Have you ever dipped your hands into a bag of cake flour? (It is impossibly soft, like fluffed air.) Have you listened to the crackle of fresh bread crust? Smelled a spicy fruitcake bubbling in the oven? Seen the rich gloss of a half-melted chocolate chip? Tasted raw brownie batter? (Of course you’ve done that, with brownie batter being its own FDA-recommended food group and all.)
This is why I love baking: It provides unexpected treasures for all the senses. It is a whole-body experience, with love and delicacy and intuition being every bit as important as the baking powder*. I’m still learning the ins and outs, of course. In all my years of baking, I’ve only recently discovered that you can’t leave cream of tartar out of a recipe just because you don’t know what it is (though I’m not sure anyone really does). After 6,729 burnt candy bars, I’ve finally found the secret to melting chocolate**. And since moving to Italy, I’ve learned about baking’s greatest aphrodisiac: parchment paper. As long as your pan is lined with a buttered layer of paper, not even your Aunt Millie’s notorious Caramelized Rubber Cement Bars would stick.
Like any skill, the ability to bake comes through trial and error. (And error, and error.) For me, this little domestic pleasure has been worth every lumpy biscuit and soupy disastercake; however, I have trouble explaining why baking means so much to me. Maybe it’s because sending a plate of lemon bars to The Hubby’s office can brighten his coworkers’ entire day. Maybe it’s because I subconsciously want to be a Colonial housewife***, with my kitchen the warm and lively center of my home. Maybe it’s because baking is a tangibly creative endeavor, as if I were a composer and these were my masterpieces. Rhapsody in apple-cinnamon. Vanilla bean minuet. Opus n. 87 with a dark chocolate ganache.
Or maybe it’s just because a bag of flour costs 40 times less than a manicure.
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*Which, just for reference, is rather important.
** It’s called a microwave.
***Hoopskirts! Embroidery! Taxation without representation!
Another reason to fall head over heels in love with baking: writing about it in such a scrumptious way. Thanks!
Yummy yum yum. You’re making me drool. Did you know cream of tartar is a byproduct of the wine industry? In Sweden, you buy it in the PHARMACY. No kidding!
This was a fun read! I never honed my talents like that with baking – for me, it was just “get on with it”. lol!
PS My husband lived in Sicily and he too teaches my heart to laugh. Oh, I’m a Texas-born English nerd too! 🙂
I can practically smell the marvelous aroma of your kitchen with those smells wafting from the oven. Great post!
Beatriz – It looks from your blog like you’re falling head-over-heels for baking even without my help. 🙂
Lizardek – Does cream of tartar have some alternate purpose as… an antihistamine? A laxative perhaps? I’ll have to ask at our pharmacy.
Texasblu – Nice to meet you! Do you still live in Texas?
Granny Smith – I would have made this a scratch-and-sniff post if possible, but I’m glad you got the effect anyway!
If your baking is a good as your writing, you’ll be fat soon! Loved this take on the prompt!
I wish everyone would stop to enjoy the finer things in life and implement their persnickety passions to those tastes and smells that make your spine tingle and nose curl up with bliss.
On the other spatula, if I buy you a plane ticket, will you come cook for us? Or, if I buy a plane ticket to visit, cook for me? 🙂
I am not a cook nor even enjoy anything about the kitchen. Nevertheless, I love your quirky spin on food delights – esp “rhapsody in apple cinnamon”. Your artistic passions are magnetic!
Gemma
Wow! This really stirs my mind. Baking, yet. Hmmm. I baked bread once in a bread machine and thought that was pretty impressive. You’ve provided new food for ponder! Great post!
Excellent post!! I’m beginning to really enjoy visiting with your writing!! That was deliciously well-written, witty, intriguing and filled with sensual pleasure!! You make baking sound as delightful as back floating in a pool (thats a positive thing -at least for me!) Thanks for being part of SS!
Reading your post made me hungry. 🙂
I could smell vanilla and chocolate. I enjoyed it.
Linda – “Soon?” hehe
Jesse – I suppose, since you insist…
Gemma – Hey, at least not everyone has to be a cook to enjoy good food!
Tumblewords – Bread machine bread definitely counts!
Amarettogirl – Well, I’ve never been able to float succcessfully, but if I could, I’m sure it would be just as relaxing!
Redheels – Now I’m hungry for a vanilla/chocolate swirl cone.