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I l.o.v.e EVERYTHING about baking. The way the dough feels beneath my fingers, the alone time that gives me a chance to catch up on my thoughts of the day and just take a breath.


Some of my earliest memories of baking are helping my Mom in the kitchen with pies. She would save the dough scraps for me and let me make my own little miniature pies. It always made me feel so important and special that she would take the time out to include me in making a creation. Often she would make raisin scones on a Sunday night and we would smother them in butter and jam and retreat to the basement with the whole family to watch an episode of A-Team or Magnum P.I. I guess it's no surprise then, that anything involving baking would conjure up feelings of family and togetherness.

Trying out Spelt flour for the 1st time

"How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?" -Paul Sweeney

I love to bake through my Grandma's recipe book she made for all of the girl's in the family, and including another generation in the process, my son. Sometimes it turns into something that more closely represents an Olympic sport, but regardless I tell myself that we're building memories and it's the journey that matters not the end baking result. Tom and I have a kind of schedule worked out as he does a good portion of the meals and I do the breads and baking. His attempts at baking are very touching and at times, downright comical, poor guy, but I got to give him an "A" for effort. On the otherhand, his meal creations are something worthy of making the front cover of a gourmet foodie mag. I've been working at trying different low-cal options lately and trying to substitute certain ingredients, like agave for sugar, and unbleached, whole wheat, and spelt flours, low fat milk and even soy milk. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, for instance never try to make rice pudding with soy milk, and don't interchange parchment paper for wax paper (it will smoke out your kitchen) Just saying...I also noticed that tweaking some recipes doesn't work as well in baking as it does in cooking. There are some substitutions that I've learned over the years, but for the most part you have to follow it as closely as possible. It seems they may have done most of the tweaking already for you! The next thing I'd like to purchase for my kitchen is a gas range. Tom is almost finished installing the gas piping in our house, so maybe that will be an option in the near future. I'd love to get one of those refurbished old-school gas ranges from the 40's, and I've been doing some searching on Kijiji and Ebay to see if I can snag a good price. To all of you baker's out there, may this post encourage you in all your culinary and baking pursuits and never forget that baking is to life, what Chocolate chips are to cookies.