I want to improve my baking skills. The only way to do this is to practice. Of course, I've never been a good baker, with the possible exception of cookies, so most of my cookbook collection focuses on savory dishes instead of sweet. Therefore, in order to practice, I need to find recipes. Fortunately, many of my fellow bloggers are much more adept at baking than I. While I feel like a bit of a mooch, using their recipes, I really enjoy seeing how creative people get with sweet food, and it really is fun to try to duplicate their results. I hope that it provides you with a bit of amusement too!
My latest adventure in the world of baking was an orange yogurt bread that I found on the Pinch My Salt website. It looked tasty, and it looked easy enough. Quickbreads tend to be less difficult than regular cakes or breads, which make my eyes cross. What was more, I was absolutely sure that I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand. I was so sure that I left a comment stating that I had all the necessary ingredients on hand. Then I scurried into my kitchen, began assembling the goods, and came to a horrible realization. Somehow, all of my stashed orange juice had disappeared. I was pretty sure that I hadn't used it all. After all, it isn't as though it's something we use a lot of. No matter - whatever had happened to it, whether it was used or drank or purged in one of the Stalinist cabinet cleansings that periodically sweep through my kitchen, it was gone. I did, however, manage to find mango juice. It was in one of those boxes that stay fresh for years until you open it. I don't know where it came from, but it was due to expire in something like six months. If I didn't use it now, I might not see it again until long past the use-by date. I cheered up immediately. After all, I greatly prefer mangoes to oranges. I prefer mangoes to almost everything except possibly pomegranates.
The recipe was actually pretty easy to follow, and a lot of fun. The bread stayed fresh for several days, and would have stayed fresh longer had we not eaten it all. My husband is really lacking in a sweet tooth, at least as far as dessert is concerned, and I think he might have eaten more of this than I did. The only change that I made was the substitution of mango juice for orange juice; otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I was of course left with the rest of the carton of mango juice, which is a great hardship of for me. I have to come up with some new ways of consuming it.... Poor me! Anyway, thanks to Pinch my Salt for the recipe. You can find the original here.
PS - In case you're curious, my spell checker wanted to change "bloggers" to "boogers."
Comments