New to baking, What to bake ?

[2013]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to baking ive only ever made a simple sponge cake or buns in the past.
Im looking for some baking ideas and gain some knowledge along the way.

Since we now have a bigger kitchen, Ive wanted to learn more cooking skills,

I'm looking for some ideas on what I could bake,

 

[rexehuk]

Potato.

 

[randomshenans]

Suppose it depends on what you like and what you want to become better at? What do you want to be able to do?

 

[2013]

Potato.

Thats too hard to get right.

Suppose it depends on what you like and what you want to become better at? What do you want to be able to do?

Baking is something I have little experience with, I've made a basic sponge cakes before and ive been trying to make pizzas.

Im looking for a few recipes to start with, I've made a simple sponge cake before but that;s it so i want to build on it without jumping to something too advance.

a few different options (cakes, cookies, scones,brownies ext)

Im just wanting a few suggestions on what to bake,

I dont really know where to start from other then make a few more basic sponges and try others at random and hope for the best.

Watch the Great British Bakeoff and copy tasks. Or get a book and work through it. Or look at different types of sponge and work your way through trying them all. Or look at classic type desserts and give them a go - like simple lemon tart/lemon meringue pie, a sachertorte, a croquembouche, etc (I've no idea what your base level of capability is, so eg. just making profiteroles might be your level, but if you're hardcore do next level stuff ).

Bake off is good but with out any recipes and info its just shooting in the dark,
I have been thinking the same build on the sponge cake trying some other and then try a few other thinks.

Any good recipe book you could suggest

baking skill is basic sponge is the most ive done after i left school.



How did you guy start with baking ??

 

[2013]

Thanks, It gives me a starting point.

 

[Putty]

ANZAC biscuits are really nice and relatively easy to make:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3803/anzac-biscuits

 

[cheesyboy]

I don't really bake, generally, but I do tend to do a carrot cake for Mrs Cheesyboy's birthday. Use the Guardian's 'How to Make a perfect Carrot Cake' recipe (though I have to double it for size)
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/15/how-to-cook-perfect-carrot-cake

It tastes great.

 

[ci_newman]

Personally I just flick around different cooking sites (like the BBC Good Food website) and look for food / recipes that look good to me.

For a cookie recipe, start here - http://cookiesandcups.com/the-best-white-chocolate-chip-cookies/

 

[joey1211]

Some bread? I made some Rosemary Foccacia last year which went down quite well.

 

[Glaucus]

An easy and stupidly tasty fruit cake.
https://www.google.pt/amp/www.food.com/amp/recipe/cut-and-come-again-cake-22598

Two alterations
Make a third of the dried fruit glazed cherries
And dust the dried fruit in a tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter. It helps stops them sinking to the bottom of the cake.

 

[FrenchTart]

I might sound like a bit of a fanboi (I totally am) but have a read through Stella Park's articles on Serious Eats for lots of solid information that you can use as a base to better understand baking - rather than just following recipes verbatim and not knowing why one thing works whereas another doesn't.

http://www.seriouseats.com/editors/stella-parks

 

[ttaskmaster]

Try some South African recipes, like rusks and melktert.
Plenty of variations to try, so you can learn and play around with your own ideas as you go. I've never followed a recipe exactly and always ended up with rather nice results.

 

[DrToffnar]

I think with cooking, almost anything is easy if you follow the instructions and have good hands. People often make out that it's something you have to generate years of experience to do properly but in reality it's just a case of putting the work in (though obviously certain things do require more finesse and experience).

However, if you do want to start off with something nice and simple, go with cupcakes and just make your way up from there. You'll be making soft and delicate Viccy sponges within the week!

 

[TacticalFish]

Rosemary Foccacia

+1 for this, an Italian colleague used to bring these in and they were amazing.

Something I've always wanted to try myself however the recipes look so involved it puts me off a bit.

 

[jsmoke]

Got to be caramel shortcake.

 

[D.P.]

Make a real Chocolate cake. Almost no one on the planet can make a good chocolate cake, certainly nearly impossible to buy.Most stuff you buy is just a dry, tasteless brown sponge. But they are really not that hard to do, follow a recipe that involves using 00g of cooking chocolate (90%)) and substitutes most of the flour for cocoa powder. Don't overcook. Should be extremely mosit, rich, creamy, melt in the mouth, not overly sweet, and of course extremely chocolatey.


Similar with cookies (outwith America). Very easy to make a lovely chewy chocolate chip/pecan/oatmeal cookie.

 

[cheesyboy]

Make a real Chocolate cake. Almost no one on the planet can make a good chocolate cake, certainly nearly impossible to buy.Most stuff you buy is just a dry, tasteless brown sponge. But they are really not that hard to do, follow a recipe that involves using 00g of cooking chocolate (90%)) and substitutes most of the flour for cocoa powder. Don't overcook. Should be extremely mosit, rich, creamy, melt in the mouth, not overly sweet, and of course extremely chocolatey.

Again, I turn to the Guardian's "How to cook the perfect...". Well, Mrs Cheesyboy does:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...nov/21/how-to-cook-the-perfect-chocolate-cake

 

[pinkowl]

Just a tip for when baking. Measure out everything first on to one side so when you are making something you don't need to stop the process and you wont miss or forget an ingredient.
Same thing with cake tins and oven. Get them ready first so you are not letting things sit around.

Sounds like a pointless tip but a lot of people don't do this and they really should. It makes things so much more easier and organised.

 

[Rroff]

Make a real Chocolate cake. Almost no one on the planet can make a good chocolate cake, certainly nearly impossible to buy.Most stuff you buy is just a dry, tasteless brown sponge. But they are really not that hard to do, follow a recipe that involves using 00g of cooking chocolate (90%)) and substitutes most of the flour for cocoa powder. Don't overcook. Should be extremely mosit, rich, creamy, melt in the mouth, not overly sweet, and of course extremely chocolatey.


Similar with cookies (outwith America). Very easy to make a lovely chewy chocolate chip/pecan/oatmeal cookie.

With some slight alterations even the "5 minute" microwave method can make great Chocolate cake.

I'm gonna vote cookies just because there are so many possible variations and approaches and lots of potential for putting your own touches to it.

 

[jsmoke]

Make a real Chocolate cake. Almost no one on the planet can make a good chocolate cake, certainly nearly impossible to buy.Most stuff you buy is just a dry, tasteless brown sponge. But they are really not that hard to do, follow a recipe that involves using 00g of cooking chocolate (90%)) and substitutes most of the flour for cocoa powder. Don't overcook. Should be extremely mosit, rich, creamy, melt in the mouth, not overly sweet, and of course extremely chocolatey.


Similar with cookies (outwith America). Very easy to make a lovely chewy chocolate chip/pecan/oatmeal cookie.

Tesco Finest do a fine chocolate cake, best I've ever had. Had at sisters last week, will find out make and model etc.