Martha Bakes But Does She Lick the Beaters?

Yes, it was recorded. The entire phone conversation with Martha Stewart and other bloggers & journalists was recorded in so it was probably a good thing I restrained myself.

I am not known is someone with great restraint. If I see bread on the table, I can’t stay away. If I see someone needing help, I can’t simply observe. If I see a puddle, it is hard not to jump in it (especially now that I finally got myself a pair of rain boots) so imagine this feat:

I imagined myself having a one-on-one with Martha about her New Show ‘Martha Bakes’. I imagined there may be an assistant and publicist along for the ride but thought we could hang a few and banter and all. I planned on tossing out two ‘real’ questions and then the Zinger:

‘Martha, between you and me, do you ever lick the beaters after making a cake?’ Oh yeah, I was going there! I think laughter is the true spice of life and secret fountain of youth. BUT, well, read the transcript below and see what actually happened.

Martha Stewart:    Hi everybody, it’s Martha. I’m eating a home baked croissant while we’re talking. I’ve been in a meeting since like 9 o’clock and I haven’t even had a bite to eat today. So any questions from anybody about this new 13-week program to be followed by another 13-week program on Baking 101. Are there any questions?

Coordinator:  The first question is from Jennifer Lial….Dang, it I spelt it out to the operator L-E-A-L, (Savor Time)…..I even spelt t-h-y-m-e but whatevs.

Martha Stewart:  Hi.

(Jennifer Lial):    (Unintelligible –Not the first time I have been told this) Actually I said ‘I watched the video of the first show and I saw that you use butter and the flour in the pan and I’m wondering have you ever used a baking spray in lieu of the butter and flour?

Martha Stewart:  I have, yeah. I just like the taste of butter. And I feel that generally when I’m baking I usually use butter – softened butter with a brush or a small piece of saran wrap or paper to butter the pan. But you can – you can use baking spray.

(Jennifer Lial):    All right, great, thank you. Can I ask one more? In any of the shows do you use any whole wheat pastry flour?

Martha Stewart:  I will be when we’re doing more breads. This part – this first 13 weeks I didn’t do any bread baking but I will be using whole wheat baking flour, pastry flour and even some other kinds of flours, corn flour, rice flour.

(Jennifer Lial):    Oh great, thank you.

Martha Stewart:   Another question?

Insert here: I realllllly wanted to ask her ‘Do you lick the beaters? Come on Martha, fess up.’ But I resisted. Oh come on Jen, say it…..chickened out

Coordinator:      Please press star if you would like to ask a question. One moment.

Martha Stewart:    I don’t know which programs have they seen?

Sheila Feren:    Just the (unintelligible) first.

Martha Stewart:    The first two so you’ve all seen yellow cake and you’ve seen (patrice). So yellow cake – what I tried to do was take the thousands of recipes that I’ve cooked over the years and developed over the years and choose my favorites; an edited selection of recipes.

And then take maybe an important recipe like a (patrice) or a yellow cake or a cheesecake or a pound cake and make variations on one of those recipes. So I think it’s a pretty valuable course and it teaches you a basic recipe and then the variations on those recipes.

And cheesecake without a crack is one of the most asked questions – how do you do it – asked questions that I ever get. And that’s what the cheesecake show is all about is making that perfect cheesecake, a small cheesecake and also a rustic ricotta cheesecake with orange peel; really delicious recipes.

Sheila Feren:    Next question.

Coordinator:    The next question is from Jolene Ketzenberger, Indianapolis Star.

Jolene Ketzenberger:   Yes, I was wondering why now? Why is this a good time to launch a program focusing on baking?

Martha Stewart:    Well any time is good for baking; people love to bake. You know, we published our baking book, our cupcakes book, our cookie book, all of which involves – all three involve baking of course. And they are – they sell at all times of year. And I think people really want to learn.

As far as I’m concerned there’s a lot of cooking on television; people are interested in cooking. And I think they need some good teaching courses; this is a real teaching course.

 And the – and I think that, you know, there’s so many competition programs on, there’s a lot of programs, you know, that use store-bought ingredients that’s not really a terribly big interest to me as much as making it yourself, simplifying the difficult, knowing how to do things and having very, very excellent results.

