baking

[bey-king]

noun

1. the activity or practice of cooking food using dry heat, especially in an oven.

   Baking can give cuts of poultry a crispy, browned exterior.

2. food cooked using dry heat, especially bread, pastry, cakes, etc..

   Nothing puts me into the Christmas spirit like the smells of holiday baking.

adjective

1. extremely hot.

   It was unseasonably cold last week, but this week it's absolutely baking.

2. used in preparing food cooked with dry heat, especially bread, pastry, cakes, etc..

   I can't make cookies without a baking tray.

3. suited for use in pies, pastry, etc..

   Proper baking apples are needed for a good apple crumble.

baking

/ ˈbeɪkɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. the process of cooking bread, cakes, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a baking dish

2. the bread, cakes, etc, cooked at one time

adjective

1. (esp of weather) very hot and dry

Word History and Origins

Origin of baking¹

First recorded in 1300–50; 1650–60 baking for def. 3; Middle English; bake ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun senses; bake ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses

Example Sentences

For monkey bread, I rolled each dough ball in half the glaze before baking, then brushed the rest over the golden crown as it emerged from the oven, still steaming.

From Salon

Homegrown hacks - tea bags in shoes, sprinkling baking soda, spraying deodorant - weren't cutting it.

From BBC

I went with Honeycrisp because they were the prettiest “apple that stands up well for baking” option at the market.

From Salon

Chemical leaveners, like baking powder and baking soda, however, can actually help the process there.

From Salon

Yet “tradwife’ content spans a broad spectrum: Some influencers focus on relatively apolitical topics like baking and parenting, while others combine those with more ideologically charged content.

From Salon

Related Words

• blistering 
• boiling 
• red-hot 
• scorching 
• searing 
• sizzling 
• sweltering