What are you Baking the Week of January 23, 2022?

[Mike Nolan]

I'm still working out the details of my cinnamon experiment, maybe I'll get it done this week. (The goal is to see if varying amounts of cinnamon in the dough do have a measurable impact on how it rises.)

What's rising in your kitchen?

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[BakerAunt]

We awoke Sunday morning to four inches of snow--the first significant snowfall of the season for us. I looked at the snow and thought: apple pie. My recipe is based on Bernard Clayton's French Apple Pie, but I used 10 Winesaps and slightly pre-cooked the filling, which I put into a par-baked oil-buttermilk crust. I replace 1/3 cup butter in the streusel topping with 1 Tbs. melted butter and 2 1/2 Tbs. avocado oil. I par-baked the crust at 400F convection for 12 minutes, then baked the pie at 375 convection for 25 minutes before placing a rim shield, to keep the outer crust from darkening too much, and reducing the temperature to 350F convection for the remaining 25 minutes. I was able to slice it for dinner, even though it came out of the oven at 4:30, by putting the cooling rack on the enclosed porch after an hour. The pie is excellent. For the crust, I had intended to use half canola and half avocado oil, but I inadvertently grabbed the olive oil instead of the latter. The crust had an almost buttery taste to it, so I will use olive oil in place of half the canola oil in the future.

Tonight, we also sliced the Spiced Pumpkin bread that I baked yesterday to go with leftover pea soup. Once again, I am impressed by the puree from the fairy tale pumpkin. It gave the bread more of an orange hue and a subtle sweetness; the crumb is perfect. My husband remarked that we might have to get some fairy tale pumpkin seed....

[cwcdesign]

Yesterday, I made a loaf of Ballymaloe Brown Bread from Simon Pearce's cookbook. It was originally his mother's recipe that she took to Darina Allen. I hadn't made it in forever, but remembered having some trouble with it. It's a yeasted batter bread so it's very easy to make. Molasses, yeast, water, salt and whole meal flour. He recommends King Arthur Irish meal in place of the whole meal from Ireland.

You put the batter in the pans and allow to rise for 10-20 minutes until it reaches the top of the pan and be careful not to overproof. I was afraid of over proofing - it was chilly and it took longer to rise, maybe 35 minutes - but before it got all the way to the top edge, I decided to put it in the oven. it did shrink back a little, so I may have over proofed a little. But the texture and flavor are good.

I had in the back of my mind a conversation I had had with one of the KABC bakers about using the Irish Whole Meal in yeast breads. Because of its lack of gluten, they don't recommend it as a stand alone flour, but it is fine in soda breads. So, I decided to go online and do some troubleshooting. The Ballymaloe version uses some AP or Bread flour and then I found a David Lebovitz article making that version. The AP or Bread flour is even used with the whole meal from Ireland. So I am definitely going to try their version and it might explain why I've had problems with this recipe in the past. We still have half a loaf for tonight and another in the freezer so it might be a while until my next experiment. It would also help if I got some more Irish meal from King Arthur.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--I have found that with yeast breads, I can do a greater proportion of whole grains if I use some bread flour. My current favorite is the Bob's Red Mill Artisan bread flour.

I like the Irish-style flour from King Arthur for scones (I make an oil-based one) and soda breads.

[chocomouse]

Today I made eclairs for the first time in many years -- all of it from scratch! It took more time than I had planned, but they are delicious!

[Mike Nolan]

Eclairs are usually a two-day project for me.

[Joan Simpson]

Just a pan of corn bread.

[Mike Nolan]

Historically, my biggest challenge with eclairs was finding the right chocolate topping, ones like we got back in Chicago.

But now that I've read Christophe Adam's book, Eclairs, I'm rethinking the whole issue of fillings and toppings, which my wife has mixed emotions about. (Raspberry is out, though, since she's allergic to red raspberries.)

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them early next week.

[Joan Simpson]

Made some buttermilk biscuits to go with supper.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my Bischofsbrot on Thursday. I adjusted my lower saturated fat recipe by using avocado oil instead of canola oil, using 1 cup of barley flour in place of that much AP flour and adding 3 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder. I also hydrated the regular and golden raisins and used paper towels to sop up any excess moisture before tossing them in the flour. I used a cup of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, as the loaf is for a special occasion. The loaf looks good and easily came out of the pan, so I look forward to slicing into it tomorrow

[chocomouse]

I made a pizza for dinner - pepperoni with the works.

[Italiancook]

My husband informed me that he's found an interesting YouTube recipe for fluffy pizza dough. I think he wants me to try it. I can't imagine what fluffy means in pizza dough, so I'll probably watch the video if he can find it again.

[Mike Nolan]

Fluffy is a great name for a cat, not for pizza dough. I'd like to see that video, though.

[chocomouse]

I made two loaves of buttermilk maple oatmeal bread today. Soft, tender, but not fluffy.

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