Jolene Ketzenberger:   Thank you.

Martha Stewart:    Does that help you?

Jolene Ketzenberger:   Absolutely, thank you.

Martha Stewart:    Oh good, okay.

Coordinator:     The next…

Martha Stewart:    Any others?

Coordinator:     I’m sorry the next question is from Kristen Aiken, iVillage.

Kristen Aiken:   Hey Martha.

Martha Stewart:    Hi.

Kristen Aiken:   Hi. I was just wondering if you’re planning on having any special guests or anyone visit you in the kitchen on the show this season?

Martha Stewart:  Oh in the baking show?

Kristen Aiken:    Right.

Martha Stewart:  No, no, the baking show is pretty straightforward teaching show. And I shoot it at my own house in my own kitchen.

Kristen Aiken:    Oh great.

Martha Stewart:  There might be a dog or cat visiting every now and then. But not really – it’s not really a show like my regular show where we have guests everyday.

Kristen Aiken:   Right.

Martha Stewart:  And where I really enjoy having the guests. So no.

Kristen Aiken:   All right thank you.

Coordinator:    The next question is from Rebecca Lando, workingclassfoodies.com.

Still trying to work up the nerve, come on Jen. Wait, would I be known as the blogger who asked Martha if she licks raw cake batter off of the beater? Oh gosh, could be bad….

Rebecca Lando:  Hi Martha. I was just wondering – I love how you’re, you know, taking Baking 101 and making it a really accessible teaching course for the home cook. And I was wondering on that note are you – do you have any plans to work in viewer requests as the show progresses specifically like through social media?

Martha Stewart:   Oh definitely. There will be a Website – there will be an attendant blog and Website with the program.

Kristen Aiken:   Great.

Martha Stewart:    People will be able to tweet me and go onto my blog and ask questions and we will pay very close attention to all of that.

Kristen Aiken:   Great.

Martha Stewart:  We have a very active blog, I don’t know if you all know that, but the Martha blog is extremely active. We get hundreds of thousands of page views a day if not millions and it’s a very good place to filter questions and queries and comments.

Kristen Aiken:    Great, thank you.

Martha Stewart:    Thank you.

Coordinator:    The next question is from Patricia Talorico, The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware.

Martha Stewart:  Hi.

Patricia Talorico:   Hi Martha. I know on your Valentine’s Day show you’re featuring a cheesecake but I was wondering if you could share what your favorite chocolate recipe is?

Martha Stewart:    Well we have – we’re doing a chocolate show to. And I’ll just see – let me see – devil’s food cake, so how to make it from scratch, moist, full of flavor. We also have the chocolate frosting. We have, oh, very cute high-hat cupcakes. I think you’ll enjoy that recipe because you put on like a 7-minute icing on top of the cupcake and then coat it with a melted chocolate; it’s very good.

And the very best brownies, I like brownies a lot; I like to eat brownies – well not everyday but sometimes. And I think our recipe for brownies is very excellent. So – but that’s the only chocolate except for some chocolate glaze on éclairs that we have in this first series. I’ll be doing a lot more chocolate in the 101.2.

Patricia Talorico:   Thanks. May I ask one more question?

Martha Stewart:   Sure.

Patricia Talorico:   Now I know that Parisian Macaroons are very hot right now, I think there was even the story of how they’re replacing the cupcake. Do you feel that way or is that something you’re going to explore?

Martha Stewart:    No I don’t think they’re really replacing the cupcake. I think that we – I have a new entertaining book coming out in the fall and I have a very good recipe for macaroons using very fresh flavors, black current and raspberry and lemon and coffee. And they’re delicious but I don’t think they’re replacing the cupcake.

I mean, it’s a very, you know, a very specific thing; you can make a large macaroon or a small macaroon but that – and you can, you know, there’s a variety of flavors but I don’t think they’re going to replace the cupcake.

Patricia Talorico:   Okay thank you so much.

Martha Stewart:    I don’t think they’re satisfying enough.

Patricia Talorico:   I don’t either.

Martha Stewart:    I don’t, you know, you might want to eat 24 of them and they might – they might fill you but they certainly don’t satisfy you like a cupcake.

