My (now) husband and I were married in Seattle, but we found our baker from Tacoma (Krissie at The Last Bite http://thelastbite.net/) at the Seattle Wedding Show. She made extremely delicious cakes! They weren't too sweet, but full of flavor. She really focuses on flavor, so doesn't create as elaborate constructions as, say New Renaissance Cakes, but they certainly do taste better!

Certainly visit a couple different places to do tastings, but do go down to Tacoma to try out Krissie's cakes. We were pleasantly surprised to find it was well worth the drive! (Krissie delivered it to our wedding in Seattle without any issues.) We tried Sharon's Catering and Cake and New Renaissance Cakes, and preferred the Last Bite hands down on taste.

Here's a few ideas:
HT Oaktree market on Aurora (mostly Asian, but they also have latin food)
Central Market (like HT but higher end, several miles farther north on Aurora)
There's also the Mexican Grocery in Pike Place market, and a small Mexican market on Greenwood (near 85th). I think there's also one on Lake City Way.

The El Salvadoran Bakery in White Center also has a little market.

Perhaps The Grainery, down in Burien on First Ave. I know they have many lovely flours, not to mention gluten free everything. I love it there. It's like the kind of health food stores I grew up with on the East Coast.
Here's the website: www.thegraineryinc.com

The problem is that once you bake the salt, it usually does the "flavour enhancer" thing instead of the "salty taste" thing.

I haven't tried this salted maple caramel sauce recipe yet, but Bon Appetit tends to have great recipes. I'd probably make a fairly simple white cupcake and then try drizzling the sauce on top.

Make a pie. Eat the leftovers for breakfast!

I agree that an inexpensive toaster oven would be a step closer to baking.

PCC and Central Market both have flour in bulk and the quality is high. Don't know the price.

I had a friend who used to bake in the microwave. Food definitely had a different texture, but beggars can't be choosers, as they say. She had a microwave cookbook that had cake recipes in it. I can't remember now whether it was the Betty Crocker microwave cookbook or the Microwave Gourmet cookbook. I'm pretty sure she had both, but I can't remember which she'd have open when she was "baking."

You definitely need to be able to concentrate on flavour rather than texture, though. If texture is a big part of why you like certain foods, you'll definitely be disappointed with microwave "baking."

Raised waffles are great. Mix the batter the night before in a pitcher and leave the eggs on the counter. In the morning, plug in the waffle maker, coffee maker and add the eggs and baking soda to the pitcher. Pour the batter with the handy pitcher. You've never had lighter waffles.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raised-Waffles-40050

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/strawberry-filled-take-along-cake-with-brown-sugar-frosting/ec9703d4-10a2-427d-892f-838ba4103bb4

Again, there are good reasons certain pastries developed after the advent of white flour! I think really when substituting whole grain flour for white or when making whole grain products, the product should be evaluated and enjoyed on its own merits, not necessarily compared to its white flour counterpart. So don't worry so much about is the pie dough as flaky as a white pie dough- it won't be- but more about is the dough appropriate to the filling and ultimately delicious.

You can't! Next question!

I don't know about the swap ratio, but when I substitute whole wheat for pastry flour, the texture, of course, coarsens and it will be a heavier cookie. Sometimes that's OK (like in an already heavy oatmeal cookie), but sometimes it isn't. You could wind up with chocolate chip paperweights.

Hey CrazyCatLady. Do you mind if I ask what you're using to make whipped cream? Usually it's just heavy whipping cream and perhaps sugar or flavoring.

Do you mean how do you keep whipped cream from getting gloppy? This sounds to me like you might be overbeating it, it can get kind of lumpy and weird if you overwhip whipped cream, in my experience.

My local paper printed a recipe for brown sugar cream cheese frosting that is fantastic - if kind of rich.

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, sift together brown sugar, cornstarch, and powdered sugar.
2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
3. Add the sugar/cornstarch mixture and vanilla. Beat until the frosting is smooth and light.
4. Chill slightly before using.

You can freeze muffin batter for up to a month! Just put the batter in cupcake liners, freeze them in the baking tray, then when they're frozen transfer them to a sealed container or Ziploc bag. Bake them as you need them, just add about ten minutes to the original baking time. No thawing required.

