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).


Tuesday, 26 August 2014

61. Fast Flapjacks

I love flapjacks. Making them brings back happy childhood memories of baking them with my Grandma (Grandad Ern's wife). I baked these particular ones more or less as soon as I purchased Mary's book, but hadn't decided to write the blog then. Anyway, I've now made them another two times and here are the results. Rather comically, I misread the cooking instructions the first time round. I put them in at the conventional oven temperature rather then the required fan temperature, and ended up with rather brown, rather tough flapjacks! I still offered them, rather sheepishly, to my colleagues, who said they enjoyed them, chewy or not. Perhaps they were just being kind though. Anyway, it troubled me that I made a pig's ear of something so simple, so I made another batch and put some chocolate chips in, for my A Level students. They were much better, as you can see from the contrasting photos! I do struggle a bit with my patience where the adding of the chocolate chips is concerned: I never leave the mixture to cool down enough, so they tend to melt as soon as I stir them in. But then, wouldn't they do that in the oven anyway? Either way, the end result is the same: chocolate-flavoured flapjacks. It's a good recipe; very simple and if you're in your right mind when dealing with the oven, you can't really go wrong. You do just need to keep an eye on the colour and don't be hesitant about taking them out just because they're still soft and bubbling. They do set!
Baker's verdict: a good staple; easy to make and lovely and buttery.
Husband rating: again, I made these so long ago, he won't remember...
 
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