Vox’s posts tagged baking

Saturday in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:59:09 +0000

Another tiger lilly. That seems to be the only thing interesting that I can take pictures of these days. And somehow, I'm not sure they are as good as they could be. Anyone have any ideas on how to take better pictures of tiger lillies?

Our parish picnic was today. I made a couple of chocolate chip cookie pies (new recipe!) this morning, then worked from noon til 3:00. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. I'm not used to being outside in the heat anymore. It was nice to get together with people that I don't get to see that often.

I've been trying for three days to get some more photographs uploaded to iStockphoto, but nothing happens. Don't know if it is my computer, or something else. My slow connection doesn't help matters. I was able to upload over 100 pictures to Snapfish last night.

I've started working on a lap quilt made from homespun fabrics. I was able to buy several new pieces on Friday at Wal-Mart. Hope our local store doesn't close their fabric department!

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Let the Crumbs lead the Way

nobody@vox.com(Frog Prince) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:25:45 +0000

Remember last time I blogged about 6 degrees of separations and deja-vu?

You would also noticed that recently I got to know some other blogger? Remember my partner in the baking lesson, the ever Cheezy Hurley? I was reading his blog yesterday and click on some of his links. I went on to read the blog by SotongZai and then, I noticed he mentioned his colleague by the name of YeeHou, which when I followed the link, I noticed another link which is very familiar, Viewtru!! Which, if you go to his website, you will find a link back to my blog, tmithomas.

Count the link, it is about 6 times removed, talk about 6 degrees of separations, shudders shudders, thus the title of this blog and the mention of some old blogs, ie, the crumbs that lead the way.

Anyway, Viewtru is one of my all time favourite blogger but unfortunately, he went into hibernation mode, probably to make some babies. But he is a very prolific writer and blogger, do go and see his old posts, albeit being a tad "old" but it is still very good read. I believe those who share the same frequency like me will enjoy particularly this post, Viewtru's Lantern Tale. Be forewarned though, it is very crude humour and might offend some people but damn addictive, read at your own perils.

I know for a fact that the symbol gal will enjoy Viewtru's blog, same frequency mah. I would suggest readers to click on all the crumbs that I have hyperlinked in this blog. All of them are very good blogger, much better than me, in fact and you will definitely enjoy all their entries.

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red velvet cupcakes as a Hawaii sendoff

nobody@vox.com(kt_krazy) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:26:48 +0000

Well, I'm sure devouring calorie upon calorie of fat, fat, and more fat is the way to start a Hawaiian vacation. Can't wait to whip out my bikinis.

Utterly inspired by Linda and her outstandingly creative and simple fruit decoration, I decided that I too would partake in a fake nutritious bake fest. Nothing like antioxidants on that little morsel of fatty mcfat fat. Following the FN recipe, I managed by the grace of God to bake a cupcake with a punch! I drove around and gave them to my grandparents, my cousins, aunts, and my best friend's dad's girlfriend (her birthday today!). What what!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
13 ounces granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup water

cupcake ingredients

For the cream cheese frosting:
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound butter, room temperature
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
** I added 1 teaspoon of Chambord just so the berries had something to relate to aside from the unnatural red color of the cupcake

frosting ingredients

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.

sift

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out
tough.

red red batter

Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

For the cream cheese frosting:
Whip the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until creamed. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture and scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

The frosting can be used right away, or stored in the refrigerator up to a week.

Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.

frosted

berry tops

ready to eat

Enjoy! I certainly did.

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For the bakers among us

nobody@vox.com(devillibrarian) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:34:02 +0000

Saw this on Early Word and am now craving cupcakes:

Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make

Alan Richardson

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So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 114, The Mega Post

nobody@vox.com(Singing Horse) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:09:11 +0000

Time really flies. It's the middle of July now. I haven't been blogging much lately. I have a very good excuse this time. I was transitioning to Ubuntu Hardy (a very popular Linux distro) in the past two weeks. I was really busy configuring my system, getting our wireless network to work, and synchronizing the iPod Touch with my new Ubuntu system. I'm really excited about this move because I'm finally free of Windows and all the Windows woes. And I can cut our future expenses down - no more software purchase! And in the midst of setting up my own notebook, my husband's Windows Vista was actually wiped out by a serious and malicious virus. All of his files and his Windows system files were deleted after a reboot. We got no warning whatsoever from our expensive antivirus software. Yeah, what was I expecting a stupid little Windows program to do? The outcome is that now we are both using Ubuntu only. I guess Windows finally pissed us off enough. I'm certainly not gonna miss it.

Being inundated with setting up two Ubuntu systems, I haven't posted any food porn but I have been eating. Well, that goes without saying. I have been cooking, sort of. So this post may seem a little long.

