Baking Rules

I like to bake.  I like to bake breads - yeast breads, quick breads, biscuits, rolls (sweet and savory), scones - just typing this makes me itch to go mix some warm water and yeast together and create something to take to work tomorrow.  I like to bake cakes - layer cakes with fillings, pound cakes with streusels and sugary toppings, seasonal fruit cakes like apple or peach, buckles, coffee cakes, cupcakes with piles of frosting on top.  I like to bake pies - glorious pies from fruits and custards and pecans and flaky crusts and cookie crust and graham cracker crusts - I can't wait for Pie Night!  I like to bake cookies - gingerbread and sugar and murbteig and amaretti and even simple oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip.  (Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast this morning, in fact.  It's a breakfast of champions, I promise you.)  I like to bake pastry - croissants, puff pastry, phyllo, danishes - those extra-special treats for extra-special occasions and extra-special people.

But it isn't enough for me to simply bake it and serve.  I have a philosphy of baking that I've spoken through the years but don't recall articulating in writing.  Until now.  I am calling them Baking Rules, but they aren't what you might be expecting.  They aren't rules about oven temperature or only using certain chocolate or unsalted butter or having every unitasker or baking pan at your disposal.  They are more motivational rules, if you will - what I look for when baking over and above the act of making cinnamon rolls or blueberry buckle with fresh peaches and ice cream or fresh blueberry pie or gingerbread men or apple danishes.  (Why am I suddenly hungry?  I can't imagine...)

Rule # 1 - It should be worth the calories.  We work out at Gold's Gym fairly regularly although I'd like to be more regular/frequent about it.  Don't get me wrong here.  I don't want to be more regular or frequent because I like to exercise.  I think athletes make it up when they talk about the runner's rush or some such nirvana type feeling from exercise.  It's all a ruse, I'm sure of it, I just haven't been able to prove it yet.  Nope, exercise for me is simply a discipline, always has been; I 'spect it always will be for me.  I'm now of that age where blood pressure starts to climb.  And I hate to take daily medicines, so we joined Gold's Gym a little over a year ago.  And the last few times my blood pressure was checked, it's back to normal levels.  Beyond that I can tell that my heart is getting stronger as are some muscle groups.  I have a looooooong way to go to meet any sort of other goals along those lines (do I have goals along those lines???), but I have no plans to give up baking or eating what I bake.  (See paragraph # 1 above.)  So it better be worth the calories.  All too often baked goods simply aren't worth the indulgence.  I've made plenty of things that aren't worth the indulgence, but when that happens, I will more often than not either not eat it myself or pitch it out.  I have come to believe that if we're going to indulge, then the indulgence should be satisfying.  Otherwise why bother? It's why we buy real bacon, not necessarily expensive bacon, but really good bacon.  It's why we use real butter.  It's why we use real cream, full fat sour cream.  You get the idea.  I'd rather have less of the really good stuff than more of the just ok.  And when it comes to baking, the same is true.

 

Rule # 2 - The results should be predictable.  It's why I love King Arthur flours so much.  It's why I love Helen Fletcher's pastry recipes so much.  It's why I don't scoop flour when I measure it.  It's why once I found my go-to roll recipe, I quit looking.  It's why I'm constantly tasting for gaps in a baked good - what I think it should taste like vs. what it does.  It's why baking is both an art and a science, neither of which should trump the other, but which work hand in hand so that the result may have a range of predictability (I'm not asking for perfection every time here) but it doesn't break Rule # 1.

 



Rule # 3 - You better be able to taste and feel the love.  Even if Rule # 1 and Rule # 2 are adhered to, if you can't taste the love, then the "cake snob" in me has gone to the dark side.  And that is never a good thing.  I took a new friend from work to my favorite foodie store in the St. Louis area, Kitchen Conservatory, on Thursday to share the love with her. Cause baking, whether it's the results or the tools or the ideas, needs to be shared with others, to pass along the love.  I went back to Kitchen Conservatory yesterday and spent 15 minutes looking for a single cookie cutter for a grandson who really likes a certain animal, cause you better be able to feel the love.  I debated about calling this one Rule # 1, and maybe it really is, but I had trouble ranking these rules since they all play together in my own heart and mind.  The antithesis of this rule is that I better not be baking from pride.  If I am, then I'm setting everyone up for a disappointment, and baking should be about bringing smiles and joy.  And love.

 



So there you have it.  The 3 main rules of baking according to Deb.  Cause baking rules.  (Get it?)  I do love me a good pun!

What does it say about me that I can write multiple paragraphs about what motivates me when baking? 

Don't answer that.  I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

Hmmmm....I may get the hang of this Deb Dessertation idea yet....