Flour Power

Elizabeth, this episode's guest, is a 9th grader who took a 25lb. of flour, turned on the oven, and baked her skills in during lockdown. Her family, all willing participants to try her pastries, may have gained the COVID "19," but in the end they all gained immensely from Elizabeth's skills and experiencing growth together. 

To see pictures and links of recipes you can try, visit www.unpauseit.com. You can also watch the video interview at bit.ly/unpauseityoutube. 

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For more podcasts by the But Wait, There's Moore podcast network, or to learn more about the podcast and Rachel Moore, visit us online at ButWaitTheresMoore.com.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

So pretzels was a learning experience.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Yes, it was. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Yes, I will say no more. Yes, they were challenging. End of story. Hey Unpausers. Rachel here. I'm the mom and one of the hosts of Unposit. And first of all, I'd like to say it's good to be back. We know it's been a long time since UnpausIT put out something new, and we're sorry about the few and far between, like far between. Lots of changes have been happening. For one thing, the kids of Unposit are about a foot taller than they than when we started this podcast. And as you fellow parents might imagine, that means their attentions have shifted about a foot in different directions as well. That also means some of our content into the future might start to change. But that's what family's all about. And Unposit has ever and always been a show for families. Other changes have happened too. Perhaps you've heard of this blip on the radar called a pandemic. Kind of crazy how the entire world has been flipped all together on our heads. And now we're in an era of wearing face masks and keeping safe geographical distances from each other, figuring out which songs we can hum while we wash our hands for 20 seconds. All stuff you've been focused on too. And we hope you're all doing well, being safe and looking out for each other. Which brings us to today's all new unposit podcast episode. And this one might either inspire you to try some new skills or broaden out some hobbies while we're all still in weird times, or you might just get really hungry. Either way, we think you'll enjoy this interview with one of our younger listeners, Elizabeth, and her mom, as we learn about what she's been doing to keep busy during COVID-19. Enjoy. Could I have you say your name and how old you are? I'm Elizabeth and I'm 14 years old. First of all, have you had your last day of school or are you still in school?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Um, I've had my last educational day of school, but I have some fun activities next week because the last week of school is always um like field day activities. So they're having them over Zoom, and I'm going to be a counselor since you see the eighth graders are watching over the younger kids. So that should be a lot of fun. Oh, well, that sounds really cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

And congrats, so eighth grader, that's big time. That's like right before high school. Yep. Now, are you an eighth grader currently or will you be an eighth grader next year? I'm currently an eighth grader going into freshman year at high school. Congratulations. Are you excited?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I am. I'm also a little nervous though. I've I've never moved school, so it'll be a new experience to have to go to a new school, meet new people, and all of that.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

I uh it's interesting you say that. So my son is also just has just wrapped up eighth grade and is gonna go to high school and he's changing schools. I'm just kind of waiting and seeing, like, this is gonna be a whole new ocean for you, and I'm sure you feel somewhat similarly. Yeah. Yeah, you'll do great though. That's so cool. It sounds exciting that you get to kind of still participate with that kind of stuff at school. How was uh how was online school for you? How did that go?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

It was okay. It's definitely not how I wanted to end in my end my eighth grade year, but um, it was definitely a new experience and there were highs to it. It it was nice that we still have stuff like Zoom and Google Meets so I can still see my teachers and classmates, but it definitely wasn't as fun as being in person.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

How did you um yeah, how did you do that like with any friends? I mean, obviously, and again, as a mom, I know I saw my kids going through this too. Uh, how did you kind of handle it where, okay, I can't see you my friends in person. Did you do stuff like outside of class or try to uh through email or or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Um, I did FaceTime my friends a little bit. Um, we have been I have seen them a couple times, you know, socially distant and with masks on. Unfortunately, those were only for short amount of time a short amount of time, but it's still nice to see them compared to being stuck at home all day and only being able to see them through the screen.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Well, and so speaking of being stuck at home all day, which I think we're all in that same bucket, right? Because we're I've I'm sure all of us families, we love each other, but we're like always around each other. Um, and I think it was really interesting, and I'll just give you why we're talking today is because um, you know, yeah, you're kind of looking at every other digital way. How can I stay connected with people? So you and uh your mom and and myself are connected on social. And she started posting these like pictures of these fantastical creations of of baking. And you know, the kind of thing you'd see, like, oh my gosh, I need to eat that right now. Um, and so she's showing these on social and she's saying that that you were creating them, which just blew my mind because granted, I am I I can bake a little bit, but these were like fantastical, and I just want to stick with that word. Um, did you did you turn to baking like during this whole lockdown thing, or had you always been a baker?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

