What are you Baking the week of June 30, 2019?

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, I actually made 17 muffins, instead of the usual 12, using 77 gr if dough for each. They came out very good. I use the griddle on my stove. I have not yet perfected the temperature and timing, so some of these were a little black on the bottom! Next time I will try #8 for 12 minutes.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
I think it impressive that you can cook your English Muffins on a griddle. I know its the traditional method, but I've always baked mine because I don't have the patience to watch them cook. With an oven I can do them all at once and I don't have to stand over them.

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, I can cook 8 muffins at a time on my griddle. And since I'm stuck in the kitchen anyway to keep an eye on them, I can do other tasks, like wash dishes, clean out a the refrigerator, make a salad for dinner, or whatever needs doing. I just plan to use the time productively. I've never tried baking them. How do you get the tops and bottoms browned and coated with cornmeal or semolina when you do them that way?

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
Baked English Muffins don't look like grilled English Muffins. Since I don't put a weight on them they look like little boules, or little mushrooms, or hamburger buns depending on how much they rise. I also don't have them coated with cornmeal since I don't worry about sticking to the bottom. Mainly I cook on parchment paper so that isn't a problem. Most of my baking is whole wheat and will be a nice color regardless of how much they are cooked :). The white flour English muffins normally turned out nicely browned on top and bottom due to a hot oven, just like a hamburger bun would. If its not browned on the bottom its probably not cooked.
I don't have a griddle so if I were to try frying, it would only be 3 or 4 at a time.

[BakerAunt]

I went back into the kitchen on Friday, determined to put Wednesday's mistakes behind me. I baked Len’s recipe for Wheat/Rye/Semolina Buns. I made just a couple of changes: I proofed the yeast in ¼ tsp. water and replaced the rest of the water with buttermilk; I added 2 tbs. special dry milk. I used the olive oil. I mixed it in the bread machine--waiting to add the olive oil until after the 5-minute mix and 5-min rest at the start of the dough cycle. I made 8 buns. They are as wonderfully light and delicious. We used them tonight for Sloppy Josephines, and we are looking forward to rerunning the meal tomorrow!

On Friday, I used my Nordic Ware 6-well “basket” pan, which I unpacked this week. I took the recipe off the package, but I substituted canola oil for the butter, used buttermilk and adjusted the baking powder and baking soda, reduced the sugar slightly, halved the salt, and used 1/3 cup barley flour. I really like barley flour in cakes. I also mixed by hand. The resulting cakes taste delicious, and they make good holders for fresh strawberries with low-fat frozen vanilla yogurt on top. I no longer miss strawberry shortcake.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked Maple, Walnut, and Fig bread. It's not too sweet, and I love the flavors. I also made chocolate chip cookies for my husband.

[skeptic7]

Its been very hot here, and I am running the air conditioner continually so I am doing crock pot baking again. Friday I had all three crockpots going at once. Congee in the smallest crock pot, buttermilk whole wheat cinnamon swirl in the largest, and KAF apple challah in the medium size one.
Everything turned out well unlike the time the cinnamon swirl turned out only fit for goose food. I haven't seen any stories of dead geese so it didn't do them much harm.
The cinnamon swirl was baked in a normal bread pan which fits in an oval crockpot. I let this rise normally and then baked for 2 1/2 hours on high to 190 degrees. It was perfect taste and texture but rather flat instead of a pretty dome.
The apple challah was baked in an 8x3 round cake pan that just fit in the crockpot. It was placed in the crock pot after it was formed and before the final rise and baked for 2 hours on high. At that time it wasn't quite cooked but I wanted to take it to a party so I baked it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes in a regular oven. I mainly follow the KAF recipe but this was all whole wheat, and I left out the honey and sugar. I also increased the cinnamon to 1 1/2 tsps as the honey and sugar would have enhanced the cinnamon flavor.
The bread had risen nicely and had a fine taste and texture.

[chocomouse]

I made Len's recipe for Wheat/Rye/Semolina Buns today, but shaped it into a sandwich loaf. I checked it while it was rising - but it wasn't rising. Then I realized OMG I never put in the yeast!! I decided to try kneading the yeast into the dough at that point, which I've tried in the past and so far it's always worked. It did rise, very nicely indeed, and as soon as I figure out how to reduce the size of my photo to 512 KB, I'll post it!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by chocomouse.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by chocomouse.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by chocomouse.

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[Joan Simpson]

Glad you had success with the bread Chocomouse,looks nice!

[RiversideLen]

That's a nice looking loaf, Chocomouse, how long did you bake it?

[chocomouse]

I baked it for 35 minutes at 350*, internal temp of 195.
I had more success making the bread than posting the picture!!! That's fine with me. It doesn't seem to matter what I do with my picture program on my phone or computer, it flips to upside down on this site.

[BakerAunt]

That was in a cast iron pan, Chocomouse?

[chocomouse]

Yes, Baker Aunt, I use cast iron for most everything. We liked the flavor of the bread, and the texture was OK, although a bit dry. But I'm reserving final judgement until I make it again, since I forgot the yeast and ended up kneading it at the end - not the usual process! Not sure what that did to the texture.

Yesterday I made Tropical Muffins, and baked them in a mini-muffin cast iron pan. I used a favorite muffin recipe, and added dried fruits, in this case candied orange peel (that I candied myself), dried pineapple, mango, and cherries. They are delicious.

[RiversideLen]

Chocomouse, I usually end up adding in some water near the end of the kneading, maybe 1/2 an ounce to an ounce, depending, but i always go on how it feels. The dough should be soft and compliant and almost tacky.

[chocomouse]

I usually do have to add either water or flour to my doughs to get the right feel. This dough was different - and I don't know if it was because I ended up kneading in the forgotten yeast, or due to the kinds of flours used in your recipe. I didn't know what to expect. I'm pretty sure it was over-kneaded. It handled more like taffy than bread dough. I'm going to make it again, soon, probably tomorrow, and will post about it then.

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