Finally, a Science I Can Understand: Baking

I’m not sure any form of a scientist was ever on my list of “Things I Want to Be When I Grow Up”, and I know being in front of a camera certainly isn’t on it today. So what’s the closest possibility that combines both of those that I’d be willing to go for? Enter: The Great American Baking Show.

On just another late Monday night after midnight, I submitted this application after recording and editing videos of me talking about myself to a cringy two-minutes. Thankfully, I think the initial baked goods spoke for themselves because, as shocking as it is, I’m not a super vocal person, especially when it comes to talking about myself.

That video will forever sail off into the abyss. A little jist: picture me trying to connect baking since I’ve been young with my Grandmom to Philly’s deep food history and recent accolades and maybe some puns about the show to make sure I proved that I have in fact watched the many seasons.

I’ll let you be the judge of the first submitted bakes…

I’ll admit, I want to both make all of these again and be eating them. But all good things must come with time. Just like I did after submitting, we wait.

This was one of those things that I threw out into the void just to see what came of it. So then as March almost moved to April, I got a text…

Ain’t that something? Whether it was out of excitement or naiveté, I asked when they would like the next set of photos by…

“EOD tomorrow if that’s possible! Thank you.”

So after scraping together 6 solid photos to include, I obviously had to make two more bakes that night / in the morning to send in, as one (crazy person) does. After scouring the internet and social media for ideas, I decided why not decorate my first cake ever on a cake I’ve never made, and throw in a fancy-pants French pear frangipane tart… whatever that means.

At 2 a.m., I had the cake decorated, a few days short of Easter Weekend, and prepped all the steps I could for the tart. With a 6 a.m. wakeup, all was finished and pictures were taken by 8:30 a.m., The off to work I went went.

Another thing sent off into the void. This time, I did feel a little proud that I was at least pushing myself to do something with all the random knowledge and baking I’ve done from the past 2+ years at that point.

Not to sugar coat any sort of big reveal, I didn’t hear back from any other casting director. But I think hearing from an outside person that I have no connection to that my stuff even looked good enough to be considered, was a bit of a confidence boost to feel positive about what I’m doing. (I still don’t know why I do half of the baking that I do, but it’s all fun still, and I love to share, so that’s a mental win I’ll take.)

If anything, it gave me more bakes to give to the people around me and served as a reminder to keep taking notes on everything that I’m making. After all, I may be notorious for looking at recipes as loose suggestions and making it however I feel, which definitely has come back to bite me while baking. Science, baby.

What’s Bakin’?

I could share out my endless saved recipes from my Instagram feed. But here’s a select few I have been excited to try soon:

• Pistachio Maritozzi – the blank canvas that is the maritozzi constantly has my mind running. Not much is better than the simple brioche bun with the light plain mascarpone-cream filling… but the possibilities to do many other flavors are there.

• Lemon Blueberry Kouign Amann – there was a morning when I made time-consuming kouign amann and quick lemon blueberry scones, and people rated those scones higher. Marginal but still enough to make me remember. Now this idea from a professional has me wanting to combine both of those.

• Toasted Vanilla Bean Latte Cake – pro tip for Costco members: get the vanilla beans while you can. For $24, you can take home ten (10) vanilla beans. I’m not going to say how much I’ve spent on two vanilla beans before at Whole Foods, but it’s about the same cost. This is the latest recipe from Butternut Bakery that whenever I have a reason to make a cake next, this will be the one.

• Tiger Milk Bread – King Arthur Baking Company has exploded these past few years, and I think that’s because they’re doing everything right as a company. They know what they’re good at, are employee owned, and meet all levels of bakers where they’re at. I’m loyal to their flour where it all started, and I’ve bought their buttermilk pancake mix that could not make the process easier. That said, this Tiger Milk Bread looks and sounds so different than my usual bakes. Up for the challenge.

Fun fact: for the carrot cake, I used two 9×13” pans and cut out three round layers in a very makeshift way. I have since purchased round pans after doing that twice more for whatever reason. A much less-precise favorite has to be a galette. Sweet or Savory. Can be seasonal. Always impressive. I’ll sign off with one my mom just made that deserved two thumbs up: a summer peach galette.

Don’t bake outside this week 🤘