What are you Baking the Week of February 9, 2025?

[Mike Nolan]

Probably no baking for me for a few days.

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[Joan Simpson]

I made pizza dough and made my first Stromboli.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations on your first stromboli, Joan!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Lots of baking the last couple of weeks...

I've started to try using my mixer for bread to see if it makes a difference with some interesting results. I tried my ciabatta dough. It is 87% hydration. It mixed nicely but never cleaned the sides of the bowl. It was stickier than when I hand mix it but the buns came out fine. This week I dropped the hydration to 80. I'm going to make some buns tonight so I'll see how they come out.

I've been making two pizza doughs - a "New Haven" dough which is just a standard, flour, yeast, water, & salt dough. It's what I used to make when I started making pizza. The family likes it although the boys like my multi-grain pizza dough better. My MG dough was originally 70% hydration. In an effort to get a crisper crust I dropped it to 55%. I realized I was trying to dry out a wet dough. The pizzas were not soggy at all, even the veggie pizza with extra sauce and lots of veggies. I think next time I'll start it on an oiled pan to get some oil on the crust before I put it onto the stone. This should crisp it up some more.

I made challah last week and it didn't rise. Not sure what went wrong. It was baked all the way through and tasted good. The rolls I make for the folks who work in the office were all gone in 15 minutes so they still tasted good. But when I broke one open I could see where it didn't rise. But it was cooked all the way through. Not sure what went wrong. Maybe my yeast was dead. I decided order and try some osmotolerant yeast too, just to see if it makes a difference next time.

I made the challah by hand because I am making about 17 lbs.

[chocomouse]

Today I made two loaves of pumpernickel bread. I think my bread machine is quitting! I've had it about 10 years so I guess it's time to get a new one. I've never baked in it, I just use it for mixing and kneading, and since I have arthritis and do not have a stand mixer, I do need to replace it.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--That is why I always proof yeast. I buy the active yeast, and I want to see those bubbles! I hope that you find the perfect pizza crust method.

Chocomouse--That is sad about your bread machine. Any chance that you might find a used one in your area? I was fortunate to get my two bread machines--which I also only use for mixing and kneading--that way.

On Monday, I adapted the Orange-Almond Scones recipe from Elizabeth Alston's Biscuits and Scones (pp. 82-83). I used half Irish-style flour, reduced the baking powder from 4 tsp. to 3 tsp., replaced the butter with 1/3 cup canola oil plus enough buttermilk to make ½ cup, and replaced ½ cup finely chopped blanched almonds with 1/3 cup almond flour. It was a semi-sticky dough, so I used a #10 scoop (King Arthur calls it a popover scoop) to make 8 mounds, then baked. They were done after 21 minutes. They have a great texture. My only regret is that I used the ¼ tsp. of almond extract the recipe specifies. My husband and I find it too strong. I will bake the adaptation again, but next time, I will use vanilla. I might also try it with barley flour rather than the Irish-Style for variety.

[Joan Simpson]

Aaron I always keep my yeast in the freezer and it never goes bad.I buy the the Active yeast like BA.When I use the yeast I put it straight from freezer into the water or milk and it always works.

Mike I hope you get to feeling better.

I baked a carrot cake for my neighbors.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, I've not had much luck in the past finding used bread machines in any of the local "thrift shops", but tomorrow I'll check in a shop near the bookstore where I volunteer every week.

Today I made a chicken-broccoli braid., split into two smaller loaves. I've been watching chicken prices -- they have not gone up, but neither are the local stores having sales on chicken.

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[RiversideLen]

Chocomouse, that looks interesting. I don't think I've heard of a chicken-broccoli braid before.

I keep my yeast in the freezer too. I've even used yeast that was a couple of years past its expiration date with no problem. I don't proof my yeast, I figure if it was good the last time I used it (which is usually a week or so ago), it's still going to be good.

[Joan Simpson]

Chocomouse that Chicken-broccoli braid looks great, never heard of it either.

