Question about baking: mixing wet and dry ingredients?

The well is used so you can work the dry ingredients in until you get the desired consistency; that is the way Mom taught me to make biscuits and after trying other ways over the years I learned it is best because I know how light I want my biscuits to be by the feel of the dough. Pasta is done the same way by professional chefs and the home cook who wants to control the density of the pasta. The other recipes are exact measurement recipes to enable anyone to come out with a delicious food.

it all depends upon what you're making.

For example, with a cake, you want to mix all the dry ingredients together before adding the wet.

Why?

Flour contains gluten. Gluten is what gives bread structure and toughness (french bread), but for cakes you don't want a lot of structure. Flour gluten is activated when it comes in contact with water and you start mixing. The idea of dry first then add the liquids reduces the chances of gluten forming from over mixing.

Also, the cake leavening is usually baking powder. Baking powder starts reacting when it gets wet. You want the reaction to occur close to when your going to put the batter in the oven. Start mixing too early, the reaction starts to fizzle out too soon and your cake ends up a little dense.

For pasta making, you typically make a well and knead the dough directly on the counter top. Saves on washing extra mixing bowls, but unlike a cakes you want to form a lot of gluten so the pasta has some structure.

So mixing all at once or dry then add wet depends upon what you're making. If it's something that you want light and tender (for example, a cake) you typically mix the dry and add the liquid last.

it allows you to slowly work the ingredients together rather than having the liquid absorb quickly into a big lump which would not be tasty. As for other recipes not doing that it is the way you put your ingredients together that create the type of mixture you will end with. It is scientific and has everything to do with the types and amounts of liquids and fats versus the dry ingredients, creaming mixtures and cut in mixtures.

question baking mixing wet dry ingredients

you know what? I've always just dumped all the ingredients in there, put the bowl under my heavy duty mixer then left the kitchen for 5-7 minutes and it all mixed well and I used it...I never fussed with the well or separation, yet all always worked out perfectly. Don't worry about it.

The well allows you to mix the ingredients more thoroughly and gives you more control of the amount of ingedients that are being mixed together at once. While you may put the ingredients all together, it may not actually mix as well as you would like.

i think its so the ingredients combine better when you make a well.

what ever works better wid you