[Artchic528]

I don't bake often as I just wind up eating whatever I bake and it's usually not good for me. However, today I happened to find a package of instant blueberry muffin mix (just add milk) and I decided to bake them up. I love, love, LOVE freshly baked breads, pies, cakes, and other baked goods. I have fond memories of Sunday afternoons after church, making blueberry muffins or pancakes for the family with my dad. Nothing tastes as good to me as hot and fresh blueberry muffins or pancakes with chocolate chips in them.

I guess I get that love from my grandmother, and her mother before her. They were both known for their homemade sweet breads and cookies. My great grandmother, being Belgian (Flemish speaking), made a particular baked good, hot crossed buns. I never really had the chance to know her, nor taste her hot crossed buns, as she passed away when I was only 3-4 years old. I do have a memory of her funeral, but that's a story for a different thread.

Anyways....does anyone else love to bake?

[Skeezyks]

Hello Artchic528: Yes, the Skeezyks is a long time home bread baker. Many, many years ago... when I was in my late teens or early twenties, I was fascinated by everything Russian... literature, music, etc. (This would probably have been around the time of "Dr. Zhivago". Anyway... one Sunday I happened to see a recipe for Russian black bread in the "Parade" magazine supplement to our local newspaper & decided to try making it. It turned out reasonably well & I've been baking bread ever since!

A few years ago, there was a professional baking center established where I live. They would allow what they referred to as "serious home bakers" to attend their classes along with the professionals. I took all of the classes I could including both breads & pastries. I don't bake pastries because my wife & I watch our weight & having that stuff in the house isn't good for the waistline! But I bake all sorts of breads regularly... including Russian black bread!

[divine1966]

I bake on occasion. I do use premixed stuff as I don't have time. But i love it, my waste line doesn't though lol

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[Nammu]

I baked in my 20's but then not having a steady home made cooking and baking difficult. Then when I had a place to live it was just me, so I've not baked in decades.but soon I'm going to be moving back to my home state where there will be lots of family around and plan to bake again. They prefer sweets but I'm fond of breads, particularly sourdough.

I watch the great British bake off too, love that show!

Forgot to add that I've made all kinds of cakes including the once popular barbiecakes and tiered cakes with the hand made flowers. Still like skeezyks I prefer breads

I must admit I'm a complete luddite when it comes to baking.

I cook very well though and never follow a recipe exactly but in my experience you can't do that with baking; that a recipe (specifically measurements) must be followed exactly. I struggle with such conformity.

Some one who is a baker told me this once "cooking is art while baking is science."

[healingme4me]

Yes, I cook and bake. I separate the two words, as it's a family way of explaining simply the difference between meals and goodies. My grandmom, in unloading most of her items when moving to assisted living, passed along to me, the Family Cookbook. It humbled me and it's a great honor.

Back in '14, when my fridge was on the fritz, I drudged up some Depression era recipes and learned how to bake off a ration. I kept losing milk and eggs to an inconsistent fridge.

[Takeshi]

There's another one like Clint Yeastwood, lolz.

Yeah, if I had a choice between cooking and baking, I'd go for baking, would love to buy me a kneading machine so I could take a shot at to be a serious home baker. Ingredients wise, I don't see many options, it's really poor, things like whole wheat flour, brown sugar, half and half, even canned cherry, stuff like that are expensive and hard to find. I love me some baked goodies, oh how I dream about special brownies... I also dream about key lime pie which I never had in my life, this appeared in this series of novels I was reading long ago, I wanna ticket to Florida, it's a dream beyond dream, Pies! Who bakes it around here?

[divine1966]

Originally Posted by healingme4me

Yes, I cook and bake. I separate the two words, as it's a family way of explaining simply the difference between meals and goodies. My grandmom, in unloading most of her items when moving to assisted living, passed along to me, the Family Cookbook. It humbled me and it's a great honor.

Back in '14, when my fridge was on the fritz, I drudged up some Depression era recipes and learned how to bake off a ration. I kept losing milk and eggs to an inconsistent fridge.

My husband has his grandmas old cookbook too. He really treasures it

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[Sabrina]

I am enjoying baking that I've always known how to do but have particularly experimented with in the last year. I bake some sort of cookie just about every Wednesday. The family finishes a whole barrel by the weekend. I've been experimenting with various puddings / muffins / brownies / cakes / blondies. I've also tried a number of breads - savoury - yeast - cheesy - all sorts. Some are great, others are flops. I do everything from scratch.

[Artchic528]

Originally Posted by Takeshi

There's another one like Clint Yeastwood, lolz.

Yeah, if I had a choice between cooking and baking, I'd go for baking, would love to buy me a kneading machine so I could take a shot at to be a serious home baker. Ingredients wise, I don't see many options, it's really poor, things like whole wheat flour, brown sugar, half and half, even canned cherry, stuff like that are expensive and hard to find. I love me some baked goodies, oh how I dream about special brownies... I also dream about key lime pie which I never had in my life, this appeared in this series of novels I was reading long ago, I wanna ticket to Florida, it's a dream beyond dream, Pies! Who bakes it around here?

I know that Japanese folks don't like things overly sweet, and my uncle who is of Japanese decent and is family by marriage, is no exception. However, he loves his birthday treat of a whole Key Lime Pie. We have them in our supermarkets, usually in the freezers. It's sweet, but tangy at the same time. Maybe you can find a store that specializes in selling American foods, and try your luck there.

I have developed a taste for Mochi Balls, which my aunt, who is married to my Japanese-American uncle, brought with her to share when I was visting family in Minnesota a week or so ago. She brought strawberry and mango flavored Mochi Balls, and I loved the strawberry flavored ones best. She also said not to call a Japanese woman "mochi" because that word is Japanese for "fat lady". Good to know.

For those of you who have never had a Mochi Ball, it's a round, squishy sweet made from rice flour and has a fruit jam like center. It's not super sweet, as one would think with the jam like center, but has a more subtle sweetness to it. I think it's traditionally sold skewered on a wooden stick, in a group of three, but the ones I was eating were in a tray like package and needed to be kept refridgerated.