I also dust the liner with a bit of canola oil spray, because sometimes the paper can be clingy, but they always taste awesome.

I received this book, Essentials of Baking, from Williams-Sonoma, as a wedding present and found it very helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Williams-Sonoma-Essentials-Baking-Cathy-Burgett/dp/0848727797

Also, though they are not necessarily baking 101 guides, I have found that publications by Taste of Home (also a magazine) are very user-friendly and often offer easy baking variations--for instance, in the baking section of their big huge Taste of Home cookbook, all of the recipes have a "Classic" version, a "lighter" version, and a "just for 2" portion variation. I find it nice to view the different variations.

Choose your own adventure with French Toast, in my opinion. It's easy to make any amount, and you can use whatever carbohydrates you happen to have around: day-old bread, cinnamon rolls, or even doughnuts (just do it!). Just slice the bread or doughnuts or whatever and dip into an egg mixture (For 2 people, I'd mix 2-3 eggs, a bit of milk or cream, a spoonful or two of sugar and a pinch of other spices if desired), then fry in butter over medium heat until crispy and golden and delicious.

Don't know if you got this part, but I do strongly believe you should use doughnuts for your French toast. Or birthday cake, like this: http://www.cakespy.com/blog/2010/8/30/joyeux-anniversaire-birthday-cake-french-toast-recipe-for-se.html

My favorite book is "Bread" by Jefferey Hammelman. It's bread only but very thorough and also suitable for the home baker.

I would Make a Savory Bread Pudding (or a sweet if you prefer a French toast type of breakfast) Best part is you par bake it ahead of time (ie. night before) and then finish it off in the AM. Follow a basic bread pudding recipe but instead of sugar and raisins i would mix in sauteed chunks of Sausage (unless you are a veg/vegan of course) mushrooms, peppers, onions, herbs.

I recommend using artisinal bread, not sliced manufactured. This recipe works best with nice big pieces (2" torn or cut, either is fine). This is also a great way to use up stale bread! The key is to use lot's of custard so the mixture is not dry but juicy between the bread and veggies. This will look like a souffle when it comes out of the oven. Mix all the bread chunks and sauteed veggies with a loose custard and then dollop the top with goat cheese and shave parm.

The most important thing to remember is SEASON the custard with S & P...i always taste my raw eggs, if this grosses you out, toss a little in a sautee pan. Once it's cooked it's impossible to impart flavor, and salting the surface of something is NEVER as good as properly seasoned from the start!

Classic custard ration: 1 cup milk, 3 each eggs. I would add 1/2 cup 1/2 & 1/2 to that in addition to the milk...so liquid ratio is now: 1 & 1/2 cups to 3 each eggs The bread absorbs lots of this liquid, you will be surprised at how much custard you really need! It's so worth it!

Here is a nice picture, but i think it needed more custard myself. 

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001571.html

I do not like the top to be so dry that you see pieces of bread, however, food is personal and this very well may be how you prefer it!  Play with your food, it's fun! : )

Hash. Some bacon/sausage/beef/whatever-other-meat-you're-into and some potatoes, onions, peppers, spinach, garlic and spices (and whatever else takes your fancy). Cut them all up the night before, toss them with olive oil (you only need a little) to let them soak and meld flavors, and then throw them in a pan the next morning and saute. Beat an egg and toss it in to make an omelet or scramble and you're good.

There was someone who came out with a heart-healthy baking cookbook a few years ago who was inspired after her father's heart attack to make great cookies (and other baked goods) which he loved. She used white bean puree as her base instead of white flour and butter. Supposedly the white beans trick the tongue and taste like fat. Wish I could think of the name of the lady, but if you Google white bean cookie, you'll get several matches.

I have extensive experience with avoiding sugar. I had to cut it out completely for a while, then was able to consume it in small amounts. Also, I love cooking and enjoy baking. So...this may not be a welcome answer, but it's based in experience.

