A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Sunday, 19 February 2012

7. Viennese Fingers

For another break from the cake, I decided to skip a few chapters and bake some more biscuits instead. I've always loved Viennese biscuits, and these totally lived up to expectations. They were easy to make; again, there were relatively few ingredients, and quite straightforward processes involved. I'm wondering if using the electric whisk is really the right way to go with these biscuits, because although everything gets nicely beaten together, it's a bit of a pain when the mixture gets all clogged up around the beaters. Anyway, I learnt something new while making these; how to use a piping bag properly. Mum was on hand to assist in my novice attempt to get the quite dense mixture down to the nozzle; it was actually quite hard work piping the biscuits out! They looked a bit like funny little sandworms on the baking sheet when I'd piped them, but I managed to get the required 20 biscuits out, with a few hand-moulded blobs too, which I wasn't expecting. It seems a little goes a long way where these biscuits are concerned. I really need to trust Mary more...
The biscuits had 11 minutes in the oven, and slid off the tray with ease. I left them cooling for a while before melting the chocolate, and was worried they'd crumble, being a bit delicate round the edges. It was immensely satisfying dunking them in the melted chocolate, albeit a bit messy. They were then put in the fridge to finish setting, because we were too impatient to wait any longer for the chocolate to harden. They did stick to the rack a bit unfortunately.
Baker's verdict: a bit fiddly, but easy enough to make. Lovely light, buttery biscuits - very moreish.
Husband rating: 9/10 - no complaints; he's saving the 10 for something unbeatable.
Dad and Uncle rating: 10/10 -  they were very impressed.

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