As a foodie, my problems are often solved with some form of food or cooking. I don’t like the mess of mixing psyllium with water and then chugging it down. Why not bake it into foods? I read up on the internet and found hundreds of recipes using psyllium, so I was excited to give my idea a try. Read More »
I was watching Martha Stewart Bakes as a break from doing wood work in my living room. I had put all the tools away, swept and was happy with my work. I needed to switch gears so I sat with a cup of tea and watched PBS. I’m not a big Martha fan but I do love baking so I watched. She had a guest chef on from Wisconsin and they made this ultra simple quick bread. Since I love savory over sweet, I thought, “Hey I have all the ingredients for this dish! I’m going to make this right now!” Off to the kitchen I went to get out all the ingredients and start grating the cheese. Read More »
One summer years ago my mother taught a local farmers wife, we will call Mrs. Peterson, how to bake bread. Mrs. Peterson’s young family was having a hard time financially and my mother wanted to see them succeed. She taught Mrs. Peterson to bake bread, rolls, and other yeasted goodies. She gave her advice on how to keep track of money spent on ingredients, and run a small cottage business. It was a skill that would serve Mrs. Peterson for years to come. Read More »
I used to tell people that on my hour long commute home I would cook dinner in my head. I’d get it all figured out once I started over the hill just outside Bernalillo with about 23 miles left to go on my 45 mile commute. Okay what’s in the fridge? Freezer? What can I do with it? Do I have rice? Garlic? Oh hope I have a lemon! Then I’d figure out what to do with it as I drove. Once home I could whip up dinner quickly because it was all there in my head, already done. Having things thought out in your head first is important with horses and with baking. Knowing what you are doing is important, and in my opinion, necessary. Read More »
Every little girl back in the 1960s had an Easy Bake oven. I was lucky enough to have one and loved making the latticed top apple pie and presenting it to my parents. My mother baked large loaves of bread each weekend of my childhood. I did get to help, but I never went from start to finish on my own. I watched and knew the movement and ballet that baking can be. Neuroscience tells us that mirror neurons help your brain wrap around and feel movements when you watch someone else doing something physical. This helped me when I started baking my own bread. Read More »
Not having the gumption to do a double layer chocolate cake this past weekend, I decided to do a recipe I had lurking in my 3-ring recipe collection for many years. Credit for the recipe: 101 cookbooks website, who credit the July 1974 issue of Gourmet Magazine who in turn credit reader Patricia Michaelson. Credit given where credit is due! Read More »
After my first quasi-success, I started researching the types of equipment I needed to bake with, and started ordering supplies. The obvious inspiration here is The Great British Baking Show. I have zero idea what attracted me to it other than watching a show on food that did not use shame as the basic pretense of how they would treat contestants. And I was in a long recovery from cracked ribs so that meant a lot of down time watching Netflix. Since there were totally everyday people on this show and I saw mistakes they made, I felt like I could tackle a cake or two. Each show was totally entertaining and educational. Everyone, including the audience, learned Read More »
During a break in the remodeling action last weekend, I had enough time to bake my next cake. I was giddy! I followed my brand new, thoroughly thought out and researched instructions. When I creamed the butter with the lard, it looked and felt different. So far so good. I danced confidently around the kitchen as I followed my new instructions thinking to myself “You got this!” Read More »
After reading Shirley O. Corriher’s book, CookWise, to find out what went wrong and how to fix it, I had a renewed sense of joy for baking.
I would use lard, which has more air bubbles. Modern day ‘vegetable shortening’ is not something I trust at all. Too much worry about GMO besides other factors. I would cream the lard and sugar together for a minimum of five minutes to incorporate more air. Use less Baking Powder so the cake would not Read More »
After my first cake which had fallen in the center (both 8 inch rounds of cake), and was tough, I had to find out what went wrong. My mother had sent me a book that could help me find, understand, and fix my errors. Baking, after all, is a fine art of careful step-by-step instruction with precision. I’m the shoot-from-the-hip person and I have to learn to slow down and be more precise and careful. It can be done. I will bake 100 cakes if I needed to Read More »
PattyCakes 