I do have to jump in just to correct something. She wasn't able to bake for a while because we couldn't get any flour. Oh, so that was an issue. So we eventually found a 25-pound bag at Costco. And I was like, let's do it because this search is killing me. So we got that, and then she actually did quite a bit of baking in a short period of time. It was lots of bread, so I'll let you talk about that. But you actually did, I think you've just already forgotten. There's no such thing as time anymore.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

No, all blended together at this point. 25 pounds of flour. So that's that comes home from Costco where you're just like, all right, let's do this.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yeah, it was we were definitely on the search for flour, and we saw it there, and it was a it was at a good price, too. And my mom was just trying to decide whether to get it or not, and she was like, you know what? Um you're gonna do a lot of baking, so I might as well get it for you. And I've been using it a lot. Um, I've always been interested in baking, I've always tried baking. Um, obviously, this period of time has given me a chance to expand my horizons and try new things. So I definitely have become more of an experienced baker and I've gotten into um more breads and more complex things like that. But um, no, I've been doing this for a while and I've really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

What's the first thing you remember ever baking?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Oh my gosh. Um, well, when I started baking, I used to bake with my mom all the time. So I'm guessing probably chocolate chip cookies, just because those were like a super simple thing. Um, my mom probably didn't even let me fully do it by myself at the time, but I could still help her in terms of measuring and mixing. But I actually personally don't remember just because it was long time ago. Long ago, yes.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

That's really I I I feel like that most people that might be the first thing they did because you know, you got the toll house tube of like uh of cookie dough. This, by the way, this podcast is not brought to you in any way by Toll House Cookies, but it's what I remember, right? Where it's it's kind of like uh, you know, and and they always put the recipe on it and then you just kind of. But you're talking like from scratch making chocolate chip cookies.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yes, my mom has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that she always claims is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. Now, granted, it is good, but I haven't tried any others, so I don't know how it does compared to them.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Well, we might like if if you guys aren't proprietary about it, maybe we can like share that recipe with when we put this on like the website and refer people to it in the podcast because uh I'm sure people are I mean, I think we've heard of the that the cookie recipe that's out there right now. It's like chocolate chunk shortbread cookies or something, which sound amazing, rightfully so. But I have a feeling that uh based on what I've seen, um, you're not the only one that's been baking, um, and not just during COVID-19, but uh I think everybody's looking for new stuff to to dabble in, right? Did you um uh what did you dabble into? Like what kind of stuff did you start trying while you were, you know, we're in this lockdown and you're let me just start baking a lot.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Um, I actually haven't really been trying too many things. I've been working more at other extracurricular activities. So for example, I also sew and paint and draw. So I've been definitely getting into those more. I actually just finished sewing a top right before we got um into this, but I've just had much more time, so I've been able to dive more into those activities and get more experience with them.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Um, so what have you baked? So I I mean, whatever, I mean, I remember seeing a bread braid, which again was like, what? She did a bread braid. Um, what have you been baking?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Oh gosh, I've been baking a lot. Um, I have made uh apple bread. I was trying, I I love banana bread, which I've also made. And uh we had some apples that we needed to use up, so I just decided to try it. I have made apple cinnamon buns, um, mint chocolate chip cookies, uh, a French lemon yogurt cake. Um I've tried the sweet Irish soda bread with uh raisins inside of it. If you don't like raisins, you're still probably gonna like the bread because it just adds a nice little sweetness to it, and you can barely taste it actually in the bread. I have made uh French baguettes. They actually turned out a little bit bigger than baguettes, but they were still French baguettes and they tasted pretty good. Um, I've made homemade pizza with homemade crust. I made a plain one and ham, just yeah, ham and cheese one too. I had pretzels. My dad is a homemade pretzel recipe that we used to make all the time when we were younger. So I've definitely tried that again. Um, and I have made a variety of cakes. I made I make a couple box cakes and you know I decorate them with frosting, homemade frosting and all that. But I've also made chocolate cakes. Actually, my birthday was recently. So my birthday cake, I made myself a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Well, happy birthday. That's awesome. I love that you baked your own cake for your birthday. Yeah. Probably your mom's like, yeah, go for it. I mean, it's gonna be the best cake we have in the house.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

It's the only cake we had in the house at the time, but actually, it has I we've had multiple cakes in the house over the past two, three weeks. So my family's been eating a lot of cake recently. Yes, we have.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

They're putting on the COVID-19, if you know what I'm saying.

unknown 11:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Oh my gosh. Oh, well, I I have to say too, like, I I would see these and I was really thankful you guys don't live anywhere near me because I would be wanting you to be like, can you can she make me like a batch and just we'll just all come get it? We could have a safe exchange, it's all good. Have you been able to, and again, I know, you know, with all the restrictions and stuff, but um, have you been able to has your family been having to eat all of this stuff or you've been able to offload it to anybody else?

