Baking Is TOO a Science

Disclaimer: I did not successfully make this. Picture courtesy of Martha Stewart & Team.

"Baking is an art, not a science," a friend said to me the other day when I refused to stray away from a recipe.

Well then how come the one time I slightly modify a recipe, it turns into a catastrophe?!

I was telling Michael the just other day that even though I was really into baking these days, it would probably take just one disaster to turn me off of the whole darn thing. I think today was the day.

In an effort to finish off the buttermilk, I attempted to make these Cream Cheese & Chive Biscuits. Yup, more damn biscuits. Some of Martha's biscuit recipes called for biscuit cutters (to shape them), while "dropped biscuits" (similar the ones at Red Lobster) are shaped using two spoons to drop them on a pan, which is what I did for the Spicy Cheese Biscuits. These CCC biscuits however, required rolling out the dough into 11x8, folding it twice like a business letter, then rolling and folding it again, before cutting it so they appear more squarish (see above picture).

I was really excited to use my new French rolling pin and pastry blender and even agreed when Tram suggested I add more zing to it by doubling up on the chives and the cream cheese.

Mishap #1 : Pastry blenders suck!!! It's suppose to help you loosely blend flour and butter with less effort, but it was exhausting to use and harder on the dough then it would have been to use my fingers, which also would have been way more efficient!

Mishap #2: : Doubling up on cream cheese is not a good idea. Who knew a few extra ounces would make such a difference! It made the dough extra sticky and rendered it un-rollable. It ended up looking like that (see picture below) when it was suppose to look like this (see right picture). Yes, I floured my work surface. And yes, I floured my rolling pin :(

Mishap #3 : Instead of adding more flour (I thought it would make the dough too heavy and thus not rise), I abandoned the rolling pin and decided to make drop biscuits instead! I later realize, I should have just went with sprinkling more flour because it wouldn't have mattered - it didn't rise anyway!

Man, today was a bad baking day. I was bummed all afternoon. I think Martha and I need a break from each other (that was fast huh). Poor Charlie came over and left all chivey-smelling but with nothing to eat. Ah well. At least I got to practice my still photography!