Flour on the Floor: A Mother-Daughter Baking Project

1. I love to bake.
2. I enjoy writing.
3. I have a 4-year old sidekick which means very little time alone to engage in numbers one and two.

This blog will attempt to beat (perhaps I should use a more hopeful word) those three ingredients into an airy but satisfying confection.

My plan is to bake my way through Baking Illustrated: The Practical Kitchen Companion For The Home Baker by the editors of Cooks Illustrated magazine.  Its 500 pages cover everything from pizza to pies (or angel food cake to zucchini bread for the more alphabetically-minded).  I hope to really learn the art of baking—a chemistry show followed by a delicious finale.

I will perform these feats—drum roll please—“assisted” by my 4 year-old (almost 5, she would have me say) daughter.  She has spent enough time elbow to elbow with me switching the KitchenAid from stir to whip to have learned the most important question of all: “Mommy, is it batter yet?”  She is already tuned in to the magical moment when the eggs and sugar and flour and the rest transform from separate ingredients to a delicious whole.  She knows to dip her finger into that just-mixed batter and to lick the mixer blade plum clean.

As for me, I enjoy baking specifically because it is exact and single-minded.  I am a lousy cook, but a great baker.  With baking, there are no decisions to make, only directions to follow.  Do not season to taste; do not add a pinch of this or that; do not improvise. 

Will baking with a child will loosen my leveled grip on the tablespoon a little bit?  Will we bond through baking or argue over it?  We’ll see. 

This blog will delve into the mishaps and happy surprises that come our way.  So, pour a cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk and bring an empty plate.  Do enjoy.  

Side note:  I did ask my seven-year-old son if he'd like to join us in this adventure and was met with an eye roll.  But I imagine his footprints will be in the flour sometimes too.