Menoodling; Faffing With Food

I have always loved to cook. Point me in the direction of anything savoury and I'm yer gal. Can even run out a pudding or more. Baking, though... no. Baking was never my forte. A decent shortcrust pastry every so often, but scones? Cakes? Bread? Somehow they were never quite right. Often binnable. 

Then I happened upon the never-fail yoghurt cake/muffins recipe. Every cake I have made in the past forty years has been that, or variations upon it. They haven't all been good, but they have all been edible. I have provided this before, but it bears repeating!

YAM'S YOGHURT CAKE/MUFFIN MIX

1 measure of plain yoghurt (be that the 150/200gm carton, or a cup...)

1 measure of sunflower oil

1 measure of raw (cane) sugar (or white if you must)

3 measures of Self Raising flour (I use half/half white and wholemeal)

2 eggs lightly beaten

Place all together in a bowl and mix until all ingredients combined but do not beat. If you wish you can now add some dried fruit, a banana, or some berries... experiment!

Depending on your measure, the flour, the eggs' weight, the batter may be wetter or drier; ideally, it will be only just a dropping consistency. Too wet or too dry can give poor results. Either use a loaf tin or make muffins with it. 

Bake in an oven set at 180'C (160 if fan-forced) for about 40 minutes for muffins and a bit longer for a loaf. A knife inserted should come out clean, and there should be a slight spring-back when pressed. These buns often bear a day in a tin before eating - somehow they improve with age!

During my time in Edinburgh, I practised a bit more on the baking, though, for father did love his cakes and bakes. Cherry cake, anything with chocolate. The stollen buns of Christmas 2019 were so much of a hit, I didn't get time to photograph them! Something I learned was that baking takes practice, and improvements do occur.

Now back in my own wee Hutch, having become used to having something baked always on hand, my own sweet tooth has been sharpened. I may get around to baking some goodies for myself but am also in no hurry to do it - as there is just me to eat it and I already fight the Battle of The Bulge. I do not, however, like to be without bread. I can go for a week or even two without bread but then am overcome with a hankering, a lust, a craving for it. Now, of course, one can order from the grocery. Though, you may recall that I was given a bread oven three years back—time to get it back into use. The first loaf produced since being back home got made a few days ago. I experimented. Instead of my basic water, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, I put milk, an egg and some olives. Golly, it's good...

I have happened across a tubular channel with bread and pastries as the focus. They look to be fairly fail-safe... or should that be YAM-proof? Expect more experiments!!!