Gluten and Dairy Free? No Problem!: Baking, baking - the horrors that come with baking.

I have never been much of a baker. Oh yes, I can knock out a sweet tart tartin like it's nobody's business, but making bread - real baking? Not quite so much. So when we started our adventure into baking I did so with some serious apprehension. I know I am an impatient person. Waiting for bread to rise, then rise again is not something that comes naturally to me. Especially since the bread has to be in the most perfect of all perfect climate situations. And if it's not, when then it just won't rise. And that drives me insane.

I decided to try and take this baking class seriously, attempting to use patience and diligence in order to truly learn the art of baking. However, trying to roll laminated dough in a hot, humid kitchen is just impossible. And the frustration level rose. Laminated dough is dough that has layers of butter in it. You take the dough and flatten out an inch thick layer of butter. Then you fold the butter into the dough. You don't want the butter to mix in, because you want the layers to melt in the oven - releasing steam and making flaky, delicious layers. Croissants are made from laminated dough. Croissants are now my arch nemesis. I hate croissants. Melting butter, sticking dough, nothing folding, making these croissants was just an act of war. And they didn't turn out. They were terrible. You need the most perfect of climates to prepare this dough, and our kitchen was just far too hot. I also learned that once you have destroyed your dough, it's impossible to fix. Needless to say, I have not successfully made croissants and will not tackle them again in the near future.

However, all of the baking was not such a disaster. My pies for instance, looked beautiful and were delicious. I learned how to make biscuits that were light and fluffy. I made white bread that thumped on the outside (proving a nice thick crust) and nice and light on the inside. I now can make with success: soda bread, biscuits, pies, tarts, bread sticks, white bread, foccacia, and flat bread. No problem. It was mainly the ridiculous laminated dough that gave me such a headache. Since I don't typically eat bread (yeast allergy) my friends in Austin were given regular bread baskets filled with all of my goodies.

We also made cakes, cookies, and other such desserts. Some people might think that they couldn't get sick of eating and sampling dessert - but let me assure you, you can. I don't think I can eat cake, frosting, fudge or anything sweet for quite awhile. However, I can now kick out a terrific creme brule (including burnt crust), delicious cookies, and one truly awesome cake. Baking will never be my passion, or something that comes naturally to me - but it was a worthwhile experience, even if the conditions of our school kitchen were less than desirable. I've included some of my pictures from my baking and dessert escapades and here they are.