If cooking is art and baking is science, I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember. I used to help my mom with simple meals when I was a kid, and as I was growing up I would cook more and more by myself, preparing breakfasts, lunches and dinners with my mom and alone. I got to the point where Thanksgiving dinner was not a challenge anymore, because I could make the turkey, stuffing, scalloped potatoes and sweet potato casserole without a glance at the recipe book. I started mixing recipes, creating my own dishes, and for the most part if I did use a cookbook, it was only a guideline and a basis upon which I used my imagination. To this day I treat cooking intuitively, I just add what I think would go well with the dish and that’s it.
At some point I decided it would be great to bake as well. As much as I’ve always been creative in and out of the kitchen, science was never my forte. That may be the reason why my first solo baking try ended up with me covered head to toe in flour, the garbage disposal clogged, my mini mouse drenched in vanilla syrup and the house filled with smell of burnt pie. I was trying what was described as a simple recipe online, but everything went wrong, so for a long time after that incident I stayed away from baking. That is until the time my mom visited and told me she never thought I would give up at anything.
She got to my ambitious side and I decided to give baking one more try. This time around I kept my laptop in the office and used a printed out recipe for simple cookies. I read it beforehand to know exactly what needed to be done when, and prepared the ingredients. Following the recipe step by step I got through the preparations and popped the first batch in the oven. I was so anxious that I actually sat on the kitchen floor with my timer in hand, staring at the slowly baking cookies. It’s been so long since my first try, that I felt like I was a complete newbie, so I figured the main reason my cookies turned out well was beginner’s luck.
My kitchen ego got enough of a boost for me to want to learn to bake, and not just cookies, but also pies, cakes and breads. I signed up for a class nearby, but after the first two meetings I realized the group was too large and the instructor didn’t speak my language. I wasn’t going to be discouraged so I found a couple of baking books that are full of step-by-step pictures, and I also found great tutorials online. I just remember now to not put my laptop on the counter where I’m working so that I can watch a lesson without ruining another mouse.
Since starting my self-learning, I’ve baked fancy cherry pies, red velvet cake, chewy fat-free oatmeal cookies, French bread and many more. They did not all come out the first time, some not even the second or third, but I keep trying. The best part of learning to bake is that now I can do anything I want in my kitchen, from roast beef to pita bread and everything in between, and I’m having fun any time my hands are covered in tomatoes or egg batters.
About the Author:
Marta Słoma is a web designer, passionate writer and a healthy lifestyle enthusiast. She writes articles and PR news about healthy foods and web design.