What are You Baking the Week of October 1, 2017?

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: The salami is already cooked. For the ground turkey, I should have said that I cook it first. I actually do not pre-cook the vegetables and have not had a problem. I bake my pizza on parchment on an Emile Henry pizza stone at 425F for 15 minutes. I do pre-heat the baking stone in the oven for about 45 minutes.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Joan Simpson]

I made two loaves of half white and half wheat sourdough bread today.Waiting to see how it is tomorrow,the rise was great and it smells wonderful.

[Mike Nolan]

I never bother to cook peppers or fresh mushrooms if putting them on a pizza. (My wife actually prefers canned mushrooms on pizza.) I generally don't put onion on a pizza, but if you do, cooking the onion first softens it and results in a more mellow flavor. When we lived in Chicago, where grilled onions are common toppings for hot dogs and hamburgers, there were some pizza places that could put grilled onions on pizza, which is a very different taste from either raw onions or onions that have been sauteed in butter.

Black garlic is supposed to be interesting on a pizza, but unless my wife is out of town it's not likely I'll ever try it.

I use black or green olives straight out of the can or jar, but if you've ever tried to eat an olive straight off the tree you know they've been processed a lot by the time you get them at the store.

We like artichoke hearts on pizza, we buy the ones that aren't marinated in oil and herbs in a large jar at Sams, I assume they've been cooked in the process of canning them. The ones in the small jars at the grocery store aren't as good and the ones in a can always have a strong metallic taste to me.

Tomatoes are another vegetable that doesn't need to be cooked if added to a pizza, though (sun) dried tomatoes add a different flavor than fresh ones.

[Mike Nolan]

I've been experimenting with the thickness of the crusts on a pie lately, I'll probably have a blog post or two on that at some point. However, I seem to get a bigger air gap if the top crust is on the thick side. I think what happens is that it rises due to steam as it bakes, then sets up, and if it is thick it will hold the dome shape rather than settle down onto the filling, thus creating a gap.

Making more or larger vents might keep it from doming up as much, thus limiting or preventing an air gap. (After all, you never get an air gap with a lattice crust.)

[Mike Nolan]

The honeypots were fairly well received at my wife's office, someone has already asked for the recipe.

They taste a lot like pecan pie, which should be too surprising. (I may have to try a batch with walnuts some time just to see what they 'should' taste like. I think they'd be interesting with almonds or macadamia nuts, too.)

I'm thinking I may try making them as individual tarts, more work but easier to serve, and it gives me an excuse to try the tart kit I got a while back. I still think if I cooked them longer they might have gotten firmer if not crunchy on top, since the topping (honey, brown sugar, butter, vanila and cream) contains pretty much the same ingredients as caramel. I think I'll add a pinch of salt.

[aaronatthedoublef]

ItalianCook, we just use TJ's store brand mozzarella. The family also likes Poly-O but we cannot find that except in string cheese. I like to add some provolone but my wife doesn't like it. Not sure about the kids.

I will usually pre-cook pepperoni or sausage just to cook off some of the fat so the pizza is less greasy. I do not usually pre-cook vegetables although that would reduce the water but that has not been a problem. I've also par-baked crusts to crisp them then added sauce, cheese, and toppings but it's extra work that no one seemed to appreciate so I stopped that. We haven't tried black garlic but if I see it I might. We do like garlic and we like out onions with a little bite. But I might try Mike's suggestion off cooking them first just for something new.

Also, if you start pre-cooking ingredients you may need to put them on the pizza after it's baked a bit. And if you use something like prosciutto put it on right after the pizza comes out of the oven and the residual heat will cook it. Otherwise it will burn in the oven.

Like BA I put my pizzas in on parchment then after a couple minutes slide the parchment out so the pizza is directly on the stone. I've done a couple of pizzas on sheet pans and also used parchment there. I've cooked pizzas in cake pans and just sprayed them with cooking spray but if I were to do it again I might cut and use parchment.

Mike, what is a honeypot?

[Mike Nolan]

Honeypots are one of the bar cookie recipes in The Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book. (I flagged 3 or 4 recipes to try in a first pass through the book, this was the first of them.)

In the book, they're a shortbread cookie with a topping made from brown sugar, butter, honey and walnuts. I used pecans instead of walnuts when I made them this week. They were sort of like small pieces of pecan pie, except that there's no egg yolk to thicken the topping. I think if I had cooked them a bit longer the topping might have gotten thicker, like a caramel.

[Joan Simpson]

I tried the half white half wheat sourdough this morning toasted and it's what I was looking for.I use to like the sourdough bread from Cracker Barrel and it tastes just like it,happy!

[BakerAunt]

I halved one of the pie pumpkins that I bought at the farmers' market a week and a half ago. It is now in the oven roasting. Once it is done and cooled enough to handle, I will scoop it away from the peel and puree it in my food processor. Usually I do two pie pumpkins at a time, but these two were too large for that. Some of the puree will be for pumpkin pie. My husband's cousins come to town tomorrow for a family reunion, and one planned event is an early Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. There is an accomplished pie baker in the family, but if need be, I'll offer a pumpkin one.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike, thanks. I've probably gone buy the honeypots a couple thousand times! Looks good. I may try it.

I have two seeded ryes in the oven. I got good oven spring but one already has a blow out. I think I didn't seal it well enough. But pre-shaping has definitely helped.

[Mike Nolan]

The recipe I have flagged to try next from the Rosie book is the Thin Crisp Chocochips cookie recipe.

[Joan Simpson]

I made cinnamon rolls with left over mashed potatoes oh so good!

[BakerAunt]

My husband's cousins are arriving today for a family reunion, beginning Friday. It's a group of great cooks and bakers, but they like to plan as they go, so I'm never sure what to make. I decided to bake the "Not Quite Whole Grain Baguette) that was posted on the now closed KAF Baking Circle by sbdombro, who adapted it from a Mark Bittman recipe in The New York Times. I had it copied into my recipe book, and when I looked here, I noted that it does not appear to have been posted, so I will do so sometime in the next week. (I'll look to see if I have the original anywhere. I remember reviewing it favorably and getting a response from the poster.) It makes three baguettes (and I've done it as a boule before), and I used a combination of whole wheat and rye flour (40 grams of medium rye and 60 grams whole wheat for the whole grain portion but added a couple tablespoons of flax meal) along with the 400 grams of KAF flour. I was able to use the bread machine to mix it, and I used my three slot baguette pan for the bake. I did reduce the temperature from 450 to 425 about mid-way through the bake.

I also baked the Maple-Walnut Biscotti from the KAF website.

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