(sorry to anyone who read a mistaken laden earlier version – apparently, my changes were lost in an update) 4:53 pm
The reason to bake is not always practical. Often baking is undertaken for or yields unexpected therapeutic benefits. Go ahead, ask your Grandmother. It is soul-satifyng, industrious, creatively reaching, imaginative, scientific and wonder-inspiring. Down through the ages, baking was a practical endeavor. Nowadays for many of us,it will never fail to satisfy, in times of great happiness and in times of sadness or peril. Great incidences of civil disobedience have been waged in the name of its output – bread, and there is a patron Saint of Baking – St. Honore – the day happens to be my birthday, May 16 – so poignant for me. Baking can be inordinately inane, think Ronny Camareri in Moonstruck, it can be the work of an artist like Sylvain Vernay – or it can be freeingly whimsical and experimental. They made the Ronny character, by the way, also a lover of the opera – why am I not surprised……….
I think it is safe to say everyone I know is going a little stir crazy right now. And, as unprepared as we may be to cope with, let alone confront the situation we are in, here we are, in unprecedented territory. We find ourselves paused if not stunned by our circumstances. There are many who must go to work every day. We are in awe of them and so thankful for their courage. For those literally risking their lives in an unprecedented way, we are in total debt of you.
As is the Country, there is the broadest spectrum of circumstances to be found, many within a stone’s throw of your own door. Parents of young children are at home for countless days when they aren’t used to it, many in small quarters with little or no ability to even go outside. Many are threatened with economic issues raising anxiety levels to unprecedented levels. (forgive me for all the unprecedenteds). If you can’t pay your bills today you are severely frightened. If you own a business and can’t operate it, maybe you have Business Interruption Insurance which may or not pay, maybe you don’t. If you’ve had to lay off your employees with incredible regret, you are insanely worried. We all can imagine a multitude of circumstances. And yet, the question becomes every morning, whether or not you got any sleep last night, what am I going to do today?
For me, I find myself in the incredibly lucky position of being in relatively small danger or peril. My daily routines are minisculely interrupted or compromised. My major pastimes are available to me and I have food, shelter and my bills can be paid. I am not in my own home but I am in a pleasing place. I can shelter away from crowded venues and transportation options. And yet, the question arrives each morning for me as well. What am I going to do today? I got to thinking about this in earnest the other day when a friend said to me “my brother is going nuts – there is only so much Netflix you can watch”. I thought, wow, is that where we’ve gotten to?
Somehow ironically, I feel I am somewhat familiar with this situation and the coping mechanisms it calls for. I have spent many years searching and trying to reinvent myself post corporate life and during and post child-rearing years. I have combed myself silly trying to “find” something to do with my time, energy, curiosity, paralysis, unmooring, and outright boredom. Everyone needs a raison d’être so as to not surrender to the void of not knowing what to do with oneself. This time makes this issue much more front and center for many.
But, let’s skip by all that and get down to business here – to the daily boredom and adrift issues presented by this particular time, the basic premise of my post. If you think about it, we all have at our disposal an entire repertoire of things to do even if we can not see or feel them. A multitude of options are available to us even if they are unconsciously so. What can I do today? I can clean closets, rearrange my sock or kitchen junk drawer or clean out the garage. Ok, that doesn’t appeal to me in the least. You can knit a sweater, paint a painting, write a journal. What I have learned to turn to over the past 10 or so years are my three passions – cooking and gardening and traveling – thinking about, actual doing and photographing. Well, we can cross the traveling one off the list at the outset for the time being.
Gardening has exploded as my number 1 passion over the past few years. I am having my own personal renaissance born of my relatively short but oh so powerful few short memories of puttering about our modest little yard with my Dad beginning when I was probably about 7. The memories I have hardwired from that time have blossomed and now sustain and motivate me and give me the greatest surprising joy. I have not been without a garden of some sort for much of most of my life. This however, is a story for another day.
Let’s move to cooking and baking. Inside the house and sometime out, I can and have entertained myself for decades experimenting with these two options. Going to pastry school in NYC at 58 was the ultimate game-changer for me. After our last child left for college I was in the “what am I going to do with myself” mode and luckily I found my way over to West 23rd Street. What followed shortly thereafter were several of the most fun months I’d had in a very long time. My love for baking, formed at the knee of my dear Mom in our little kitchen, blossomed into a full-blown world-opening agenda. And, incidentally, as we “talk” here, if baking’s not your thing, just put a roast chicken stuffed with herbs, lemons, garlic and onions and some potatoes in the oven this afternoon for a full-sensory Sunday afternoon meal plan – so simple, so satisfying.
Let’s talk about baking – the list of reasons to bake. There is a long list that harkens back to ancient times. Sustenance, survival and socialization evolved first around a hot rock and later an oven. At this particular moment you may not be so inclined, interested or experienced. Maybe you’re intimidated by the kitchen and that big or little oven. Maybe it just never crossed your mind. Maybe you don’t even want to or can’t eat what you bake. However, I bet you know someone who could use a treat right now even if you have to leave it on their front stoop and hand it over from giver to receiver at a distance in face masks. . If you’re like me, you see some if not many Instagram photos on your feed daily now where people ARE indulging in the most mouth-watering of baking activities. You may look at one or two and your mouth might even water a bit. And then you’ll scroll on. Let’s talk about this.
Baking is a vocation nearly as old as man. Why some might wonder, in today’s world would you even bother when you can just stop in mindlessly at Starbucks and never give it a second thought…….. (well maybe not right now). I often think about this when I see grocery store cherry pies in the store. In the past you might have grabbed one as the path of least resistance. Why bother?
