I read that the first Monday of April marks the start of National Bake Week. Baking is the most traditional and fundamental way of preparing food. It may be achieved by using open coals, a wood-burning fire, a campfire, a pizza oven, a deck oven, a carousel oven, a spit, a pit, a double-decker oven, earthen rocks built up to enclose a fire, a fireplace, a dutch-oven, a crock-pot and inside aluminum foil. Baking is done by intensely hot and dry heat over a prolonged time.
Down through the centuries, men and women have chosen a variety of ingredients and given them a new spin, just by baking them. It is one of the best ways to cook and add flavor to a dish or a meal. Because most of the time wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, there is a chemical reaction, a complexity of hot air sculpting those ingredients into a newly molded food. After it is baked it has taken on a whole new persona. The end results are always pleasant.
The other side of baking is roasting meats, poultry, fish and vegetables. You don’t need to do much. A little seasoning, put it into the oven, and it turns into something so luscious. Imagine being the first person to discover fire. I think everyone can be glad of that!
Many cooks use their ovens on a daily basis. When an oven is calibrated correctly, and always allowed to preheat to the proper temperature beforehand, the oven produces dependable baked products that are usually perfectly cooked. Ovenware is also considered not only as a container, but as a conductor of heat. 
Again, it helps provide even heating and also helps shape the food into a certain form. Sometimes when cooking with dark colored bake-ware, stoneware, or glass bake-ware, the temperature of the oven should be 25º lower than what a recipe calls for. One way to decide on correct baking utensils is to feel the weight in your hands. If it feels sort of light it could have a tendency to bake unevenly, resulting in a dish’s being overcooked, very dry, or even burned. In such cases you would do well to double your pans, or use a cookie sheet beneath. A lot of times it is necessary to double pan for cookies, biscotti, and scones, too.
So, this is the week to pull out those muffin tins, spring-form pans, cake pans and roasters. Do a bit of practicing on some new recipes, and then fix the ones you like the best over the upcoming weeks. You’ll be sure to have some fun and enjoy tasting all of your hard work. Do leave a comment about what you are baking this week. Baking is one of life’s pleasures!
Here is the link to our member’s baked goods recipes. Be sure to try one.
Tags: baking, first Monday of April, national bake week, ovens, Trivia