Back to baking

I knew it probably wouldn't be a quick process making my way through Global Baker, but it wasn't supposed to be quite this slow.  There were the sick little people to start (a particularly vile Winter lurg that also cost us a WEIT session which was a sacrifice. Thankfully it's our Wednesday again this week), and then of course there's been the stalking of The Raumati Social Club, eating all the white chocolate I bought for the macaroons so I couldn't make macaroons, and being obsessed with beating the husband's (Puss in Boots) Fruit Ninja high score (did it finally last night - took about 4 days of dedicated ninja-ing.  I nearly busted a knee doing a victory lap though, to teach me a lesson in humility in winning).  And trying to organise swimming lessons for the little ginger.  He loves the water and is in the sea every chance he gets (and most chances he doesn't - being allowed at the beach, but not in the water commonly results in a 'woops. I fell in') so it would be foolish not to have him learning to swim, as well as it being really good for his physical therapy (which is part of the over-all therapies group that we're doing with WEIT).

I have been working on it though, at a plodderly pace and I managed three  recipes before the little ginger and the not ginger went down like proverbial stones with their respective diseases, I just didn't get around to writing about them.  Then for a while there was nothing much doing at all because they've been a bit fragile (ergo, generally painful) so it's been a case of throwing together old faithfuls that take little time or thought (but still taste good.  Ish.  I still can't get the hang of the oven.  I'm developing a serious hate for it) for a couple of weeks.  Lazy-pants r us.

But, it's time to get my groove back, so ...

Blueberry cream scones. 

These absolutely made my day when I made them.  They were amazing.  Overcooked, but amazing.  You can see from the edges that I overdid it (they're too golden), which was really annoying, but I'm quite certain I'll nail them on a do-over. They were so unbelievably soft (and I mean unbelievable - they were like a pillow full of feathers. Almost a bit weird.  Definitely disconcerting to a seasoned scone-ruiner) that it felt like they had ages to go, but what I should have done was sacrificed one for the cause when the stipulated baking time was up (especially since I ended up sacrificing one anyway because I still couldn't work out if they were done - I really hate my oven) because I think they probably were done at that point.  Still, they were awesome, and the best scones I think I've ever tasted. Ever. Definitely the best I've made. I made a batch of 8 by the way (the recipe said 8 to10) - next time I'll try the 10.

Madeleines (lemon).

I didn't take a Dean-comparison photo with these.  No idea why.  I'll just have to make them again.  How sad.  Actually, I did make them again, I just didn't take photos the second time, so it'll be third time lucky.  The first time - you can see how it looks a bit furry?  I think I need to work on my pan-flouring skills.  That furry is flour.  I tried them again without flour, but they browned too much.  Or I just overcooked them (that's becoming a bit of a theme here) which is highly possible.  They seemed quite heavy both times and I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be so dense (I've never had a properly made one, so I don't have a point of comparison - they just seem like something that should be lighter), so next time I'm going to make sure I beat the life out of the pan once I've floured it so there's no extra residue, watch the cooking time like a hawk, and make them when the little people are otherwise engaged (or possibly just tied up somewhere. And gagged) and I can take some extra time to do the initial part of the recipe (whisking egg and sugar in a bowl over simmering water) - probably until around the point where my arm is in danger of falling off.

Plain sponge

This was hilarious.  That's not entirely the sponge just there in the picture.  That's the sponge still in the tin.  Woops. 

This could mean one of two things. One, that I'm completely awesome and whipped my eggs so well I got an amazing amount of air into them and this happened (and by 'I', I mean the Kitchenaid). I prefer this option over option two which is that I suspect that what I think is a 20cm cake tin, is not. I shall try again with my next size up tin.

I was both surprised and impressed that the top was actually relatively level post-eruption - I broke two major baking rules (especially for a sponge) during the baking process too - firstly, I opened the oven door not that far into baking time (when it became apparent there was going to be a spongy eruption, so I could stick it on a tray. A cold tray. Bad, bad, bad) and then a few minutes later when it looked like the height of it was going to make it catch on top, I actually took it out of the oven entirely and shifted the thingy-wotsits that the tin sits on, and dropped it down in the oven.  Then I moved it back again towards the end of baking.  By rights, I'm pretty sure it should've been flat as a pancake, or else looked like it'd been made in one of those tins with the holes in the middle.

It was a bit lop-sided, but not too bad.  It tasted good, though I iced it, which was dumb.  I actually think a dusting of icing sugar or something like it would've done the business perfectly.  I'll have to look into what you do with sponges (that isn't jam and cream - so I don't have to eat it all at once.  I can totally handle that, but a wee bit of extra padding in the arse direction suggests that it's possibly not a bad thing that this is turning into a slow process).

This?  This is happiness from Milly's.  It speaks for itself.  I don't have a lot of the bakeware I'll need for all this, so my plan is to stagger the recipes where I don't have equipment with the recipes where I do.  That gives people time to clean out their baking cupboards onto Trademe, or else for me to save up to visit Milly's online. 

My next plan is pinwheel scones (feta, tomato and caramelised garlic I think they are) and almond croissants.  Yuuuum.  The croissants I'll pick up at the market on Saturday (my bit is post-buying croissants) so that'll be my weekend project.  And coffee noms.