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Um, we want to be careful, you know, sharing food just in case, because we definitely don't want to distribute distribute it to other people. Right. Um, the only time that I have actually given away food is my grandfather. I made him the sweet Irish soda bread for his birthday. So uh we safely dropped that off at his house. He let it sit for a little bit just because um, since it was a bread product, it was in a sealed plastic bag so it could sit for a little bit. But that has been the only time that I've actually shared my food with anybody else.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Do you foresee maybe maybe doing more of that? Like once once things get safer, you know, and and um I guess I'm kind of asking, are you planning on baking more in the future? Like like keep honing that skill and broad brain. I mean, I really literally could see you being on the like great British baking show. I know you're not British, at least from what I can tell, but something like that where you're like, and not even just as a child, but going on, being on, because this is amazing. I just feel like you've really stepped into something cool and and and honed a hobby and a skill that a lot of kids probably can't really share. Do you plan to bake more in the future, do you think?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yes, I definitely plan on doing it. I mean, obviously I won't be able to do it as much, especially, you know, once hopefully we're back in school regularly. That will be they'll my time to bake will definitely be significantly cut down. But I do hope to bake more, and I do hope that once things get safer, I can share my bakes with more people.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

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SPEAKER_00 14:40

I think my favorite are probably cookies, the mint chocolate chip cookies, especially because um mint chocolate chip is one of my favorite flavors. So going into that, I was just really excited because I love chocolate chip cookies. Nothing can be a nice warm chocolate chip cookie. And going into it, I was just super excited, and the recipe is pretty straightforward. So, and then afterwards, they turned out amazing. They they were everything I wanted in the cookie, and my family really enjoyed it too. Cookies are one of those things that everybody in my family can enjoy. Um, and it was just a lot of fun to make.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Well, I will say, once we get to where it is safe to distribute your baking, I think I will be requesting those mint chocolate chip cookies. Uh, if, you know, and and you know, get shipping my way. I don't care if they break apart because, right, all that matters is how they taste. Um, but that sounds amazing. I'm sure a lot of people who are going to be listening to this podcast or even seeing it on a video, reading the website and stuff are gonna be like, I that sounds really good. Like all the things you mentioned are just sound delicious. Um, which do you think there's one that you improved your skill the most on? Like you feel like maybe was the most challenging, but once you did it, you know, you're like, oh, I made it. I improved. That was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Um, well, I do feel like uh the chocolate cake that I made for my birthday, I did make twice. So that was the second time I made the cake. And I definitely tasted a difference in the second one. I mean, I followed the same recipe. I personally don't think I did anything different, but it definitely tasted better and I was able to frost the cake better just because I, you know, practice frosting cakes. So I think in the end, just the repetition of making it again, something just clicked, and I was able to um get a better product than first time.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Also, you had a much better second go round with pretzels, remember?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Oh, yes, because I messed them up the first time. Well, but that's how you learn.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

That is how you learn. So pretzels was a learning experience.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yeah, go ahead. Um, yes, I will say no more. Yes, they were challenging. End of story.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

So the first time I made them, I actually wanted to make them for Mother's Day because um we had the idea of creating pretzel roll buns and putting like grilled burgers with them. Yeah. Um, but unfortunately, it was my first time making them alone. And my dad wrote down the recipe and it's vague because he knows it himself. So reading it as somebody who doesn't know it, it was definitely a little challenging. The part that I got mixed up on is you're supposed to use like the tiniest amount of rinse water to sort of wash around the edge, and I used too much water, which means the buns were supposed to be poofy, but they sort of went splat. Um they still tasted great, but they definitely weren't picturesque. So I tried to make them again. Um, I didn't make pretzel buns that time, but I definitely will have to make pretzel buns in the future. But um, we made the classic pretzel shape as well as pretzel twists, and they definitely turn out much better because my dad helped uh help supervise, so he definitely helped show me the proper way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

I I love that you bring that up. So um in our house, I do not cook, I do bake a little, but not as much, like not to the extent you have. Um, my husband's the cook, and he has a recipe for making his grandfather's pancakes. And I mean, if I look at it, I basically see a list of ingredients, and that's all I see. I am like, I don't know what to do. Uh, because right, it's it's just a vague recipe, but that person, you know, his grandfather knew it. That's all he needed. He wrote down what he what he had refined and what worked, but now that got handed down to people to just interpret whatever they want. So um, it feels like that's that's a big part of being a cook or a baker where sometimes you are given very little, but you must make much of it. Yes. Um, I was gonna ask you too. So it sounds like so you've gotten your chocolate chip cookie recipe from your mom and you got some pretzel recipes from your dad. Do you tend to just use family recipes, or did you kind of branch out and get some recipes from elsewhere?

