Baking 101
There’s nothing like coming home and smelling the sweet smell of fresh baked bread and sweet treats. When the weather starts to cool and we can once again bear the heat of the oven filling the kitchen, there’s nothing better than pulling out the flour and dusting off the baking pans. Grab your spatula and let’s get baking. Check out our Top 20 Kitchen Supply sites!
Decadent Delights
Come fall, pumpkins aren’t just for carving. With all of that wonderful flavor, they make a terrific canvas for some decadent desserts. This humble squash is so delectable that From the Oven has a Pumpkin Recipe Collection featuring several decadent pumpkin treats from blogs around the web like the Pumpkin Spice Magic Bar Minis and the Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie (drool). Other warm rich flavors like maple, caramel, and cinnamon complement the season. Here are some decadent fall desserts to delight your palate:
Fruity Treats
Tree fruits like apples and pears are in abundance this time of year and with their juicy, sweet goodness make a wonderful option for a fruity fall dessert. Pies, crisps, bars and tarts beckon to their friends, apple and pear. Other fall fruits like quince and cranberries require a little help in the sweet department (OK, more like a lot of help) with a dousing of sugar, but once the tartness is tamed they hit all the right taste buds. Check out these fruity faves for a fall treat:
Poached Pear and Quince Frangipane Tartelettes
Breaking Bread
Is there anything better than freshly baked bread, warm from the oven with creamy sweet butter melting in to its nooks and crannies? Now that’s yummy goodness. The fall harvest lends itself perfectly to freshly baked bread with rich, deep flavors. These bread recipes capture the flavors of fall at their best:
Cranberry Walnut Bread (gluten free)
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread (includes variations with apple-pumpkin, zucchini, banana, pumpkin-zucchini)
Bake Like a Pro
While you can add a pinch of this or a dash of that while cooking, it’s a different story when it comes to baking. Precision is important when it comes to baking because it’s like a science experiment in chemistry. Temperature, measurements, and combination of ingredients can all make a difference between a light, fluffy treat and a dense, hard ball of dough. The Fresh Loaf offers lessons in baking bread. For perfect pie, check out the video tutorials at Epicurious where you’ll not only learn how to make pie dough, but also how to transfer it and how to make various pie tops. Finally, to really impress, learn how to frost, decorate and ice like a pro with the tutorials at Cake Journal.