High-Altitude Baking Conundrums

I've relocated from San Francisco to Denver. From a cooking standpoint, I am in a different world. The foggy, cool San Francisco air was not conducive to making caramels (they came out like taffy, which led me to think maybe this is how taffy was invented--just another failure to create chewy caramel candy). Bread was difficult. The air was damp literally 365 days a year, as I lived near the ocean.

Enter the Denver kitchen. They have a regular summer here. The air is incredibly dry, save for a few thunderstorms at night. There are, and here is where it gets scary...different instructions for baking at high altitude. Altitude? Ah, yes, I am now living precisely 5,280 feet higher than I've ever lived. On second thought, I was nearly 900 feet in the air when I lived on Twin Peaks in SF.

My first indication that I should use the high-altitude instructions actually occurred in Mammoth Lakes, before we left California. I bought one of those fool-proof brownie mixes that comes in a zipped plastic bag. Wanting to make a moist brownie that was a little lower in fat, I got clever and used applesauce instead of oil. I ignored all mentions of high-altitude in the instructions; not out of defiance, but rather, ignorance. Mammoth is between 7000-8000 feet above sea level. Those of you who live in altitude are probably chuckling to yourselves right now. For other neophytes such as myself, let's just say that the "brownies" were about one half-inch thick and soaking wet. They had to be eaten right out of the pan. In fact, we stored them in the fridge. They were more like really wimpy fudge.

But now I have learned! Or am learning, I guess. I bought a boxed brownie mix here and actually followed the instructions. It wasn't that complicated. Turn the oven down 25 degrees and add 3 tablespoons of flour. If I had to figure it out on my own, I'd say that's because the air is thinner up here, and adding flour incorporates more air into the batter...right?

I also attempted a loaf of bread during my first week here. It was whole-wheat bread, which is always a little dicey for me. It tasted fine, but the texture was off. I didn't see any special instructions on the package. According to the friendly Whole Foods website, I have the following to look forward to if I don't learn quickly: Collapsing cakes, overflowing batters, brittle cookies. Mmm.

An investigation: the following can occur at high altitudes: liquids evaporate more quickly, baked goods rise more easily (hmm, didn't seem to happen with the brownies), batters more likely to stick to the pan. Decreased air pressure seems to be the main culprit, and will also result in leavening agents (baking powder, for example) to be overactive. Once cooking, all the gases have already escaped, which accounts for the brownies. I also found out that foods with high chocolate content tend to burn more easily. Oh, the joy! Nothing will make me depressed more quickly than ruined chocolate.

Now I also saw that temperatures should be raised 20 degrees for cakes and cookies. Are brownies a separate category? Something tells me that navigating this new cooking territory is going to be every bit as difficult as climbing a fourteener (mountains over 14,000 feet tall. Colorado has more of them than any other state. This excites people here. I'm still struggling to play tennis down here at a mere mile high).

Basically, no conclusive answers yet. I'll continue experimenting. Luckily, my oven here cooks at a spot-on temperature, which is more than I can say for most SF ovens I experienced--such as attempting quick breads in my boyfriend's oven there, which cooked at least 50 degrees too hot.

Here's to new culinary adventures!