New to baking

[Graeme Purvis]

Good Morning Everyone

I am new to baking it helps with my depression any advice or recipes would be gratefully received

 

[Apocalypso]

Welcome! Baking can be great fun, especially if you don't mind learning by doing. What makes me happy is baking for little occasions that have come up, or making an extra loaf of pumpkin bread and unexpectedly gifting it to a friend. Maybe you can say more about what you've enjoyed making so far or what you enjoy eating yourself, or what you might enjoy making and taking to work, friends, family, or others?

Bread is cool. It's time-consuming because you have to wait for the yeast to do its stuff, but I love the science of it. Also you don't need a whole lot of tools to make good bread, and you can make healthier bread at home than most of the stuff you get at the supermarket... and can scale it, richer with butter, eggs, milk or leaner with simple flour, yeast and salt, with seeds, fruit, nuts, braids, etc. Cakes and cookies are great fun too.

I struggle with wanting everything to come out perfectly, which, of course, when you're a bumbling home baker like I am, isn't always going to happen. I'm learning to enjoy the little imperfections and appreciate the learning curve.

 

[Graeme Purvis]

Hiya
Thanks for advice only recently I have started baking made my first loaf of bread at weekend it turned out ok love making meringues & Nutella Brownies so any advice on them will help going to try my first ever chocolate cake & cheesecakes this week

 

[Apocalypso]

I just made meringue "ghost" shapes for the first time at Halloween, and learned how much difference adding a bit of cream of tartar does to help the egg whites whip up and have the proper consistency. My piping skills weren't great, but I had fun and they were a big hit at the party. I intend to pipe little meringue snowmen to use on top of cupcakes.

My favorite new trick I learned about bread baking is from the high, super-fluffy Japanese Hokkaido milk bread, and it's called a tangzhong (sometimes called a water roux.) You take some of the flour and some of the liquid (water or milk) from the bread recipe, generally about 10% of the flour, scaled to 5x that much in water by weight) and cook it over low heat until the starch releases and you get a thick pudding-like gel. Cool that gel and when added to a bread recipe, it makes it fluffier, it stays softer, and the bread has a fresher texture longer.

Here's a quick video:

 

[Graeme Purvis]

That sounds cool might try that out any ideas how to make Nutella Meringues

 

[Apocalypso]

That sounds cool might try that out any ideas how to make Nutella Meringues

Are they meringues with Nutella hiding in the middle? Or two meringue biscuits with Nutella filling?

I was surprised that Gemma Stafford of Bigger Bolder Baking hasn't done this, as she makes a lot of Nutella-flavored treats. But I did find this video. My thought on this would be to make them each a lot smaller than she does here so they're just two bites.

I tried making meringues with a whole marshmallow in them, and they spread out too much when the marshmallow melted, developed little gaps where the marshmallow leaked out. I would think Nutella would have the same issue. Maybe just do two small flatter biscuit shaped meringues and make a sandwich with Nutella?

 

[Graeme Purvis]

That’s what I thought might go with the sandwich
Thanks

 

[ninamari]

Welcome to the forums @Graeme Purvis !

Baking is definitely therapeutic (except, similar to Apocalypso, I also want everything to turn out "perfectly" and end up driving myself crazy!). Anyways, that's actually how I got started in the kitchen, as a sort of therapy if you will. Before college, I never really had an interest. Mom tried to teach me but, I now realize, her way of teaching was different than my way of learning. During college, I found myself spending more time in the kitchen as a way to let go of stress. I had more freedom to try out things from cookbooks and try things my way. From cooking I ventured into baking and found a new love

Let us know how your first cake and cheesecake goes! I'd love to hear about it

 

[Graeme Purvis]

Hiya
Thanks for the reply I’m trying out a cake this afternoon so will let you know. I suffer with really bad depression but when I’m in kitchen I’m in my own little bubble which relaxes me

 

[Shilpa Wadji]

Hi,

I am new to baking and interested mostly in the baked goods with fillings. Iam from India and would like to know the different types of baked goods prepared across the world. These baked goods can be anything from bread, rolls, buns, cakes, cookies, pies, muffins, quiche, etc.

I want to understand how baking of something with the filling in the centre inside. The filling can be chocolate, vanilla, caramel, nuts, fruits, others (meat, vegetables, coffee, egg liquor) or anything else that could be used.

Will you be able to help me understand what kind of cakes can be done with a centre filling?
Whether such baked products is preferred by the general public or not?

In India, baked goods are not a staple food. So getting information about such bakery products is difficult.