Editorial policy

Every claim about the world carries its epistemic status on the page. Where BakeHQ is repeating professional consensus rather than reporting a measured result, it says so. Where bakers genuinely disagree, it records the disagreement rather than resolving it by assertion.

Claims that are widely repeated and not supported are recorded as such rather than omitted, because leaving them out means the only accounts a reader can find are the confident ones.

Every science concept carries a mandatory field describing what is not settled about it, and “nothing material” is not an acceptable value. Every one of them has a boundary, and a page that does not state it is implying a completeness it does not have.

BakeHQ does not invent citations, sources, statistics, search volumes or scientific claims. Where a figure would be useful and is not defensible, the page says so instead of supplying a plausible number.

This applies with particular force to two places. Ingredient composition figures quoted as properties of an ingredient type are usually specifications for one product in one market, and BakeHQ states the relationship rather than a number. And the search-demand register contains no volume figures at all, because none have been measured.

BakeHQ publishes no quantities and no methods. This is enforced by the content model rather than by editorial restraint: there is nowhere in the schema to put them.

The line is between explaining and instructing. “Butter must stay a continuous plastic sheet, and both failure modes come from being outside that temperature window” is explanation. “Roll to 40 cm, fold in three, chill 30 minutes, repeat” is a recipe.

No commercial arrangement influences what BakeHQ says. This is structural rather than promised:

• Science and troubleshooting pages are permanently ineligible for any commercial placement, enforced by a static local gate that runs before any provider is consulted.
• Every equipment record carries a mandatory “what works instead” section, rendered above any commercial slot on the page.
• No cause in the troubleshooting model is ever “you need better equipment”.

See commercial disclosure for the full position.

BakeHQ is written in British English and models regional terminology explicitly rather than treating one register as universal. Where a term differs — biscuit and cookie, plain flour and all-purpose flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking soda — both are recorded with the register they belong to, and a note is added wherever the two are not actually the same thing.

BakeHQ explains how baking works. It is not food-safety advice, dietary advice, allergen guidance or professional advice, and nothing here should be relied on as any of those. Where food safety is genuinely relevant, the page points to the relevant food-safety authority rather than paraphrasing it.

Errors are corrected rather than quietly edited away, and a claim shown to be wrong is a more valuable contribution than a new page. See corrections.