I like baking because it’s essentially chemistry; combining specific ingredients in measured amounts produces a specific result. Unless you’re a seasoned pro, there’s not a lot of room for improvisation, and because of that, there’s not much room for error either.

Baking your own breads, biscuits and cookies can also be a lot better for you health-wise than purchasing packaged goods. While healthy baked goods can be found in grocery stores and bakeries, making your own helps you control what you’re eating and it can also be more economical. When I found out how easy it was to bake my own biscuits and muffins, for example, I stopped buying them in the grocery store. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I like to think my homemade biscuits taste better too.

Experiment at your own risk

When you’re just starting out in the baking scene, experimentation is not usually recommended, unless you either a) like to bake dangerously and don’t mind sacrificing ingredients to the compost after failed attempts, or b) you’re careful not to mess up the ratio of wet ingredients to dry, and all those magical reactive elements like baking powder. It’s also important to understand how certain ingredients can affect the flavor and texture of the finished product. For example, you’d think that using a different type of flour wouldn’t be a problem, but the results can be less than ideal. Different flours have differing compositions and flavors, which can have an impact on the texture and taste of your baked goods.

That being said, however, as you get better at baking and you learn the basics of the chemistry, making a few tweaks and creating your own recipes can be really fun. I have spent the last two months or so perfecting the art of the cornbread muffin (yes, I also spend time with other humans). After experimenting with different flavorings I finally ended on a recipe that was different enough from the one that inspired me that I had made it my own. I’ll soon submit it to the Luvo recipe bank, so stay tuned!

Ways to make your baking better

Ready to elevate your baking skills? Try these tips for boosting the yumminess and nutrition of your baked goods:

Use salt strategically

When your recipe calls for butter and doesn’t specify unsalted, it’s always a good idea to use unsalted butter. This is because the amount of salt in the butter can vary from brand to brand, and most recipes also call for salt, so you could be on your way to super saltiness if you’re not careful. That being said, adding salt in strategic ways can produce mind-blowing results (if you’ve ever tried a salted caramel, you know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout). Try sprinkling a little sea salt on top of your sweet baked goods to elevate their flavor. This works particularly well on cookies that contain chocolate.

Add flavorings

Thankfully, you can usually add savory flavor elements to your baking without issue, as long as the recipe’s structural elements (flour, baking powder, etc.) are left untouched. When I’m baking biscuits or cornbread muffins, I sometimes mix in some chopped chives or chopped peppers (like jalapeno or chipotle) just before baking and the results are always delicious. For sweet recipes, think spices, citrus zest, nuts and dried fruits.

Use whole wheat flour

Using different flours in your baking can make it more nutritionally diverse, but as mentioned above, you have to be careful about the way you do it. If you want to use whole wheat flour in a recipe, Gina from Skinnytaste recommends only substituting half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Adding more than that will affect the flavor of the finished product significantly.

Bring ingredients to room temperature

If you’ve baked before, you likely know that mixing cold butter into a recipe lets you skip arm day at the gym. Provided you aren’t baking something that specifically calls for cold butter (like some pastries), bringing your butter and other refrigerated ingredients like eggs and milk to room temperature makes them much easier to blend. It also produces a more uniform texture in the finished product.

Substitute wisely

There’s nothing worse than setting up your kitchen for a day of baking only to find that you’re missing one ingredient. It can ruin your plans entirely, but not if you have a substitution on hand. If you’re baking at home and find that you don’t have a particular ingredient, this handy substitutions chart from the Joy of Baking should help.

How do you boost your baking? Share your tips in the comments or over on Twitter at @Luvoinc.