What are you Baking the Week of March 14, 2021?

[kimbob]

Just out of the oven.

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[Mike Nolan]

Well, the dough for the scoring practice loaf was a high hydration (75%) no-knead formula. High hydration doughs usually don't work well for me, and that was the case again today. The loaf flattened out when I dumped it on the counter after the final rise and though I tried to reshape it into a boule it still flattened out a lot in the Dutch oven. I probably needed to do more stretch-and-folds on the dough before the final rise.

The scorings didn't hold up well in the oven, either, though the blade did a decent job of cutting.

We'll see how the loaf tastes, it was the first I've made with my new rye starter, and it seemed active enough.

Bagel dough is rising, so I should end today's baking with a win.

This loaf is about 9 inches in diameter but only about 1 1/2 inches high.

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[Mike Nolan]

It has enough of a sourdough taste for me to be aware of it, but it isn't overwhelmingly sour. The internal structure is fairly open, so the new starter seems to be coming along well.

We'll see what my wife thinks of it later today. Sourdough and her don't always get along.

[Italiancook]

Kimbbob, what a lovely photo!

Sorry you ran into problems, Mike.

[Mike Nolan]

Today's bagels came out looking good. I made two with havarti cheese.

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[Italiancook]

chocomouse, I'm so glad you tried those rolls! For a long time, I considered making them but decided against it. I prefer rolls that are soft inside. I thought the separations of these rolls would be crunchy or crispy. What did you discover? Broken apart, are they soft or crisp? Yours look good.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[chocomouse]

Mike, your bagels are a win! Do you have any thoughts about why my bagels seems to get moldy faster than any of my breads? They have the same basic ingredients, but start getting the dreaded blue-green spots after 3 days in the bread box.

[chocomouse]

Italiancook, those roll are not crispy, and the middles are soft. Any edges or corners that stick up are more well done, and lightly browned, but certainly not crisp, not as crusty as a typical bread crust. Each section pulls off easily and has plenty of flavor. You really should try them. Use any herbs you prefer, just be sure to use more than you think would be necessary. I mixed up 3 tsp garlic powder, 3 tsp dried onion, 3 tsp crushed rosemary, 2 tsp sea salt, and 4 fresh, long green onion tops, and put them into an empty shaker spice jar. I used about half of it. The green onions, being fresh, made the mix clump a bit, so next time I would add them separately. And BakerAunt, I bet the herbed rolls would taste just fine if you used olive or canola oil instead of butter. I've also made these with cinnamon and sugar. You can use any dough that is soft and easy to work with, but I would add about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the dough if making sweet rolls.

We eat a lot of rolls in the winter time, when we're also eating a lot of soups. By January, my freezer is fully stocked with both. These are really good with tomato soup, broccoli-cheddar soup, corn chowder, etc.

[Mike Nolan]

Not sure, but I find it hard to keep bagels more than about 3 days, too. Maybe it has something to do with how boiling them gelatinizes the surface? Or maybe it affect how much or where moisture is retained?

I did get some micro-perforated bags and bagels and baguettes both lasted longer in them, but they got kind of dry after a couple of days, kind of like keeping them in a paper bag.

Bagels freeze well, and it makes life easier if you slice them before freezing them. Leave them out for a few minutes and they're ready for the toaster.

[Mike Nolan]

Regarding today's less successful bread, I think it is important to show failures as well as successes. I know there are baking sites where only the successes get shown. We all HAVE fails, and I think we learn more from thinking or talking about what went wrong.

[Joan Simpson]

I agree Mike we've all had failures!Mike your bagels and boule look good to me!

Today I baked corn bread to go with supper and I also baked Cinnamon raisin bread that's braided from Jennycancook.I went right by recipe and it was very easy had to add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup extra flour,I've tried it and give it a thumbs up ,gave half to my sister in law.The recipe called for a pkg. of yeast but I only added 2 tsp,thought about using less but it all came out very nice.Almost like eating a cinnamon roll it has an icing drizzle so I will not be putting it in the toaster.

[Mike Nolan]

The bread is good enough to eat, but it really isn't a boule, it's more like a ciabatta or a focaccia for shape. It would probably make a good bread for bruschetta or dips.

As to my scoring, it isn't really visible. I'll try a different dough in a few days.

The crust is chewy, like I would expect of a sourdough bread.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I baked two loaves of Len's bread (from his Semolina Rye Rolls Recipe).

[BakerAunt]

I had one more Bosc pear to use, so on Friday I baked Pear Cardamom Oatmeal Muffins, a recipe from Marisa Moore: https://marisamoore.com/pear-oatmeal-muffins/:

I forgot to add the cardamom, since I had combined the dry ingredients, except for the spice the night before but was waiting to grind the cardamom until that morning. I would have used half the amount of spice due to it being freshly ground. As the muffins were already mixed and in the muffin pan when I realized the omission, I settled for sprinkling Penzey’s cinnamon sugar (was either free or inexpensive on a deal) on top before baking.

I made some other changes. I used buttermilk in place of regular milk, and I reduced the brown sugar to 1/3 cup. I omitted the vanilla, as I want to taste the pears and spice (or would have had I remembered to add the spice!). I had just the single Bosc pear; I think she uses Anjou. I added 1 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder to the dry ingredients to increase the calcium. I used canola oil. I omitted the topping but had sprinkled with a bit of the King Arthur white sparkling sugar before I added that cinnamon sugar. I baked as six large muffins, so I increased the baking time to 15 minutes. These muffins are delicious, and I will bake them again—with the cardamom! I particularly like the flavor of Bosc pears with cardamom and dearly miss the Pear Crumble recipe that I can no longer bake due to its butter content.

I ate one for breakfast. I will leave two for us to have for breakfast tomorrow, and I will freeze the other three for quick future breakfasts.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for the link. The recipe gave me the idea of using Anjou pears with my go-to muffin recipe.

OK, it was my turn to have difficulty in the kitchen. Self-imposed difficulty. I made Bev M's Canned Peach Cobbler (on this site). It calls for 1 tablespoons sugar in the topping. Whenever possible, I use half sugar and half Splenda. I put in 1/2 tablespoon sugar & forgot to put in the Splenda. Later, when I thought of the Splenda, I wasn't sure I hadn't used it. So I'm probably missing a half-tablespoon of sweetness. I was supposed to sprinkle cinnamon on top of the peach mixture. I had the cinnamon on the counter & forgot to use it. The cobbler is cooling, and I expect it to taste blah.

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