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The joys of learning to bake

Serendipity

So I went to a class late last week to learn how to make kringla and crescent rolls. I know how to eat both of them, but that’s as far as my skill goes with either delicacy. Since I’m not Norwegian, right there I’m at a deficit when it comes to kringla. My grandma the German wasn’t a real good cook, but she did excel at making delicious butter horn rolls (same shape as crescents) well into her 90s. I suppose I figured that she had that covered so I didn’t need to learn how to do it before this. Not the best reasoning.

First of all, I find it to be just more fun to learn from a real person than by reading a recipe and directions in a cookbook. A cookbook probably doesn’t have friendly little tips and tweaks like how to make sure your yeast is good before you use it in your recipe or “this is the tool I always use, and I love it.”

There was plenty of opportunity to learn by doing in this class. Sometimes you can learn from others in the class even if sometimes you learn what not to do.

The class lasted all morning, and at the end we had both fresh-baked kringla and crescent rolls that looked and tasted like they should. All six of us in the class got to bring some home, along with copies of the recipes we used. It’s always fun to have something for show and tell. And to eat.

I’m not much for watching the cooking shows on TV, and I figure the last time I was in a cooking class was in junior high home economics, before it was called family and consumer science. The home ec room at my old school building was set up with four separate complete kitchens, and four of us girls were assigned to each kitchen for the duration. We worked together, something like a family, with whatever the assignment was for the day.

I don’t remember that we learned to cook anything exotic or even special in that home ec class–leaning instead toward egg cups and homemade tomato soup–but I certainly remember the day my kitchen had our meal finished and ready to serve when the teacher asked, “Did you girls taste what you prepared?”

All of us shook our heads rather proudly. After all, we all thought we shouldn’t be licking the spoon for a taste or sticking our fingers in the batter. “Well, then how do you know it’s something you want to serve?” she asked.

Good point.

And, you know, it’s something I’ve remembered ever since.

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