Len on one of my baking sites I visit one lady said she'd had yeast frozen for years and years and never a problem so i keep mine in a glass jar with tight fitting lid .

Now I have a question to ask.When you make your pizza dough do you knead it like normal and let it rise or just stir it up? The recipe I've been using I've done both ways but I only use 1/4 tsp. of yeast and let it rise on the counter for several hours and it's always turned out.

[BakerAunt]

That is a lovely braid, Chocomouse. I like the idea of a dinner bread!

My first bread machine came from an estate sale when we lived in Texas. My second bread machine came from a moving sale here about six years ago. I agree that thrift stores are not great places to look, but you never know.

[RiversideLen]

For kneading my pizza dough, I pretty much treat it like bread dough even though it will not rise as much because of using just a small amount of yeast. After mixing it, I let it rest for about 20 minutes, then knead it for about 10. Then I cover it and let it rise until I use it. If part of it will be used the next day or two, I portion that out and refrigerate it.

For my yeast, I have a yeast container I got from King Arthur, it has a clamp down lid. But right now, I'm using a plastic Glad container.

[chocomouse]

A braid is really just like a stromboli - but the dough is rolled out into a rectangle, then the filling put down on the middle third of it, the sides cut into 1" or so slits, and then braided over the filling. I think KAF has (or had) directions a few years ago for how to do that, with photos. You can put whatever you like into the filling. I used a basic chicken salad (with dill, onions and bell peppers), with shredded cheddar added. I also have made it with ham, cheese, and chopped dill pickles. You could put whatever you prefer for a filling and even make it vegetarian. I just use my basic pizza dough -- 3 cups of flour (1 whole wheat) and about a cup of water, a little salt. Sometimes I add herbs/spices into the dough. A good combo is Italian-style deli meats with spinach, olive salad (I think that's what most people call it, a muffaletta mix) and cheese. Now - I'm hungry, although I just ate dinner! - I think a muffaletta braid is going on our menu for next week!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, the braid is lovely. I always made calzoni because I was too lazy to make stromboli.

Believe it or not. sometimes you can buy refurbished goods for good prices from Amazon. The least expensive I found there was $70. You might do better. I've had good luck there buying refurbed computers. They are a couple of years behind the latest model but they are perfect for middle school.

BA & Joan, thanks. I always keep my yeast in the freezer and theoretically it should have been good. It was less than a year old.

I haven't proofed my yeast since I switched from active to instant. I also never proofed bread dough at bakeries. I usually mix my liquids at home - apple cider, eggs, oil, and honey. Maybe I'll reserve some cider and proof my yeast next time.

I'm a firm believer that there is no "perfect" pizza, just what you like. I have been on a quest for a long time to make a good, Chicago thin. This is close. Some people told me I need a steel instead of a stone but that is an expensive upgrade!

[Mike Nolan]

A baking steel kept on the lowest level will be a bit hotter than the ambient air temperature in your oven, and has greater thermal capacity, so putting a cold raw pizza on top of it doesn't cool it down as much. The challenge is to keep the bottom from getting too done before the cheese has properly melted on top. King Arthur recommends 475 for the keto friendly pizza mix and that has been working well for me.

Commercial pizza ovens are usually set at temperatures above what home ovens can do, IMHO the baking steel comes about as close as you can get to commercial baking results. I think the Modernist Pizza books came to pretty much the same conclusion, though I haven't read them.

A couple seasons ago I tried doing some pizzas on my outdoor gas grill, which can get to temperatures of 750 or higher. I haven't tried putting my baking steel in the gas grill yet, though. King Arthur's series on pizzas on the grill recommended pre-cooking the dough, flipping it over, putting the ingredients on the now-baked side and then putting it back on the grill to finish. That was kind of a messy operation, getting a round pizza was challenging.

Jeffrey Steingarten wrote a series of articles on home pizza attempts (for the NY Times, I think) that were quite funny, he literally came close to burning his house down rigging his home oven to try to cook a pizza on the 'self-cleaning' cycle.

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