Timings given with recipes can include some or all of the following. They should be listed in recipe order:
Bake:
Chill:
Cook:
Oven:
Prep:
Stand:
Start to Finish: (reserved for really quick recipes)

One of two formats for recipe instructions will be determined by the editor and art director at the beginning of each magazine or book project:

Style 1. Begin instruction in each step with the action word. Italicize key words if desired. Boldface key words at the beginning of recipe steps.
Combine soy sauce and lemon in a small bowl.
Style 2. Start each sentence with vessel or utensil
<In a small mixing bowl combine …

Italicize or place in opposite typeface any ingredients in instructions that aren’t listed in the ingredients list, including water, salt, pepper, and nonstick cooking spray, except water that is only to cook in or soak an ingredient. Subrecipes are an exception.
add 1 teaspoon salt to the mixture
add pepper to taste

Drained, undrained, cooked, etc., should be included in an ingredients list. If not (for space reasons), italicize in the instructions text.
1 16-ounce can tomatoes, undrained (ingredients list)
Add undrained tomatoes to sauce (instructions copy, if not in ingredients list).

Don’t break a fraction or a single-digit number and its measurement at the end of a line.

When an asterisk and some other mark of punctuation occur together within a sentence, the asterisk follows the punctuation mark, with no intervening space.

Use the degree symbol (option-shift-8) and “F” for Fahrenheit after the oven temp (no spaces, no periods).

Use Dimension X with measurements.
8×10-inch pan

Don’t use en dashes between numerals in instructions copy; use “to” instead.
Bake cookies 7 to 9 minutes. (not 7–9 minutes)

Use the word “until” (not “till”) when used to describe a doneness test.
Cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp.

In the method, indicate “preheat oven” at beginning of recipe or at appropriate other point in recipe (e.g., after a long chill time or after rising for bread). It is not necessary to repeat oven temperature in actual baking instructions.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. (NOT “Bake in the preheated oven …” or “Bake in the 350ºF oven …)

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