About A to Z Baking

Welcome to A to Z Baking.  Shortly after reading Julie & Julia by Julie Powell, I had the idea that I wanted to do something similar, and bake my way through a book like Julie Powell cooked her way through the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.  At first I thought I'd bake my way through a big baking book like Baking and Pastry by the Culinary Institute of America or The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg.  But lately I've been thinking instead of doing that, I'd bake my way through the alphabet, baking things that I had never baked before that began with each letter of the alphabet.  I'd start with the letter A and end with Z.  Certain letters might require more baking, if I found several things I'd never baked and wanted to try that all started with the same letter (I've got lots of ideas/choices for P and S, for example.) Some letters would be hard to come up with ideas for: Q, U, X and others may take a while.  Some letters may require delving into foods from a particular country/region (see below).

I don't plan to make it easy on myself and simply pick recipes that begin with the letter A, such as "almond bars"; I want to pick specific types of baked goods that begin with each letter and that I've not yet made, like souffle for S.  The letter A is giving me a little trouble (right now I'm thinking Anzac Biscuits (Australia/New Zealand) or aebleskiver (Denmark).

I don't know how long this project will take; I don't want to put pressure on myself to get it done in an unrealistically short time.  Maybe I'll get it done by my next birthday (11 months from now.)  Maybe I'll love the process and be eager to complete the task and finish before the end of the year (unlikely; I have been known to procrastinate!)  Maybe it will get done when it gets done.  In any case, I plan to share my discoveries about baking new things here on this blog.  If you have any ideas to help me get started, please share!