Baking magazine help needed!

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kadiekadie

Assistant Cook
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
2
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this :) But I'm a third year journalism student making a baking magazine, which will be available online once it's complete.
I wanted to ask you all what you'd like to see in a baking magazine.

What kind of articles/features? Anything in particular?

What is already available to you in the line of baking magazines? Do you read or buy any of these?

What style would you prefer? Any particular design/colours/photographs?

I was thinking of targetting the magazine at stay-at-home mums and keen home bakers, mainly women, aged between 25-50. If you fit this category I'd love to hear from you :angel:Feel free to comment if you don't fit this category though.

You don't need to answer all of these questions, but a sentence or so on one would be fantastic.

Thanks loads!

:chef:
 
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Baking magazine help needed again!!

Hi everyone again!

I'm a third-year journalism degree student (and keen cook!) making a baking magazine for my final project :chef:

I'm going to do a kitchen questions page as one of my features. It'll be a page of different baking queries, answered by either the magazine or a professional chef.

If you could post a baking question for me to use in the magazine that would be fantastic. They could be like (or the same as!) any of these:

"How do I make sure my bread rolls rise every time?"
"What can I bake to liven up a picnic?"
"Why do my cupcakes sink in the middle?"
"My daughter's getting married on a budget, what recipe can I use to bake my own fruit cake?"

If you could include your first name and city where you're from (if UK) that would be great, I know it's cheeky but I'd need it to attribute the questions. :)

Thanks loads and loads!
 
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Hi KadieKadie

Good luck with your final project. Well, I like cooking magazines with clear, easy recipes, good full colour spreads and a bias towards a country-kitchen-rustic aesthetic. (Aspirational considering I'm from London)

My question for your magazine would be: What's the perfect technique for the ultimate cookie (i.e. gooey on the inside, firm on the outside)?

Hope that helps.

Katie
 
A yeast bread section.
Quick breads section.
Ethnic breads section-pitas, tortillas, baklava...
Sweets section--cakes bars cookies scones biscotti...
Baking essentials/additions--honey butter, jams/jellies, lemon curd, crackers...
Questions and Answers section. "why add gluten to my flour?" "what kinds of flour are gluten free?" "how do I proof yeast?" "why aren't my biscuits tall?"

BIG PICTURES in COLOR. Step by step pictures and narratives for the more complicated baking instructions.

Little to no advertising. (not practical, just nice)
Contributor: Older than your projected audience, Midwest US. People don't stop eating after 50, unfortunately. ;)
 
One question that stumped me for years (and I even talked to professional home economists about it) was what causes meringue pies to weep. It was actually soemone here on dc who aswered the question for me just recently. But if I was stumped by it I suspect that others are too.

Mary in Grand Rapids Mi.
 
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I believe part of it should be about keeping it seasonal. Here in the midwest summers get real hot with not much baking going on, maybe stove top bars or making homemade pizza crusts & doing it on the grill outside. Whereas the spring/fall/winter season would be more seasonal, comfort baking. Colorfull pictures are always an attraction.
 
Good luck with your project!

I enjoy a homestyle, country style/ethnic/comfort food slant on cooking and baking.

I think a small article on the shelf life of ingredients would be helpful to many people who do not do much baking. I have many friends who wonder why the things they bake using spices they bought when they got married several decades ago and three year old flour or baking powder don't come out the same as mine.

Again good luck!
 
Love to see some baking recipes that the kids can help with. Most moms like including children when they bake I think. Maybe a few easy bakes for busy moms
 
Quick easy elegant meals. Something that you can have when you want a fancy dinner that doesn't take a long time to make, meals on a budget, fun, healthy, kid friendly meals.
 
How about doing some stories on the different grades, types & purposes of flour. Another idea would be to visit coffee shops & bakeries around the country. I run one if you need any input just let me know.

Different kinds of ethnic groups have an interesting product & technique, ie: mexican, geman, french, dutch, etc.

Good luck!
 
I'd like to see the majority of the recipes with easily available ingredients. It's okay to include some exotic recipes but IMO they should be kept to less than 1/4 of those offered. I hate to have to trek all over town to find that elusive spice that is used only for that one recipe! If it's an online magazine, perhaps you can include links to online stores that carry those unusual ingredients (this could be a form of advertising for them as well - Charge them for putting the link in).
 
The adage goes, "Cooking is an art; baking is a science."

It sounds dry, but with a good science writer, I challenge a magazine to honor that claim and explain some of the science. It doesn't have to be PhD. A good place to start might be an article explaining, "What is yeast?"

(btw, i have no idea how to bake, would like to learn, nevermind age or gender or income, am i in your readership market profile?)
 
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