And so it begins… I’m an amateur baker who, along with many Americans, has fallen in love with the BBC show “The Great British Bake Off”. I’m not a lover of reality shows, they are often so mean spirited, but this show has a great heart and humor and most of all-the bakes! Yes apparently “bakes” is a noun. I always thought it was a verb, unless prefixed with something like “clam” or postfixed with “sale”. But apparently “bake” is a noun in Britain and one can have good bake, a disappointing bake or even a bake with the famous “soggy bottom”. So I ordered the book BIY by one of my favorite bakers, Richard Burr. I was very impressed with all of the bakers, but Richard had flavors that I particularly thought would taste fantastic and, as a builder, it seemed he might have well organized recipes with good technical detail. When the beautiful book arrived, I thought “I want to bake all the bakes in this book”. And then I said it out loud “I am going to bake everything in this book”. And as I heard that voice, I felt a giddy happy excitement – I am going to cook everything in this book!!! Why not?
I have some strengths going into this
-I’m a scientist- so I hope like a builder, I’m pretty good at trying new things and following instructions and the metric system is my friend.
-I’m not in a rush and have already accumulated many necessary cooking toys.
-Most of all, I’m not afraid of failure- I can always order pizza or pick up a box of donuts.
But I also have some challenges-
-Apparently I don’t really speak English- or at least not all the English in the book. Part of the challenge will be to translate UK to US
-I don’t have time for this! I have at least double booked every minute of my life.
-I can’t eat all of this, I’m desperately trying to lose weight. So I need to give away most of what I make. Still that means I can fuss with food, which is half the fun of eating it.
So I’m beginning this blog expecting, even hoping, that no one will read it. But it is a way to make a commitment, even if it is to imaginary readers. I will bake all 82 bakes in this book! From choux pastry to pizza, puff pastry and pies and lots of fillings. I can’t help smiling.
