Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I baked a pie every day for a year

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 215 posts

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#201

Post by bigstrat2003 »

mr_mitm wrote: post #128
dinkleberg wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do find it kind of wild how intimidating most people I know find baking. Get a food scale and follow the directions and you're good to go and will have something respectable and delicious. As with anything, you can dive deep and go extreme with it. But baking delicious food is not rocket science.

Funny you'd say that. Other people say cooking is art, while baking is a science. No room for errors.

Those people are dead wrong on both counts. Cooking meals benefits more from precision than they claim (if you want reproducible results you best be measuring!), and baking does not require as much precision as they claim (I estimate ingredients all the time when baking and my bakes come out great).

There's a lot of mysticism around baking online, but in truth it's very easy. Just follow the recipe and you'll be ok. You don't need to carefully weigh ingredients and stuff like people say.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#202

Post by bigstrat2003 »

vkou wrote: post #174
quacker wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good bread is everywhere in major cities in the US. There are bakery sections at grocery stores and there are many local bakeries.

> There are bakery sections at grocery stores There are, and most of them don't have good bread. (Baguettes are about the only good bread that you can reliably expect to find in them. Sometimes they have San Francisco-style sourdough, which in my experience, tastes like someone dumped a shot of lemon vinegar into it. Just because a bread uses sourdough starter doesn't mean it needs to taste sour. I feel much the same…

> Regularly visiting the bakery is, for reasons I've mentioned, a lot of friction for one purchase.

That is still not "really hard to come by" as per your original claim. It's very common (not just in large cities!) to have a local bakery where you can get good bread. Whether you choose to go or not, it is available to you.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#203

Post by mr_mitm »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #201
mr_mitm wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny you'd say that. Other people say cooking is art, while baking is a science. No room for errors.

Those people are dead wrong on both counts. Cooking meals benefits more from precision than they claim (if you want reproducible results you best be measuring!), and baking does not require as much precision as they claim (I estimate ingredients all the time when baking and my bakes come out great). There's a lot of mysticism around baking online, but in truth it's very easy. Just follow the recipe and you'll be ok.…

It depends, I guess. When I make pizza dough, I use around .1% yeast. Using .4g instead of .8g would make a huge difference, and getting that right without carefully weighing it is neigh impossible.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#204

Post by delichon »

bell-cot wrote: post #98
magneticnorth wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, me too. Reading the caveat "– and she would give each pie away" made a lot more sense. It's a social commitment at least as much as a creative/culinary one, and since there aren't a lot of people you'd want to give a pie minus a slice to, that keeps the extra calories under control.

Yep. And if one gives away the "QC Passed" pies - then as your skill improves, you're eating an ever-shrinking fraction of your output. And you feel like you're growing ever-thinner, as all your friends & neighbors eat more and more pies. ;)

That explains so much. She seems wholesome but is actually a psychopath plotting to look better by surrounding herself with fat people.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#205

Post by quacker »

vkou wrote: post #174
quacker wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good bread is everywhere in major cities in the US. There are bakery sections at grocery stores and there are many local bakeries.

> There are bakery sections at grocery stores There are, and most of them don't have good bread. (Baguettes are about the only good bread that you can reliably expect to find in them. Sometimes they have San Francisco-style sourdough, which in my experience, tastes like someone dumped a shot of lemon vinegar into it. Just because a bread uses sourdough starter doesn't mean it needs to taste sour. I feel much the same…

I mean, let’s at least discuss this in good faith.

“Good” bread according to the majority and bread that is specifically up to your standards are probably two very different things.

My grocery store’s bakery sells many types of fresh bread: sourdough, white, rye, croissants, ciabatta, buns, rolls, bagels, and so on. Many grocery stores in my city have a bakery section with a selection of fresh bread like this. (Even Walmart I think, but I don’t shop there).

It’s not the best bread I’ve ever eaten, but it’s fresh, good, tasty bread. It’s not “mushy garbage” and it’s not “cake” like you described in your original comment. It’s not “weird specialty hipster” bread. It’s just simple, real, fresh bread.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#207

Post by irishcoffee »

idontwantthis wrote: post #23
irishcoffee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone said it, I forget who: 90% of life is just showing up

Especially true for friendship. If you want friends, all you have to do is be in the same place with the same people regularly.

I think I recognize your handle, and I’m not sure we agree on much, but because of your comment I’m seeing a friend I haven’t seen in a decade. I sincerely thank you for the nudge.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#208

Post by Obscurity4340 »

raddan wrote: post #127
nozzlegear wrote: post #40

I would love a pumpkin pie right now. But I'd settle for pecan.

Sweet potato pie is at least as good as a pumpkin pie if you've never tried it. If you're making filling from scratch, it's easier too. I learned not too long ago that the "pumpkin pie" my mom made every year was actually a sweet potato pie... that kind of blew my mind.

I wonder if there is a savory sweet potato pie. Would be great with gravy and cheese

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#209

Post by tgv »

ericyd wrote: post #199
tgv wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's definitely not universal. I play/practice music, almost every day for at least 30 minutes, and it has no influence on my life, as far as I can tell. I cannot imagine that playing the guitar for a minute has any.

It feels bizarre to claim that playing guitar for 30 minutes a day has no influence on your life. Surely it brings you joy or satisfaction or keeps your skills up if you're a professional. Why do you do it if there's no influence? Couldn't you use that time for something else?

For fun. But I don't see how it influences/changes my life.

Re: I baked a pie every day for a year

#210

Post by Tom1380 »

zippyman55 wrote: post #79
incanus77 wrote: post #48

Pie is such a gift. My wife died nearly ten years ago and soon afterwards, I took up pie baking, which is something that she loved to do (I just loved to eat it — since childhood I've had a birthday pie instead of cake). I had all the stuff, after all. I got good at it and love to share them with friends at gatherings, or even just give them away entirely. Right before COVID, I did a Friday Pie Day thing where I gift…

When I graduated from university, my dad had just died, my mom had cancer, and there was no employment for a year. I made a lot of pies and got really good at making crusts. Yep, it was always great when I brought in a real pie, homemade.

What a tough situation to be in. It sounds like you handled it well, I don't know if I would have had your strength
Post reply on HN