An intro to baking professionally

I grew up with a nurse Mom. She was a healthy mix of being clean without being a germaphobe. If we played with worms she didn't freak out, but you had better take your shoes off at the door and wash your hands when you come inside! Needless to say, she taught me one of the most important lessons of food service-cleanliness.

Anytime we spent in the kitchen was started with, "Put your hair up and wash your hands." Those were always her prerequisites, and it had to be in that order, because if you touch your hair after washing your hands, you gotta wash them again! There was of course some fun involved, you can lick the beaters when we are done with them, but you have to wash your hands again before touching anything else! (Please don't lick the beaters in a professional setting, somethings aren't appropriate outside of your own home!)

Another lesson I learned from my Mom was pride in my uniform. As a nurse, her uniform was for work only, and she still has to change before going out anywhere after work. When she was in nursing school in the eighties...er..nineties..ughh...why does it matter what year it was? She's basically still a spring chicken!l! ANYWAY..her nursing instructors would give bad grades for wearing that uniform out of the hospital. So when I walked in to my first day of pastry school and was told that we had to change into and out of uniform at school, keep it white, and make sure our hair wasn't showing, I thought of my Mom, and felt like I was on the right track! I still don't wear my uniform outside of work. There were a few lessons that my Mom DIDN'T teach me. One of the most important in a professional setting is how to measure ingredients.

Growing up, I was taught to scoop up my flour with my measuring cup and then level it with the back of a knife. That always worked for me with recipes I was used to. But sometimes I would use someone else's recipe and it just wouldn't turn out quite right. I learned in pastry school that it was most likely because I was measuring my ingredients differently from the way the author of the recipe intended. Now I typically use a scale to measure ingredients because eight ounces is always eight ounces, but I will post both weights and cup measurements in case you aren't ready to take the plunge into using a scale quite yet. If you want to know how to properly measure using cups this blog has a GREAT explanation. https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/how-to-measure-flour/ No sense in me re-inventing the wheel! I was hesitant about buying a scale after pastry school because I just knew I wouldn't be able to afford it on my measly internship pay, but they aren't as expensive as you'd think! I bought mine at Walmart for $15 and it has lasted me four years, so far! (Plus a new battery). I HIGHLY suggest the investment. It is so much faster to use. A couple of things to keep in mind when purchasing a scale that I didn't take into consideration:

Button placement!

The button to change from ounces to grams on mine is underneath, and doesn't always like to cooperate (welcome to my life!)

The button to zero the scale doesn't always work immediately either.

Scale design! This scale holds up to 5 pounds or so which is fine for home use, but if I use a semi-larger bowl to weigh my ingredients in, the numbers can't be read. (I like to use as few dishes as possible, so if I can scale everything into a larger bowl, I do.)

These scales with the pull out display are what we use at work, and they are great! It's a little more of an investment, but definitely more user friendly! https://www.oxo.com/categories/cooking-and-baking/mix-measure/scales/5lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display.html#black

Now that we have all the rules out of the way-putting your hair back, washing your hands, and properly measuring ingredients; we can talk about the upcoming recipes! When I was writing my own dessert menus, I had several sources that I went to for recipe help. I always try to put my own spin on someone else's recipes so I'm not just stealing their ideas, but baking as a whole isn't something you can deviate from too terribly much without disastrous results. I have a handful of trusty recipes that I adjust to fit the flavor profiles I want, and if I don't have a recipe for an idea, I turn to these sources I've tried out in order to create a recipe that is similar. I usually look at the ratios that each source uses and go from there, building upon those ratios to get to where I need to be. Blogs are typically really reliable resources because the author usually devotes time to trying the recipes a million different ways before posting the one that she was happy with.

Because of the fact that they are typically dependable, I have read my share of baking blogs, and the one thing that I have a love-hate relationship with is the need for the author to first tell the story about why she decided to try to make a strawberry cake. Usually it involves someone in her family and some kind of disastrous result before coming to this brilliant recipe that no one can stop talking about. (I don't mean this to sound as sarcastic as it's coming across because I LOVE stories!) Some of these blogs really draw me in, and I start reading through them just for the story; HOWEVER, when I am in the kitchen, quickly looking for an example of a razzmatazz rhubarb ice cream cone cupcake and I have to scroll through fifteen minutes worth of recipe documentary before I get to the recipe, it stresses me out!

I want my blog to be different. I want my stories of recipe failures, stressed out moments, and ecstatic successes to draw you in and keep you coming back, but I want my main thing-the recipes I love-to be the main thing and easily accessible. So after this post, my recipes will great you happily at the top of the page!

Another thing that I don't like is when recipes give jargony directions like, "Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy." It sounds so pleasant, but WHAT IN THE HECK does "light" and "fluffy" sugar-butter look like? So I will do my best to include pictures as the recipes go on, so you understand without a shadow of a doubt, exactly what I'm imaging in my head (because sometimes it just doesn't make sense in there!)

I have decided to start this blog using a very popular baking show as a guide. I wont name it here because I'm a pastry cook not a lawyer, and I can't afford to be sued if I infringe on copyrights, but it is a competition starring kind British people who have a Great Baking Show. Living in America, I only have access through Netflix (that I am aware of!) so you can watch the episodes there as we go along if you'd like. I will begin with season 3 episode 1-Cakes! I will be doing things this way because it gives me a clear direction (who doesn't need that?!?) and because as I've watched it over the years I am so surprised by how much more diverse baking knowledge people across the pond seem to have than I did when I was just a home baker. I would love to bring that here and broaden other people's horizons. Are you ready? YOU CAN DO IT! (And don't forget to put up your hair and wash your hands!)