In the Year of Fearless Baking: Episode #11: Progress Report

Hi folks- I’m back from a brief, reflective hiatus.

So, last Saturday I went a little nutso with the baking, which was to be expected. We hosted a classic family dinner party with both my parents and John’s parents in attendance. And, since the event coincided with the end of the third quarter, it seemed like the perfect excuse to challenge myself to a midterm exam.

So, I made two different types of eclairs (classic vanilla with chocolate, and hazelnut with craquelin), gougeres (cheese puffs made with choux pastry), and baguettes. The timing of this challenge was highly specific- eclairs are my dad’s favorite, and I was excited to share the spoils of this mission with him.

And so, where are the pictures? Well, the problem with baking so many things at once is it leaves very little time or attention for anything else. So I got a picture of this pretty hazelnut praline, which was subsequently pulverized, blended with pastry cream, and piped into eclair shells (and pretty much blew my mind), but that’s it. Even as I write this, an annoying little voice is whining pictures or it didn’t happen. But you know what? Tough.

The next day, I was too worn out by all of the fun to do much writing, but I did do some thinking about this project. So, call the following a casual progress report. Here is my list as it stands as of today:

Some things that come to mind:

- I don’t know why I included soda bread on this list. I used to make it pretty often when I was a kid, so it doesn’t really pose a threat or challenge to me. I think I just wanted an excuse to make some and eat it. And on St. Patty’s day, I did just that, but I didn’t blog about it, because it’s really just like making one huge scone, and it seemed silly to count it as a fearless baking project. But, in case you don’t believe me, there’s a picture here.

- Gougeres were not on this list, and I don’t know why. I have made them not once, but twice in the past week, and failed to capture any photographic evidence of them on both occasions. However, there are about half a dozen witnesses who actually ate them, and an entire traincar of strangers who smelled the second batch as they cooled, swaddled in a canvas bag, on my trip across town to visit friends. I’ve discovered them to be delicious, and pretty damn simple to make. In fact, on my second attempt, the time that elapsed between putting on my apron and walking out of the house with the hot cheese puffs (and a clean kitchen) was exactly one hour. Which means a) these are now fair game for weeknight preparation and b) you should probably invite me over for cocktails soon.

- In addition to these assignments, I have been consistently baking sourdough bread at least once a week, and it’s been amazing. I’ve been developing a very close bond with Tony, our sourdough starter/pet, and gradually moving to a high hydration formula composed of mostly whole wheat. Now I’m proudly baking bread that looks like this:

- Which brings me to the main thing I’ve learned so far from this project. Having the list has been wonderful, because it’s forcing me to try all sorts of things I probably otherwise wouldn’t, and it’s impossible to know what you’re going to fall in love with until you try it. This moment in my life feels unique because I have the time and bandwidth to go down multiple rabbit holes at the same time, and so I shall.

And what’s next? After today’s cinnamon roll challenge (to be written up shortly), there are a whole lot of things that feel kind of random, plus a whole lot of things that are really, truly, intimidating. But, it’s the second quarter, and I think it’s time for me to renew that special grab-the-list-by-the-shirt-collar attitude and dive in.