TwD - Baking with Julia - Gingerbread Baby Cakes

I'm back!  Its been a couple of months since I participated in Baking with Julia but I've been missing the baking lately so decided to jump back in this month.

Baking with Julia - Gingerbread Baby Cakes

While I really like these little cakes I think they should be called molasses cakes instead of GingerBread Cakes.  I love the dense, chewy texture and the spicy bite provided by the fresh ginger and pepper make for a very sophisticated taste combination.  This is NOT a children's gingerbread cake!

Alas they were not a hit with my husband but that's why there are so many different recipes, right?  So everyone gets what they like!  I paired this with a little scoop of Starbucks Chocolate Chip ice cream and it was divine.

All I had on hand was sorghum and I'm not going to get into the whole sorghum vs molasses debate.  If you're a southerner you know what I mean!  I had sorghum.  I used sorghum.  It was good.  End of story.

Sadly my mustard yellow hand mixer that I received as a shower present from a dear neighbor 41 years ago died recently.  While she was a work horse and wonderful kitchen companion my new mixer is amazing!  Technology has indeed changed!!!

I'm happy to be back and I'm planning some catch up baking.  Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories was the host for Gingerbread Baby Cakes and you can find the recipe on her site.  You can find all the bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Latest Project - TwD - White Loaves

Several years ago I bought a beautiful bread book called Dough by Richard Bertinet.  The pictures are gorgeous and he advocates a kneading technique I'd never heard of.  There was even a video to help convey the Bertinet technique.  Problem was my bread didn't come out.  It didn't rise or the texture wasn't right or the flavor didn't pop.  I googled Richard Bertinet trying to figure out where I was going wrong only to learn that he teaches bread classes at his shop in Bath, England.  When my husband suggested I sign up and go I jumped at it!  There I learned many things...not the least of which that mistakes had been made in the translation from metrics to American standard.  In other words most of the problems I had were due to poor recipes, the ratios were wrong!  I've been kind of hard on cookbook authors ever since. (These errors were corrected in subsequent editions, only the first printing has it wrong.  I know you might love him and his books.  I do too but I'm still bothered about the experience!)  I see buying a cookbook as entering into a contract.  I agree to follow the recipe and the author agrees to provide recipes that produce the stated results.  If I DON'T follow the recipe (I know folks, but it happens) I can't blame the author but I DO EXPECT recipes with proper ratios!!  Until my Dough experience I didn't really understand the responsibility a cookbook author has.

Off my soapbox and moving on to Baking With Julia.  Dorie Greenspan wrote this cookbook based on the PBS series of the same name that aired in 1996/97.  I saw a few of the episodes but that was a much busier phase of my life and I was probably at either a soccer or hockey game for most of the episodes.  For over a year Julia Child featured different renown bakers preparing one of their signature products.

Now Tuesdays with Dorie.  I was late to the party for the original cooking group based on Dorie Greenspan's book Baking, From my Home to Yours and organized by Laurie Woodward but now Laurie has launched another Tuesday group based on Baking With Julia!  Here's our first recipe. White Loaves.

This is the best white bread recipe I have ever made.  I want to repeat that.  This is the best white bread I have ever made!  The recipe works like a magic formula that's been handed down from baker to baker in whispers.  I even substituted (see, I told you it could happen!) white whole wheat flour for 1/2 of the bread flour because I have a husband fighting off Type 2 diabetes and I try to complicate every carb I possibly can.  Those simple carbs are the bane of the diabetic!

Anyhow, this bread had it all, rise, texture AND flavor!  Great directions, simple recipe.  I'm a happy Dorista!  Stay tuned for Chocolate Truffle Tartlets in two weeks! All the Tuesday Doristas can be found at Tuesdays with Dorie.