The Slowcook at Spydog Farm The Slowcook at Spydog Farm

Me, Baker

December 6th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Posted in kids

Rollling out ginger bread cookie dough

I’ve taken on a new challenge at the elementary school where I teach my food appreciation classes: baking. We’ve divided the year into three teaching segments, instead of just one for each semester. They asked me to come up with something besides “cooking,” where we’ve been traveling the world for the last three years. I chose baking. Ha! Me, a baker. Imagine.

My wife does all the baking in our house because she’s been doing it for years and understands all the science involved. But I thought, maybe it was high time I learned myself. So for the next couple of months I’ll be learning right along with the kids, who are always bugging me about making a cake, or crepes, or cookies or something. Anything besides chopping onions.

The first project is seasonal: gingerbread cookies. The challenge will be teaching the kids how to bake without electric gadgets, like a food processor or blender. “How did they mix dough and cream butter before they had machines?” I asked my wife. “They did it by hand,” was her response.

And that’s exactly what we’re looking for. Maybe we should call this class, Baking by Hand.

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  • k8

    I thought of you this weekend when I took some cupcakes to a friend’s house. The kids asked if they were made “with ingredients.” I couldn’t quite figure out what they meant until they took me to the pantry and showed me a Betty Crocker mix. Apparently, when you use a recipe, you’re using ingredients. With a mix, you are not.

  • Vanessa

    Love reading your blog! Your latest post about baking and how you are on a learning curve with it made me think you might appreciate learning about sourdough at the same time because sourdough baking involves properly preparing the dough before cooking so that it is more digestible and nutritious. To learn more about how to cook this way, check out http://www.gnowfglins.com (FYI, this is not my website, it is just where I have learned how to cook with sourdough in the past 6 months, and an added bonus, no electric gadgets needed, other than the stove!) Have fun!