Ann Reardon

Debunking more fake cooking videos

 

In 2020 the fake cooking videos continue to circulate and are highly successful with the algorithm on youtube and facebook. By rewarding these videos with views and therefore money youtube and facebook are enabling the proliferation of misinformation. On top of that as these ones thrive other channels that strive to make accurate content are struggling to survive. Looking at the bigger picture why do fake recipes even matter? There are two reasons that people have communicated to me in the comments, well three, make that four. One is the absolute waste of food, people who try these doomed recipes will inevitably have to throw out the end result. The second is that many younger viewers had believed that they were the cause of the failure. They assumed that what they had seen on the videos was true, therefore they themselves must be terrible cooks as they can not even pull of something so simple. The third reason is the danger in some of the methods shown – we discussed that in a previous video. And finally it communicates that lying is totally fine if you are making money out of it.

“Recipes” that I look at in this video are:
Making caramel from sweetened condensed milk in the microwave
ann reardon how to cook that

Greek Yoghurt Bread
debunking ann reardon how to cook that

Almond Butter Cookies
ann reardon how to cook that

I also attempted to remove ink from a white shirt! You can probably guess what happens there.

I’ve had many requests for the bread recipe that I used in the video, so here it is:

450mL (15.22 fluid ounces) water
60mL (2.03 fluid ounces) oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
750g (26.46 ounces) plain all purpose flour
1 teaspoon bread improver
2 tablespoons milk powder
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Put everything into the bowl and mix together to form a dough. Knead until very elastic (1 hour in a stand mixer with a dough hook is good). Put in a large bowl covered in plastic wrap and let it stand somewhere warm until it had doubled in size. I put it in the oven with it barely on. Note if your oven is above 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) you will kill the yeast. See the chart below for optimum temperatures.

temperature for yeast dough to rise

Knock the air out of it with a single push. Handling the dough as little as possible shape it into the desired shape or put in loaf tins. Leave somewhere warm to rise again then turn the oven up to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake until it sounds hollow when you tap the underneath of the baking tin.
Variations that I like:
Focaccia: Spread out on a large baking tray, use your knuckles to make holes drizzle with olive oil and add fresh rosemary, olives and sea salt. Allow to rise then bake

After the first rise roll out flat into a rectangle, spread with a paste made from brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Sprinkle with chopped apple and dried fruit. Roll up and slice 2″ chunks. Place spiral side up spaced out in a round tin. Allow to rise, then bake.

Enjoy

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

18 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    My grandson is 7 years old. He simply love your videos
    He introduced me to your site.
    He asked his parents to buy your book with his own money that he got as Birthday gifts.
    Now one our most meaningful bonding interactions is talking about your book and your videos.
    Thank you 🙏🤗💕🤗
    Thank you. 🌟

  2. Hey, nice to meet you. I’m just wondering, could you please check out the YouTube channel “Craft Factory”? Thank you so much!!!!

  3. Rating: 4.5

    There was no baking powder or yeast so the bread won’t rise

  4. Rating: 5

    Hi loved the video! :)) That bread you made with yeast looked amasing! Can you please do a recepie about that? 😀

  5. Rating: 5

    Hey Ann,
    The copycat video that copied your sugar bowl recipe used caramel in their video and i always thought that caramel was chewy. Can you sue them for that? I mean, you DID invent it. If you can, then please do, because after that popcorn incident, The world does not need any more fake videos that could hurt anyone. And if any kid tries the caramel and while taking it out, the microwave blasts or the kid gets burnt? Who can/will be responsible? Make sure you and your family stays safe from covid-19!
    thank you
    nivedha

    • Hi Nivedha, No unfortunately I can not sue them. The balloon is filled with water so it stops it popping – you can hold a match under a balloon filled with water and it doesn’t pop because the water dissipates the heat.

  6. Rating: 5

    I greatly enjoy your videos. My favorite types are the debunking and clever or never

    • thanks Elizabeth ?

  7. Rating: 5

    I wonder if they used self-raising flour in the greek yogurt bread. I’ve done that to make 2-ingredient pizza dough. but if they did, it’s pretty irresponsible not to specify that…

    • Considering that there is no self raising flour in the USA it seems unlikely.

      • Just to let you know that we do have self raising flour in the US. I have a bag of Gold Medal sitting in my pantry. The Greek yogurt bread is make with self raising flour and isn’t too bad. Though, of course it can’t compare with yeast bread in flavor and texture.

        • Interesting – I’ve has lots of people tell me in the comments that they can’t get self raising flour in the US. That is why I always use plain plus baking powder. Definitely needs to be specified in the recipe – but agreed still would not make as fluffy a bread.

  8. Rating: 5

    I made a cake with my mum and we followed one of your recipes. It tastes really nice!

    • Fantastic job, it looks delicious ?

  9. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, I love these debunking videos so much! But every time I watch them I always think to myself why would people do such a thing?! Well I really dont know maybe to get views and subscribers? But then wouldn’t people unsubscribe? It’s crazy! But anyway I love your videos so much and keep up the good work! Also can you do a jaffa cake cake? Plus it’s my birthday tomorrow! I’m turning nine! Also I’m having my very first proper sleepover!

    • Happy Birthday! ??, I hope you had a fantastic day. The answer to your question is they do it for money. People watch what the youtube algorithm suggests on the side. So they make videos that the algorithm like without concern for the people. They upload often and use data to test what titles and topics will get recommended – then make videos based on that. To keep people watching they make it fast and “easy” with apparently no concern on if it is accurate or actually works. The algorithm keeps recommending it so they will keep making it. Unless youtube changes the algorithm there will be more and more of this sort of highly produced pretty but inaccurate how-to’s.

  10. Rating: 5

    Hello Miss Ann!
    There is a very similar “hack” So Yummy has that you put 1 can of sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and microwave it for 6 minutes to get Dulce De Leche. After what I’ve seen, it wouldn’t probably work, would it?
    I have been wanting to try it for a long time, but I won’t if it will end up like the first two hacks.
    Thanks a bunch!
    Shara

    • Hi Shara,
      Yes, you need to use a big bowl and stir or you end up with a mess.

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