Of Breads, Cakes, & Macarons - 1

My love for time in the kitchen almost seems, "like a case of predestination," as Anne would say. Amma was phenomenal with her culinary skills, and as a family, appa included, we spend many happy hours in the kitchen. 

Baking, of course, is distinctively enticing. I find it particularly alluring to accurately weigh out basic ingredients, and then mix them up using various techniques resulting in an aromatic and delicious end product: yum on the taste buds and yum for the mind. 

Growing up, Amma would learn and make the most amazing baked goodies for us: buns, pizza, amazing cakes, cookies, to name a few. Those years, access to ingredients was scarce, and instructional material was nowhere as simple to find as it is today. And yet, how divine everything tasted as it hit our tongues. Sometimes cheesy, sometimes chocolatey - how could I resist emulating Amma's magical cooking talent? I can't begin to describe the delights of learning the art of baking from her - beautiful memories!

As we were growing up, I used to watch Shalini cook - not glance, but watch and I would taste every dish from inception to finish - a spoon here, a sip there, savouring the transition of flavour, texture and colour. And to date, this scenario continues to play out in the kitchen;She'll cook, I'll taste, and then as with most other things, I will copy her. As we have grown up, an additional dynamic has surfaced - cooking together. We spend hours cooking a myriad of dishes together. Desserts, obviously, have a special artistic appeal where cakes take the cake!

One of the most interesting cakes we've made in the recent past is the Battenberg cake. A few years ago, we came across this cake with it's distinct checker-board look, and marzipan covering. While this wasn't our first meeting with a checker-board cake, working on it, and putting it all together was such fun, especially since the end result on our first attempt was impressive - taste, texture and visual appeal (If I may so so myself). 

Since then we have found ourselves baking for pleasure a variety of cakes - rum and brandy infused fruit cakes, a recent hit being am Anna Olsen inspired coffee cake - to be fair this was a bit of a trip back memory lane where I contributed more to tasting than baking. Last week we went back to the basics and churned up this divine chocolate cake that my inspirational sister decorated: simple but stunning

Moving away from cakes, my love affair with baking bread has returned with a bang. The last few weeks has seen me obsessed with bread making, and I blame these pictures of bread that he's baked that keep popping up on my Whatsapp conversation with Harish for this: 

So, Harish makes the most divine pizzas and I keep telling him that his pizza dough is phenomenal - it has that perfect rise, and texture.

Other breads obviously follow suit. Off and on, I have privately been envious over photos of his baguettes, but it is only recently that I have decided to pick his brains about bread recipes, and then try to replicate his bread making skills. I am currently working on the baguette, Milk & Honey bread loaves, and my addition to the list - A fennel & pecan bread. 

Essentially, I see a picture of a perfect loaf on my phone and I then spend the next few hours waiting to go home and try baking. I have spent more than a few hours, Whatsapp conversations and dialogues getting tips and tricks across continents in order to get these scrumptious, crispy crust, delectable soft-inside loaves. And how much fun has it been discussing bread with Harish: from planning, to kneading, to proofing, to shaping, to tasting, all the way to troubleshooting (Our current primary concern - analysing why my brown bread won't rise much?)

Sigh, I think it's time to try and perfect another loaf, and save my macaron stories for another day...