Our Story …

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Baking in Bucks! I’m Ann. I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and currently have a lot of free time on my hands due to the corona virus pandemic. I’ve decided that it was time to share my love of baking and the knowledge that I’ve gained from many flat batches of cookies and brownies that are both burnt and raw.

When I bought my house in 2016, I decided I wanted to be that person who only makes artisan sourdough bread and has a home-grown starter. I read a lot of blogs on how to make a starter and keep it alive. But for some reason, I could never get my starter to have the intense bubbles that every blog showed me. I saw starters that lived in large Weck Jars or quart sized Ball Jars that bubbled up to the top. Even with daily feeding mine never grew that much. This lead me to putting away my starter in smaller mason jar and popped it into the back of the freezer to get back to one day.

Recently, I watched Cooked on Netflix and learned about how heavily processed white bread has become over the years.  It has become so processed that not even bugs are willing to eat all-purpose flower. I wanted to find out a better way to eat bread. I researched and googled and tried to find something that I could easily do. The same answer kept coming back, make your own bread with local stone ground flour.  In other words, give sourdough a second chance.

During the winter, my fiancé and I ordered a 10-pound bag of Stone Ground Hard Wheat from Castle Valley Mill located in Doylestown, PA. This wheat is perfect for breads, pizza and pasta because it has a high amount of protein. So, I pulled my starter out of the freezer and started feeding it with this local whole wheat. After a few days I noticed that my starter started climbing higher in the jar and was finally ready to bake with. After a few false starts, my sourdough bread came to life and became a delicious way of life.

In addition to a love of bread, I also enjoy making cupcakes and other treats. I dabble in gluten free treats for my friends and my nephew. My hope with this blog is that I’ll be able to take some of treats that look really complicated and make them accessible for every baker and  share my love of baking.

Most of the tools in my kitchen are basic. I have a 4.5 qt Kitchen Aid Mixer, which is fine for most of my projects (there are only 3 recipes I have where a bigger mixing bowl would be nice, those are New York Cheesecake, 12 Yolk Easter Babka and Eggnog). You don’t need fancy tools to do most projects. Do they help? Yes. But are they needed? Not always.

My background is not a professional chef, I am a home taught baker. I have a background in project management, business and anthropology. I invite you to meander through my recipes, leave comments and let me know your thoughts.

Best Wishes,

Ann

For more recipes, make sure to check out my recipe index.

If you like the recipes that I’m making, please make sure to support Baking In Bucks on Patreon