Minute Cake, Finally! Also, an update.

It certainly has been a while hasn't it? Well, I'm now planning to bake or cook (probably bake) one thing a week and post it here. I came across this recipe on Youtube, made by Chef John over on Foodwishes, link below. While I don't have the proper equipment to tape my cooking and can most certainly take pictures and, finally, post the recipe. Everything post I make henceforth shall have the recipe. This following my new mantra of wanting to share information and spread the joy of baking from scratch with as many people as possible. Now, without further ado, the minute cake.

 Hey! All of the ingredients! This will make 2 mugs of moist, delicious, chocolate cake. You'll need 1 large egg, 1/4 cup of white sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of a good quality cocoa powder, I'm using Ghirardelli Unsweetened a tablespoon of vegetable oil (or coconut oil, this works really well!) and a few drops of vanilla, the good stuff. Mix it all up then add the optional ingredients, though I highly recommend them! They are 1 tbsp of unsweetened, shredded coconut, 2 tbsp of toasted almond slices and 1 1/2 tbsp of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Whisk it all up then add the last few things. You'll need 3 tbsp of milk, 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 tsp. of baking powder (mix the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl first!) Now pour equal amounts into two mugs, pop em' into the microwave for 45 seconds, though it might need up to 3 minutes depending on your microwave's wattage. 

Now, if you have a sifting device, you'll need it. Grab some confectioner's (powdered) sugar, sift a bit over, make sure to get the rim of the mug for added drama. Now do the same with some of that cocoa powder. Hey, guess what, you can't eat it yet. Well, you could, but don't. Wait for about 3 minutes so they cool off a bit! Also, waiting greatly improves the texture, I'm not sure why, it just does. Oh, and those are pea pods in the upper right hand corner of this picture. Yum.

New York cheesecake, with crusty twist.

 Pretty standard ingredients for a cheesecake I'd think. Except the Vanilla Wafers, now what could those be for?

 If your cheesecake goes over 160 internal temperature it will crack, I'm thinking I'll need to try a new cooking method. Anyways, this one came out with a custardy texture, and quite a bit fluffier than most cheesecakes I've made.

 Look at those sides, beautifully browned, and wait... Are those nilla' wafers in my crust?













Here we can see the lighter fluffier texture earlier mentioned. The nilla' wafers made an excellent crust, if anything I would have used a few more towards the middle as it went a little thin.








Next up is Irish Soda Bread.

An experiment and rye.

 Here we have a loaf of whole wheat and oats,  it turned out quite well and tastes pretty darn good for whole wheat.

Good crumb texture, if not very dense. Though that is to be expected with whole wheat.

Mmm, there really isn't anything like a good loaf of homemade rye. Plus, it's a traditional very traditional recipe, with the inclusion of molasses and heavy cream. It turned out excellent.

 Look at that, a nearly perfect, dense texture that with stone ground flour brings across a whole different taste than any store brought bread can bring. 

And here we go... In the foreground you can see the individual grains of rye flour sticking out of the loaf. The golden brown area is some beautifully caramelized eggwash that only adds to the flavor. 









Next up is a New York style cheesecake, with a twist of my own.

Stocking up and cornbread.

Baked a ton of stuff today so I have to sift through 30-ish pictures and crop em' down a tad. Here's my flour inventory as of 8:45 a.m.

 That's a 25 pound bag of white bread flour on the right, three 5 pound bags of whole wheat flour in the center, a single 5 pound bag of rye flour and finally a 10 pound bag of all-purpose flour. Should keep me stocked for a few weeks.

I made cornbread, didn't get any better pictures than this, and it doesn't really convey the epicosity of it. Only problem was a little graininess left from the cornmeal.

Tomorrow will bring whole wheat and oat bread, plus two loaves of traditional German rye bread. 

Wonderful ciabatta.

 Here you can see the beginnings of a great loaf, or in this instance, two. 

Now the two loaves have been baked for 40 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Please pardon the poor lighting and the tea kettle.

 One loaf being sliced, absolutely wonderful crumb, though the crust was a little soft for my taste, 'twas still excellent.

 This is 

Another day, another loaf. Beautiful texture all the way through and a harder crust too.

This picture... It is simply indescribable how clearly it portrays some excellent homemade bread.

Welcome to Improper Baking!

Sup, I'm going to post a bunch of stuff here from my baking trials and errors. I found my passion for baking about a year ago when I stumbled upon a recipe for ciabatta bread and realized just how awesome baking can be. Be it pita bread from the Middle East, rye bread from Germany, or good ole' Southern American cornbread, I'm going to make it. I hope you follow along, and try some out yourself.