baking: does it come easily to you?

I actually don't think pie crust is difficult at all. Keep everything cold, including the pie tins, the butter, your hands, the kitchen...put everything back in the fridge or freezer when you're not working it. That's all! There's some evidence that if you do overwork the dough you can save it at the end with a food processor and a bit of added flour, but if you let the butter melt I don't think you can do much at all.

yeah, pie crust is pretty much just temperature and speed - i'm hothanded so i always start by giving the cubed butter/shortening ten minutes in the freezer.

that nandos cake is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

I know some who consider vodka the secret ingredient to pie crust, believe it or not:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/cooks-illustrated-foolproof-pie-dough-recipe.html

From somewhere else:

Swapping ice cold vodka for water in pie crust recipes ensures a flakier crust. The liquid makes the dough more pliable to work with, and then evaporates while baking, giving you a lighter result than water.

yes cold cold cold... I worked as a professional pastry/dessert/baker person for many years. I used to keep the scone dry mix on the fridge overnight. I always pour my pie crust water off of ice. Using a little vodka also helps b/c it does not bind with the gluten structure the same way water does.

I mostly ate vegetarian for many years, so I am pretty skilled at Indian food in particular and can make most things but am very much a novice when it comes to cooking meat. Fortunately Laurie is a serious carnivore and meat cooking expert so she usually does the things like whole chickens or meatballs or whatever. She also knows a lot more about fish than I do.

lol xp

Yeeep, my pie crust recp, bequeathed by my mother, also calls for ice water.

I knew all the basics of cooking (by that, I mean I knew how to follow a recipe and understood most common terms) from a young age bc I had to do the majority of the family cooking from 11 onwards. But I hated it, and after leaving home I never really cooked anything - just plain roast veg, or steamed or boiled or sauteed etc. I only got into cooking when I met my totally-useless-in-the-kitchen vegan husband, and tbh I still mostly hate cooking/baking but have a deep fascination with veganizing stuff (even tho I'm not vegan), and that is the only thing that motivates me.

I think I totally lack cooking imagination

i am motivated by a desire to eat delicious/healthy food in a comfortable environment (home) and not pay out the wazoo for it in a restaurant and/or rely on someone else to prepare it and bring it to me. seriously, that is what makes me do all of the shopping/chopping/cooking. cheap + strongly dislike being served/requiring service.

my love of eating completely powers my love of baking. i like baking foods that I love to eat.

and it makes my house smells nice.

j you are an excelllent baker!!

I think I absorbed by osmosis without realising, a lot from Keith Floyd's old shows. Simple things like omlettes and sauces.

My dad taught me some things as a kid - pan juices gravy and how to do the roast, mainly. Mum hated cooking and served us meat and 3 overboiled veg all the time but all 3 of us kids are avid, good, creative cooks. Go figure.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

yesterday in class we baked puff pastry from scratch. mine turned out fine, but i'm not anticipating making this again any time soon -- all that folding in butter and waiting around for things to set is kind of a pain.

Can I make a lemon-olive oil cake

1. in a ceramic pie dish, because I don't have either a springform or a straight-sided cake pan?
2. whipping up the eggs by hand because I don't have a mixer or a stick blender?

yes to both - to what degree do the eggs need to be whipped?

To soft peaks. Oh also I don't have cake flour--can I use regular unbleached?

I mean I'm going to anyway so I guess that's kind of a rhetorical question.

consistency might be tougher w/o cake flour. you can def whip up eggs to soft peaks using a hand whisk

Instead of the pie pan should I use a cast iron fryer with parchment in the bottom? I could do that if the browning required metal.

i don't know if the maillard reaction requires metal tbh

Thanks for being my own personal answerer! I'mma get on this now so I can eat delicious cake soon.

the cast iron might brown it too much, more than anything

plz ysi some cake to me when it's cooked

yeha and re the cake flour: it'll probably be a little denser with normal flour but it won't be the end of the world

basically dayo otm

Cast iron will work okay. I have cast iron cake and bread pans - the timing can be a bit different (cakes take a little longer because the metal is heavier so slower to heat vs. aluminum).

Oh well I put it in my ceramic pie pan anyway, with oiled parchment on the bottom. I love parchment.

Creamed 5 yolks with sugar for 3 mins and whipped 4 whites to soft peak, all by hand! Feeling kind of mighty atm.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Olive-Oil-Cake-234274

Outside over-done, stupid 45 minutes my ass, my oven's a little hot but it's not THAT hot. But the inside is just right!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Cake_zps64c0b3b9.jpg

Hmm yes. I used the EVOO that we cook with (the only kind in the house) and it's not bad but I can...taste it.

yeah maybe get a bottle reserved specially for non-cooking and try it out again; a good tasting evoo might help

but it looks delicious and fluffy!

It IS fluffy and the crumb is nice and even and it's moist. There's just something off about the taste....

<3 Epicurious. I have a killer olive oil cake recipe that I will try to find and post this weekend. Sounds like the browning/overdone crust issues are with your baking time and maybe, as Jaq mentioned, the heating characteristics of the pan. I usually do a toothpick test about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time on new recipes, ovens can be so fickle.

This WAS about 2/3 of the way through! I think the time is just too long PLUS my oven is hot. If it was just the oven, the outside would be overdone but the middle would be showing signs of suffering from under-doneness, and it's not. The almonds are good, the lemon is...there's a bit of unwelcome fruitiness but I think it's coming from the OO and not the lemon juice or zest.

try regular OO or VOO? i dunno if i'd bake with EVOO tbh

Yeah exactly. Something with less flavor.

yeah I def notice that with certain 'trendy' food items there is a tendency to say, put it in everything! evoo, bacon, sriracha

waiting for the kewpie mayo revolution myself

mmm kewpie mayo cake

cake looks great btw. would eat

My appetite has been ravenous lately, and I'm kind of tired of the usual things I bake (banana bread, black bean brownies), so does anyone have suggestions? Bonus points for vegan, but it's not a requirement.

none of this is vegan but:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/ginger-spice-cookies-recipe
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/new-england-anadama-bread-recipe
https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/01/intensely-chocolate-sables/

or, bake a pound cake

i like this apple berry pie (it is vegan)

https://www.isachandra.com/2013/09/appleberry-pie-with-olive-oil-crust/

i have become a cliché sourdough dad and i love it

LET ME SHOW YOU PICTURES OF MY SOURDOUGH

ok

plz