Patricia Talorico:   That’s great. Thank you.

Martha Stewart:    Thank you.

Coordinator:    The next question is from Serena Thompson, the Farm Chicks.

Serena Thompson: Hi Martha.

Martha Stewart:    Hi.

Serena Thompson: Hi. The focus seems to be on basic accessible ingredients is that right with your 101?

Martha Stewart:    Oh yeah it’s not an intense focus but baking is really from a few ingredients, flour, butter, sugar, milk, water you can make so many things and people don’t realize how simple the number of ingredients really is; it’s just the way they’re put together that make the fine desert that we’re always trying to achieve. So baking is very – baking is simple; it’s chemistry.

Serena Thompson: Sure. And I’m wondering will you keep it with more accessible ingredients whereas I know some of your recipes can contain ingredients that can sometimes be a little bit harder to find…

Martha Stewart:    Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. I doubt if we’re going to go into very difficult to find ingredients ever actually.

Martha Stewart:    Thank you.

Coordinator:     The next question is from Gwen Friss, Cape Cod Times.

Gwen Friss:     Hello Martha.

Martha Stewart:    Hi.

Gwen Friss:     How are you?

Martha Stewart:    Good…

Gwen Friss:    …get down to see us occasionally or your staff does because we see it on the show.

Martha Stewart:    Yes.

Gwen Friss:     I wanted to ask you our region – I represent the Cape and the South Coast and I hear you like Antonio’s. But I was wondering if there were some tips that you have in your baking show for particular regions? I’m thinking of the fact that it’s very hot and humid down here during the summer so sometimes we have breads that run right out of their pan.

Martha Stewart:    Oh yeah, and don’t try to make meringues on those days.

Gwen Friss:    Okay so that’s one of them. Are there…

Martha Stewart:    No.

Gwen Friss:     …a few other tips for our region where we’re dealing with lovely ocean all around us?

Martha Stewart:    Well, you know, biscuits and scones are great because they are, you know, not too humidity-fragile. Muffins and popovers are also great because they – you make them, you eat them right out of the oven. Cakes are pretty easy, angel food cakes probably not so easy. Anything that’s really reliant on a light or fluffy or airy batter is difficult in that humid weather.

Gwen Friss:    Okay. And is there – I’m sorry, one follow up question; any particular ingredients? I know you’ve been to Cape Cod lavender farm any – and perhaps Linguica in New Bedford, is there anything in particular that this region offers for you?

Martha Stewart:    Oh cranberries.

Gwen Friss:    Okay.

Martha Stewart:    Dried cranberries, so delicious and fresh cranberries. The – and I love the Portuguese breads and rolls of course. But I think those are your – and the shellfish and seafood.

Gwen Friss:    Right and the pops – the Portuguese pops?

Martha Stewart:    Oh yes…

Martha Stewart:    Oh yes, I love those.

Gwen Friss:    I had heard that from another food editor down here. So…

Martha Stewart:    Oh yeah.

Gwen Friss:    …we’ll have to get you some.

Martha Stewart:    Oh good, I’d love that.

Gwen Friss:   Great, well thank you very much.

Martha Stewart:    Okay thanks.

Coordinator:    As a reminder press star 1 to ask a question.

Martha Stewart:    Hello?

Sheila Feren:  Are there any other questions from the group at large?

Coordinator:   At this time I show no further questions.

Sheila Feren:   Okay…

Martha Stewart:    Thanks bloggers…

Last Chance Jen…..say it…..Agh!

Sheila Feren:  …thank you everybody.

Martha Stewart:    I look forward to reading what you blogged. And look at my blog today, you have to look at the Daily Wag, there’s some very funny pictures of Francesca trying to get out of the snow, very funny; it’s hysterical. Thanks a lot…

Sheila Feren:  Thanks everyone.

Martha Stewart:    …and good luck with your blogging, it’s a lot of fun.

Sheila Feren:   Thanks.

Coordinator:   This does conclude today’s conference. Thank you for participating and you may disconnect at this time.

END

Sigh – could have been a good move to be known as the blogger who asked Martha if she licks the beaters. Next time!

Speaking of baking, do you think martha would approve of these?