Not a One Trick Pony

I like making stuff. I like making stuff out of wood but I also like making stuff in the kitchen. I regularly bake bread and I also like making biscuits.

  That is batch of half whole wheat/half white bread flour with raisins and cinnamon. 

  Baking is not that much different than making projects in the workshop. It needs you to learn to use some tools and perfect a few techniques. 

  At first you follow the instructions exactly, with little understanding of how and why things interact. When make a nice project in a wood shop at first you follow the plan exactly, using the same wood and joints.

  After you have accumulated experience you recognize the things that can be changed to individualize a project and the things that can't be changed successfully.  This biscuit/scone recipe usually is all white flour. White flour soaks up more liquid than whole wheat flour, with experience you know that and adjust accordingly. The recipe calls for water, I have used milk and cold espresso coffee instead the results are different and good.

  Often we woodworking writer types admonish our readers to get into their shops and build.  So for a change up, build some biscuits or cookies. Surprise the whole household.

 

  Then make a really really nice end grain board and don't use it for cutting, use it for serving. 

P.S. I don't bake cookies because when I used to in the old days I could go from no cookies in the house to a house with no cookies in it in 35 minutes flat. Cookies are too easy.

cheers ian w