The first photo is the Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche. I saved the recipe from Vegetarian Times for several months before I felt perplexed why I hadn't made it earlier. It was worth the wait, I'm telling you. It's good for a summer dinner that will delight your taste buds, which keeps you refreshed and cheerful.

Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

Here's a closeup that you can't miss. Oh, I really loved this quiche! It's also the first time that I have made a pie crust with whole wheat pastry flour. I enjoyed the whole process for a good reason then.

Deep-Dish Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

The second photo is the Lentil, Bok Choy and Potato Soup. The original recipe is Lentil, Spinach and Potato Soup by Carla of "But Did They Eat It?". I liked it very much, but didn't eat the leftover soup the second day. It's really not the soup's fault. I'm just going through a very particular food-crisis phase. I basically don't know what the heck I want to eat for the next meal.

Lentil, Bok Choy and Potato Soup

The third photo is my first attempt at making mochi. I bought a bag of mochiko a month ago and every time I saw it in my pantry, I felt guilty of not picking it up. One hot afternoon my cravings made me venture into the kitchen and made some basic sweet mochi. I was too lazy to make any azuki bean stuffing, and simply pan-fried (or rather, pan-baked) the mochi. The mildly sweet rice cakes came out so good. Boy, I love Japanese desserts! Oh, I almost forogt. I followed this recipe on Chow.com.

Pan-Fried Mochi

The next photo is Nicole's Four Grain Pancakes. I used the modified recipe by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. Kudos to both Nicole and Aparna! It's a great recipe and I totally loved these healthy and hearty pancakes. These four-grain pancakes can be easily made into savory ones that will go nicely with some beautiful soup.

Four Grain Pancakes

Yet another photo of my regular udon noodle bowl. This one consists of asparagus, dried Shiitake mushrooms (soaked), and faux meatballs. The sauce is simple: a couple dashes of vegetarian oyster sauce, dark soy sauce or tamari, a pinch of hot smoked Spanish paprika and a lot of parsley.

Udon Noodles with Asparagus, Mushroom and Neatballs

And yesterday afternoon I made these beautiful Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffins. The original recipe is by Katy of Legally Vegan. She used chunky peanut butter but I'm loving the unsalted macadamia butter now so naturally I used that. I also subbed a silken tofu "egg". Definitely a keeper!

Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffins

This is after my two bites. It wasn't easy to put down my muffin to take this photo, so I didn't care much about the quality of the photo at all.

Chocolate Oatmeal Macadamia Butter Muffin (Closeup)

Finally, I made a very simple side dish - Summer Squash Sizzle. It's just what I needed in this summer. Crispy vegetables with a hint of lemon freshness. The original recipe is found in My Vegan Cookbook. I love that Web site! Many thanks to the man behind the curtain for all those wonderful vegan recipes.

Summer Squash Sizzle

I guess I won't have much time for regular blogging yet. But I'll try to, especially I've got so much to catch up in my

Vox neighborhood. Until then, take care and God bless!

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As of 9 a.m. this morning...

nobody@vox.com(Laurie) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:46:47 +0000

...I had banana bread in the oven. It is now close to coming out of the oven, and it smells wonderful.

It's always nice to have something different from my usual healthy cereal and banana for Sunday breakfast.

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Mini Moist Chocolate Cupcake

nobody@vox.com(MrsZul) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:22:00 +0000

This cupcakes are my first trial using Royal Icing. Its a trial and error and as most ppl say, u learn from your mistake. And i learned mine. Hehe.

Mini Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

This cupcakes i used size S cups. My mom had suggested to have the cupcakes bite size based on my Yummy Chocolate Cupcakes. The cupcakes were nice except the icing her a bit hard, a contrast to the cupcakes which were moist.

For order, minimum order is 30 pieces @ $0.40 per cupcake (includes icing as above) If desired icing is as the Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, it will be $0.45 per cupcake. Please inform me at least a week before the date u require it.

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Yummy Chocolate Cupcakes

nobody@vox.com(MrsZul) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:59:56 +0000

As i have promised on the cupcakes, all of are chocolate since i'm crazy about chocolate lately and kids like them. I will venture into other flavors as soon as possible. The baking of the cupcakes are very easy, its the creativity of the icing that i find challenging. Since i am new in this, i dont consider myself as a pro but more to a novice.

This cupcake is very yummy actually. I tried it on my siblings and my neighbours. This is one of my first cupcakes . Its very chocolatey, moist and the icing is slightly fudgy. One disadvantage of the icing is that it melts easily on a hot day.Both the cupcakes and icing has a small taste of coca cola, it hits nicely with the chocolate giving it a strong chocolate taste.

