How to create your own recipe

Hi. I'm new to the group. I love to bake and I was interested in creating my own recipe. However, since I've never done this before I need a few pointers. Does anyone know of any websites or books that could help me with this? Thank you!

That's kind of a broad question. What do you normally like to bake? bread? cakes? cookies? pies? something else? The only way to create a new recipe is to experiment. Find a recipe you like and start by making subtle changes to it. Don't try to change too much at one time though.

"joce" wrote in news:1149348504.201487.33770 @y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Recipe for what? That's a biggie. If you're making a bread, cake, cookie, ect. You need to know some of the science behind what you're using as well. For instance, if you're making something that calls for Cocoa and baking powder or soda, it matters if you use Dutch Processed Cocoa or regular, because Dutch Processed Cocoa uses alkalis to temper it's acidity, so you'll need to keep that in mind with your levening agents.

Yeah...that's the way it is....recipe creation, is a science .... its chemistry....

You need to have a solid understand> "joce" wrote in news:1149348504.201487.33770

I'm being presumptuous in that you may already be a writer, but have you considered publishing a book? The intersection of cooking and science has been a topic of growing interest for some time, probably starting with McGee and continuing with people like Corriher and even Alton Brown.

The interest level is very high, and there's much room for improvement in the current offerings, IMO.

I've created quite a few tasty recipes without any knowledge of chemistry. And a few duds as well, but some very good ones.

Then I bought The Joy of Cooking, and almost stopped cooking entirely.

I am not keen to increase the number of baking books that does not provide much learning to the readers. Reading recipe books will not make you a good baker etc.

The key to baking success and understanding of its essence is just like martial arts, practice , practice, practice ....coupled with keen desire (and humility )to learn both from failure and success.....

Reg wrote:

Can I claim anything that you will believe?

Or is it possible to create a good, new recipe only with a working knowledge of chemistry. I am sure many famous chefs would be surprised to hear it.

If you have just learned how to crawl then how can you be expected to know how to run?

...In the same vein if you have just learned how to bake or cook then how can you be expected to make your creative contribution to the culinary field?

Besides You cannot become a good chef overnight ...it takes years of dedicated practice .in your craft to reach the point of being, self confident, be independently minded and creative..... Yes, these people are not technically trained in chemistry but still they were able to grasp the essence of recipe creation by intuitively being able to understand the reaction mechanism what is happening within the food system.....

Do you think you had reached that level by being just a dabbler?

Mordechai Housman wrote:

In my opinion, the most helpful book for baking would be: "Cookwise" by Shirley Corriher

Also check out: "On food and Cooking" by Harold McGee

These will give you information about how baking and cooking and ingredients work, so you can alter or create recipes from a knowledgeable standpoint, not just trial and error.

betsy

So you're saying that a dabbler can never create a new recipe that tastes good? (And by the way, I've been cooking for over twenty years. I'd hardly call myself a dabbler.)

Look, I understand and agree with your dedication to full knowledge and experience in a subject. But the fact remains that even people with only meager or no knowledge in the SCIENCE of something can make contributions to the practical side of it. Some rather famous composers (admittedly, not of classical music) didn't even know how to read notes.

And I might add that when my oldest kid was learning to crawl, he could crawl VERY fast!

"Mordechai Housman" wrote in news:3Cghg.7242 $nV4.6076@trndny03:

The point was, can other reproduce your results from your recipe that you've written down?

Honestly, I think more "cooks" know more food science than they realize. They may not know the hows and whys to it.

If you make the TollHouse cookie recipe from the back of the bag, and you forget the baking soda, You'll notice a difference in the cookie. You may not know WHY it's different (What the soda actually does) but you'll know what happens if it's not there.

That's the difference between a Chef & A cook. A cook knows how to do things, a Chef knows why you do them.

I'd wager you either know more about food science than you think/claim, or you got lucky on the recipes.

Also, in cooking, science is not as big as it is in Baking.

The only thing that is common to both is talent that is uncommon to every body.

Indeed there are gifted people that intuitively can create music, discover new scientific theory, or create new cuisine but the groundwork remains the same. They have to train for it first to be competent enough to reach the point of confidence and independent minded. If not then how can they effectively play an instrument well ?...how can they work complex mathematical concepts ,nor how can they be able to cook an create new cuisine? Nothing comes from thin air, there is always an investment of time and effort in training...The edge of this gifted people is they are fast learner and have higher acumen for memory retention, reasoning power and judgement if compared to ordinary people. Through their keen intuition they have easily grasped the essence of their craft that would have taken for an ordinary humans of their kind several years to do the same. We never forget, Albert Einstein, Beethoven, Bocusse etc but how many of them exists in this world if compared to the rest of the population?

As you claimed you had years of cookery experience, I might say that you have reached culinary maturity to be able to do so..due to the same reason I enunciated in my previous post

But , supposing you really created your own recipe. How original was it, ? Is it not just a modification of existing ones? Does it taste really good.... or.....maybe only for you only and your family ..?

How about if other people say your customers or strangers ate it , .?

Can you do it consistenty every time you cook the quality remains the same ...and are there any variation it its quality that fluctuates everytime you do it?

Those things I mentioed are simple yardsticks for good original recipe.

Now THIS is a post that has helped me learn something useful! Thank you, Betsy.

It only means one thing that you never had been able to create new recipe but may have just made modifications of existing ones which you claim as your own....

"Mordechai Housman" wrote in news:eDEhg.8248$nV4.1035@trndny03:

One need not study the sciences to have a basic understanding of them. My son hasn't studied science (he's only 5) but he knows the basics of the law of gravity.

That doesn't mean they didn't understand the relationship of a C to an E to a G to make a C Chord. They may not have known they were playing C, E & G, may not have known they were playing a chord, or that that chord was a C Chord, but they still understood the underlying principles of this string, key, ect makes this sound which goes with this one and this one sounds good too..

Someone with no musical training can compose, but they can't transcribe it for others to play, and it could be argued if they KNEW music theory, they could possibly compose the same piece in less time.

Fact of the matter is, through experiance, you will learn that certian things bring about certian changes.

As I mentioned in my first reply to the thread.. If you know that dutch processed cocoa is treated with an alkali to mellow out it's flavor, AND you know what an alkali is and does, you'll know that if your recipe calls for regular cocoa, baking powder and baking soda, and all you have is Dutch Processed cocoa, you'll need to do some compensation in the soda area. If memory is serving correctly, you'll want to add more soda to the recipe to counter the alkali in the cocoa....

"betsy" wrote in news:1149633659.957330.289900 @y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

That is unless/until Bakewise comes out :) I need to check and see what's going on with that one...

Okay. No problem.