Baking like a Bad-Ass

Last Sunday, as I was laying on the couch with a terrible day-after-Halloween-partying hangover, I watched the movie Julie and Julia. It's about a lost and listless woman who decides to cook her way through the Julia Child's french cookbook. It was mildly inspiring. I thought it over.

A couple years ago I bought the Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhart and decided to bake all 45 recipes. That actually doesn't sound like much, but when it takes 2-3 days to make a loaf of bread, it was quite a small feat. But I cheated. I ended up skipping the breads that didn't sound good to me. Sourdough? No thank you. Rye? Not my cup of tea. However, even without those, I became a much better baker. I finally began to get a touch for the feel of the dough, and started to understand some of the science in the various "formulas". 

I looked online for Julia Child cookbooks and found the mammoth Baking with Julia. Written by Dorie Greenspan, this book includes recipes inspired by Julia Child and her favorite bakers. Even better? I found a great used copy of this $40 book for only $3.99! Chucking it up to fate, I quickly bought the book and decided to work my way through it.

No cheating this time. I  am making a commitment to myself and the endless void of cyberspace to bake every single one of these recipes. Including the 5 different types of rye bread. Including the french bread that takes 2 full days to make and, as the recipe states, is "good up to 6 hours". And including the "glorious wedding cake" that will take a good 5-6 days to create and requires crafting dozens of marzipan cherries (stems and all).

I am most excited to finally try my hand at pastry making. Unlike Reinhart's bread-focused book, this baking book has it all. The table of contents includes:

Breads

• Daily loaves
• Artisanal breads
• Flatbreads

Morning Pastries and Quick Breads

• Muffins
• Croissants and danish
• Scones & biscuits

Cakes

• Everyday
• Celebration
• Cookies

Pastries

• Pies & tarts
• Grand pastries
• Savory pastries 

The goal: Make every single recipe in the Baking with Julia cookbook.

The time line: Bake at least 1 new recipe every weekend. There are about 150 recipes in this book, which means that (ack!) it will take me almost 3 years!

The process: To avoid eating cake every day for three months as I work through that section (which my heart would love and my thighs would not), I will work in rotating order. So, I'll make the first recipe out of the bread section, followed by the first recipe out of the pastries and quick breads, and so on and so forth.  Every weekend I'll post pictures and keep notes about the process and final product.

So shit, I better start baking. Wish me luck!