Daring Bakers: November. Obligation fulfilled!
This month's Daring Bakers post: I'm keeping it short and simple. I don't really want to post about it at all this time around, but since I have to, here's my honest gripe.
Required chunk: The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
This was the worst challenge ever. I don't mean that it was hard or challenging. What I mean is this:
For a group called the Daring Bakers, this month's host picked a recipe that involves NO BAKING. There is another challenge group by the SAME PEOPLE specifically for non-baking challenges, (the Daring Cooks) so what would make you think it's a good idea to throw down your non-baking recipe for the specifically baking group? I love cannoli, but they are NOT A BAKED GOOD and were an entirely inappropriate choice for this group. The whole nature of cannoli is based upon the crispy/crackle-y, fried exterior of the shells versus the creamy filling. A baked version is just ridiculous.
An alternative for baking was provided, but was admitted to be vastly inferior to the non-baked version (duh, it's not meant to be baked) and the directions for baking were obviously not examined/tested by the host or anybody beforehand, as I discovered when I followed them. They were awful directions that went against all of my kitchen instincts and lead to disgusting burnt messes.
I ended up tossing all of the directions out and made napoleon stacks of shapes with a fresh batch baked my own way just so I could have something to finish for the challenge. I didn't even bother going for cannoli shapes this time around because this whole challenge was irrelevant and a poor choice, so I was pretty sick of it.
Obligatory picture of proof: You can see mine still ended up a little burnt, and I was baking mine at more than 150 degrees less than what the baking instructions indicated. Yeah.
I'm so glad that next month there will be a fresh challenge with a new host, and hopefully one who actually decides to take the baking part seriously and pick a recipe intended to be baked, or at least a recipe where a baking equivalent is equal and not obviously inferior/unintended, or untested. I hope it's something crazy/ridiculously hard since it's December!
Required chunk: The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
This was the worst challenge ever. I don't mean that it was hard or challenging. What I mean is this:
For a group called the Daring Bakers, this month's host picked a recipe that involves NO BAKING. There is another challenge group by the SAME PEOPLE specifically for non-baking challenges, (the Daring Cooks) so what would make you think it's a good idea to throw down your non-baking recipe for the specifically baking group? I love cannoli, but they are NOT A BAKED GOOD and were an entirely inappropriate choice for this group. The whole nature of cannoli is based upon the crispy/crackle-y, fried exterior of the shells versus the creamy filling. A baked version is just ridiculous.
An alternative for baking was provided, but was admitted to be vastly inferior to the non-baked version (duh, it's not meant to be baked) and the directions for baking were obviously not examined/tested by the host or anybody beforehand, as I discovered when I followed them. They were awful directions that went against all of my kitchen instincts and lead to disgusting burnt messes.
I ended up tossing all of the directions out and made napoleon stacks of shapes with a fresh batch baked my own way just so I could have something to finish for the challenge. I didn't even bother going for cannoli shapes this time around because this whole challenge was irrelevant and a poor choice, so I was pretty sick of it.
Obligatory picture of proof: You can see mine still ended up a little burnt, and I was baking mine at more than 150 degrees less than what the baking instructions indicated. Yeah.
I'm so glad that next month there will be a fresh challenge with a new host, and hopefully one who actually decides to take the baking part seriously and pick a recipe intended to be baked, or at least a recipe where a baking equivalent is equal and not obviously inferior/unintended, or untested. I hope it's something crazy/ridiculously hard since it's December!