Evan Goodfellow's ePortfolio

Hey all,

It is that time to wrap up my learning project. It has been such a successful journey for myself through the task of baking. Starting off with little to no knowledge, I have come a long ways and I am proud of myself.

Week 1:

This week I did a very brief overview and introduction while research some of the best and most common tips when it comes baking. I found some that were EXTREMELY true (haha) and some that were not necessary to be included.

Week 2:

I gave my initial thoughts in this post. About options of what I could begin to bake in week 3. I was excited at this point to move forward and finally start my project.

Week 3:

FINALLY! I ended up making chocolate chip muffins this week and OH BOY, they turned out awesome. This was definitely one of my most successful bake, take it is was very simple, haha.

I decided to use TikTok for this week and it has a great privacy setting. You can save your video to your drafts or restrict the public from seeing it.

This is my process:

Week 4:

This week, I got to make Halloween themed cupcakes! I used a chocolate batter with orange frosting on top. They were good but not as good as the muffins! I can still taste those on my tongue…

Week 5:

Moving forward, I decided to make gingersnap cookies. For some reason gingersnap to me is always associated with Halloween… so I kept with the trend! This was also a great suggestion from Jerico! Thanks again.

Here is the final result:

They turned out awesome!

Week 6:

Keeping it spooky one last time, I decided to search up a recipe and then put a twist on it. I found a chocolate chip recipe but then put the Pilsbury pumpkin cookie in the middle! See below:

Week 7:

We switched it back up…. I wanted revenge at those cupcakes. This time, I went vanilla batter with just white frosting.

These ones do not look as good as the previous ones but they sure tasted better!

Week 8:

I took one week off from baking and decided to further my research and knowledge about baking in preparation to bake buns. I gained suggestions and what not to do from online resources and prepared to bake.

Week 9:

Baking buns! We have arrived. I used a pretty good recipe that I would recommend. However, I despise kneading the dough. It stunk!

Week 10:And here we are. We have come to the conclusion. Time to wrap it up.

Reflecting and assessing on my learning is difficult to put a value to but overall, I have improved drastically. As seen in my title, I am not going to stop baking. I am going to keep my journey going and keep pursuing baking. I want to further my skills as it is a great life skill to have.

My biggest challenge was motivation at first but after making the muffins, that quickly went away and it turned into frustration. Not having my chocolate cupcake or buns work out made me disappointed. I understand it is hard to complete something to near perfection the first time but I just expected more (not sure why) haha. Learning online is a different aspect than learning from teachers and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Evan

Hey all, we are almost done the semester!

Moving forward in my learning project, I wanted to advance my skills and make homemade dinner buns. The process of this was pretty simple and straight forward but let me tell you, kneading the dough is my kryptonite. My forearms were burning doing this and it was probably the least enjoyable part of my journey so far, haha.

At first, I was a little nervous to take this step, however I knew it would be beneficial in the long run. It was quite interesting to read about and watch while the yeast settles and begins to bubble.

Below is my baking process to making homemade dinner buns!

Here is the dough, chopped into 15 pieces ready to be rolled and placed into the greased tray.

All rolled and placed, now to let them rise in a warm area!

They have risen and moved together, now let’s bake them!

Completed product.

As you can see, it is not the most delicious looking buns but this was an error on my part. I did not make all of the rolls identical and to the same shape, size, etc. This is one thing that I will need to improve on when making buns again later in my baking career.

Overall though, I would say this was enjoyable (for the most part… haha), and I would recommend the recipe as it was easy to follow.

Hey everyone,

We are nearing the end soon!

As I wrap up my learning project soon, I wanted to take this week and indulge into doing more research as I ramp up the complexity. Next week I will be making homemade dinner buns. A couple things that I have discovered was about things to do, not do, and include. Starting off, I want to discuss the things one should not do when making buns. A few of the main takeaways were let your dough rise, do not use too much flour, and do not let the buns burn. Using too much flour shocked me at the start as I did not know about this but it can actually make your buns extremely tough and hard.

One of the best things that I have seen is to use room temperature ingredients especially milk. Basting the top of the buns with warm milk will allow for a good colour and texture to form.

Lastly, it seems as if baking a loaf of bread is similar to baking a bun other than the fact a loaf of bread serves a family while a bun is a single-serving.

I hope to succeed when making my buns next post and we will see how they turn out! Have any of you ever baked homemade buns or bread? If so, how did they turn out?

Hey everyone,

Switching it up, I wanted to move off of muffins, cookies and the Halloween theme in general and move back towards the cupcake/cake side of baking! Hence, why I decided to make cupcakes again for this week. For those who may not have followed my journey as close, I have taken it pretty slow up to this point but I wanted to try to pick it up a notch for now going forward.

Jumping right in, I wanted to switch it up this time and make plain, vanilla batter cupcakes. Although I made chocolate last time, my dad is a HUGE vanilla fan so he was happy when he heard I was trying these out. We do not have many recipes at home so I decided to take to Google and came up with what I think is a good one!

After finding a recipe, and like last time, you need frosting with a cupcake right??? On the same site, they actually had a recipe that they suggested when making their cupcakes so I thought I would give it a try. Let me be the first to tell you, I highly suggest this recipe!!!

Below is a series illustrating some of my process while making these cupcakes:

These are all of the ingredients used in the process. All-purpose flour, sugar, 2 eggs, baking powder, salt, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, unsalted butter, water and icing sugar.

In goes the cupcakes.

All completed, time to adds everyone’s favourite part, icing!

They are all completed!

One close up to see some of the finer details. They’re very tasty!

As you can see, it was a bit of a process again, however it worked out very well in the end. I feel as if I am finally becoming comfortable baking and enjoying the process. One thing that brings me the most joy from baking so far is seeing my family, friends and others enjoy the flavour and excitement when giving them delicious treats!

Do any of you bake for you family or friends? It is an easy way to make someone’s day!

After Halloween, I decided to make cookies from scratch but with a twist to them! These were honestly easier than I thought and it was also fun to make. With the assist of my partner, I thought this could be an enjoyable time while also working on my learning project. What I wanted to do was make chocolate chip cookies with the Pilsbury pumpkin cookies placed in the center of them.

Although I did not track the whole process of them again (might have looked repetitive), I did get a final product photo and let me tell you, boy oh boy were they delicious.

I did not just want it to be basic Pilsbury cookie dough plus Pilsbury pumpkin cookie dough so, I made the chocolate chip cookie dough from scratch. The recipe that I used was meant for chewy cookies and they did not disappoint! Below is what my final product looked like:

This time, I did however mess up the spacing. I did not allow for enough space between cookies which resulted in them becoming squished and disformed. Lucky enough, and obviously, it did not effect the taste and they were still a delicious treat. I still have lots of aspects to work on but as time goes on, I am getting better, and getting closer to achieving my learning goal.

Have any of you guys ever tried baking cookies in this kind of style before? If not, I would highly recommend!