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).


Friday 23 January 2015

70. Special Fruit Scones

I seem to remember quite spontaneously deciding to make these. I had all the ingredients and just fancied knocking something up. I'm having a crisis with scones at the moment, and was eager to find out what would happen if I followed the recipe to the letter. Joe thought he'd heard something about not overworking them and then (after I'd made them) about how not to use the cutter, and Mary says that they shouldn't be 'overhandled'. So I was very careful, added some additional fruity ingredients (candied peel) to make up the required 50g and hoped for the best. As you can see, some of them look suitable scone like, while the others turned out like my usual efforts: decidedly flat! They were very tasty (especially warm with butter), and even after a few days, they weren't horribly dry or anything, just so flat. I've got to crack this. There has to be a way...
Baker's verdict: easy to make, but the results were disappointing.
Husband rating: can't remember but do recall enjoying them.
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