In truth, it's probably the grown up stuff, that I'm not so good at that makes me tired. Sometimes I feel like a complete fraud and wonder why perfectionism passed me by.
When reading baking books, I am often surprised by the level of perfectionism that seems to be asked for. The oven has to be a particular temperature, the size or type of tin has to be just right, the ingredients have to be measured out perfectly. I have never baked like that and it's usually edible. I'm reading Ben Miller's book 'It's not Rocket Science" at the moment and he has a section about the chemistry of the Victoria Sandwich sponge. According to him you have to weigh the eggs and make sure that you measure out the exact weight of the other ingredients and then there was a long explanations of the different types of cooking that happen at different temperatures and his conclusion was that you turned the oven down to 140 degrees c and cook it for longer (45 minutes). I make sponge by doubling the the amount of ingredients to eggs in a very haphazard way. If I've got 2 eggs I use 4 big spoons of flour and sugar and half a block of butter and I go for about 180 degrees and take it out when it's cooked. Reading the book I was won over by the serious scientific argument. I thought, "So, that's how to do it properly, I must have been doing it wrong all this time. Fancy being so stupid that I thought I could ignore science and just bung a few ingredients together." But the cake I made was disgusting and tasted eggy.
I blame the move from ounces and pounds to grams for the need for perfectionism in baking. Digital scales measure to the nearest 1/4 of a gram (which is nothing) but because it's there in glorious scientific imagery people feel they must stick to it. My mum said that she didn't really like Joanne Wheatley's new book because it's all the recipes are given in grams and that you can't see how much that is. She's right. Ounces are so much simpler. One ounce of flour is a big spoonful, a block of butter is 8oz and a pinch of salt is a pinch of salt.
Today to obliterate the difficult week, I decided not to get dressed, to read, knit, blog, watch silly films and eat cheese scones warm from the oven and dripping in butter. I'm sure there are complicated scone recipes but I've always thought scones were the easiest thing to make. My slightly homesick daughter commented on my facebook status saying that she wished she was at home to eat cheese scones. Mine only took about 20 minutes to make, which is only a small amount of time to take out of essay writing to cure homesickness.
A cheese scone recipe for those who think satisfactory is good enough.
Put 8 big spoons of self raising flour in a bowl (or use plain flour with a teaspoon of bicarb or baking powder) -
Add a pinch of salt, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, mixed herbs, chili powder or whatever you want to make it tasty.
Rub in a big dollop of butter, stork or other margarine using the tips of your fingers.
Grate in some cheese. I like strong cheddar and the more the better but cheese is cheese.
Add a bit of milk and squish it all together with your hands (add more milk if you need to)
Roll out the dough to about the thickness of the first joint of your thumb
Cut out rounds using a cookie cutter or glass or cup.
Brush top with egg or milk (you can use your fingers if you don't have a pastry brush)
Bake in a hot oven (about 220 degrees) until cooked (between 10 and 15 minutes.)
Don't eat them too quickly unless you want indigestion.
My paperwork will remain in the boot of my car, my baking will continue to consist of bunging a few ingredients together and I will continue to be happy with satisfactory lesson observations because that means good enough and good enough is good enough for me. In fact I think I might start an anti-perfectionists club, does anyone want to join me?
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