Baking

I have been baking/cooking since I can remember. I just have always had an interest in creating. My parents were laid back about such things and I can remember cooking the bacon by myself (standing up on a chair to reach the electric skillet, fork in hand) when I was just 4-5. When I was 8 I would cook whole meals by myself and without a parent even home to supervise me (that was part of the fun, surprising my folks with a wonderful creation upon their arrival home). Now, at first I would thumb through any cookbooks I could find but even from the beginning I was not one for being told what to do and how much of it to do! Hmm...I think I still have this problem...
I would (and still do) scan a recipe to get an 'idea' of what categories of things need to go into the product: For example, in order to make yummy bread you need a flour (or a mix of different kinds), an oil (many to choose from here as well), a leaven (yeast or sourdough or chemicals like baking soda (sounds like a food item I know, but it is actually a chemical with its own MSDS sheet, and I clean more with it than I eat it), a liquid, and a sweetener (so many options here as well). This is the basics. You can add things from here like spices, nuts, etc...
Now once I know the categories I need and a general idea of ratios I just improvise. I love it when things turn out and when they don't (I have made quite a few interesting creations without meaning to) I learn by my mistakes and try again.
I have been baking/cooking with liliana since she was little (my first memory is of her around 9 mts or so and sitting her on the counter to 'help' me as she refused to play with her toys while i was cooking/baking.
It is hard to be creative when another wants to help. Only I know in my head what I am trying to create (cinnamon bread for instance) and I am the one who has an idea of ratios. She wants me to let her measure everything (she is abit concrete when it comes to this, she even will take a knife pat out the flour, then swipe off the excess, something i would NEVER do!) but I know by feel or sight what is right, or I know if something needs more water by how it feels...
It is hard to teach. Regardless of the difficulty I would rather my daughter learn how to cook/bake instead of learning just how to follow orders (recipe's). Don't get me wrong, it is nice that another has figured out the particulars so that we do not always have to reinvent the wheel ourselves. I just feel that in the long run it is more helpful, or will be more of a help to my children, if they learn how to really cook/bake, and make a nutritionally balanced meal. This world is crazy. Food may get scarce, you may not have every item a recipe calls for. What are you going to do? Starve?
What if you have taught you child a skill (like if you need to build a fire out in the woods, they know the various categories that go into building a fire, so are better able to make use of what is available, instead of lamenting the fact that there is no kindling or matches, when they are sitting on some dry moss and throwing sticks and some rocks in their frustration).
You know, as parents, we are baking/cooking. Jacob and I have been examining alot lately how we are doing as parents. We noticed that we are trying to control too much (following a recipe to a T) instead of just focusing on instilling categories ('teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves").
I also remember something from my own childhood. I was 8. My mom was talking about me to my aunt and kept referring to me as "my child". By that age I had learned that the word "my" was a possessive pronoun and it rubbed the wrong way. I interrupted my mom and said, "Mom, you do not own me, I just came through you, you are in charge of raising me, but this does not give you ownership of me".
My daughters were with jacob and I before this life. All four of us were mature spirit children of a lovingly Heavenly Father. All four of us on our own decided to come to this earth. We were put into family units for a purpose, that purpose was not to have someone to control/dominate/boss...My daughter may be 3, but her spirit is mature and full of faith (that is why she is here after all, just like the rest of us)...
I hope, we hope, that after all of our 'baking/cooking/creating' with our daughters is over, they will turn out delicious, yummy, healthy, wise, self-sufficient, faithful, loving, strong women...
Now here is a delicious new thing I started making, my version of a recipe:
Cinnamon Buns(seriously the best I have ever had...)
Alright, so you put some oats in a pot with some water, bring to a boil (how much of the following two items depends on how much bread you want to end up with, in general, pretend you are making oatmeal for one person to eat for breakfast)
While that is getting up to boil, in a big bowl, put in 1/2 stick a butter (assuming you are using just one serving of oatmeal, this morning I added a whole stick of butter as I wanted to make lots for our ward potluck), 1 tsp salt(a little more or a little less wont change a thing), 3 big spoons of honey (hmm, you may be asking yourself how big my spoons are compared to yours, good question...not sure of the answer...so lets just estimate it at 3-4 tbsp of honey, once again, a little more or a little wont hurt it).
Dump your oatmeal into the big bowl, let is melt the butter (you can stir if you feel inclined to do so or if you have a kid who is dying to 'help'), then add milk (for one batch of buns i would say it is around 1 cup milk- I should say that I have only ever tried this with whole milk (raw at that-but why I drink raw milk is for another blog post)), this helps the milk get alittle warmed up, which helps with the yeast (by the way while all the following is going on you should let the yeast proof in a small bowl or cup, about 1 cup warm water to 2-3tsp yeast), dump the yeast mix into the big bowl with everything, give it a mix with the spoon. Now it is time for flour. I like to use mostly whole wheat and a little white, there are loads of other combos that would work. So I would say I put a 3:1 ratio, 3 parts whole wheat to one part white (white has no nutrients so I try to minimize its usage, it actually robs my body of nutrients (b vits) in order for my gut to digest white flour (same goes for white rice and any other 'white' (stripped) food item)...I stir abit and see how the dough is coming together, if still sticky I add abit more flour alittle at a time until dough is no longer sticky. I let sit for around 30 mins.
Now comes the fun (for the kids), I roll out the dough, like pizza, taking butter knives we use soft butter (real butter), and spread a layer all over the dough, then using a different butter knife we spread raw honey all over the dough (on top of the butter). I have tried using regular, filtered honey, but it does not cook right, you have to use the raw, which is great, it is yummy and has the extra added bonus of being a healthier version of honey, it is great for kids with allergies or food sensitives), then we use a fine mesh thingy (strainer) and i put cinnamon in it and my girl shakes it around till the dough is covered, then we roll up the snake and cut.
I grease my pans with either butter or coconut oil(my favorite cooking oil by far and soooooo healthy for you...really)
and place the buns in them, get my oven up to temp 375, than pop them in ..once i start smelling them they are within 5-8 mins of being done, so I just check on them by seeing if the tops are alittle brown..
Then for an icing if you want one I do the following:
I melt some butter (about 1/2 stick, pour in a cap full of vanilla extract, and some powdered sugar (still working on how to replace this white sugar with something better) around 2 cups, 3 or so tbsp of milk and just drizzle it over the buns...so yummy....
so, this is why I have a hard time giving out my recipe's for everyone who ask for them(it turns into a miniture book)...enjoy