Baking and Kitchen Secrets from Bigwag Dog Bakery

Many of you may already know some of these, but this is the best collection of them that I have seen so far, so I thought I would share:

• Brush beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful, glossy finish! (you probably already knew this one.. just thought it would add to the validity of the tips ;)
• Storing Cake -- If you store half and apple in the container which you are storing a cake, the cake will retain its freshness.
• Dropping Cookie Dough -- To get cookie dough to drop without sticking dip the spoon in milk first.
• Potato chip bag open again and they're all stale and yucky?? Pop them in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, let stand for two minutes and they'll be crispy again. (obviously take out of foil bags if in foil bags)
• A good trick when you go away on vacation is to place a baggie with a few ice cubes in the freezer. If a power failure occurs while you are gone and the food thaws and then refreezes you will know about it when you get home.
• To keep milk past it's expiration date add salt. A pinch of salt in a gallon will do it. The salt slows the rate of bacteria growth.
• Don't panic if your soup's too salty: Add cut raw potatoes and throw them away once they are cooked and have absorbed the salt. Your soup's saved!
• Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.
• Place a slice of bread in hardened brown sugar to soften it back up!
• Substitute half applesauce for the vegetable oil in your baking recipes~you'll greatly reduce the fat content! (Example: 1/2 cup vegetable oil = 1/4 cup applesauce + 1/4 cup oil)
• Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator it will keep for weeks!
• Save your store-bought-bread bags and ties~they make perfect storage bags for homemade bread! (mostly for us super 'savers')
• Mash and freeze ripe bananas, in one-cup portions, for use in later baking~no wasted bananas (or you can freeze them whole, peeled, in plastic baggies)
• Transfer your jelly to a small plastic squeeze bottle~no more messy, sticky jars or knives! This also works well for homemade salad dressing!
• To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes!
• Cottage cheese will remain fresher longer if you store it upside down in the refrigerator. This slows the effects of oxidation.

Now, some of you may ask, "but you guys make dog treats, why would I want kitchen tips from you?". Yes, while that is true and it may seem weird that a dog bakery is sending out kitchen tips, we do have a fully functional commercial kitchen, using human grade ingredients. The only real difference is that we don't add any sugar, salt, or artificial anything. Ok, maybe it's still a stretch. ;)