Beyond the Box: Baking from Scratch

I mentioned last time my new(ish) love of the Great British Baking Show, and I'm sure that a lot of you out there are familiar with this gem of a program. For those of you who aren't, here are the basics: over the course of ten or so weeks, amateur bakers compete in a series of baking challenges for the glory of being named Star Baker, and one contestant is eliminated each week. There are two judges who set the challenges and critique the creations and two hosts who provide comedy, moral support, and create a bridge between the bakers (who really know what they're doing) and the audience (who may not be familiar with all of the baking terms/techniques/etc.). But my favorite part is how kind everyone is. Even when you find yourself favoring a particular baker, you find yourself rooting for all of them, and everyone on the show is rooting for everyone else, too. For the first seven seasons, GBBO featured hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins and judges Paul Hollywood and Ma

Hello, again, after quite some time, or, more likely, hello and welcome, newcomer! Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. (Actually, I can't promise that; I don't know your life. You may have missed quite a lot. But as far as this blog goes, the posts aren't related one to the next and -lucky you!- this is the first one back after a long hiatus! Also, all the old posts are still down there.) Things have changed around here, including the 'here' itself since the last time I wrote, almost two and a half years ago. I started working part-time at the local library, which I love; we moved, which has its ups and downs, but mostly ups; we did some renovations to the kitchen that made it a thousand times better; and the sweet little puppy we were raising is a sweet enormous 90-pound fluffball now. One thing that hasn't changed: my love of baking tasty things from scratch! So I'm back (unfortunately, not from outer space), baking again, but I'm go