And many of them mention a water bath. Many are perplexed: what is this water bath? Not understanding the meaning, few people dare to try to cook a miraculous recipe.

Let's figure out what is meant by a water bath, where it is used, what is the use of it.

A water bath is a useful and really very necessary device used for heating various mixtures, products and their subsequent melting, cooking. In such a (water) bath, nothing burns, all useful properties are perfectly preserved. We are talking about two pots in which ingredients for home cosmetics and medicines are prepared.

Water bath: when is it needed?

There are a variety of cases when there is a need for a water bath. Someone melts butter, honey, chocolate in this way, and someone needs this bath to make a soap base. You can cook in a water bath gentle cream for cake, sauce for meat and fish dishes. Often such a device is used to prepare medicinal decoctions. In a water bath, face masks, hair masks, nasal warmers (for example, honey cakes), and infusions are prepared.

Advantages of a water bath:

  • It retains all the properties of the prepared ingredients.
  • You can achieve the necessary manipulations with products: melt, heat.
  • Nothing sticks to the sides of the dishes. Products in such a bath do not burn.

It is important to note that it is in a water bath that excessive heating (overheating) of the ingredients does not occur, which is especially important for the preparation of high-quality products.

If you look carefully, it is easy to find special devices for sale. We are talking about designs that are specifically designed for ease of preparation. different products in a water bath. Not all housewives decide to buy a finished device for two reasons: firstly, any kitchen unit takes up a lot of space in the kitchen; secondly, the need for a water bath does not arise very often. That's why many people get by the old fashioned way with two pans of different diameters.

Water bath: how to make at home

Interested in how to make such a miracle bath? Everything is really simple. The main thing is to know the nuances and subtleties. Take two pans, insert the smaller one into the larger one. Pour water into a large one and heat it up. Put in a small desired products, ingredients for warming up.

It is important to take a large saucepan with a thick bottom, which will avoid a violent boil. To reduce boiling, you can lay a linen or cotton napkin on the bottom of the pan. When placing the second saucepan, make sure that its bottom just barely touches the water in the large saucepan. This is how a water bath works: ingredients placed in a small saucepan are heated by the action of hot steam rising from the water in a large saucepan.

Pay attention to the following important points:

  1. If you do not want to spoil the product being made, do not place a small saucepan in a large one until the water in it boils.
  2. You can and should use the lid to cover the second small pot.
  3. In order to avoid burns at the moment of lifting the upper saucepan from the lower one, it is worthwhile to come up with additional handles in advance.

Make a water bath at home several times, and you will definitely succeed. Experience comes with time. The main thing is to try and do. Using a water bath, you can create a variety of cosmetics and folk remedies.