Month: April 2025

Getting Started with the Banana Bread Okay, so today I felt like baking something comforting, and that Betty Crocker banana nut bread recipe is usually a winner. Pulled out the old cookbook, well, actually, just looked it up again. First things first, gotta get those bananas ready. I had three sitting on the counter, perfectly spotty and soft. Seriously, they need to be ripe, almost ...

Okay, let’s talk about these egg beater pedals I slapped on my bike recently. Getting Started – Why Even Bother? So, my old pedals, the regular clipless kind, were starting to really tick me off. Every time I hit a bit of mud, which happens a lot around here, they’d get jammed up. Clipping in became a nightmare, sometimes couldn’t get in at all. Clipping ...

So, I saw this “organic baking powder” thing showing up more often lately. You know, on the shelves next to the regular stuff. Always wondered what the big deal was. My Little Experiment One weekend, I was planning to bake some simple scones, nothing fancy. My usual baking powder tin was looking a bit sad, almost empty. So I thought, okay, let’s give this organic ...

My Dutch Oven Burger Experiment Alright, so the other day, I got this idea stuck in my head: burgers, but done in the Dutch oven. Usually, I’d fire up the grill, but I wanted to see what the old cast iron pot could do. Felt like it might give ’em a different kinda crust, you know? So, I decided to give it a whirl. First ...

So, I decided to mess around with low-gluten flour the other week. I’d been making some biscuits and cakes, and honestly, they were coming out a bit… tough? Chewy? Not really what I was going for. I kept hearing folks talk about cake flour or pastry flour, which is basically just lower in protein, lower in gluten. Getting Started First step was actually getting my ...

My Journey with the Pastry Spatula Alright, let’s talk about the pastry spatula. For the longest time, I just used regular table knives or those clunky rubber spatulas for everything frosting-related. Seemed fine, right? But then I kept seeing these long, thin metal things in baking videos, and folks were gliding frosting around like magic. So, I finally picked one up. Wasn’t expensive. Just a ...

Alright, buckle up, buttercups, because I’m about to spill the tea (or, you know, the jam) on my apricot jam baking adventures. I’m no pro, just a regular home baker who likes to experiment, and sometimes those experiments go sideways – but hey, that’s how we learn, right? So, it all started last week when I saw a mountain of gorgeous apricots at the farmer’s ...

Okay, so I finally got around to trying to make those Starbucks Mallorca sweet breads at home. I’ve grabbed them a few times with coffee and always thought, “I could probably make these.” Famous last words, right? But seriously, I decided to give it a shot this weekend. Getting Started First thing, I had to gather all the stuff. Checked a few recipes online to ...

Getting that Whipped Cream Color Just Right Okay, so I spent some time messing around with whipping cream the other day. You know, trying to get that perfect look, that pure white color you sometimes see, or figuring out why mine sometimes looks a bit… off. It’s not rocket science, but there are definitely little things I noticed. First thing I always do, and seriously, ...

Alright, let’s talk about this Glicks High Gluten Flour I got my hands on. I’d been trying to make some decent bagels at home, you know, the kind with a real chew, not just soft bread rings. My regular all-purpose flour just wasn’t cutting it. Everything came out too soft, too fluffy. So, I went looking for something with more muscle. Found this Glicks brand, ...