cooking

[zeon]

Hello,
I figured id post a thread about cooking.... How creative are our skills as a community on cooking??? Recentlky ive got interested in cooking and baking things and seeing how they turn out... Since last summer I achieved making a blackberry crumble by actually going out and getting the blackberries from the bush behind my home and mixing up the crumble from hand... Got to toast on the juice as well from the pan and it was LOVELY.... My next hurdle im wanting to do is making bread... I have baked a loaf but too much butter was added so i have cut it down a slighht amount and mixed into a dough and left it be for 2 hours before i go adding it to the fire.... I am thinking of doing donnuts and actually making a cake in the summer just to be creative... I find that days i feel sad and worthless if i do something to achieve a result i find this helps lift spirit so who here is creative with food and what things you done???

With dinners i can do pie and veg i struggle to cook most dishes because i get confused with instructions lol

Kindest regards

zeon x

[iPromise]

Hey Zeon, I love cooking myself. I've only started to experiment about oh I don't know since I was in high school? lol, I'm cooking more on my own now that I'm on my own and out of the house, yet I still miss mom's cooking : )

I love to cook fish, chicken, pork, and beef I've tried to bake brownies but I alway either add too much to too little oil lol. Never comes out good. But I'm learning, two years ago I made this awesome cornbread for thanksgiving, everyone loved it, it was finished by the end of the night, lol, my cornbread came out a bit too sweet, so everyone loved snacking on it after dinner haha.

[mrk2010]

leaving bread dough for 2 hours? Next time but it in a bowl, put a tea towel over it an place it in an airing cupboard (or another warm part of the house) and this will be quicker. Yeast needs heat to activate and rise (this is called proving) and you do it again later. Also why have you put butter in your bread dough? Here's a recipe I use,

• 1kg strong bread flour
• 625ml tepid water
• 30g fresh yeast or 3 x 7g sachets dried yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt

You might want to give pastry a crack before doing donuts (do the basics) even something like making a roux sauce, if you know the fundamentals you can build up. cakes are easy really you just have to get enough air in. I did food technology for like 5 years so I have plenty of kitchen experience :p

[iPromise]

mrk2010 mentioned doughnuts, you might wanna try Chinese doughnuts first if you wanna make them. They are easier to me, than regular doughnuts lol.

[zeon]

I only following what the hovis packet says... I tried to look at making bread from scratch but... It looks very complicated... I am not good with cooking skills and need to train on them... Complete novice at this field but going to hopefully improve

[zeon]

just checked my bread and its risen vwery well.... I am looking forward to it and giving it another 20 minutes past intital time for extra growth! i did add extra self raising flour as i kneeded it

[mrk2010]

best thing you can do is invest in a decent cookbook for beginners, tbh cooking I wouldn't say its that difficult as long as you follow the instrustions (also plan what you are doing) as in what pot goes where its ok. although I like fresh bread, I'd rather go to the shops and buy a loaf, I couldnt be bothered to make it all the time.

[azulai]

hey, zeon. I love cooking. My bf and I are both exercise/health nuts and don't eat junk so we have had a lot of fun experimenting. I think we fell more in love over our early cooking disasters.

I do a lot of grilling while he's better at the stove.

Tonight we're baking stuffed red peppers and some trout.

[zeon]

A tip for mash potato,,,

Using a hand mash or in my case a retro 1970's hand manual wisk thing add some butter with a drop of milk and after its blended nicely using a modern day fork wisk it up as fasdt as u can to go all fluffy and add a sprinkle of sugar... Depending on your sweet tooth if you have a strong sweet tooth add 4 big spoon fulls of sugar and blend it all in.... Makes it very more ish and bloody lovely... Alternatively do a volcano meal... Diced chicken and veg mixed with mash with a well at the top and in the top pour some gravy so when its sliced down the side the gravy runs and the meal can be dunked in it for a change

[zeon]

best thing you can do is invest in a decent cookbook for beginners, tbh cooking I wouldn't say its that difficult as long as you follow the instrustions (also plan what you are doing) as in what pot goes where its ok. although I like fresh bread, I'd rather go to the shops and buy a loaf, I couldnt be bothered to make it all the time.

ASDA do hovis ready made bread for less than a £ so would take up some of your time.... they charge like £1.50 for a loaf or 80p for a value one lol