mostly about baking, one way and another
Sep. 10th, 2016 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI'm back again, after an unexpected hiatus. The touchplate or whatever you call it on my laptop stopped working, and I had to buy a mouse.
I'm feeling somewhat disconnected with fandom, especially since I've been away for so long. About all I've been doing that's remotely fannish is watching the new series of The Great British Bake Off. (As always, I've love it if you pointed me towards books/movies/TV you've enjoyed and think I might too.)
I feel like the level of talent isn't quite as high this year as last year. There've been a lot of messy and/or underdone bakes. On the other hand, people who at first seem like mediocre bakers sometimes start producing wonderful things later in the series. Right now, the people I could see making it to the last couple of rounds are Benjamina, Tom, Jane, possibly Andrew, possibly Candice if she brings her execution up to the level of her ideas. Initially I would have put Selasi in this category too, but his excessively laid-back approach (e.g. not practicing) is starting to work against him.
My personal favorite, regardless of baking skills, is the adorable Rav. Unfortunately I think he'll get sent home after round 5 or 6. (Val next week, is my prediction--she's had too many narrow escapes already--and then Rav and Kate, order to be determined.) I like Benjamina a lot too (she gives the impression of really caring about baking in a way I don't feel from most of the others), and Andrew. Kate is making me understand what people disliked so much about Ian last year, but Ian didn't seem as entirely wrapped up in cozy upper-middle-class domesticity as Kate does. And his bakes were more interesting.
I've been unable to warm up to Candice much. It's strange because she hasn't really done anything wrong or unkind, and in fact she always seems willing to pitch in with a hug or a helping hand. She just rubs me the wrong way, and I suspect, to my chagrin, it's to do with gender and class. I especially suspect this because she seems to be the most widely disliked contestant. I liked her better in Week 2 than Week 1, because she tried to help Louise, plus her gingerbread pub was very well made and the way she talked about her childhood made her seem more . . . approachable? Less sulky? But then in Week 3 I went back to not liking her, though I did find myself thinking that Paul is harsher than normal towards her. Anyone else have thoughts? I dislike her without quite understanding why, or why so many people seem to agree with me.
Getting away from personalities, I was less frustrated by Bread Week than I was last season, because it was sort of tacitly acknowledged that you can't bake a good loaf of plain bread in a short amount of time. The flavor all develops during the rise. So instead of forcing the poor bakers to make bland baguettes, Paul and Mary asked for chocolate bread and whatever that weird steamed thing was, and decorative breads with herbs, cheese, etc. to add some flavor to those sad short-rise loaves. (Even so, they really didn't have enough time for the showstopper. GBBO is supposed to be about quality baking, so it shouldn't cut things so tight that the bakers have to choose between underproving and underbaking.)
As usual, the Bake Off (and the onset of cooler weather) has got me baking again. Today I made a peach pie, which turned out rather nice despite some trouble with the pastry. I used the tricky-ish recipe for Flaky Pastry from Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds. It's about halfway between a normal flaky pastry and a puff pastry: you rub some of the fat into the flour, but you scatter most of it over the dough and then do folds and turns, and I had trouble with the butter wanting to come through the dough each time I rolled it out. Also, I discovered too late that the recipe doesn't make quite enough pastry for a covered pie, so I had to roll it worryingly thin.
Besides the pie, I made a potato salad dressed with anchovies, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and chopped olives, based on a recipe by Marcela Hazan. I also cooked some broccoli until just tender and tossed it with a similar dressing of anchovies, garlic, olive oil, lemon, and some grated pecorino cheese.
In a little while I'm going to make up a sort of coleslaw dressed with oil, lime juice, and cumin, which I plan to eat tomorrow alongside roasted pork tenderloin with an orange and chipotle chile sauce.
My cooking, like the local weather, is hovering at the edge of autumn. Usually I look forward to colder weather and heartier dishes, but about a month ago I became obsessed with watermelon and crave it all the time, and I'm not ready yet for it to go away.
On the other hand, soups. Lovely, lovely soups.
