The amount of flour you get in a cup will vary greatly depending on the way you get the flour into the cup. If you sift the flour first, you will incorporate a lot of air into the mixture, which will cause it to weigh less. If you scoop up the flour, it will pack down into the cup, causing it to weigh more. Most of the cookbooks I've used call for sifting the flour first, though I personally tend to cut corners and lightly sprinkle from a spoon. I looked into what the experts say a cup of flour should weigh, and I like the 4.25 ounces that King Arthur Flour recommends. When making bread, I strongly recommend using weight measurement as opposed to volume measurement, if at all possible. Too much flour can make your baked goods come out chewy, dense, and sometimes even lacking flavor.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder Substitutions
I've personally made the mistake of using a bad leavening agent substitution, so please take the opportunity here to learn from my mistakes. Do not attempt to guess at how much of one thing will substitute for the other. Just don't. The Cook's Thesaurus has a handy substitution guide for leavens that will give you exact measurements when attempting this kind of substitution.
Salt Used in Baking
Increasing Salt: I'm sure a lot of people aren't familiar with why salt is used so commonly in baked goods like cookies, cakes, sweet breads, etc. Believe it or not, salt actually enhances the sweet flavors of these recipes when used in small quantities. You can even enhance the flavor of your baked goods by increasing the salt; however, that's a dangerous path to travel down, as you can easily overdo it and make your food come out tasting salty. If you want to experiment, I wouldn't recommend going more than half again as much as a recipe calls for.
Decreasing Salt: If you're watching your salt intake, you can cut back on the amount of salt used in a recipe, though I would caution against cutting too far back or eliminating it altogether, as it can cause your baked goods to come out extremely bland. I've been pretty successful cutting salt back by as much as half without too much of a hit to the flavor, but try experimenting and see what works best for you if salt is a concern.
Baking Pans
Which type of pan should I use?
Personally, I prefer glass and silicone because they clean up easily and don't rust; however, there are a lot of reasons to choose pans for how they will interact with the food you're cooking. I found a very handy guide on theKitchn that talks about the benefits and disadvantages of each type of pan.
Baking adjustments
For glass pans, the rule of thumb is to decrease the oven temperature by 25° F. For smaller pans, you will need to shorten the baking time. I've tried to find a handy conversion chart, but the best thing I can find are volume conversions. I would recommend starting to check at 3/4 the recommended baking time if you're using smaller pans, such as making cupcakes from a cake recipe or mini-loaves from a full loaf recipe.
Zesting Citrus Fruits
There are a few methods to zesting citrus fruits.
Use the round holes on the zester to get small zests (best for adding flavor to baked goods) or the curved blade on the side to get large zests (good for adding a twist to a cocktail or for recipes calling for larger zest, such as a marmalade).
You can use a vegetable peeler to get larger zests, though you may need to chop them up for most recipes.
Beating Eggs
When beating eggs, you want to crack them one at a time into a separate bowl to ensure that if you accidentally get some egg shells in there, you can either remove them or try again with another egg. Mix the eggs together with a fork until you get an even color.
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