Baking/cooking from scratch far superior

Marydoll

*MaizieD*, whether making crêpes or Scotch pancakes, the recipient I use require SR flour.

Do your crepes turn out OK with that Marydoll. As I said, mine were a disaster. As soon as I used plain flour they were perfect fine.

I must confess to using SR flour when making shortcrust pastry, though. It seems to make it lighter and more 'short'

I also use frozen puff and filo pastry. It's a chew to make your own from scratch. But not sheets of puff pastry. I can still use a rolling pin.

The OP’s post probably comes across as a bit patronising to those who use packet mixes etc., but no worse than other threads when some GN’ers like to say how unhygienic tea towels are, how often they clean their streak free shower glass, or vacuum their bedrooms and so on.

We all like to feel a bit superior about certain stuff.

Maizie, it was a French chef, who gave me the recipe, about forty years ago.
Without meaning to sound superior 😉, they have always turned out well.
I tend to use them for savoury recipes, prefering Scotch pancakes.
I do have a crêpe pan, which cost 75p in an M&S sale many years ago.It never fails me!

On the other hand ready-rolled puff pastry has been a game-changer for producing something that looks really special in a hurry.

I made my own puff pastry 😇
Just the once 😁

Marydoll I need your recipe for Scotch pancakes. Mine were dreadful misshapen and flat!

Aussiegran I'm not offended even though I might use packet mixes occasionally (gf bread for example) because I find that packet mixes here in the UK are generally far better than any I've found in Australia

As for straight talking, yes, I'm used to the Australian rellies.

Baking is the only type of cooking I really enjoy. I rarely do it now unless we’re entertaining because we’re both dieting or at least cutting down on calories. I fail to see the point of this thread. People do as they see fit and eat what they want. Live and let live!

Well here goes: I use both depending on my mood. I’ve got ready mixes for dumplings, vanilla sponge mix, long life milk (for emergencies, same with tinned spuds) little pots of custard (emergency puds) plus all the scratch ingredients for all the meals and deserts for nearly all cuisines I fancy. This way I’m prepared for high days and low days, visitors, illness and laziness
One of my favourites is making a huge pan full of pop corn coated with butter and cinnamon sugar, then ploughing my way shamelessly through it in front of the telly of a Saturday evening😋

I make dumplings about once a year, last week I bought a packet mix for 49pence, much cheaper than buying the ingredients, they were as good as the ones I used to make from scratch.

I don't bake, I live alone, so never have flour in let alone the fancier ingredients.

I always make pancakes from scratch but when my son was visiting I bought for him a gluten free pancake mix which was very expensive - and I still had to add the egg. Since then I've discovered gluten free plain flour so will try that next time.

Many years ago on a hospital ward, at the start of the shift at 7am, a young nurse told us she had baked a cake and some biscuits before she'd left home that morning.
She had a family to feed and liked to make her own.

The much-older nursing sister was baffled, and genuinely couldn't see the attraction. A friendly debate followed.
Eventually the sister patted the nurse on the arm and said,

"When you get to my age, my dear, Marks and Spencer does the baking for you." 😊

Just for you, Calli.
Leave to rest for 30 mins and dont make the batter too thin.

I use this recipe for Scotch pancakes, Callistemon, and have often used SR flour instead of plain (omitting the baking powder then). I’m not a great cook, but these always turn out well.

I hasn’t made pancakes from scratch for years but this week I had my 7 year old granddaughter here with her family on Pancake Tuesday. She is dairy free so her mum made a batch of pancakes using oat milk.I followed the same recipe using cow milk.Both batches were so yummy that I’ve going to ditch the packet mix and make from scratch the next time we have them.😋

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/scotch-pancakes

Just out of the oven. Five minutes to make and 30 mins in oven.

and your kitchen is warm and smells delicious to boot, win win

I will quite happily admit to buying the colemans or similar sachets. OFTEN I need to hip up something in the slow cooker before I go to work and it is just easier

I also use plain flour in pancakes

I don't cook at all FannyCornforth I hate it. My husband does the shopping and cooking and I wash up and do all the cleaning. However he does tend to cook as if he still has a brigade in the kitchen but I bite my tongue. 🤐

“Pancake mix” does make me laugh - it’s basically just flour.

When people ask what job could you not do, I say chef.
My palate appears to be not at all honed.
Sometimes the cheaper the better for me, ingredients wise.

Me too fancythat
I really hate faffing around with food.
On the rare occasion that I’ve really pulled out the stops and made something from scratch, I’ve been unable to eat it.
I even hated doing baking etc with the kids at school.

MaizieD

Marydoll

MaizieD, whether making crêpes or Scotch pancakes, the recipient I use require SR flour.

Do your crepes turn out OK with that Marydoll. As I said, mine were a disaster. As soon as I used plain flour they were perfect fine.

I must confess to using SR flour when making shortcrust pastry, though. It seems to make it lighter and more 'short'

I also use frozen puff and filo pastry. It's a chew to make your own from scratch. But not sheets of puff pastry. I can still use a rolling pin.

The best short pastry I have ever come across is Rose Crust Pastry.

225 g Plain Flour

85g Cornflour

85g Icing Sugar

225g Margarine

1 Egg

Cream fat & sugar.
Stir in flour & cornflour.
Bind with an egg.
Leave to rest in fridge for 20 mins.
Roll out using lots of flour.
Bake at 180C for 10-12mins until pastry is only just firm & slightly golden crust, do not overcook.

It makes the most delicious mince pies at Christmas.

I didn't find it offensive.
It's horses for courses. My mother was a trained cook and iced bespoke wedding cakes. Did she go to town on the home baking she did not? I was brought up on bread and cakes she bought at work and everything else out of the chip or frying pan for quickness and ease.
I like to cook and always try to cook from scratch except for puff pastry and sometimes shortcrust which even Mary Berry uses these days, my DDs do the same. It's something you adapt at different times of your life and the number of people you are cooking for. If I was on my own I would be the lady going around M&S looking for the Thursday bargains.

I have no axe to grind one way or the other, apart from the fact that instant meals seem to contain a lot of preservatives, but home made cakes are not particularly healthy either.

I’m not a domestic goddess and will do the odd bits of baking and cooking, but not averse to giving visitors bought cakes and biscuits. My book group loved the Portuguese tarts from a well known supermarket and some lovely M&S florentines, which I could never have made!

Maudi

Why would any poster be offended by the OP how ridiculous 😂

I am offended - or rather irritated - by the full stop after ‘everything’.
Such signs of cluelessness depress me.

I don’t bake, easy! Neither of us have a particularly sweet tooth and watch our diet. I cook most meals from scratch though.