Jute’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2012)

Jute’s comments from the Baking and Books group.

Leslie wrote: "Hi jute,
I like both plans. I have had fun trying to create the foods served in the Harry Potter books. That caramel book sounds awesome, I will check to see if my library has a copy."

What kinds of foods have you created from Harry Potter? It sounds like that would be fun!

I recently purchased this book and have been salivating over the gorgeous pictures. I love caramel and can't wait to try some of the recipes here. I just have to decide which one.

The book has a comprehensive list of equipment, ingredients and instructions. I especially liked the section where she talks about the different types of caramel-like items, such as butterscotch and toffee.

In the next couple of days I'll pick out a recipe and try it out. I'll post up my success or failure.

I urge anyone else who happens to have the book to try it out as well. I recommend any US residents check with the public library if the book interests you but you don't want to purchase it.

This year has been a difficult year for me personally and I haven't had time to devote to Goodreads. I've been struggling what to do for the focus of this group and without the time to really put towards working at coming up with anything, things have remained pretty static here.

I originally wanted the group to have a focus on cookbooks, since I felt they were not very well represented in groups. I had an alternative suggestion that we take baked goods from fiction books we were reading or liked that had food somehow figured in them and post recipes for those.

I liked both the original idea and the suggestion, so what I think I would like us to do both. I'll be posting cookbooks I purchase or read with a sample recipe from the book. The cookbooks will have an United States slant, because that's where I am, though I will post some from a few other areas. I encourage others to make suggestions or post ones from their area of the world.

As to the fiction books, I think it will take a bit of time to work out exactly how to do this, so it will be an ongoing project.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Pie crust is what you know as shortcrust pastry. Cinnamon bun mix, hmmmm I like to replace pre-packaged stuff with home made. That just appears to be sweet dough for buns that comes from a box. Like for Chelsea buns.

So I'd probably only make these if I were making cinnamon rolls for something else.

Wow..those look awesome. :) I'll have to try them out.

I watched another episode of this show where the contestants were supposed to make 'American Pies' and the commentary indicated that the judges and most of the people disliked American Pies and felt they were too sweet.

I just wondered if that was a British thing in general?

Wow...thanks for the link!

What I've found the most fascinating is the education I'm getting in differences in baking. You had already helped me with a lot of terms, so I knew when they were going to be making 'puddings' I wasn't to expect what we Americans call pudding. But I was surprised by some other things..

Like we 'braid' bread and you 'plait' it. And 'sponge' is not just a type of cake but what cake itself is called.

It's made me think a lot about how recipes could go wrong from relatively minor things if you don't have a good translator.

It also makes me wonder how close our Northern Neighbors are to using the same terms we use or if being under you Brits has them using your names for things.

Silly fascination, I know :)

I've been watching old episodes of this show and as always I'm really fascinated by the difference between common baking items and terms between the US and Britain. Can anyone tell me how popular the show actually is in Britain?

I was just reading about Eton Mess the other day and thought I might try it sometime.

When I've made meringues in the past I've had variable success. The last time I didn't let them go long enough and they were too chewy. I love the texture when they are done right.

Wow..that sounds awesome! You always make such interesting things.

Okay thanks for the information! I think I'm going to try them and see how they turn out.

I've been reading a new cookbook Saved by Cake and the first recipe is something called Rock Cakes. From the photo they look almost like what we'd call a biscuit, but they are obviously sweet.

I'm considering trying them. Are these something that anyone familiar with them would recommend?

Anyone planning on taking a look at this month's book?

Jim wrote: "I'm new to this group. I've been making excellent pizza dough for years to bake in my wood-fired oven. The secret is not so much the method as the flour: Molino Caputo Tipo 00 in the blue bag. It..."

Ohhh thanks I would be interested in the recipe. I'll check to see where I can get that flour.

Thanks!

I made these tonight.



The were quite a few steps in the process and they are more complex than what I usually make. My husband says they are worth it, however. :)

It's a dark chocolate cupcake filled with a peanut butter then filling dipped in chocolate ganache and then topped with a peanut butter flavored Swiss Meringue.

This website has interesting information on US eggs

I just got another book that has recipes from the UK. Retro Cakes and Cookies. Wendy Sweetser

I noticed that she equates on large UK egg with an extra large one from the US.

If this is actually true across the board it's another thing to keep in mind when translating recipes.

Has anyone made any recipes from this book?

I've made the peanut butter cookies and they are amazing. This book was instrumental in my learning about how much difference it makes to let the cookie dough rest before you actually bake it. I had always just baked it immediately after mixing and in this one I followed the recipe's recommendations and waited until the next day to bake. The difference in texture was really amazing.

Oh what a great suggestion. I have her book and have tried several of her recipes.