Life: Bye bye baby

Hello my lovelies! I fell off my low-ish sugar wagon this week. And learned from it. I have been perfecting my kugelhupf. I used baker’s ammonia for the first time. I have been working on breads. Sourdough and otherwise. I’m going cross-eyed looking at fonts. And I got my first paycheck since leaving my full time job.

So sugar is like that friend that you used to really love hanging out with all the time but as you got older you kind of grew apart. Now it’s fun to spend a bit of time together but before long they get to be a bit much. And you always seem to be hungover after hanging out. It’s been a few weeks since I cut down on sugar and strengthened my exercise routine. And I have been losing weight and feeling much better. I had a binge without realising it this week. I got home on Wednesday and was nibbling on the delicious marzipan that was still in my fridge. Before long I had eaten half of it. Which has about half a cup of white sugar in it. I didn’t realise it at the time but before long I was feeling tired and sulky and upset. By the time I was going to bed I realised what had happened. I had a cry about it. It’s a difficult adjustment for me. I literally left my other career on the back of a love of sweet baking. I was at sea about where to go from here, and mourning for a style of baking that my body doesn’t like anymore.

I know that for my long term health I can’t maintain a blog deep in American style sweets. But I have a lot of great loves in food. Bread. Preserves. Baking traditions of different cultures. Baking traditions from history. These are all things I can pursue on this blog. I can enjoy delving into areas I am passionate about and move away from a focus on sugar. It’s really important to me that this isn’t a “low sugar” blog. I want it to be a blog about things I am interested in. Which happen to be things that don’t tend to have a lot of sugar.

I also tried a new/old thing. Baker’s ammonia. It’s from before baking soda but still in use today. It is fascinating and awesome. It’s perfect for my favourite type of cookie. The light crisp kind. While they are baking it smells like home hair dye. Persevere. It gives the cookies an amazingly light texture because of the way it breaks down. It reacts with heat so no need for acid. I have been trying things out of Classic German Baking. A fabulous book. It is also a lesson in the much lower level of sugar in the European baking tradition, particularly northern European. Lots of things to experiment with!

Further to my kugelhupf adventures, I have perfected the technique. My chocolate version needs some work though. But a lightly spiced one will be coming your way soon. I really hope you try it. It’s so satisfying to reclaim a recipe from the past that is awesome and overlooked. I have been working on breads as well. My cumin-seed baguettes are not quite there yet. Good things take time.

I am continuing to work on my rebrand. One of my bosses at Good Bitches is going to help me bring it together. I have been going over a lot of fonts lately. It’s amazingly mind-numbing. Progress is being made. Slowly.

You guys. I got paid! It’s the first official income since I left my job. It feels pretty sweet. Everything is coming up Milhouse. I bought myself a treat. A new perfume. I am borderline obsessed with smelling good. I had been wistful because when I was tidying up I found the bottle from an old perfume that I loved which as been discontinued. Goodbye Stella McCartney LILY Absolute. Hello Karen Walker A. Welcome to the rotation..

Be patient. Make bread. Treat yourself. Look after each other.

xx