11 Plus Exams Forum

Used the slow cooker today - yum yum yum. Will be using it most days at this rate!

Having been a recent convert to the GBBO, I wondered if Mary Berry/ Paul Hollywoods books actually educate one about why some process, eg rising, is successful or not? I've. Been v interested in the comments by the judges about under proving etc etc but wondered where one actually learns that stuff if cooking just for domestic purposes.

Or can someone point me in the direction of a book which explains why I should be doing something a specific way?

Or am I overthinking this?

On the one hand baking is pure science, but on the other hand it is pure instinct, albeit with a recipe, and you cannot underplay the role of experience and feel, which in my opinion is why Nancy won, in the end.
However, if you want to know what's going wrong for example, Paul Hollywood is quite good, Delia is better on what goes wrong with cakes than Mary, although Mary's recipes lovely.
However, if you really want to know what's gone wrong, or the science of it all, if early don't think you can best just looking on youtube. A quick trawl on 'the science of bread making' elicited this, for example

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-H9pyNHxIO8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Yamin, Thanks for replying

I agree with you about instinct and experience. I felt I used to have that in our old house with my old oven (my mum has the same oven - though they both had slightly different quirks). But since I've moved, I've done far less baking, partly perhaps because I became 11+ obsessed but also because they just weren't as good and I became discouraged. Cakes seem to sweat in my oven; puff up immediately and then collapse, half uncooked. I've tried using the fan (which I didn't use to use for baking) to make it dryer, but it still doesn't work. It's a standard Neff, which people tell me are quite good? But I just can't get to grips with it.

That's why, I thought if I could understand how the rising/ temperature etc thing worked, I might get to grips with it more.

I'll look at the bread youtube vid tomorrow and have a hunt around on there for related stuff. I love the nitty gritty about overproving and the temperature that flaky pastry has to be at if you're going to have proper layers in it. I am SUCH a nerd

I'm not a great cake maker, just the solid kind like fruit cake where "rise" doesn't really matter, but I do make bread virtually every day and I like a room temperature slower rise. I find if it puffs up in a hurry it then flops back.

Paul's bread book is great but for cakes I like Mary.

Raymond Blanc once did a series about the science behind cooking. May be some you tube videos of that

For food science journalism that is also fun to read I don't think you can beat Andrew Connelly, my dh found his articles first on a hone brew site, he writes for the guardian.
Here you go, I hope you enjoy reading them:

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/andy-connelly" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As yamin said Delia will tell you where you are going wrong with a bit of science too.