Learning to bake

I have become a reasonable cook in my time, but never took to baking. Jinnah will teach me some basics.

Snickerdoodles

Starting with snickerdoodles.

On Hand

This was the first recipe I found where I had all the ingredients on hand, except for cinnamon sticks:

https://www.seriouseats.com/new-fashioned-snickerdoodle-cookie-recipe

They came out pretty well, but I overbaked them. The instructions said "firm around the edges but steamy in the middle," which I found difficult to judge.

I also baked two pans in the oven at once, and there was a distinct difference between the top and bottom tray.

Test Kitcken

I love the America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, and one I had has a snickerdoodle recipe, that asked for cream of tartar, and vegetable shortening. Having acquired those, I commenced my second bake:

These came out nicer, primarily because I was much more diligent about checking for done-ness, and I did both pans separately.

These didn't have as much cinnamon flavour (the first recipe had me sprinkle leftover cinnamon dredging on the cookies, this one didn't), but were otherwise preferred.

Jinnah's tweaks

Checking in with Jinnah, we decided on the following adjustments:

Lemon juice instead of cream of tartar (2x the measurement)
Brown sugar in the dough (not for rolling)
Chill the dough
Replace butter with cultured butter

These were a little bland, I think I needed to pack the brown sugar more, and they also had a more "cakey" and less chewy texture. Two theories on that:

Did a lot more mixing with this batch (had help from my 13 year old, who is a much more confident baker than I am)
The lemon juice reacted with the baking soda

Refining...

Made another batch where I omitted the baking soda entirely, and packed the brown sugar quite solidly. I cooked these at 350, since most of the others have been a little on the burnt side.

These were the tastiest, but also clearly underdone, so we threw most of them out. I also forget to get any pictures. :P

Refined?

Went full butter, dropping shortening, and substitued 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Cooked at 375 for an almost exact 11 minutes.

These have a very nice chew, thanks largely to the whole wheat, and are cooked very well. I have another batch in the fridge that I'll try without sprinkling extra cinnamon and sugar on top.

Next: Chocolate Chip cookie

I followed the America's Test Kitchen recipe for "Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies" (subscription required, but I have the physical copy.) I substituted white chocolate chips and added a half cup of chopped, salted (it was what we could find,) macadamia nuts.

Again, forgot to take pictures, but these turned out really nice from the start. I used salted butter, and omitted the salt in the recipe, which left them a bit under-salted IMO, but really nice texture and flavour otherwise.

Shortbread cookie?

Following another Test Kitchen recipe, but not the one I can find online, I made a very simple shortbread in a disc. It was a bit dry, but still very buttery, and it was a very nostalgic and satisfying accomplishment to make one. :)

Focaccia

Once again starting with the America's Test Kitchen recipe, but first batch ended up pretty flat.

As it turns out, the recipe called for "instant" yeast, which doesn't require "proofing". I used "active dry" yeast, which does require proofing, but I failed to proof it, so the yeast wasn't really doing its job in this first batch.

A second batch with proofed yeast showed a fair bit more rise, but still not that much:

Consulting with Jinnah, he shared this recipe: https://alexandracooks.com/2018/03/02/overnight-refrigerator-focaccia-best-focaccia/

It was very easy, and even with some technical errors on my part, still produced the best bread so far on my first attempt:

Another batch turned out even better. In this case I topped one of the breads with pesto.

Great rise, especially in the pesto one:

Things to try:

Pound cake