I'm feeling somewhat disconnected with fandom, especially since I've been away for so long. About all I've been doing that's remotely fannish is watching the new series of The Great British Bake Off. (As always, I've love it if you pointed me towards books/movies/TV you've enjoyed and think I might too.)
I feel like the level of talent isn't quite as high this year as last year. There've been a lot of messy and/or underdone bakes. On the other hand, people who at first seem like mediocre bakers sometimes start producing wonderful things later in the series. Right now, the people I could see making it to the last couple of rounds are Benjamina, Tom, Jane, possibly Andrew, possibly Candice if she brings her execution up to the level of her ideas. Initially I would have put Selasi in this category too, but his excessively laid-back approach (e.g. not practicing) is starting to work against him.
My personal favorite, regardless of baking skills, is the adorable Rav. Unfortunately I think he'll get sent home after round 5 or 6. (Val next week, is my prediction--she's had too many narrow escapes already--and then Rav and Kate, order to be determined.) I like Benjamina a lot too (she gives the impression of really caring about baking in a way I don't feel from most of the others), and Andrew. Kate is making me understand what people disliked so much about Ian last year, but Ian didn't seem as entirely wrapped up in cozy upper-middle-class domesticity as Kate does. And his bakes were more interesting.
I've been unable to warm up to Candice much. It's strange because she hasn't really done anything wrong or unkind, and in fact she always seems willing to pitch in with a hug or a helping hand. She just rubs me the wrong way, and I suspect, to my chagrin, it's to do with gender and class. I especially suspect this because she seems to be the most widely disliked contestant. I liked her better in Week 2 than Week 1, because she tried to help Louise, plus her gingerbread pub was very well made and the way she talked about her childhood made her seem more . . . approachable? Less sulky? But then in Week 3 I went back to not liking her, though I did find myself thinking that Paul is harsher than normal towards her. Anyone else have thoughts? I dislike her without quite understanding why, or why so many people seem to agree with me.
Getting away from personalities, I was less frustrated by Bread Week than I was last season, because it was sort of tacitly acknowledged that you can't bake a good loaf of plain bread in a short amount of time. The flavor all develops during the rise. So instead of forcing the poor bakers to make bland baguettes, Paul and Mary asked for chocolate bread and whatever that weird steamed thing was, and decorative breads with herbs, cheese, etc. to add some flavor to those sad short-rise loaves. (Even so, they really didn't have enough time for the showstopper. GBBO is supposed to be about quality baking, so it shouldn't cut things so tight that the bakers have to choose between underproving and underbaking.)
As usual, the Bake Off (and the onset of cooler weather) has got me baking again. Today I made a peach pie, which turned out rather nice despite some trouble with the pastry. I used the tricky-ish recipe for Flaky Pastry from Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds. It's about halfway between a normal flaky pastry and a puff pastry: you rub some of the fat into the flour, but you scatter most of it over the dough and then do folds and turns, and I had trouble with the butter wanting to come through the dough each time I rolled it out. Also, I discovered too late that the recipe doesn't make quite enough pastry for a covered pie, so I had to roll it worryingly thin.
Besides the pie, I made a potato salad dressed with anchovies, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and chopped olives, based on a recipe by Marcela Hazan. I also cooked some broccoli until just tender and tossed it with a similar dressing of anchovies, garlic, olive oil, lemon, and some grated pecorino cheese.
In a little while I'm going to make up a sort of coleslaw dressed with oil, lime juice, and cumin, which I plan to eat tomorrow alongside roasted pork tenderloin with an orange and chipotle chile sauce.
My cooking, like the local weather, is hovering at the edge of autumn. Usually I look forward to colder weather and heartier dishes, but about a month ago I became obsessed with watermelon and crave it all the time, and I'm not ready yet for it to go away.
On the other hand, soups. Lovely, lovely soups.
no subject
Date: 2016-09-11 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-09-15 01:22 pm (UTC)I like Candice very much and I also noticed that Paul criticized her more. I think he generally is nicer to the male contestants, especially if they are cute.