Yummy Chocolate Cupcake

I use size ML cups on this one. One batch gives me about 65 cupcakes. I'm accepting orders on this cupcakes. The cupcakes last for several days if kept in fridge.

For orders, minimum order is 30 cupcakes @$0.80 per cupcake (includes icing above). Please inform me at least week before the date you require it.

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Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

nobody@vox.com(MrsZul) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:34:49 +0000

I'm here again :D Been busy with AITI Appreciation Night which was held on 8th July 2008. Thats another story which i will tell later.

Anyways, ive been baking again except i havent posted them up yet.Sabar yeee...I'm using hubby's laptop so no pic of them as yet.

Tonight we have having Arabian Night at hubby's aunt and i tot of making them as my guinea pigs for my new recipe (not really mine lah...hehe just a slight modification) Anyways, here we go...

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

//edit...

I just made a batch and it produced 40 cupcakes and all are gone. Nada kan d hidangkan time minum teh and milo.
Anyway, i'm accepting orders for this cupcakes, please inform me at least week b4. I'm using size M cupcakes and minimum order for this is 20 @ $0.60 each (includes icing as above).

I'm still at hubby's aunt and they are having dancing session with hubby's collection of arab songs. Luckily we have a nurse (1 of my sis in law) on stand-by.

Speaking about Arab, its just a theme for the night since hubby's close relatives just got back from their Umrah last month. Just to share some of the pictures of the event.

DSCF2419

DSCF2426

DSCF2424

More pics will be shared after hubby finish taking them :D......

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Chocolate Covered Rosemary Caramels

nobody@vox.com((Fish)) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:27:56 +0000

The other day I saw a post on Anna's blog that inspired me to once again try my hand at candy making.

About 6 months ago I made rosemary caramel shortbread cookies. The caramel was delicious, the cookies not so much.

I started by using the recipe she linked to for Fleur De Sel Caramels on Epicurious and it was going well until the candy thermometer went from 210 degrees to over 250 in less time than it took me to shoo the dog out of the kitchen.
Suddenly molten candy was bubbling and jets of it were shooting out of the pot and before I knew it a big glob of it landed on my finger and took with it what felt like a pretty sizeable chunk of skin.

Oh it hurt; but once I washed it off it off it look as bad as I was expecting.

It burns! It burns! No. Really. It burns.

I powered through pain, poured out the caramel into the pan and within seconds it was hard as glass and tasted like burnt something or other.

So I tossed that and decided I would make my rosemary caramel instead. This time things went off without a hitch.

When it was done, I cut them into individual pieces, covered them in bittersweet chocloate and sprinkled some Kosher salt on top (because, you know, I didn't have any Fleur De Sel.)

Chocolate Covred!

I found this recipe in an ad published in Bon Appetit magazine, it turns out to be from a website run by dairy producers in Wisconsin
.
From butterisbest.com:

Rosemary Caramel

1/2 cup butter
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Melt butter over low heat in a heavy sauce pan. Place sprigs of rosemary between two sheets of waxed paper and pound until flattened. Place sprigs in butter and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove sprigs from butter. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling, stirring frequently, until caramel reaches 242°F (use candy thermometer); remove from heat.

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i bake my blueberries at night

nobody@vox.com(kt_krazy) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:55:53 +0000

blueberries

My refrigerator is stuffed to the brim with delicious summery blueberries. Suddenly struck by a fear of not being able to eat them all before they spoil, I decided it was time for some baked blueberry goods.

Old Fashioned Blueberry Streusel Muffins (Recipe slightly tweaked from Greenleaf Blueberry Farm)

Muffins:
1 cup milk (I used skim because that's what I had on hand)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used an extra 1/2 cup because I'm trying to get rid of all the blueberries in my fridge!)

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons firm butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

First you should heat your oven to 400°. In the meantime, start preparing your streusel topping. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and cold butter until crumbly. I feel that getting dirty and using your fingers are best. Whatever you decide to use, you'll want the consistency of your streusel to be crumbly.

Now onto the muffins! Grease the bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups with shortening or butter (I went with butter because the recipe already calls for butter, but I bet shortening would have tasted equally yummy, if not better). Beat milk, oil, vanilla, and egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add this to your wet ingredients and mix just until flour is moist. Batter should be on the lumpy side. Carefully fold in the blueberries.

prep

Divide evenly among your 12 muffin tins. Sprinkle with about 2 teaspoons of the streusel topping and bake 20 minutes until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

It looks yummy, no?

prebaked

The lighting on this one came out a little harsh, so my muffins look a bit odd colored, but I assure you they were golden brown and beautiful.

baked

finished muffin

blueberry muffins

It tasted great especially with the fresh blueberries. The muffin itself was a bit dry, so I'm wondering if maybe frozen blueberries were the way to go? Oh well. It's a work in progress and I certainly have enough blueberries to do a few re-dos.

