Knowing what should and should not go into the baking pan can help prevent serious trouble. Each year thousands of people contract food poisoning as a result of improper food handling and preparation techniques. This doesn't happen just in restaurants - most cases of food poisoning occur at home. Changes in school curriculum that have eliminated or reduced home economics classes have resulted in new generations of consumers that haven't learned how to cook food safely. The following tips will help keep the food you and your family eat safe.

Welcome to living above sea level. Though you are living at least a step above the rest, you'll need to elevate your baking game. Lower atmospheric pressure at high altitudes has a greater effect on baking than it does on other types of cooking, since the quality of the finished product depends on a delicate balance of ingredients. If just one ingredient is adversely affected, the entire recipe can fail.

These easy-to-use conversion charts can help you convert your recipes to the measuring system you're most familiar with.

Each recipe ingredient has a purpose – whether it is for stabilizing, sweetening, leavening, thickening, flavoring or more. While it is always best to use the ingredient called for in a recipe, occasional emergency substitutions must be made. The substitutions below will work, but in some cases the flavor and/or texture will be different.

Any baker will tell you how essential it is to have the right equipment. Below, we have identified some of the tools required to effectively carry out your recipes.

You've put on your apron, reviewed your recipe and you're ready to go. You can almost taste the delicious creation you're about to bake. Before you dive in, keep these things in mind: