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

72. Blueberry Muffins

Disaster alert! Who knew you could go wrong with a batch of muffins? I've made so many muffins in the past, but the ones I've made from this book just don't turn out right at all. I decided to make these because I had a load of blueberries to clear up (daughter having issues with anything with some kind of skin). I thought she'd probably eat them if they were disguised as cake, and knew we'd enjoy them too. Anyway, I followed the recipe carefully (muffin recipes are dead easy), while making Sunday dinner, popped them in the oven when the roasts came out, and looked forward to sampling one for afters (as we say around here). Well. They looked nice enough, although not as risen as I was expecting. When we attempted to eat them, however, we discovered that they were just a soggy mess. You expect a bit of moisture from the blueberries, but this was ridiculous. I worried that I'd not baked them at the right temperature, but Joe pointed out that they seemed very 'eggy' and I could see what he meant. Elizabeth seemed to enjoy them, but I didn't want her to eat the middle bit, and although I picked at the tops of a few of them, I ended up binning the rest as the ink from the paper cases was bleeding into them, they were that soggy! I then conducted a bit of research, to try and work out why I was failing on the muffin front, and consulted Nigelle's 'Domestic Goddess' book, which I've used to make muffins before. Sure enough, her blueberry muffin recipe is almost exactly the same as Mary's, but with one key difference. She uses one egg instead of two. Could this be the cause of the egginess? It seems likely. So next time I make muffins, I'm going to just use the one egg and see what happens...
Baker's verdict: terrible, although they sort of tasted okay. Waste of good blueberries!
Husband rating: 4/10 - tasted of egg and seemed undercooked.
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