Hope I've inspired you to do some late night baking!

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Independence Day: Perfect Time for Baking with Cherries, Right?

nobody@vox.com(Bansidhe) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:16:02 +0000

The rumor goes that the first President of the United States chopped down a cherry tree when he was a child, so it only makes sense to me that cherry desserts belong at the July 4^th table. -- My mother will probably think I'm insane, but I'm pretty sure she'll enjoy the result.

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

+ / - 2 cups fresh cherries, pitted
2 eggs, room temp
3/4 cup milk, room temp
2 tbsp cream, room temp
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Liberally butter a six-cup baking dish OR six 1-cup ramekins liberally (although oven-proof custard cups or the like would work too, or a six-cup serving dish could certainly work): If using the ramekins, place them on a baking sheets.

Preheat the baking dish(es) in the oven 5 min before filling.

Wash the cherries, cut in half to pit them if you haven't already, and drop the halved pieces on the well-buttered bottom of the dishes. (It's okay to steal a cherry or two for luck and made sure the cherries are mostly even in distribution.)

Combine the eggs, milk, granulated sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, salt and flour, either in a mixer, food processor, or by hand. If using a mixer or blender, leave it on low until the batter looks smooth: When you have the smooth consistency, pour the batter approximately even over the cherries to about a quarter inch from the rim of your baking dish(es). The clafoutis will rise while cooking. Don't fill to the brim!

Put the clafoutis into the oven and leave it alone for at least 20 minutes: Don't peek earlier because you will lose necessary heat. The ramekins will need to bake about 23 to 25 minutes: A full baking dish will run closer to 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven when the center is set. Best if served warm.

When I first made these, I let them cool slightly, and then ate one right off the baking tray with a spoon while it was still just a little too warm. Perfection.

Also note, you can add about a tbsp or two of kirsch or other cherry cordial to the batter while mixing -- I opted out, but I've heard it adds some lovely depth to the dish.

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The Butcher, the Baker...

nobody@vox.com(Laura) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:14:22 +0000

Whew! We've had so much going on lately that I feel like I'm blogging everyday!

With the baby on the way Amos and I have gone a little heirloom-crazy. Not that it's a bad thing; we're just interested in having special things for our daughter and other maybe future children. Add that to Amos's persistence in doing things correctly and I give you this:

Starter Pot for Sourdough bread

Holes in the Starter Pot

This is a custom pot he worked with the local potter from Clinton pottery to create. It's an ideal environment for making a starter for sourdough bread. If you create a starter you can always cut from it, from now until whenever! It grows back because of the yeast activity, so as long as you leave some dough in there you can always make more. This pot was designed to shelter the dough and allow yeast from the air to collect via these tiny holes in the pot. The shaft of the hole goes diagonally down from the inside, so nothing but air (and the yeast it carries from all over) can get in that way.

It's a really neat concept, and one that Amos completely designed. He researched the process and saw that most people start theirs in something like a mason jar, which is not that attractive and quite a bit smaller than he wanted, so he designed this pot. With the increase in surface area, he went from dough ingredients to this burst of activity in only 24 hours!

Yeast Action after 24 Hours

I am really proud of him for designing this pot and seeing it through production. It's already working out amazingly, and I'm sure I'll be partaking in some gustatory rewards soon!

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I Love Fig Season.

nobody@vox.com(Bansidhe) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:02:53 +0000

Okay, I take back most of the nasty things I've said about summer, because figs have arrived at my local farmer's market this past weekend. I did a happy little boogie and dragged my poor mother over to the booth so I could examine them closely, and I ended up leaving with a basket of black and green figs in hand and considerably happier than I'd been walking in.

(And that's already pretty happy, since I love our local Saturday morning farmer's market.)

Of course, the poor figs have been languishing in my mini-fridge since then while I indecisively thumbed through my file of fig recipes. Due to problems with the big fridge, the college mini-fridge has once again become my main refrigerator-- Which means I don't have crème fraîche, and I lost the Salem blue cheese that I ordinarily love to broil figs with in the toaster oven, and so on, and so on...

And then, thanks to my recent obsession with Serious Eats, I found just what I was looking for on the site's new ~~source for food porn~~ feature, Photograzing.

Oh, yes. That's JUST what I needed for inspiration.

.. These herbed frommage blanc fritters are definitely next on the list to make, once I have a fridge with enough room for all my beloved types of cheese.

