Author Topic: Baking 101 (Read 8355 times)

Sergeant Pluck · « **on:** 23 November, 2012, 11:16:04 pm »

I wanna bake. Tomorrow. What do I need? Have oven. Have loaf tin thing. What next?

Ham · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 November, 2012, 11:42:53 pm »

Watchoo wanna bake? Bread? Caik?

Kim · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 November, 2012, 12:22:58 am »

60g per egg of self-raising flour, sugar and margarine will molish a basic cake mix. Add cocoa, fruity things, etc to taste. Grease the tin so it stands a chance of coming out in one piece (top tip: silicone cake tins are brilliant, especially if you cut a hole in the metal one to make a battery spring for your bike light). Vary dry stuff to wet stuff ratio according to desired consistency - it wants to be reasonably high in egg/marg if it's going to survive in a saddlebag, but that's a trade-off against density.

Start small, and do ^_SCIENCE to determine optimal baking time and temperature for your oven. That's the tricky bit. If it's not fan-assisted, shelves may not be equal. If it is fan-assisted, windswept cake may be an issue in some positions. Getting the oven bit right is the really clever bit.

Advanced cake skills left to the experts.

SandyV · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 November, 2012, 04:05:09 am »

Have a look at the recipes thread on this board. There are some very simple and yummy recipes there.

I'm just about to make banana bread, and zucchini slice, for 40 for tonight's Audax ride.

TimC · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 November, 2012, 09:39:13 am »

Give glass of wine and kitchen to my mrs. Wait two hours. Receive excellent caik and tipsy mrs. Job done.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 November, 2012, 10:16:09 am »

Try the recipe threads here, or Delia online. Don't bother with Nigella. Even experienced bakers find her recipes often don't work.

Canardly · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 November, 2012, 10:32:07 am »

Try a spelt loaf delicious.

Sergeant Pluck · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 November, 2012, 10:39:49 am »

Ah, I've spotted the other thread now. Hopefully I'll give it a go later!

Quote from: Ham on 23 November, 2012, 11:42:53 pm

Watchoo wanna bake? Bread? Caik?

The latter

delthebike · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 November, 2012, 10:50:30 am »

Quote from: Sergeant Pluck on 24 November, 2012, 10:39:49 am

Quote from: Ham on 23 November, 2012, 11:42:53 pm
Watchoo wanna bake? Bread? Caik?
The latter

Make a sweet, fruity, bread and get the best of both worlds.

Ham · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 November, 2012, 04:28:47 pm »

1st thing - line the tin with greasproof paper or, better still, baking parchment. Let it cool in the tin.

If you want something that just cannot fail, go for a rich fruit cake.

Making any cake, mix butter/marg with the sugar, then the eggs, then the other stuff. try not to mix too much after you've added the flour.

Making a rich fruit cake, mix flour into the fruit, fruit into the fat/sugar/egg.

Actually, I think that someone left a cake out in the rain, and I don't think that I can take it.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 November, 2012, 05:06:13 pm »

Only leave it to cool in the tin if the recipe says so.

hellymedic · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 November, 2012, 09:31:49 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 24 November, 2012, 12:22:58 am

60g per egg of self-raising flour, sugar and margarine will molish a basic cake mix. Add cocoa, fruity things, etc to taste. Grease the tin so it stands a chance of coming out in one piece (top tip: silicone cake tins are brilliant, especially if you cut a hole in the metal one to make a battery spring for your bike light). Vary dry stuff to wet stuff ratio according to desired consistency - it wants to be reasonably high in egg/marg if it's going to survive in a saddlebag, but that's a trade-off against density.

Start small, and do ^_SCIENCE to determine optimal baking time and temperature for your oven. That's the tricky bit. If it's not fan-assisted, shelves may not be equal. If it is fan-assisted, windswept cake may be an issue in some positions. Getting the oven bit right is the really clever bit.

Advanced cake skills left to the experts.