Practically speaking, in more usual times, maybe it is your child’s birthday and you need cupcakes or a birthday cake for your family celebration. Maybe an item you see on tv or a newsfeed piques your interest and you say I’d like to make or eat that. Or maybe now, you need something for breakfast, lunch or dinner because you can’t get to the store or can’t get what you usually do. Or, maybe you are just plain stymied and frustrated by your circumstances or and stir-crazy with cabin fever. Or just maybe you’d like to try to make something out of a vast repertoire to see if the process or the product appeals to you. Or maybe you have a yearning for a holiday treat that you remember from your childhood.
If you find yourself in this situation, bored, stir-crazy, cornered or just hungry, I’d like to propose an experiment. Go into the kitchen and bake something. Even if you have never done so. Even if you don’t have a lot of basic baking ingredients in your house. Try something. Use Google to find recipes with ingredients you just might have. I have a list of favorite bakers that I turn to again and again for ideas- you don’t have to reinvent the wheel if you’re not so inclined. At the very least what might happen is that you spend an hour or so doing something completely different and you got one hour off the clock. Maybe you made something you would like to try. Maybe you got your kids busy learning something scientific as all baking is. Or, you can use it as just plain fun. (there’s always homemade playdough, too). Maybe you’ll love what you made and will yourself have an ah-hah moment like Gee I never knew I could do that. Maybe you’ll just have a snack for your own cup of afternoon tea. Maybe one of your own kids will have a lightbulb go off and say WOW that was fun and exciting and YUMMY and I’d like to do it again. You get the picture.
Here are a few experiments to set you off, beginning with those requiring relatively little investment time and ingredients needed. If one of these doesn’t work for you, find or make up your own. If you are lucky and game and have an envelope or two of yeast in your cupboard which isn’t expired, well you can have a bonafide jamboree! Kids will love the magic and possibility of yeast. Who wouldn’t want a roll or a piece of home baked bread?
- Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies – https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/magical-peanut-butter-cookies-recipe-1916395 If you don’t have flour or some of the basic pantry ingredients in the house, but you do have kids, maybe you have a jar of peanut butter? I came across this recipe years ago (which was without actual peanuts in them) and recently had the fabulous ones from @mercimontecito which have chocolate chips in them. Try experimenting using other nut butters and added ingredients if you’re game.
- Simple butter cookies – try these or Biscotti al Burro from Authentic Italian Desserts by Rosemary Malloy – just google it or my own: https://kitchen-inspirational.com/2016/03/28/quick-need-cookie-orange-almond-shortbread-cookies/ You can never go wrong with Dorie Greenspan https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/lemon-butter-cookies
- Biscotti: making authentic Italian biscotti is easy – https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/nonnas-biscotti-351136
- Frittata – don’t want sweets? try a frittata – you can use up all those leftover veggies in your fridge -try this one from Genevieve Ko and NYT – https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019519-loaded-baked-frittata
- Scones – my go to for satisfying am baking or anytime I have a friend coming over – quick, easy, versatile and satisfying – see below for my “It’s Always Sunday Scones
- Irish Soda Bread – try my own – https://kitchen-inspirational.com/2016/03/17/irish-soda-bread-watercress-potato-irish-cheddar-caraway/
- Banana Bread – everyone’s favorite for all day snacking – here’s the famous one from Joanne Chang’s Flour Bakery https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/banana-bread-108415
- Hot Cross Buns – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgrPpmKDkf4 video from Joy of Cooking
- Citrus Babka – the inimitable @pastrychefmatthew from The Flaky Tart inspires me daily. He got me dreaming of this this week – I don’t have his recipe but Babka aficionados will find a way to execute the idea; you can simplify the following recipe if you’re not inclined to go all the way – https://thejamlab.co/2017/04/19/orange-and-cardamom-babka-with-a-pistachio-praline-and-orangecardamom-marmalade/
- Challah or Brioche – Smitten Kitchen posted a gorgeous Challah this week and after all it is Passover/Easter season – https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/best-challah-egg-bread/
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Scones are an easy, quick and satisfying project and guaranteed to delight your family and friends. If you have any fruit and or nuts in the house, you’re in luck.
IT’S ALWAYS SUNDAY SCONES – sub in another fruit or other ingredients of your choice
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
zest of one fresh orange
one stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 generous cup fresh blueberries
egg wash
orange sugar: zest of one fresh orange plus 2 tbsp sugar, work zest into sugar with your fingertips
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of food processor, whir together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon and orange zest.
- Add cubed butter and pulse until pieces of butter are about pea size.
- Dump mixture into a low wide bowl. Make a well in center.
- In a large mixing cup, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, yogurt and vanilla until blended. Pour mixture into the well in the dry ingredients. Working with a plastic pastry scraper and a light hand mix the dry into the wet just until the dough begins to hold together. If it is too dry, add a squirt or two of fresh orange juice from your zested oranges. Add blueberries and gently mix in. Dump mixture onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until cohesive. Pat out onto the surface and cut with a 3″ biscuit cutter. Gather remainders and re-pat and cut. Place on the prepared pan. Brush with egg wash and top with the orange sugar.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, turning pan once in middle, or until nicely browned and puffed. Serve warm with fresh cream butter.
*recipes tagged are courtesy of websites noted
So, whether you’re a complete novice, are with kids who need a project, or on your own with time on your hands, try one of these recipes. If you can go out to the store, buy a box cake. Make brownies. If you are more adventurous, experiment with something brand new. You will no doubt come out with, if not a delectable treat, a learning experience useful to apply to future endeavors. And, if you pay attention to the sense of accomplishment as you gaze down at your plate, inhale the aromas and bite into your results, you may just get that great sense of therapeutic benefit.
Take good care. Be well. Be thankful. Help out where you can.