Substitutes: Often expensive and nutritionally suspicious, and most of them don't work in baking. Sugar is important in certain baked goods because it browns the tops of cookies, turns into caramel, reduces to syrup, etc; most other sweeteners lack these crucial chemical properties. Splenda is reportedly best for baking, but I wouldn't want to make it a regular part of my diet. I've heard of folks who use half sugar and half Splenda, and if that appeals to you, go for it. Some strict sugar-avoiders recommend xylitol, but it's also kind of weird and not ideal for baking. (I've tried it and it's not bad, but it imparts a cooling sensation and like the other -ol sweeteners it can have a laxative effect, which kind of undermines the joy of baked goods.) Stevia is useless for baking. If your doctor says it's okay there are plenty of natural sugars like date, palm, honey, maple, etc, but I suspect that for your purposes they're still sugar, and they cost more than cane/beet, which is rough when you need a bunch for cookies.

So honestly? If you're a frequent baker, I'd suggest using real sugar, but way way less than the recipe calls for. Cut the sugar down by half or even two-thirds, and don't expect other people to love what you bake (though sometimes they surprisingly do, as with the gluten-free, half-sugar cookies I made tonight). This may change the texture of some items, because you're removing bulk from the recipe and losing some of what sugar does chemically, but it's not always a problem (my cookies are a bit cakier than the photos in the recipe show, but they're definitely cookies). You'll just have to experiment.

By the way, if you're going to go this route, you may find that your reduced-sugar recipes just aren't sweet enough! If this is true, you have to adjust your taste too. Stop eating sugar entirely (no dried fruit, no juice, nothing sweet) for like a month. When I did it, the first few weeks were torture--I was craving sweets nonstop, and suddenly the hippie-alternative notion that we're addicted to sugar made sense to me. I mean, if you're young and healthy and don't want anyone to tell you not to eat ice cream for dinner, that's totally cool; I wasn't healthy and I had no choice, and in the long run I'm grateful that I no longer want to eat entire bags of Sour Patch Kids. Anyway, the crazy cravings do vanish, and then you can experiment with lower-sugar recipes to your heart's content. And your doctor will love you.

As for fat, I can't help you there, but there's a lot out there about substituting fruit pastes and such, along with stuff about better fats in other answers here.

The best gluten-free bread I've had is Udi's, specifically the multigrain sandwich bread and the bagels. They aren't a crusty French loaf, but unlike the dense refrigerated rice-nut stuff, they make a real, legit sandwich. You can buy them along with muffins and a couple other items (though I think the pizza dough is lousy) at local Whole Foods; they're both in the freezer and on display stands. The English muffins from Food for Life (frozen) aren't bad either, and I've heard their other products are good but I haven't tried them. Finally, check your local farmers market, as I've seen several gluten-free bakery booths pop up this summer.

I haven't had great luck making GF bread myself, but I also haven't tried too hard. My greatest successes have been using chickpea flour in frying batter (think Indian pakora) and just the other day, these tasty oatmeal cookies: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2007/12/oatmeal-cookies-again.html The blogger lives in Seattle, has a book out, and is a great resource for gluten-free bakers in general.

As for noodles, pasta is easy--Whole Foods has a whole bunch of shelves of fully decent corn- and brown rice-based pastas--but you won't find lo mein or ramen without wheat. For your Asian noodle needs, go for rice noodles (as in pho) and transparent, thin "bean thread" (aka "Chinese vermicelli" and, where I grew up, "long rice"). Your local Asian markets will have huge selections of both of the above. Don't bother with buckwheat noodles (as in soba): Though buckwheat is gluten-free, I haven't been able to find any without some wheat flour in them.

I've been known to make something called French Toast Casserole. (It sounds so classy, no?) I've yet to come across someone who didn't love this stuff.

Tear up a loaf or two of challah and pack it into a casserole dish. Mix up eggs and half & half, a little vanilla, dash of salt and pour over the bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar (and whatever else floats your boat) and bits of butter. Cover with foil and stash in the fridge over night. Heat up the oven to 375 in the morning and pop it in until it's set up and not too squidgy (maybe 45 minutes?).

There's a Paula Deen version here.

It's not baking, but put steel-cut oats in your crockpot overnight on the warm (not low) setting. Serve with pecans, crasins, brown sugar, whatever.