What are you Baking the Week of July 26, 2020?

[Mike Nolan]

I'm planning to make bagels today, doing half of them in water with baking soda and half in water with something sweet in it, probably honey.

The previous test of boiling times was a bit inconclusive, my wife couldn't tell much difference in the bagels and after the first day, neither could I.

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[Mike Nolan]

Here are some shots of today's bagel test:

These are the bagels after boiling. The ones on the left and the two lower ones in the middle are the ones done in water with baking soda:

These are the bagels after baking:

Here's a close up shot of one of the bagels boiled in baking soda water and one boiled in honey water. As you can see, the baking soda made a big difference in color. This is Peter's recipe in the Artisan Breads book, which uses barley malt syrup, so the dough has a light brown color, but the alkali bath really accentuated that after baking:

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[chocomouse]

Those look good, Mike, and an interesting outcome. I don't even remember why we use baking soda in the water bath, but I do. And I ran out of barley malt syrup, so I've been using honey. I might try brown sugar next batch.

[Mike Nolan]

I may have to try this again using something other than barley malt syrup, since it imparts some color to the dough. Maybe some honey?

I also posted the final picture on the BBGA forum, where there was a thread recently on whether or not an alkali bath was needed for bagels, with some pretty good bakers coming down on the side of 'no'. I'll be interested to see if anyone comments on the color change there.

[Joan Simpson]

Good looking bagels Mike.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Crackers from dough I made perhaps ten days ago. I cannot recall when I made it, as I seem not to have written it down. The dough was fine, and the crackers came out well.

We ran out of bread, so I also baked the Wheat, Rye, Flax Meal Bread that I developed last year. I experimented a bit more, which was not a good idea. The rising time was fast, probably because it is hot here, but the bread did not get as much oven spring as when I have previously baked it. The loaves are fine, just not as tall. I need to stop tweaking this recipe.

[Joan Simpson]

Mike I was looking at Peter's recipe for the bagels and have a question for you,if I could use the malt powder like for milk shakes in them,I know I've used it in your bread recipe.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Bagels look good Mike!

BA good to know about your cracker dough. I have some in the refrigerator that is a few days old. I also have scraps in the freezer and when I am up to a few hundred grams I'll turn them into crackers.

I made more bread this weekend. I am up to three loaves a week weighing in at about 6 pounds.

I made yeast doughnuts this weekend. Violet was very excited to hear doughnuts but then disappointed that they were not the baked, chocolate doughnuts which are much easier. I made KAF yeasted doughnuts from the website. Pretty simple but there is a rest followed by a rise followed by a second rise.

They did not have center holes because the doughnut cutter I have is HUGE and would have used most of my dough for one doughnut. There was not enough of a difference between biggest and smallest circles of my biscuit cutter. If I'd been smart I would have cut the dough into strips and formed them into circle or just made churros.

I used canola oil instead of the recipe required peanut oil because that is what I had. But peanut oil might also have left a taste and canola is more neutral. The oil required constant adjusting to keep it at temp and most of my doughnuts are a little dark but they do not taste burned. I might be better served here by using an electric hot plate that I can set and leave instead of adjusting a gas flame but that is what I have.

I made a chocolate glaze with some semisweet chocolate and some milk and dipped he doughnuts in them.

After the oil cooled down I filtered it and reclaimed it and will reuse it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[Joan Simpson]

Aaron you've been busy!Glad you tried making doughnuts.

[chocomouse]

Yummy! And the chocolate just takes them over the top!

[Mike Nolan]

The chocolate glaze that donut shops use is one I've never been able to reproduce at home. (I think they buy it in 25 pound tubs.)

[BakerAunt]

And heaven knows what's in it!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have never wanted to reproduce that... I believe it has among other things furniture polish. Carnuba wax is pretty popular in cheap "chocolaty" foods. Improves mouth feel I am told.

I used Callebaut 54% (I've seen that as both bitter and semi-sweet) and skim milk (because that is what we had). I did 1-to-1 mix - eight ounces of each. I found the empty leftover bowl of chocolate next to an open bag of pretzels at lunch so someone enjoyed it.

I should have thinned up some jam and used it as filling. But I didn't think of that until too late.

The doughnuts are a sweet fry bread. Now that I have figured out what to do with the oil I might make them again.

[Mike Nolan]

I got an 8x8 Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake out of the freezer last night, so we're enjoying it today.

[chocomouse]

I made lemon zucchini blueberry muffins and a small loaf of bread. I read over 4 different recipes, with and without zucchini, and with and without blueberries, and came up with my own version. They are very light and tender, light lemon flavor, loaded with berries, and it made a lot. I think this will become my go-to recipe. I used the last of my frozen shredded zucchini from last year; in the next couple of weeks I'll make it with fresh zucchini, and figure out any adjustments needed with the change in moisture of the zucchini. I also made KABC (ha! I remembered the change-over!) lemon streusel recipe.

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