Step One: Preparing Your Mise en Place

Mise en place is a French term and means, quite simply, “set in place.” Its application to baking—and all of life for that matter—is basic: get all your ingredients together and equipment lined up before beginning. This allows you to make sure that you are fully prepared to tackle a recipe without having to backtrack or look for some tool or whatever else you might when time is least on your side.

Bear in mind, your mise en place does not just refer to getting your ingredients and equipment in order. No, it means getting your mind in order as well. In fact, it could be argued, quite successfully, that organizing your thoughts is much more important than gathering your ingredients and equipment, for you can never gather the latter unless you first gather the former.