SPEAKER_00 18:59

No, I actually don't use that many family recipes. Um to the extent I don't know too many of them. We really don't have that much of a record, or my dad's recipes are mostly, you know, cooking, so it's not necessarily baking in a sense. But um I do get a lot of inspiration off of different webs websites. So for example, um, the Great British Baking Show, I do watch the show and they have a website listing all the bakes that ever all the bakers have made. So sometimes I'll watch the show see and be like, oh, that sounds really interesting. I would want to try to make it. So then I look on the website and I find the recipe.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

That's cool. Now, so here's a question. You we talked about vague recipes, and I know on that show they do the one where like they barely give any direction and they just appro I don't know how these people do it either. I don't get it. Where I mean they read the directions out loud, and I'm like, if I got that, I wouldn't know what to do. And then they just kind of go into action and make it happen. Do they give a better spelled out recipe on those ones on that website, or do they do they just give you what whatever uh the recipe was to give it on the show?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Um, they definitely uh give you the whole entire recipe step by step. Um so for example, I pulled a non-bread one of those challenges, and I defin I had the full list, I understood everything, and it actually turned out pretty good. And it wasn't, they weren't simplified as much as you see on the show.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

They weren't lacking in detail. You had them so you need it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, like the because I always think of it, it's Paul, and I can't remember the name of the lady who's the newest one on the show. Um Peru. Thank you, Peru. Um, yeah, because they always like they cover everything with that red and white check cloth, and so everything's a mystery, and then they turn the page over and that's all they got. That's pretty impressive though, too, that you're going and seeking it out and you're seeing what people are creating on a show, you know, like on a reality show that's highly produced and it's a big competition, and they're very hard. Challenges, it's just really cool that you're trying them. And I I love that you're you're just like, shoot, I got a 25-pound bag of flour. I gotta do something. How much uh how much of the 25 pound five pound is left out of curiosity?

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Like 24 pounds.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Want some? Well, there's I I think there's more than that. I definitely have been using it and I've you know, I can sort of throw extra flour around just because I do have the ability so I can, you know, use extra flour to uh grease pans so cakes don't stick inside or use it to flour my surf surface area, so I can use a little bit more. There probably is less than 24 pounds. Thank you, Mom. But I definitely have used it. I I haven't used all of it, probably not even halfway through, but I have used more than one pound.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Nice, that's a lot. I mean, well, and you've got a whole summer ahead of you um with you know things uncertain, not sure how quickly or how. how rapidly people are going to be heading back into the fray of of public um anything. But uh I mean sounds and of course it's summer so baking means ovens being on. So are your are your is your family prepared for you to keep baking uh and maybe making the house a little warmer than it needs to be in the summer?

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Well I think at this point my family is tired of the baking in terms of having leftovers. They do enjoy eating it but um definitely me being in the kitchen and sort of getting in the way sometimes definitely they're they're they probably won't miss that when I start stop baking for a period of time. But um I I think that they enjoy it they enjoy seeing how I um grow and how I can improve um and I think and obviously they enjoy eating what I make so I don't think it'll be that much of an issue.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Well so let's think about this too. So are there there might be some other kids of varying ages that would like oh my god I want to get into baking that sounds way fun um what what would you recommend to like a kid your age or younger if they're if they want to start trying baking?

