I am a convert

to Dan Lepard.

Since I made my transatlantic move 11 years ago, life has adapted rather smoothly. Don't get me wrong, even with a common language, there are considerable differences between two countries, culturally to everyday life routines. Nevertheless, overall I felt I've had a suave transition.

However, baking is not one of them.

American recipes do not seem to work well here, at least in my kitchen. It could be the different measurement system (super convenient cups vs more precise weight by scale), the quality of flour (for instance, wheat varieties, the inherent moisture and gluten content) or different ovens. There could be other reasons but my experience tells me that I simply can't pluck a recipe from an American source, no matter how reliable the source is, and expect it to work in my British kitchen. Also for reasons unknown to me, I refused to convert to the weight by scale system widely used in Europe. I am not sure why. Perhaps I was trying to hang on to the last faint connection I thought I had with America. For the past decade, my baking success is not great (50-70%) when I try a new recipe (still stubbornly chosen  from North America). As a result, I tend to stick to a few recipes which I know to reproduce.

But all changed when I got a new cooker/oven. I decided to ditch my old habit of baking and start to embrace it more scientifically, with a kitchen scale. And I switched to Dan Lepard's recipes.

Gosh, what a revelation. They turn out just like what he showed on his newspaper column. E.V.E.R.Y.T.I.M.E.

I will share with you two of his recipes. They not only make great baking goods but also are also a great fun in baking education. Both recipes call for 300 grams of flour but the amount of eggs and butter differ. The recipe which makes muffins uses only half of the eggs/butter required by the recipe making cakes. By trying both recipes, it clearly shows me the crumb texture difference between muffins and (cup) cakes. I am also amazed to see (again) how adaptable flour is. In addition, both recipes appear to be quite amendable for substitutions. I have replaced the milk/cream with plain yogurt, swapping corn flour with ground almond, adding nuts or different berries to the batter. All turned out great so far. 

Hallelujah. Thank you, Dan.

Sweet muffins with yogurt and cream 

Here are the variations I made.

Lemon muffins. Used milk instead of the milk/cream combo. Used ground almond instead of corn flour and added zest of one lemon.

Coconut muffins. Used coconut cream instead of double cream. I sprinkled dessicated coconut on top of muffins. Yummy.






I also made the blueberry version. Use plain yogurt instead of the milk/cream combo. Used ground almond instead of corn flour. Decorated the top with blueberries. They were fab.

All-purpose easy butter cake

I made them into cupcakes form. Decorate the top with one pecan each. These were wonderful!!