All cooks living at high elevations around the world share the common problem of adjusting recipes to meet their special needs. Both beginning cooks and expert chefs face this same problem, but it is especially puzzling to newcomers to Colorado. Don’t think that when you move from a lower altitude to Colorado and experience failures with your favorite recipes you have lost your culinary touch. You can easily learn how to tweak your recipes to compensate for the higher altitude.
High altitude has the greatest effect on baking. Due to decreased atmospheric pressure, rapid evaporation of moisture and lower boiling points at elevations above 2,500 feet, standard methods of baking give less than perfect results.
The higher the elevation, the more changes are necessary. Some recipe adjustments become necessary at altitudes around 2,500 feet, but more adjustments are needed for greater altitudes. This is due to the fact that the boiling point of water at sea level is 212 degrees, whereas at 5,000 feet, the boiling point is 201 degrees. The atmospheric pressure also is lower at high altitudes.
When I moved from Oklahoma to mile-high Denver, many of my recipes did not come out well or were a disaster, but I soon learned how to adjust them. Pecan pie has always been one of my favorite desserts. Imagine my distress when I made a pecan pie in my Denver oven, and it boiled out of the pie shell and all over the oven. I tried several recipes without success until I discovered a pecan pie recipe (see recipe) in Hungarian Flour’s Favorite High Altitude Recipes booklet, which I purchased from the company for about one dollar many years ago.
I discovered the secret to a successful pecan pie was to raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees for the first 10 minutes and then decrease it. Soon I learned how to take my old recipes and make them work well by making quick and simple adjustments: adding a little more flour and liquid, and then raising the baking temperature.
General tips for high altitude baking
There are no hard and fast rules for altitude adjustment because of the various proportions of ingredients in all bake products. Each recipe must be adjusted individually, but here some general rules and recipes of mine that work very well in this high altitude.
When using low-altitude recipes for making a cake, the product tends to expand too rapidly during baking as the air cells break, air escapes and the cake falls. The result can be a sticky mess or a sunken–in-the-middle cake.
Cookies don’t need as much adjustment. Usually just reducing the baking powder and the adding more flour. When my grandkids come over, I let them help me make peanut butter cookies that never fails (see recipe). I also have a never-fail muffin recipe with several flavor variations (see recipe)
Quick breads need less leavening and more liquid so the dough will be softer. It also needs a higher baking temperature. Yeast doughs rise in a shorter time in high altitudes. If raised too long, there is a danger of the bread falling, becoming crumbly or too porous. Cover your dough with a damp cloth when rising to keep the dough from forming a dry crust at high altitudes. Commercial Colorado restaurant chefs often spray their rising dough with water.
Fortunately, cream puffs are not affected by the increased altitude. Also popovers are not much affected, but they may need slightly more liquid.
Baking high altitude adjustments
• Reduce the baking powder, soda or cream of tartar by one half. For example, if your recipe calls for two teaspoons of baking powder, only use one teaspoon.
• Increase the amount of flour in your recipe by about two teaspoons per cup of flour. For example, if the recipe calls for one cup of flour, just add another two teaspoons.
• Increase your oven temperature by 25 degrees. Most recipes with suggested temperatures of 325 degrees or 350 degrees will come out well if baked at 375 degrees or 380 degrees.
• Spray or grease and dust the cake pans with flour more generously because cakes at high altitudes have a tendency to stick to the sides and bottoms of pans.
• Read the small print on boxed baking mixes and make adjustments to make the products come out the best. Even if the mix doesn’t suggest adding a little more flour and liquid, I usually do it anyway.
