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).


Wednesday 22 May 2013

39. Bath Buns

Desperate to make some progress with my project, I finally got around to baking these. They're on my list of first bakes and I've been intending to make them for months and months - at least I had all the ingredients to hand! I think I'd put them off a bit because they didn't seem like an especially appealing bake. It's much more exciting baking a chocolate cake or something equally delicious to eat; these just seemed a bit, well, boring really. Anyway, they're in the book, so they needed to be baked, and I was actually pleasantly surprised by them. I was also a bit put off initially by the bread-making processes involved. The mixture was really simple, and I love kneading, but it's all a faff waiting for things to prove and then having to repeat the processes before they even go into the oven. Making them did fit quite nicely around doing things with the baby, though, but I wouldn't have made them without Grandma being on hand to tend to the little one while I mothered my buns! You forget how long things take in baking; even straightforward processes.


I didn't have the required nibbed sugar for the topping (nowhere round here sells it), so I had to bash some sugar cubes - a very satisfying task, which yielded good results as an alternative to the missing ingredient. The buns actually only needed 15 minutes in the oven, which surprised me, and came out a lovely golden brown, smelling great. A quick tap on the bottom (difficult when they're red hot!) told me they were baked properly, so then it was just a matter of letting them cool down for eating.
We ate them spread with butter, and they were something like a cross between a scone and a hot cross bun really. I think the bake was good - they had a pleasing texture and certainly tasted nice. The candied peel and sultanas made them very fruity. The recipe made 18 buns, which were quite small. I've frozen loads of them, but would probably make larger buns next time as there really was only a few mouthfuls.


Baker's verdict: easy to make and tasty. Not sure I'd rush to make them again, as there are far more interesting things to bake!
Husband rating: 7/10 - nice, scone-like things, tasty with butter. 
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