I would like to start baking! Where do I start?

[fuzzpig]

I have decided - admittedly mainly due to seeing lots of gorgeous baking books at work (library) and feeling hungry - that I should learn to bake!

I have pretty much never baked anything other than those little kits. Although I do make a damn good butter icing thingy (whatever it's called - see? Clueless!)

So, I was thinking of getting together some basic supplies but I have no idea what I need. Stuff like baking powder/soda, I mean WTF?

There is also the gluten issue - DH is coeliac so I'd like to try some gluten free stuff as well.

So any advice for a total newbie? :)

Well what do you want to bake, i like baking cookies and cakes mostly but have been known to make some breads and what nots.

So i think you need to decide exactly want you want to make. So gluten free, can you get gluten free flour?

You'll need wooden spoon, measuring spoons, rolling pin, bowls or different sizes, baking tray, cake tins, cup cake tins, cup cake cases, grease proof paper.

Get either a Delia book or Nigella's How to be a domestic goddess and go from there. Both authors I've found to be fool-proof.

Enjoy!

I'm not a fantastic baker by any means but enjoy baking for my children. My regulars are cakes, flapjacks, jam tarts, shortbread, brownies, rocky road etc.

I always have both types of flour/stork and butter/eggs/brown and white sugar/vanilla essence/baking podwer in the cupboard so I can make anything quickly.

I can recommend the Mary Berry small baking books, they cover all the basics BUT I don't think any of them are gluten free. If you can't use flour I think you'll be fairly restricted.

Just get started and see how you get on

Nigella, I am a novice and her fairy cakes are very easy!

I've done odd puddings for a gluten free friend, but would suggest you get a specialist book, as I've never had much success with substituting gf flour for normal flour - maybe its just not as I was expecting, and so I was disappointed.

A look at amazon, and I'd suggest something like this

then, I'd expect to juts be able to lay my hands on at home:
plain and SR flour - you'll need to read the book to see what you might need in terms of flour.
butter and marg
white and brown sugar
baking powder (check its gf)
bicarbonate of soda
vanilla essence
cocoa (check for gluten)
milk and dark chocolate (bars and spots)
mixed spice
glace cherries
raisins
mixed peal
ground ginger and cinnamon
ground almonds (you may like chopped nuts also, but we don't use them)
golden syrup

Pair of 7"cake tins
a deep (spring form is my choice) cake tin - say 8"
square / rectangular tin about 1inch deep (for brownies / flapjack)
2 baking sheets
big mixing bowl
small mixing bowl
scales
measuring jug
wooden spoons (tho I'm slowly migrating all mine to silicone spoons)
table spoon
a hand held electric mixer if you get really into things

Yes to all other posts. Also if you have a smart phone I really like the BBC good food cakes app. The website is also fab. Baking rocks! .

Wow that is all really helpful thanks :)

As for what I want to bake, I'd say mostly cakes with the odd pie or biscuit :o I am salivating at the thought of all the yummy desserts. We have whole books on the shelves that are devoted just to 'whoopie pies'! I've never even had one!

I know there are some specialist GF baking books at the library so I will check them out. We have GF flour (in fact I just made fairy cakes with it having googled a recipe, it was hard to find one which didn't involve baking powder, hence this thread!) but it doesn't work in the same way (it's a worse problem with pastry/bread) so it'll take some experimenting.

I'll be doing some baking with DD - the simpler stuff as she's not quite 5 - but I definitely want to do some proper grown up stuff myself too! (and not all gluten free as some things I'll take into work)

Mary Berry is the queen of baking! Her traybakes in a Lakeland foil disposable tray is idiot proof. (Trust me. I know!)

This cake is really lovely. I halve the amount of mixed spice and if we dont have any wholemeal flour we use all plain. Its lovely and moist, and even better the next day.

If you really get into baking, Dan Lepard's book Short And Sweet is the best baking book I've ever had - he explains lots about how and why things work, the recipes really work and are amazing...

Go with Mary Berry rather than Delia. I have never got on well with Delia.

The pink whisk website is good for cakes.

There are a lot of food bloggers on the MN network, some of them might be interesting.

I like using recipes from blogs because I know that they have actually been done by normal people, not just by a production team.

Mary Berry, Mary Berry, Mary Berry and Mary Berry again for baking

GF baking is HARD. I suggest you start with the tried & tested Mary Berry stuff for foolproof, successful results. Once you get a bit more confident, try some recommended GF recipes off t'internet

I've just made a Mary Berry chocolate cake and it came out perfectly. I can assure you it was nothing to do with my talent as a baker. My DS who is 4 pretty much did the whole thing (well actually I did help a little).

I use the silicone cake "tins" and they seem to work better for me.

Oh good I'm glad silicone is useful. We have a few (as well as normal cake tins).

I realise now after a fairly disastrous effort last night that baking is a precise science - as opposed to normal cooking where I can guess amounts and times!

get an order in for baking powder at doves farm - and the flour while your at it.

wolfiefan where can I find Mary Berry's tray bake recipies? I love the idea of tray bakes but struggle with adapting recipies to get so they don't overlook in the tray.

Find a scone recipe.

So easy.

And I am salivating at the thought of a warm cheese scone with butter dripping off it.

Which brings me to my next point....

I have found it's best to bake when there will be someone else/many others to help with the eating

What exactly is a tray bake?

There are a couple of things I specifically want to try - for instance my friends have made banana bread and this strawberry lemonade pie thingy. But I may build up to that.

Thanks for the doves farm link - I had no idea you could order from them direct! That is awesome! We've got the flour from the supermarket but I didn't even know they made all the other stuff.

This month (July issue) BBC Good Food Magazine has a feature on gluten free baking.

Xantham gum will make your baking softer. I buy mine in adds. I usually use m&s gf flour, but I don't bake gf very much. There are probably cheaper places to get it.