Idiots' Guide to Baking

[tillystar]

Ok, yesterday I tried doing some baking with my 8 yr old nephew and the girl. Gingerbread men and fairy cakes was on the menu. We ended up with gingerbread cement blobs and flat fairy rocks.

He said he really enjoyed it and wants to do more…

I haven’t baked anything (except bread, I can do a decent loaf) since I was about 7. I thought it would be fine, but my refusal to weigh or measure seems to hit a wall in this department.

Can anyone give me a few easy peasy idiot proof recipes? Any tips on how to not completely destroy baked goods?

Anything you tell me can only improve my current offerings.

[bixaorellana]

Try Muffins, Tilly. I find them extremely foolproof, seeming to accept any substitutions of ingredients, plus any quick bread recipe can be turned into muffins. Also, check out the bread and dessert recipes in The Galley's Links to Any Port Recipes. There's a flatbread one there that looks like it would appeal to your nephew because of the fun puff-up aspect.

[Deleted]

Muffins are fun to make with kids ,also cookies,even simple sugar cookies with cinnamon sugar on top,you can use a cookie cutter or cut out your own shapes,stars,moons,animals.

[spindrift]

Tilly - if you don't want to weigh all the ingredients then use a Swiss trick.....just weigh the whole eggs then put in the same weight of flour and sugar. That's all! This might keep the children amused.


I think that simple sponge cakes are made with just eggs, sugar and flour (oh yes, you also have to put in the same weight of BUTTER)....

[Deleted]

There is something that children make in France (under parental supervision in most cases) called "yogurt cake". I have no idea what it is or what the exact ingredients are. I would imagine that there is yogurt in it.

[Don Cuevas]

"I think that simple sponge cakes are made with just eggs, sugar and flour (oh yes, you also have to put in the same weight of BUTTER)...."

Simple sponge cakes may not be so simple, especially for the baking newbie.

Cream Scones are pretty simple: flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cream and possible sugarplums.

Another important thing in baking is accurate oven temperature calibration.
The right type and size of pan or mould for the job.
Proper greasing, and in a few cases, no greasing.

Just some little things. They all add up to success on the one hand, or dismal failure and the scorn of Aunt Madge on the other.

[Deleted]

I just thought of something we were allowed to bake as children they were/are wonderful .You know how after your mother or grandmother or Auntie would bake a pie and there would be pie dough left over? We would be allowed to roll it out(the fun part) and then top it with cinnamon and sugar and bake it . So,just get your basic pie dough recipe and half it or less then that even. Let the child have at it with a rolling pin and then bake (don't forget the sugar/cinnamon topping). Or,get some tiny little pie pans and fill with preserves .

[Deleted]

yogurt cake

[lagatta]

I can translate this tomorrow, if need be. Too tired tonight.

That would be very digestible. I have a hard time with cow's milk anything, but yoghourt is pretty much pre-digested.

[bixaorellana]

It doesn't need translating so much as the amounts need explaining. How big is the "pot" -- a pint, a quart? I'm guessing by the picture and the proportion of eggs to yogurt that it's a pint. But what about the sachets -- what do they hold? What is "chemical leavening" and how much is a half sachet of it?

[lagatta]

"chemical leavening" means baking soda - in much of Europe it most typically comes in little sachets - Alsa is a popular brand (also here in Québec, though one can also buy it in bulk). I'd think half a sachet is a tablespoon but I'd have to look at a sachet to be sure. A pot de yoghourt is certainly no bigger than a pint; I'd think it is smaller, like 6 ounces. Think of those little individual yoghourt containers, though they can vary by country.

[Deleted]

A pot of yogurt is the individual serving sized pot sold at the supermarket.