Savory Cooking Forgives Mistakes, Baking Does Not

Sauté a bit too much garlic, use olive oil instead of butter, swap one vegetable for another — a savory dish will usually still turn out fine, sometimes better. Baking is chemistry, not cooking, and chemistry has no patience for improvisation. Flour, leavening, fat, and liquid react in exact proportions.

Learn where you stand before you experiment: taste and adjust freely with soups and stir-fries, but the first time you bake something, follow the recipe precisely. Once you understand why each ingredient is there, you can start bending the rules.