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, 16 July 2017

103. Drop Scones

I fancied making these for breakfast; they looked easy enough, and I woke up having a real craving for them! I thought I'd probably be able to tempt Elizabeth with them as well, but the husband isn't really a fan of sweet things for breakfast, so he only nibbled the corner of one just to sample the texture!
They were pretty straightforward to make: a basic batter, with the requirement to get it to the consistency of thick cream (not especially precise when you're not an expert on the thickness of cream). Having got it to the thickness I imagined it needed to be, I poured some into the hot pan, but it seemed a bit on the stodgy side, so I loosened the mixture with a little bit more milk. My 'shaping' in the pan was very rough and ready: next time, I might use a cookie cutter to either get nice round ones, or character shapes to appeal to the kids. I had to trust Mary that they'd be cooked through ok by watching for the bubbles and then only leaving them for a minute on the other side, but I was worried about them still being wet in the middle. I also fiddled about with the temperature of the pan, and several were a bit on the dark side with it being too hot, so there's definitely room for improvement.
They actually turned out very well. They were quite small, but two (for Elizabeth) and four (for me) were ample for a decent breakfast, served with golden syrup as suggested. I had one cold later, slathered with chocolate spread as well.
Baker's verdict: easy and not too stressful to make for breakfast. A nice alternative to the shop-bought ones, and you can easily adjust the sugar quantity for younger children. Tasty and a great texture.
Husband rating: didn't have enough to be able to comment, but did say they seemed a good texture.
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102. Sugared Pretzels

So, again, we were feeling a bit 'caked out' the weekend I made these. I trawled through the book to find something of a biscuit nature, so that I could offer some guests something home-baked (as my good friend Cathy always has something for me). These looked straightforward and a bit quirky, and I had the idea of melting some chocolate for dipping them into. Little did I know that they would be more trouble than anticipated!
Firstly, the dough was incredibly wet. I couldn't even handle it, so as soon as I put it on the worktop, I rolled it around in more flour. Secondly, once I started to try and roll each piece into the required long, pencil shape, I found that the dough just kept flattening and was impossible to keep rolling. I attempted to shape it into a pretzel, but found it wasn't long enough, and as I was pressed for time, I abandoned ship and made sugared 'straws' instead!
Misshapen nature aside, they were rather bland, and definitely needed something to dip them into. They'd be ok as biscuits with a brew, probably, but I'm not in any great rush to make them again. Having consulted my fellow blogger's attempt, I will steal her ideas not to flour the worktop to roll the dough, and also practise with play-doh to get the length right for shaping into a pretzel. I will revisit when I can be bothered and have more fiddling time!
Baker's verdict: fiddly and not tasty enough to warrant making again in a hurry!
Husband rating: 3/10 - not a pretzel!
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