This is basic 'Dutch pound' mix. Substitute 50ml vegetable oil for margarine to make cake batter you can mix with a hand mixer.
Flavour as you fancy.
Bake at about gas mark 5-6 till knife comes out clean.

SandyV · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 November, 2012, 06:23:54 am »

So, did you bake?

Jurek · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 November, 2012, 06:25:05 am »

And if you did, where's my slice?

fred the great · « **Reply #14 on:** 30 November, 2012, 09:45:28 am »

Blimey he must have sank without a trace

Heavy bread recipe , be careful wot?

clarion · « **Reply #15 on:** 15 February, 2013, 08:24:15 pm »

I've had an urge to bake this week. I've hardly baked owt but bread since I was at school. Nesting, perhaps.

So I had a look through a few of our very many cookbooks, and decided I fancied doing:

Scones
Tea bread (a lighter one than the barm brack Butterfly does so well)
Banana bread
Parkin
Apple cake
Date slice

Not all at once, though.

We had a look through the cupboard and threw away some out of date stuff, then went to the shop.

First task was scones. I took a photo, but Photobucket is being silly, and not letting me copy the address for it. Anyway, it went very well. Next time, I shall have a slightly cooler oven.

Happy with that.

EDIT:

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #16 on:** 15 February, 2013, 10:02:35 pm »

Coincidentally, last week a got a bargain breadmaking machine - £12 from a charity shop - so this week we've been eating homemade bread. We're currently on my fourth loaf, which is the first wholemeal - partly because I thought white would be easier, but mostly because we only had white flour! It's actually come out much better than the white ones, I think maybe because flour is proper bread flour rather than cheapo basics flour (bought for pancakes a long time ago, IIRC). Or maybe because I've sussed the order of ingredients out now (water last, it seems). Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the results and Mrs Cudzo went so far as to say they're "As good as from the Pop-up Bakery" (which is the best bakery near here). I reckon they're even better (and cost a lot less than £2.20 to make). And it's simple. So I'll probably have a go at cake or summat soon.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #17 on:** 15 February, 2013, 10:14:59 pm »

You can't make parkin, Clarion. It's the wrong time of year. If my colleagues find out people make it at the wrong time of year, they'll never stop plaguing me to make it.

clarion · « **Reply #18 on:** 15 February, 2013, 10:19:07 pm »

I'm not making everything all in one go!

I'm not riding much, so I'd end up the size of a house.

Parkin will happen eventually (though I might practice before the main event, so I get it right

)

Arch · « **Reply #19 on:** 15 February, 2013, 10:22:34 pm »

Quote from: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 15 February, 2013, 10:14:59 pm

You can't make parkin, Clarion. It's the wrong time of year. If my colleagues find out people make it at the wrong time of year, they'll never stop plaguing me to make it.

How about issuing them with some sort of token, printed with suitably spaced dates, which they can redeem only on those dates.

A sort of Parkin ticket...

clarion · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 February, 2013, 02:09:08 pm »

Today: Brioche

Big hit with the family

clarion · « **Reply #21 on:** 18 February, 2013, 06:27:12 pm »

Tonight's baking was flapjack, from The Sloth's recipe:

As you can tell, Butterfly couldn't wait for it to cool.

Sergeant Pluck · « **Reply #22 on:** 18 February, 2013, 06:47:25 pm »

Quote from: SandyV on 30 November, 2012, 06:23:54 am

So, did you bake?

No: I always seem to be missing some crucial ingredient every time I'm in the mood, e.g. butter, which we rarely have in the house.

Clarion: very nice!

clarion · « **Reply #23 on:** 18 February, 2013, 07:53:25 pm »

We've had to review our stock of ingredients. I keep putting novel items on my shopping list. I've never bought brandy essence or prunes ever before in my life! But I'll need some for Far Breton, which might be next on the list...

L CC · « **Reply #24 on:** 18 February, 2013, 08:22:23 pm »

Quote from: clarion on 18 February, 2013, 06:27:12 pm

Tonight's baking was flapjack, from The Sloth's recipe:

As you can tell, Butterfly couldn't wait for it to cool.

I miss that