Crossing the Threshold

So I have begun trying to actually educate myself about this new hobby of mine, and to do this I picked up a few theory or almost textbook-like tomes. The one I have started with is by Alton Brown, that mad scientist of cooking that many of us love.  Thus far, I have only gotten so far as the introduction, but that has already been enough to get me thinking a bit differently about baking.

One of the biggest suggestions that Alton makes is to begin weighing your ingredients rather than measuring them. Particularly in baking, where formulas are so balanced and important, you need to get the proper ratio. And when you can delicately scoop or tightly pack a cup or flour to make your loaf of bread, if we all were to use digital scales to measure the same 5 ounces we know we'd be making the exact same pastry.

I see his point. My question is: Am I ready to commit?

This is a big step from casual baking to all-out geekery I think. From art to science perhaps? Maybe not, since in my own little world I sort of view all baking and cooking as art. But it's well beyond "a dash of this, a pinch of that."

$30 will change my baking world. Now to decide whether or not to do it.

Uberbrownies!

So this weekend I finally baked something perfect. These yummy, fudgey, delightfully delicious brownies that everyone who taste-tested seemed to love.

Of course, this means it was the one time that I didn't take photos.

Suffice it to say, because I know these work I'm going to take the base recipe and remake, revise, experiment. And in the future I will be certain to take photos. In the meantime, here's the recipe, adapted from something I saw on mykitchenaddiction.com:

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tbl vanilla extract
1 tsp (or so - I never measure this) cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add the sugar. Then cook it a bit until it basically becomes a big pasty yummy glob.

Remove from heat and add cocoa powder, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the eggs and stir until creamy.

Mix in flour and add the chocolate chips, then pour the whole gooey delicious pile into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes

Chocolate Chip Scones

One of my favorite pastries is the scone. A little sweet, a bit dry, and totally tasty and delicious. Well I had some leftover chocolate chips lying around and I was tired of making the same old cookies so even though my favorite scone is of the blueberry variety (so traditional, I know), I decided to try an adaptation of this scone recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

Now if you've ever used Allrecipes you know the importance of reading the comments before baking. I chose this particular version because of it's high ratings and positive comments, plus I liked the touch of orange juice that was listed in the ingredients. I also altered the butter and liquid content a bit based on the comments. The dough, as you can see from the pictures, looked to me like it was perfect.

The finished scones looked pretty good, and I got some great feedback from my taste testers. However for me, the final scone was too "biscuit" tasting. When I think of scones, I typically think of something smoother in texture. I don't know if it's correct, but I like the Starbucks scone. These were more crumbly inside, which could possibly be altered just by using more liquid. More specifically, I'll probably just try a different recipe next go-round and see how they compare. But these weren't a bad experiment, and I'm happy to report all were eaten and enjoyed.

This did add a note to myself: buy coarse sugar! So many "hearty" baked items that have the faint sweet flavor need those yummilicious crystals on top.

Bad Baking Blogger

So the truth is that I am doing a good job of practicing my baking, but a horrible job of blogging. I have about five projects that I have worked on that I need to update everyone about, including Chocolate Chip Scones, Homemade Lasagne Noodles, Guiness Cupcakes, and more. I am going to make a concerted effort to get to these soon, and to get this blog back on track!

Also, I have a few ideas I want to try to make shortly, including a cannoli pie, a strawberry tiramisu, my dad's homemade pizza dough, and a few others. I also want to work quite a bit with muffins, and see if I can come up with some unique ideas that are a strange hit. For instance, I was thinking bacon muffins with chocolate drizzle.

Finally, I have two new baking books that I received for my birthday that I am going to begin studying. I am hoping these can give me the tools I need to make my own unique creations, instead of trying to copy online recipes all the time (there will always be a place for that of course!).

Hopefully, you will all get to see the results of this soon. Ideally, I will bake at least twice a month, with a greater aim of once every weekend.

So those are the plans. I hope to be a better baker - and a better blogger - in the very near future.