My Turn: Favorite Recipes

Cheryl’s prompt of “favorite recipes”, I thought, would be an easy blog post to do, but there’s a problem…

I have too many.

Let’s start with yeasted breads, especially those with character, not just regular white or wheat bread, although those have their own appeal. I love everything from the yeast proofing to the hand-kneading (and even machine-kneading) and waiting and watching for the dough to rise, then the shaping — slashing is an entirely different story though — and then watching it grow and brown in the oven. It’s like watching a beloved child grow to adulthood, only 1000x faster.

I don’t enjoy baking cakes in particular but I do love assembling and decorating them. The only thing is to decorate a cake really prettily, you need to devote time to it, and sometimes this is just the thing busy moms are lacking. Maybe that’s why cupcakes are so appealing to many. You get the satisfaction of having a daintily (or insanely) decorated confection and you can stop at one, or at ten. And you don’t have to worry about the sides, just the top. I’m really not a cupcake gal but more and more I’m thinking it may suit our lifestyle better. Plus you can freeze individual portions…. and even decorate a tin of cupcakes 12 different ways. Hmm…

I love muffins, and my favorites are lemon poppyseed and double chocolate. Jalapeno cheddar comes in third.

I also love fruitcakes, but only if they turn out to be good ones . A good fruitcake, in my opinion, is one that has a good balance of batter to fruit to nut to alcohol. This is what I try to achieve from year to year, but some years are better than others. One thing is true: good brandy makes almost any fruitcake taste awesome!:)

As for cookies, I now have the luxury of watching Aisa make them and enjoying the results. I remember as a young mom spending hours upon hours baking these cookies at Christmastime, with Aisa playing, reading, or helping beside me. Once I had a friend visit while I was baking and decorating cookies and she couldn’t get over the fact that I was taking 2-3 minutes decorating each cookie (it was one that called for chopped pistachios and candied cherries on top), and had about 50 of them to do. She supposed that to be a good baker you needed to be a patient person. I’m not at all patient, but I do think some things are worth working/waiting for. Besides, working in such detail gets really therapeutic for me, and there are moments in life when you need that kind of therapy.

Of all the flatbreads — and I love them all: foccacia, naan, lavash, they’re all great! — pizza is another favorite, but I can’t say I’ve made THE perfect crust. The ones I’ve made are very very good, and I wouldn’t really pick one over the other. I still want a brick oven in the yard so I can truly say I’ve made REAL pizza at home. Of course, there’s Pizza Rustica which is more pie than flatbread….

Quick breads — love those too — but my only complaint is that they usually contain lots of sugar and fat. Which is the case with most baked goods anyway, but quick breads have always had a way of making me feel guilty. I can never resist a good pound cake or lemon loaf. Especially at tea time!

European pastries — I’d love to do more of these. I’ve done puff pastry a couple of times, but it would be good to get a few more under my belt. Danishes have been on my list for a while but I’ve never done them. Napoleons too.

And what would a baking list be without pies? As it is, my only reason why I don’t bake them very often is my family’s allergies — but ooh, between tarts and quiches and galettes, I haven’t met a pie yet I didn’t like.

I could go on… if only these cookbook authors and baking experts could stop writing! Then at least I’d have a definite end to my list!