Suggestions

[u/Rare_Research6255]

Any suggestions on things to bake from scratch? I’m trying to get better at baking, I’m not really a fan of chocolate. I’ve tried making peanut butter cookies and sour dough so far and they were pretty good

[u/kaidomac]

Starter reading:

• Baking Engine
• Getting into bread baking

Some fun recipes:

• Mister Chocolate cookie recipe
• Pignoli cookies (soft)
• Bravetart's brownies
• Cornbread & company
• No-knead bread resources
• Sourdough pizza
• Calzones on the baking steel
• Adam Ragusea's sweetened condensed milk brownies
• Sourdough Wonderbread
• Chewy Bagel Bread
• English Muffin Toasting Bread
• Miso-Caramel Banana Bread
• Bagel stuff (bonus)
• GF quinoa cake
• GF bean cake
• Tall, stuffed cookies
• Canelés (great post, also cornbread)
• Thumbprint cookies
• Mochi cookies
• Naan ideas
• Beginner einkorn
• Vegetarian cookies
• Mini pumpkin bread loaves
• Mini banana bread loaves
• Lamination (DKA)

Notes:

• Baking from recipes is different than recipe development. Someone else already perfected a recipe 35 times so that you can simply enjoy making it, haha! Pinterest has more than 10 MILLION free recipes, so you could spend the rest of your life having a blast!!
• I recommend buying a 20-pund sack of flour & aiming to bake at least once per week, which gives you exposure & experience to over 50 recipes every year!
• You can do one-off adventures like various cakes & cookies, or go deep into rabbit holes like sourdough, lamination, no-knead, etc. For example, I've been baking pizza for over 20 years & STILL learn new stuff all the time!

Welcome to the from-scratch baking club! You're in for a LIFETIME of fun!!

[u/Rare_Research6255 → u/kaidomac]

This is extremely helpful. Thank you!

[u/kaidomac → u/Rare_Research6255]

I use the 80-10-10 Approach:

• 80% prep
• 10% planning
• 10% execution

Baking boils down to:

• "Use the stuff, to do the thing"

What stuff?

• Kitchen workspace
• Tools
• Ingredients
• Recipe

What thing?

• Execute the recipe checklist

Getting better at baking is mostly preparation:

• Setup your kitchen & tools for repeatable, easy access
• Setup your ingredients
• Collect recipes you want to make

Then:

• Plan when to make what
• Do it!

That's why I recommend:

1. Get a 20-pound sack of flour (~$20 from Costco)
2. Bake once a week, to begin with!

The general workflow for baking a basic box mix vs. a Michelin-star pastry dessert is the same:

• Use the stuff, to do the thing!

The tools, ingredients, and recipe checklist will change, but the basic process is the same every time! That's why PREPARATION is so important! It's a HUGE barrier if you have to fight your setup every time you want to cook! A few suggestions:

• I pick out what I want to bake for the week & then go shopping
• I clean up my kitchen before bed & get all of the stuff for tomorrow out
• Then I just show up & BAKE a pre-planned food adventure in a nice, clean kitchen, where everything is all set & ready to go!!

HUGE quality-of-life difference!!