Om Nyom! My very first foray into baking...

DeVore

I hope baking is "on topic" here... I checked the faq and it didnt seem to be excluded.

This is a thinly disguised "yaaaay!!" thread because I've never baked anything in my life before. I'm afraid you will be seeing more of me (and my future disasters in the kitchen)...


So I'm on holidays and I got a big mad creative buzz (since I have some time, unusually for me!).

Found a great Ipad app for baking and learning how to bake (really great photography in it by the way, its call The Photo Cookbook and there is one for baking and one for cooking). I picked Chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. Mostly because it looked really easy to do (it was!) and partly because I really like choc chip cookies.


So.... with some minor disasters (chocolate melts in hot oil... I was shocked)... I made these and then took these


I am *disgustingly* self-satisfied right now. (oh .. and choc full of cookie!)



cookie3 by devoresphotos, on Flickr



cookie5 by devoresphotos, on Flickr




cookie2 by devoresphotos, on Flickr

Kimia

Lovely photos!

To further the yaying, post the recipe and your photos into the 2011 Random Recipes thread in the Cooking Club sub-forum. Mmm.

DeVore

Will do! The Cooking Club is something I hope to stretch myself to soon (when I have a few recipes tried out!). I know, I should do it the other way but.... I'm shy :P

DeV.

The Lovely Muffin

They look scrumptious!

Can you post the recipe please?

DeVore

Sure, it's here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72363927&postcount=24

The reason they look a bit dark is that I poured warm, melted margarine over the mixture AFTER having added the choc chips. They melted and made it all chocolatey. I had one of those moments when I stop and sigh...."Murphy, you're a dufus." but they taste just fine hehehe...

Also they were still very gooey when I took them out after 12 mins , I didn't realise they crisp up when you leave them cool and dry.

DeV.

Eviledna

Jeepers for your first foray into baking, they are damned impressive cookies!

Try these for some bigger, M&S style cookies!

And do join us in Cake and Pie to further this devilish hobby!:)

DeVore

Actually, those would be a good bit smaller haha... I learned a lot doing this and one thing is that the mix really expands a lot! The recipe said about a tablespoonfull each but it seemed really miserly to me, so I added a bit more and ended up with a baking tray full of cookie

I was quite pleased with how they turned out (though I'm also using some photography hardware to make them look their best ). It wasnt hard to make them though so if anyone out there is thinking "I wish I could make those" let me tell you, I'm no cook and if I can do it anyone can!

I'm quite pleased with myself and I like the fact that I can make nice cookies now myself but I'm astonished at how really bad for you they are now that I know whats goes into them!

DeV.
ps: definitely see you in Cake & Pie soon!

Swampy

Food Porn!!!

Great photos.

DeVore

Bread, I discovered, takes a lot more time
But it was worth it for a slice with melting butter!


Bread by devoresphotos, on Flickr

DeV.

Sparks

Ah, but have you made french toast with the remaining stale slices yet? You've not had french toast until you've made it with homemade stale bread...

Sparks

BTW, WTF? You're in a sunny climate with a back yard and you're baking instead of barbecuing? For shame!

DeVore

Dunno where you get the idea that I have a backyard haha... there is a balcony alright and we do have a BBQ but I'm not going to BBQ for myself alone am I!

Anyway, the folks arrive tomorrow (ash permitting) so we might have one this weekend.

DeV.

The Hill Billy

If you get your mitts on any good local recipes - feel free to share them here.

Sparks

DeVore wrote: »

Dunno where you get the idea that I have a backyard haha... there is a balcony alright and we do have a BBQ but I'm not going to BBQ for myself alone am I!

Why not? What'd be wrong with that?

DeVore

Hill Billy, givus a chance , I just learned how to make bread ffs (and that was a titanic battle which I'm flattering myself was a draw!). It was like Mr Bean wrestling a lump of hot mozzarella!

I put the cookie recipe link above, that was a lot easier and considering that bread goes off in a day (THEY NEVER MENTIONED THAT!!!) , I think I'm more likely to be baking the cookies again than anything else


I'm using The Photo Book cookbook on the Ipad and its absolutely awesome. (great photography too!)

DeV.

Sparks

The trick to the bread is to make a sourdough, keep it in the fridge, tear off small amounts every day and cook rolls, rather than an entire loaf (you only do that if you have a family to feed...)

The Sweeper

Now I didn't know you could do that. How many days is the dough good for if you do that?

Sparks

Dough? 5-6 days, depending on the recipe (my go-to pizza dough recipe rises for this long in the fridge to get a sort-of sourdough taste).

Thing is, the original way to do this was to have a starter colony for sourdough bread, and every day you'd tear off a third of it, add it to some flour and water, and make a loaf of bread; and add back the same amount of flour and water to the starter as you just tore off it, and by the next day, you could do it all over again. But if you're just baking for yourself, (a) starter colonys are a real timesuck, you can't really vanish for two weeks and leave them in the fridge, you have to feed them every day or three; and (b) unless you have a family, or a very small starter colony, you'll have a *lot* of stale bread...