Neha’s Affair With Bread Making

Baking is real fun, when you whisk it! For Neha Mathur baking is beyond being a cliché. In ‘whisk affair’ she has made a journal of her “creamy” experiences. Bread making is indeed, an art to amuse our senses.

Could you remember your first baking experience? Please share with us about your “first-ever-confectionary” moment?

Most of my childhood was spent in two small towns in UP, Banda and Jhansi. As kids, we also loved to eat out and enjoyed pizza’s etc. However getting a pizza base in these towns at that time was not possible. I remember our little oven and making bread pizza with my mom, which was my first experience as kids. When I grew up and moved to larger cities, I got an oven of my own. I used to make cakes etc, they came out good and bad! It took time to get perfect at the recipes. It’s important to persist if you love your cooking. I remember the cake I made on Valentine’s day about a decade back for my husband and we both loved the taste, but I never used to picture my recipes at that time!

How did you find baking as a child’s play, while many people like us are easier with Karhai and gallons of oil? You know that you share appetize through food blogging! Who’s your inspiration driving you into the world of baking?

Children love to experiment, that’s what I feel is the best way to learn. I’m glad that my parents allowed me to think and try out different things. As a person I’m very methodical and measured, just like what you need in baking, specially the cakes. You have to follow the recipes to exact measurements; slightly different from regular karahi meals, where you can vary things as per your choice. My family shares the love for food along with me, which was the biggest inspiration to make and serve different things. This pulled me towards baking! Having said that I just love the Indian meals & in fact my other blog is all about Indian cooking. You can have a look at it http://www.myeverydaymusing.blogspot.in/

What inspired you to compile your baking experiences as ‘Whisk Affair’ ? Do you think that Indian cooking would be easygoing with baking? Is baking as healthy as steaming?

I didn’t start as WhiskAffair, I felt digital media was the best way to keep my recipes safe and even share with my family and friends. So instead of maintaining diaries which I used to do for a long time, I started to blog. I’m a doctor by profession, but chose to be a stay home mom and spend loads of time with my son. However I was always “much more than a home maker” and that was my blog name. I used to be appreciated for what I made and whisk became synonymous with me, that’s when I changed to WhiskAffair few years back.

Baking and steaming are two different ways to cooking, if you use whole grains, raw sugar etc it can be healthy. Of course butter & cream filled cakes are not as healthy, but they are delicious, but you need to work to get the calories off you!!

We tried your Spinach and Mushroom Galette . Even though it didn’t come out like the picture, you’ve posted in your blog, the taste was fair…What’s the magic behind your lip smacking pies and tarts?

I love what I make and it’s a passion, not just to make it good, but to serve it as best as possible. I plan my recipes and make sure all ingredients are in place before I start, in fact I copy the recipe every time on to a paper before I start. Having patience while cooking is also important and I give time to that. Ingredients also go a long way in the taste, I’ve my tried and tested shops to buy them from so I’m never let down by them.

Are you an ardent follower of Julia Child, Martha Stewart or Cenk? What are the three magic ingredients you use in most of your recipes?

I just love them! Not just the cooking, their branded cookware as well. I love their pictures and the way they serve food. Proper planning, patience and good quality material are the three magic things for me.

How far does baking contribute to your family meals? Do you have any suggestions to take baking towards children?

My family loves the breads, cookies, muffins, brownies, cakes that I make. They are always available at my home. I’ve already taken some kid’s classes for baking and I love the experience with them. The kids loved it as well, and I intend to have many more such events.

A hypothetical question – If given a choice between the ‘realm of touring at free of cost’ and ‘getting locked up in a 17^th century Victorian kitchen’, which one would be yours?

Tricky one! I’ve learned a lot from my travels in North America, Europe & Asia and I would love to see the way cooking used to be and use the abundant spaces and various props of the Victorian kitchens. I would probably choose ‘realm of touring at free of cost’ to eat, learn and try many different cuisines and maybe I can swing by the Victorian kitchen on the way many times!!!

Baking might not be an alien conquest, once you check on this…

 http://www.whiskaffair.com/