SPEAKER_00 23:11

I mean what would you say that they are your best advice for them um I would just say start simple because when you start you see these elaborate cakes and you're like oh my gosh I want to make that but you do have to work your way up there and like everything practice makes perfect but another really important part is to just have fun because if you're not having fun with it you won't produce your best work. So you want to make sure that you pick when you start you want to pick simple recipes that you know you'll have fun doing and you know that you'll like the outcomes because that is when you'll work the best and you'll get the best results. All right so love a little extra on this question what would you recommend to any parents out there who might be trying to help their young child get into baking what's your advice for them so that they do have fun with the process and and want to keep doing it oh wow ah that's it's a little tricky because everybody obviously has different things that they're fond of so one person's idea of fun might not be the other person's but um for a parent I know when I started out my mom used to always lead the baking and I would start by helping with um filling up the measuring cups or mixing it in. So for the first couple times parents should show the kids how to do it make look I mean obviously let them help but they do most of the actual work and the kids are just sort of helping a little bit along the way while also watching the process. And then as they get that process down they can start doing it themselves and eventually the parents won't have to watch them as much because the kids will have it. But um definitely just make sure you one of the things that I do what to make sure I have fun is one make sure that I'm baking something that I know I'll actually eat and like um and two listen to music because sometimes you get so stressed out with your baking because you're like oh it should look like this but it looks like this instead and you know music just sort of calms you down gets you into the spirit you're sort of like oh I I'm ready to do this I'm ready to take the song because music is giving me giving me the energy to do it and just trust the process because as I said sometimes it might not look right right away but it it will turn out if you follow direct the directions and obviously you know once in a while you're gonna get those bad recipes that don't turn out as they're supposed to but most recipes out there are good and you just got to trust the process.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Nice. I love that that's really good advice for both the young people and the their parents right because you don't want people to get frustrated and this could turn into something like an amazing skill. I would imagine you could use this in the future too I mean just knowing all that you know I mean there are adults you could definitely advise at this point about um you know baking and and that skill and how to do things right. So I think it's so impressive that you did this.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

One last thing I'm gonna ask uh if you had a a dream tool or baking implement something that could help your baking is there anything you're lacking that you're like oh god I wish I had this so I could try this with baking see I I don't think so I don't think that there are specific um equipment that I need it's more of ingredients because there are some recipes you look into and they have these crazy ingredients and you're like I really want to make this but these ingredients are impossible. Where the heck am I going to find these ingredients? So I think most of the time it's just making sure that you have the ingredients that having the proper ingredients. So if I was just kind of able to you know snap my fingers and have ingredients that would be much easier for me and I can definitely do much more.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

I I am you make me laugh saying that too because I can't tell you how many times I've gotten ready to do the holiday baking for every year that I do it. And I'm like in my brain I'm like yeah I got that yeah I got that it's fine and then I I start and I realize I am short on something and oh man if I could just snap my fingers at that point and be like yes great now I've got a new can of cinnamon that's awesome instead of well pause everything. Let me go to the store and get what I need but um I I think that's really that that brings up a good point too to always be prepared and make sure you've got everything you know you're gonna need for that particular bake versus um not having everything. Is there any baker or uh what any favorite baker or um baking site that you really like as I said I do follow the Great British Baking Show.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

It's one of my favorite shows it is just a great show. I really enjoy watching it and as I said the website for that show does have some good recipes. I mean not all of them just because these are very professional bakers so they do have complex recipes. So not all of them are the easiest to do and um their recipes usually include uh more common ingredients in Britain than actually here. So for example they use a lot of self-rising flour instead of regular flour in their products so if you don't have self-rising flour you can't make half of the recipes on there. But um I do like to go on their website for inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Who knows? I mean maybe someday you'll be on a baking show too British or otherwise thank you for sharing all this experience with us because I like I said I don't think it's every day I see uh you know a middle schooler who's like rolling out literally um that level of uh of baking goods and and um end results so I was really impressed and I'm sure everyone listening will be too so congrats on this it's a big uh it's a big um achievement for you oh thank you and thank you for having me too thanks for listening to our interview with Elizabeth if you're now itching to scope out your own baking ingredients and give at least one of her recipes a try we have that on our website at unposit.com if you'd like to watch the video interview we recorded that's on our YouTube channel you can find that at bit.ly slash unposit YouTube all lowercase. If you like this episode we're planning more of them we'd like to start including more voices and perspectives on this show. As I mentioned our unposit kids are starting to change course a little bit but more than that we want to make sure this show is for everyone everyone who's a geek a nerd a gamer a family member or just someone looking to be entertained by cool stuff. If you're interested in being a guest or in having your cool or nerdy kid be a guest on Unposit on an upcoming episode email contact at unposit.com and tell us why you have a killer topic or guest for the show. And look even if it's something like say baking it gets way more interesting when we learn the story and experience around it. You're interesting enough to be on Unpausit. Oh and even if you don't want to be on the show you still can help us by subscribing to the podcast and even better review us on whatever podcast app you're using it really helps people find the show and it can help us bring you more shows in the future thanks for listening and have fun unpausing it later