Fig & Prosciutto Pizza

1 12-14" pizza stone or tin
cornmeal for scattering

1 TJ's garlic and herb fresh pizza dough

White sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2-3 tbsp fresh shredded Parmesan
1 tsp balsamic vinegar, preferably white

Toppings:

1 pint black figs, de-stemmed and sliced thin
2-3 oz. prosciutto
4 handfuls quattro formaggio cheese mix
1 handful fresh shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 500 deg F with your pizza stone / metal pizza tin inside. Let the dough rest and rise for about 20 minutes while the oven's getting warm.

While things are heating, make the sauce: Put the four cloves garlic and one tbsp of the oil into a small blender, mortar and pestle, or other hand-chopper and go to town 'til it forms a small, thick amount of paste. Drizzle in more oil and add in your desired amount of Parmesan: Repeat. Drizzle in the last tablespoon and the balsamic vinegar and stir until combined -- This will make enough to thinly paint your pizza dough. Scale up as you feel necessary, but the cheese will more than make up for any perceived dryness.

Carefully remove the pan / stone from the hot oven with heat-protectors of choice: Scatter lightly with cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking too much. Stretch the dough out roughly 12" with your fingertips and do your best to center it on the hot round: It WILL stick the moment you put it down, with the dough starting to cook. This is good, it'll prevent the dough from slipping away while you put the toppings on. Roll or pat the dough out further, taking care not to burn yourself.

Paint with the white sauce, and sprinkle with about a handful of the quattro formaggio. Lie down strips of prosciutto, cut to your desired size. (I went for long, thin strips, draped around in a spiral.) Sprinkle with another handful and a half of cheese. Top evenly with the thin-sliced figs, and sprinkle evenly with the desired amount of the remaining quattro formaggio and Parmesan.

Pop it in the oven and reduce to 450 F. Check it after ten minutes, and every 2-3 minutes thereafter: My thin-crust pie was perfect after 15 minutes. Enjoy!

I loved how the sweet of the figs paired with the salty of the prosciutto, and the savory of the cheese and garlic 'sauce.' I have to remember to make this one again the next time I get my hands on a pint of figs -- though how can you go wrong with figs + thin slices of cured ham + cheese?

And in case you don't want or happen to have access to pre-made quattro formaggio, here's the proportions:

1 cup (4 oz) shaved provolone cheese
1 cup (4 oz) mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz) shaved Asiago cheese
1/4 cup (1 oz) freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

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Baking, gulp gluten-free

nobody@vox.com(mallorynyc) — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:41:47 +0000

The amount of baking I've done lately is pathetic. I wouldn't even write the post that I'm about to if I had done more, but I just haven't had the time, or in some ways the inclination, since I need to eat less bread (sob!) and I don't know enough people who really seem to appreciate it when I give them bread. I mean, I don't need a card or a bouquet of flowers as thanks, but sometimes people barely thank me, and I'm sorry, that just bothers me.

Gloopy Gluten-Free Loaf, With Xanthan Gum Etc

Gluten-Free Loaf Looks Good

Gluten-Free Crackers

So anyway, here I am with a reviewing project, a compendium of supposedly you-won't-believe-it's-gluten-free recipes. I sucked it up and bought the special ingredients necessary (xanthan gum, which sounds bizarre but is actually natural; special flours like rice and potato; potato and corn starch; apple cider vinegar; a bunch of other stuff) and set to experimenting. I was not very pleased with the results. Some of the loaves looked OK on the outside but none of them tasted right. They were all very spongy. I've never had anyone else's gluten-free bread but I can't imagine it would be any better -- it just can't be, that's why bread has gluten, to give it the bread structure we all know and love. I had a few complete disasters, like the flatbread and cinnamon loaf; the crackers were probably the best, especially since they had some cheese flavor. I don't know, I might be cutting down on bread in my diet but I would never replace it with stuff like this. I must pray that I never develop gluten intolerance. I don't know what I would do. I guess I could just bake for others, but I fear I wouldn't be able to resist sneaking pieces of the dough. With these doughs, it was easy not to tear off a piece to eat. The doughs were super wet and unappetizing; that was a major problem I had with the cookbook overall, it's supposed to be for beginners in gluten-free baking (and other cooking) but there's very little detailed description about what to expect from the doughs. There's more description in my bread books about what to expect from regular doughs, for crying out loud! Anyway, I'm glad this is over, even if I don't get back to baking as frequently as I was for awhile...baking good bread infrequently is better than having to deal with this stuff. Blech.

The Baguettes Don't Look Half Bad...

'Baguettes' Ready to Bake

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