If you’ve been following me lately you might have noticed I’ve tried making pizza, bread, and most recently, graham crackers from scratch. As I worked up some strawberry jam yesterday (post coming soon), it occurred to me that this sort of food preparation required a different sort of skill set. Here’s the list I came up with:
Preciseness matters. I’m used to the sort of cooking where you can throw in a little of this or that or substitute one ingredient for another. When cooking from scratch, however, it’s important to pay close attention to the details – even if they seem unnecessarily exact. You will kill the yeast if the water temperature goes above 120 degrees, and if it’s not warm enough, it will not activate. Yesterday, my jelly needed to come to 220 degrees in order to set. 215 would not cut it. Cooking is both an art and a science – and cooking from scratch may be more on the science end of things. I’m seeing the need for some different kitchen tools now – a good thermometer, and perhaps a food scale.
Patience matters. Truth be told, I love my microwave. I love being able to whip up a meal on the fly. But many of these recipes take time. There can be multiple steps involved. Most of the time isn’t spent working with the ingredients, it’s simply waiting. Waiting for the jam to set. Waiting for the dough to rise. Or waiting for it to chill.
The right ingredients matter. This goes hand-in-hand with being precise, but until you’ve got the recipe down, make sure you’re using the correct ingredients. I had to hunt a little to find the graham flour, but I sure didn’t want to waste my time or other ingredients and not have the recipe turn out. As I get better at this, I imagine I’ll learn what can reasonably be substituted in a recipe and what can’t.
Practice matters. I consider myself a pretty decent chef, but this has been a very humbling experience. I see now that making a perfect loaf of bread will probably take several tries to get just right. Sometimes it’s gratifying to work at something that doesn’t come natural and over time, succeed. We’ve gotten so accustomed to our conveniences and doing things the “easy way,” haven’t we? Whether it’s cooking from scratch or something else, I encourage you to work on developing a new skill! It’s good for the soul.
The wisdom of others matter. As I’ve floundered a bit through these recipes, so many of you have left wonderful comments and emails. You told me wax paper isn’t a good replacement for parchment paper. You mentioned that I should weigh my graham cracker ingredients and not measure them. One of you has even graciously offered to help me redo my bread recipe for an upcoming vlog (stay tuned!). It’s important to listen and learn from the wisdom others have to share.
What else would you add to my list?
As for me, I’m off to enjoy this beautiful Washington May Saturday! I hope you have a chance to turn off the computer and enjoy some fresh air, too. And maybe take in a slice of homemade bread with a dollop of homemade jam.
Photo credit Kriss Szkurlatowski
